Budget £9k, choose me a bike.

galatzo

My two pen'th
I looked at the start of this thread and thought REALLY !
Then read a bit and thought ridiculous.
And now I've come back to it to see why its going for 5 pages and if you want to spend £9k on you don't know what you want.
I have a pretty fancy bike in mine and my wifes opinion circa £3k 6.8kg and would prob spend another £1000 if I could but there comes a point when the returns are so low its just not right. Yes its hard to quantify the pleasure the owner will get out of just having it versus pounds per gram or similar calculations but this is a crazy amount to spend on a bike. You'll be fretting every time you touch it that its going to get damaged.
I'm not saying don't spend all the money just not on one bike. Surely you can source an amazing bike for £5k keep whatever you have for inclement days and take this new bike to the dolomites, the alps or flanders where you will create some real memories.
I realized quite a while ago that I was spending money on bikes because I wanted it to be like I was riding in Mallorca all the time and that just doesn't happen no matter how much you spend on hardwear. (I am still spending but nowhere near the extent use too !).
Get a good bike and go somewhere memorable with it.
Thanks for listening.

ugo.santalucia

Galatzo wrote:

I realized quite a while ago that I was spending money on bikes because I wanted it to be like I was riding in Mallorca all the time and that just doesn't happen no matter how much you spend on hardwear. (I am still spending but nowhere near the extent use too !)..

Very true!
Currently I am trying to source a lighter frameset for the Fred Whitton... I've given myself a budget of 250 quid to save two pounds in weight...

galatzo

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Galatzo wrote:

I realized quite a while ago that I was spending money on bikes because I wanted it to be like I was riding in Mallorca all the time and that just doesn't happen no matter how much you spend on hardwear. (I am still spending but nowhere near the extent use too !)..

Very true!
Currently I am trying to source a lighter frameset for the Fred Whitton... I've given myself a budget of 250 quid to save two pounds in weight...

I got a Scott CR1 frameset a few years ago when they had that silly offer on at Westbrooks. I thought my Planet x N2A was too heavy and a bit uncomfy to do the Otztal Radmarathon on. I could have been pushed round in an arm chair and I'd have still ached after 12 1/2 hours doing that, its one of the few times when I thought it really doesn't matter what I am riding.

ugo.santalucia

Galatzo wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Galatzo wrote:

I realized quite a while ago that I was spending money on bikes because I wanted it to be like I was riding in Mallorca all the time and that just doesn't happen no matter how much you spend on hardwear. (I am still spending but nowhere near the extent use too !)..

Very true!
Currently I am trying to source a lighter frameset for the Fred Whitton... I've given myself a budget of 250 quid to save two pounds in weight...

I got a Scott CR1 frameset a few years ago when they had that silly offer on at Westbrooks. I thought my Planet x N2A was too heavy and a bit uncomfy to do the Otztal Radmarathon on. I could have been pushed round in an arm chair and I'd have still ached after 12 1/2 hours doing that, its one of the few times when I thought it really doesn't matter what I am riding.

The thing I have seen a frameset I like the colour of... I've been after a used one of those for a while now... it would cut nearly two pounds off my current frameset and would retain compatibility with pretty much all the componentry, just a case of buying new cables and rebuild it. Auction ends tomorrow, so finger crossed... the budget is tiny but it might just be enough

fenix

I actually think the best bit of buying a bike is the research. Looking for the frame, reading the reviews, imagining the colour scheme etc. The bike in your mind is flawless and rides like a dream.

And then you get the dream bike, and there's still a headwind,n you're not quite race fit and the weathers still a bit dodgy and the bike doesn't ride as well as you dreamt. Nothing could.

So have fun looking for the bike - and then buy a much cheaper one and take it somewhere sunny.

galatzo

Fenix wrote:

I actually think the best bit of buying a bike is the research. Looking for the frame, reading the reviews, imagining the colour scheme etc. The bike in your mind is flawless and rides like a dream.

And then you get the dream bike, and there's still a headwind,n you're not quite race fit and the weathers still a bit dodgy and the bike doesn't ride as well as you dreamt. Nothing could.

So have fun looking for the bike - and then buy a much cheaper one and take it somewhere sunny.

Seams to be the general consensus, nice bike in a very nice place beats a stunning bike in blighty anytime.

Camcycle1974

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 165&type=3

This in a custom build, colours of your own choosing. That is all

MikeBrew

I think that rather than spending 9k on a bike and going through all the , current and subsequent, virtual willy waving entailed therein , my advice would be to directly address the heart of the apparent problem. For 9K a good Harley Street surgeon could have you tucking the end of it into your golfing socks......
And thus rather than avoiding the obvious elephant in the room, you could become it....Just a thought.

matt_n-2

One of my friends bought his dream bike just over a year ago, a Pegoretti Respo with SR RS groupo, Archetypes on Royce hubs and carbon Fizik finishing kit.

