Justifying expensive bikes

bluechair84

You don't have to justify what you do to anyone other than yourself. Unless your actions are going to change someone's life, or cause them harm, you owe them no explanation. Expensive bikes only affect the person buying them, so they only have to justify it to themselves. Riding make us happy, upgrading them makes us proud, repairing them gives us satisfaction, and if the expense has no impact on anyone else, then you can continue to be happier, prouder and more satisfied through this material posession.

fat_homer

bluechair84 wrote:

You don't have to justify what you do to anyone other than yourself. Unless your actions are going to change someone's life, or cause them harm, you owe them no explanation. Expensive bikes only affect the person buying them, so they only have to justify it to themselves. Riding make us happy, upgrading them makes us proud, repairing them gives us satisfaction, and if the expense has no impact on anyone else, then you can continue to be happier, prouder and more satisfied through this material posession.

Sums it up perfectly!

Northwind

No man with a good bike needs to be justified!

Honestly it's a load of nonsense, nobody asks you to justify a week in ibiza or a new sofa but bikes somehow need to be earned. You don't sit on that sofa well enough!

nicklouse

i dont comprehend the question.

SPIRO

Justifying an expensive bike......life is short and you cant take money with you.

The Northern Monkey

If you have to justify the purchase, you're in the wrong sport.

n+1 bitches.

cooldad

The Northern Monkey wrote:

n+1 bitches.

Why would you want that many bitches? I had one and that was enough to last a lifetime.


You are weird.


pedant mode<Or did you miss a comma?>off

The Northern Monkey

cooldad wrote:

The Northern Monkey wrote:

n+1 bitches.

Why would you want that many bitches? I had one and that was enough to last a lifetime.


You are weird.


pedant mode<Or did you miss a comma?>off

Ahh no, I'm a mormon MTB'er... all my bikes are female and I have more than one

Dannyboy95

WindyG wrote:

Don't see the need to justify anything to anyone, the important thing is getting out there and riding and enjoying it, doesn't matter if it's bottom end or a high end expensive bike.

Yes deffinitly true. I mean my first comment was not questioning people in a derogitory manor it was simply just an innocent question. Like I said before my bike was £575 and it is fine works great ect just wanted to know what people with more expensive bikes thought. :roll:

stubs

If the price you paid for your bike doesnt bother you why did you mention it. I think anyone who doesnt own an Audi and have a £2,500 plus MTB should be ashamed of themselves.

Personally I blame Wiggle

cooldad

stubs wrote:

If the price you paid for your bike doesnt bother you why did you mention it. I think anyone who doesnt own an Audi and have a £2,500 plus MTB should be ashamed of themselves.

Personally I blame Wiggle

An Audi and a £2500 bike? That's so middle class.
It must be hard to be so relatively poor.

ricardo_smooth

I justify my expensive bike by not giving a fuck what anyone else thinks or says and I bought it because that's what I wanted.... If I look/sound like a bell end, it's probably because you have some kind of problem with people who buy shit to enjoy it.

njee20

Really, this is still going? Wow.

Dannyboy95

njee20 wrote:

Really, this is still going? Wow.

I know I seem to have touched a nerve LMAO

Rucks

Have always bought new bikes for around the £500 mark, so when it was time to replacemy last bike I decided to look into the second hand market, found myself a £2000+ bike for a steal, ok it was 3 years old but had been really well looked after, since owning this bike I've come to the conclusion I'd only replace it with something of the same standard to which the price tag is going to be far out of my reach (to explain to the mrs anyway).
I'm no bike snob (don't get oranges tho) but I can certainly notice the difference on a more expensive bike and think I look after and appriciate it more than any other bike I've owned.
As long as your happy with what you've got who cares, if we all rode the same it would be a dull and boring experience, I love looking at and talking with others about their bikes and always say hello to other riders even though most don't reply,
We're all doing it for the same reason, aren't we?

lawman

Rucks wrote:

Have always bought new bikes for around the £500 mark, so when it was time to replacemy last bike I decided to look into the second hand market, found myself a £2000+ bike for a steal, ok it was 3 years old but had been really well looked after, since owning this bike I've come to the conclusion I'd only replace it with something of the same standard to which the price tag is going to be far out of my reach (to explain to the mrs anyway).
I'm no bike snob (don't get oranges tho) but I can certainly notice the difference on a more expensive bike and think I look after and appriciate it more than any other bike I've owned.
As long as your happy with what you've got who cares, if we all rode the same it would be a dull and boring experience, I love looking at and talking with others about their bikes and always say hello to other riders even though most don't reply,
We're all doing it for the same reason, aren't we?

This man talks sense!!

97th choice

^^^ +1 potato.

I'm on my third mtb, and they've been getting progressively better and more expensive, again its the same with most sports, you trade up.

stubs

cooldad wrote:

stubs wrote:

If the price you paid for your bike doesnt bother you why did you mention it. I think anyone who doesnt own an Audi and have a £2,500 plus MTB should be ashamed of themselves.

Personally I blame Wiggle

An Audi and a £2500 bike? That's so middle class.
It must be hard to be so relatively poor.

No no the Audi is for the Nanny to run the children to school in and the head gardener uses the MTB to get to the other end of the lawn.

lawman

97th choice wrote:

^^^ +1 potato.

I'm on my third mtb, and they've been getting progressively better and more expensive, again its the same with most sports, you trade up.

