Are there downsides to being "overbiked"?

cycleclinic

you cannot be over bikes unless the top end machine is your only machine to ride. Ultimatley ride what you enjoy. Nothing more nothing less.

KnightOfTheLongTights

northpole wrote:

Depends entirely on your personality (and to an extent on how fit you are/ will become). An all out speed machine like the Spesh McLaren Venge, complete with tubs may well prove to be a horrible ride somewhere around the £15k mark. Some of the hand built steel bikes are also expensive, but serve a very different brief. Personally I love quality workmanship and can totally understand someone wanting something like the Feather, irrespective of their level of fitness. Different with the Spesh which, to my mind, has a very specific role in life!

Wheeling a team coloured Dogma f8 up a hill wearing full Sky kit for some would be the ultimate walk of shame....!

Peter

This +20

iron-clover

The only issue I can see with it is the increased cost of maintenance. If you can afford it and obviously you don't exceed design weight (if that's a problem) then why not?

I would love to be able to afford an uber bike, but I probably wouldn't be using it in the weather we're having at the mo with all the muck and salt thrown off the roads, and use a cheaper machine which is cheaper/ easier to service until it dries out a bit.

jazgill

Does it really matter ?

Buy what you can afford and enjoy it. Who cares what others think; you only live once.

thegreatdivide

Increased cost of maintenance is down to the groupset, tyres, rims and tbh, in the case of the groupset, the higher you go the less you need to replace. My SR groupset bought in Sept 2011 has needed one cassette change and two new chains. It’s also down to how clean you keep your bike!

Giraffoto

Thanks everyone for your insights, I've just gone and got myself overbiked:


Specialized Roubaix Elite

Stand by for a picture of my own and an awestruck review when I take delivery!

ugo.santalucia

There are many disadvantages... mainly you won't be able to afford to buy spares... hence you will ride the bike less and less or progressively spec it down, rendering the investment pointless.

FransJacques

that's not overbiked.

this is over biked: https://bikesandbidons.files.wordpress. ... aabrve.jpg

or this: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/03/ ... 68x474.jpg

Truth be told I respect his enthusiasm since he actually rides the thing. If you google "images" he's out there lots on the UK and a couple pictures appear to be from Mallorca or mainland Spain. All the power to him.

ugo.santalucia

FransJacques wrote:

that's not overbiked.

this is over biked: https://bikesandbidons.files.wordpress. ... aabrve.jpg

or this: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/03/ ... 68x474.jpg

Truth be told I respect his enthusiasm since he actually rides the thing. If you google "images" he's out there lots on the UK and a couple pictures appear to be from Mallorca or mainland Spain. All the power to him.

He likes his tat...

steel191964

Put me right of garmin that has..

Manc33

An XTR shifter is a pleasure to use, however much of a pro you are, or in my case, aren't. Also, you don't have to be an advanced biker to see a clear difference in shifting speed between XT shifters and XTR. Anyone claiming "they shift about the same" obviously doesn't care enough to notice it but hey, they are saving money I suppose.

Why should only the pro's get to enjoy such equipment?!

I tend to think "People like that need bikes like that" or cars or whatever. It is all based on insecurity (the fear of what others think) and protecting an illusionary "ego" we have all been conned into thinking we have.

What you really want is a bike that looks old and battered, but is a high end bike. Same with cars. Making someone look like a dick at the lights when he is in a BMW 320i and you're in a crappy looking Transit Van (with a Lambo engine in the back) would be just glorious. What's up with yer beemer m8 does it need a service?

Giraffoto

I’ve finally taken delivery – I ordered the bike from Leisure Wheels of Hemel Hempstead (my LBS when I’m at work) who not only supplied it at a great price and managed to have the bike in my hands within three days of it arriving in the country, but also changed the chainrings free of charge (I managed to bag what seems to be the last 48/36 set of Praxis chainrings in the country). So imagine it looking like this but with 48/36 chainrings:



Specialized Roubaix Elite

I can now conclusively state that there are no disadvantages to being overbiked to this extent – it’s unbelievably comfortable on some very poor tarmac and very easy (and a lot of fun) to ride. As soon as I’ve taken some pictures I’ll put up a full review

markhewitt1978

FransJacques wrote:

that's not overbiked.

this is over biked: https://bikesandbidons.files.wordpress. ... aabrve.jpg

or this: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/03/ ... 68x474.jpg

Truth be told I respect his enthusiasm since he actually rides the thing. If you google "images" he's out there lots on the UK and a couple pictures appear to be from Mallorca or mainland Spain. All the power to him.

If he can afford that bike then why not? I would imagine it makes little difference to him if he buys a £1,000 bike or a £10,000 bike. So he may as well get the good one.

homers_double

If I were in sir Alan's (no doubt) expepensive shoes I'd buy whatever I liked and not really bother what a bunch of internetters thought.