Exactly this, once you step over or up to a level of kit, its sometimes hard to go back to lower end. So from that point once you get to high end, justifying the expense becomes easier.

stanny_uk

i'll put my two pence in here.. i had a 2012 TREK 6000 £750 to start off last year good nice bike got me going.. upgraded some stuff inc fork was happy TILL i rode a 2012 FULL SUS EX9 of which i know own £2850, the differance= NIGHT AND DAY.. granted its my first full sus and for that i love it but everything on the bike excells my original very good starter bike. its forks are sublime, it stops better,its shifts better and the biggest draw for me i'm comfier and FASTER so whilst i'll say my starter bike was a good bike my new one is light years ahead! now my next question to myself would be £2850?? is that enough for a hobby trail rider?? do i need a £5000 YETI??? will i see a marked improvement?? I think £2500-3000 is enough for a hobby rider.. £5000-6000 maybe racers kit?? Not to say i might not own one in coming years!!! lol Its a shit having bike porn LEISURELAKES just down the road from work!! LETHAL!!

colt

I first started riding around Cannock Chase on a £200 steel framed behmoth BSO, I quickly brought a Decathlon rockrider 9.1 for £500, the difference between the two was vast as you would expect.

A year later I was still mtb'ing and enjoying every moment, so I had to save what to me, was a considerable amount of money to buy my Trek Fuel EX8 at £1500 (managed to get a very good discount ) again the difference between the two bikes was immense, in fact I'd say as big a difference from the BSO piece of junk to the very capable Rockrider, and, as far as I'm concerned worth every penny, since then I reckon I've rode my Trek approx 250 times which works out at 6 quid a ride, suddenly doesn't seem so expensive to me now!

Every time I go out that figure will get lower and lower, so yes, totally justified

Rushmore

There is a GT Fury in my local bike shop for sale at the min..

ridden once by Marc Beaumont.. ( GT )

£2500

Definitely justified if your the right size for it!! thats like an £8K bike!!!

Myster101

Could I afford a very expensive bike.......yes.

Could I justify buying it..........no.

I have more important things to buy/pay for. Love my bike (and biking) but it was built with mostly second hand parts by myself to keep it as cheap as possible. Would rather save for holidays etc, which me and my family can enjoy (not just me as with my bike) and my kids future than buy a bike which would be far better than my my skills.

If you have no ties and can afford it then go for it. If not then its all about (for me at least) getting the best you can without compromising others.

cat_with_no_tail

Myster101 wrote:

Could I afford a very expensive bike.......yes.

Could I justify buying it..........no.

I have more important things to buy/pay for.

Then you can't afford it, surely? :?

It's like saying I could afford a Ferrari, but I've got a mortgage and bills to pay.

If you can't buy a bike as well as paying bills and family holidays, you can't afford it.

Surely the whole point of any hobby is that it's there and you can spend your disposable income on it. I don't see it as a purchase that needs to be justified unless you're sacrificing other things to pay for it, or considering getting into debt for it.

anj132

Cat With No Tail wrote:

Myster101 wrote:

Could I afford a very expensive bike.......yes.

Could I justify buying it..........no.

I have more important things to buy/pay for.

Then you can't afford it, surely? :?

It's like saying I could afford a Ferrari, but I've got a mortgage and bills to pay.

If you can't buy a bike as well as paying bills and family holidays, you can't afford it.

I didn't read it as he couldn't afford it just he rather spend more money on other stuff and what you quoted lost his point.

There will be some give and take, ultimately you could spend every last penny on family holidays etc' and not have a bike, it's trying to get a good/correct compromise.

lawman

Cat With No Tail wrote:

Myster101 wrote:

Could I afford a very expensive bike.......yes.

Could I justify buying it..........no.

I have more important things to buy/pay for.

Then you can't afford it, surely? :?

It's like saying I could afford a Ferrari, but I've got a mortgage and bills to pay.

If you can't buy a bike as well as paying bills and family holidays, you can't afford it.

Surely the whole point of any hobby is that it's there and you can spend your disposable income on it. I don't see it as a purchase that needs to be justified unless you're sacrificing other things to pay for it, or considering getting into debt for it.

He's clearly doing things very wrong!!

But in all seriousness, other than saying he can afford it, I get what he means. You do have to think about the essentials, but there comes a time when you just have to stand up and say, "You know what, you only get one shot at this, make it a fucking good one". I for one am very much a believer in this respect, if you get a chance to do something, buy something, go do it, live a little. You gotta keep it under control, but sometimes you just gotta jump off the ledge and see where the trails take you.

Giraffoto

You justify a bike by riding it, not by getting defensive about what it costs

cat_with_no_tail

lawman wrote:

but there comes a time when you just have to stand up and say, "You know what, you only get one shot at this, make it a ******* good one".....................but sometimes you just gotta jump off the ledge and see where the trails take you.

You're such a webbo.








I had mis-interprited what Myster101 was getting at I think. Having re-read it, I kind of agree with him.

I still think this is a massively webbo topic though.

chez_m356

Giraffoto wrote:

You justify a bike by riding it, not by getting defensive about what it costs

does that apply to orange 5 owners too ?

lawman

Cat With No Tail wrote:

lawman wrote:

but there comes a time when you just have to stand up and say, "You know what, you only get one shot at this, make it a ******* good one".....................but sometimes you just gotta jump off the ledge and see where the trails take you.

You're such a webbo.

After what me and my family have been through recently Matt, life for me taken on a whole new meaning, and as a relative youngster, I'm gonna make sure I make the most of things Just airing my view that somethings are worth going for if you have the chance.