It's the same in any any sport/passtime. Imagine a wealthy guy whos semi retired and likes a bit of fishing, he buys a 7 grand 16m pole because he can afford it and it's light so at his age it isn't giving him back ache. Yes he might get battered by the guy on the next peg on cheaper gear but so what, he's still out enjoying himself.

I think the phrase "overbiked" was probably coined by those who can't afford to be.

pinno

diy wrote:

There is an argument that you are more likely to want to go for a ride - with something nice to ride. But like the Aston, Ferrari etc.. running costs can also be substantially higher.

Bikes don't need oil and filter changes. There are far less moving parts on a bike. If you're handy, you can fix it yourself but the diagnostic software for a Ferrari...
As for pollution, there's no comparison either.

My high end components rarely, if ever, go wrong.

My 'High end' Wilier with Record 11 and Eurus wheels? All second hand. Go on ebay and buy 3 bikes cheaper than 1 brand new exotica and take the bits of one, the frame from another, the wheels from yet another and sell the remainder. Then, you will have spent very, very little.

At the end of the day, bikes are so very aesthetic and one day i'll have a whole collection hanging on the wall and most of them probably never ridden. Bike bits are beautiful. Carbon fibre is ace. Old chrome plated long point lugged frames are gorgeous. Love the bike, love riding them, love riding that smooth precision machine, far too good for your needs whilst thinking about the next one, or next set of wheels, smiling all the while...

MisterMuncher

I'm probably over-biked as it is, as I don't think I'm a good enough rider, or cover enough distance to ever need anything better. I honestly doubt I'll ever need more either.

The only advantage is I don't really feel the need for a better best bike.

morstar

I can't afford a superbike but I really don't think there's such a thing as overbiked from a cost perspective. Conversely, I do think there is from a position perspective. No point buying a super aggressive position bike if you can't ride in that position.

Manc33

There's no proof Alan Sugar's bike is genuine.

Has a fake frame ever been used in a race... I mean they must all the time but I am talking the biggest events. It would be a laugh if some guy won on a £300 china frame.

MisterMuncher

It would be a touch unlikely, what with the manufacturers supplying the bikes. Can't imagine why they'd get fakes from China rather than use their own stock, doubly so if they'd face a dq for using a bike that hadn't been approved by the UCI.

chris_bass

In fairness it is all relative, him having those bikes is probably equivalent to me getting a £50 bike from argos or finding one in a skip if you compare our net worth

oblongomaculatus

mpatts wrote:

and have left the valve caps on, then you are overbiked.

Ok, I may be the only one who doesn't know this, but why take the valve caps off?

Pituophis

oblongomaculatus wrote:

mpatts wrote:

and have left the valve caps on, then you are overbiked.

Ok, I may be the only one who doesn't know this, but why take the valve caps off?

Good lord man, think of the weight!!!!! :roll:

oblongomaculatus

I do, all the time. I have a haircut and trim my fingernails before every ride. Seriously, is there a vaguely rational reason for the valve cap thing?


Oh, and while I'm here:

northpole wrote:

Wheeling a team coloured Dogma f8 up a hill wearing full Sky kit for some would be the ultimate walk of shame....!

...especially if you actually are a Team Sky rider!

Pituophis

oblongomaculatus wrote:

I do, all the time. I have a haircut and trim my fingernails before every ride. Seriously, is there a vaguely rational reason for the valve cap thing?

Beats me to be honest, I leave mine on. Maybe that's why I am so slow? :oops:

Manc33

If I saw Sugar on that I would offer him £200 for it, you gotta try. :oops:

He'd just say "Yeah its the 2014 model so go on, I'm near a bike shop I'll just go buy the 2015 one, this one's got a bit dirty anyway..."

iPete

Pituophis wrote:

oblongomaculatus wrote:

I do, all the time. I have a haircut and trim my fingernails before every ride. Seriously, is there a vaguely rational reason for the valve cap thing?

Beats me to be honest, I leave mine on. Maybe that's why I am so slow? :oops:

Why even put them on in the first place, that's more effort isn't it..

Pituophis

iPete wrote:

Pituophis wrote:

oblongomaculatus wrote:

I do, all the time. I have a haircut and trim my fingernails before every ride. Seriously, is there a vaguely rational reason for the valve cap thing?

Beats me to be honest, I leave mine on. Maybe that's why I am so slow? :oops:

Why even put them on in the first place, that's more effort isn't it..

Its not a lot of effort to screw a dust cap on. Not compared to, say, holding a bike above your head any way.

CHRISNOIR

If anything I'm 'under-biked'. I'm also under-paid, which may be a contributing factor.

964cup

I'm comprehensively over-biked. The disadvantage? When you come off hard, the bill can be eye-watering. There is, of course, also that time when you lend your pub bike to a club mate and they hand you your arse despite the bike they've borrowed costing less than the shifters on the bike you're riding.

pblakeney

If N+1 applies then it is impossible to be over-biked.