Yes it cost him a pretty penny and yes it is truly lovely but he bought it to ride and ride it he does, mud, wind, rain and every other condition British weather can through at us, he loves it and is not remotely precious about not riding it unless it clear and 20c +.

MikeBrew

Does a lot of money on a bespoke frame necessarily mean it's better, in any remotely tangible or demonstrable way, than a factory built alternative though ? Surely small frame builders lack the R+D budget and experience of the like of Cannondale who have been in the industry far longer, and hence can produce highly competent frames without asking exorbitant prices...

Case in point, look at this lemon

Built by thep reviously named Craddock Cycles , recently renamed Filament - presumably due to no one wanting to be called a Fanny on a Craddock- this is a circa £2700 custom built frame, and yetit has a has couple of inches of stem spacers and a minuscule stem ? Not to mention the head-tube towering over the top tube by a couple of inches. Custom built - Really ? Or just really badly ?
Well it's different and some people will pay a lot of money for that. To some insecure souls it doesn't even have to be "superior", "better" or even "good" just different. :roll:
Getting things right often occurs slowly over time, with lots of mistakes along the way. The likes of Cannondale have served their apprenticeship and are now in the master craftsman league. Why pay through the nose to an apprentice for one of their early Mary Shelly-esque creations ? Just to be different ?

gweeds

What you've done there Mike is pick a custom frame, decided it's wrong, and then called it a lemon without knowing anything about why the rider and builder have ended up there.

That's why it's called custom.

drlodge

If I had that sort of money, it would probably be a Massive Attack SL (custom geo) or something of that ilk. £5k will get you a very nice bike, spending more will probably entail fancy wheels which you don't need. Spend the rest on holidays in places you want to go cycling in.

MikeBrew

Gweeds wrote:

What you've done there Mike is pick a custom frame, decided it's wrong, and then called it a lemon without knowing anything about why the rider and builder have ended up there.

That's why it's called custom.

To be honest Lemon was more a play on the colour. It might even "fit" the individual, but an elegantly executed custom fit it certainly isn't. Also, I think that the point about the head-tube, spacers and short stem stand... The frame builder knew for whom it was being built for before he started, and so how the hell does it up up with such glaringly obvious compromises - making it look more like a shoe-horned fit than a custom fit.
You could easily buy an off the peg frame and make it short enough and high enough at the front with spacers and a tiny stem, but to build that sort of compromise into a frame - really ? Sure then it becomes a customized custom fit.... A bit like buying a Saville row suit with an elasticated waist band and and folded up cuffs.

gweeds

Funny. A mate of mine has a Feather. Massive headtube and stack because of a serious back issue. It fits.

Looks weird. But it fits.

That's my point.

MikeBrew

Gweeds wrote:

Funny. A mate of mine has a Feather. Massive headtube and stack because of a serious back issue. It fits.

Looks weird. But it fits.

That's my point.

So what you're saying is that the way the bike looks(reminiscent of your mates) is only acceptable given that the rider rider has a serious back issue.

Isn't at least half the point of a custom build to make a bit that fits without looking - as you rightly say- weird ?
My point is that for a hell of a lot less money a wrong size off-the-peg frame could have been made to "fit" in an equally clumsy way. Of course that wouldn't be "different" enough for some fragile egos.

drlodge

The geometry of the frame is one thing, but having a load of spacers under the stem and head tube sticking above the top tube means the frame geometry was poorly designed.

ugo.santalucia

MikeBrew wrote:

Gweeds wrote:

Funny. A mate of mine has a Feather. Massive headtube and stack because of a serious back issue. It fits.

Looks weird. But it fits.

That's my point.

So what you're saying is that the way the bike looks(reminiscent of your mates) is only acceptable given that the rider rider has a serious back issue.

Isn't at least half the point of a custom build to make a bit that fits without looking - as you rightly say- weird ?
My point is that for a hell of a lot less money a wrong size off-the-peg frame could have been made to "fit" in an equally clumsy way.

The point of a custom build these days is having a frame that fits like a glove, of the colour you like and can be easily repaired... hence why builders braze the tubes rather than welding them... a broken tube means melting the braze, replacing the tube and respraying, should be relatively inexpensive, in the grand scheme of bespoke things.

Although mass manufactured carbon frames can apparently be repaired in many cases, I am not convinced the repair goes anywhere near restoring full original functionality

MikeBrew

drlodge wrote:

The geometry of the frame is one thing, but having a load of spacers under the stem and head tube sticking above the top tube means the frame geometry was poorly designed.

Unless it was built for a T-rex. Though even then, surely the top-tube could of been flush with the top of the head tube...

drlodge

MikeBrew wrote:

drlodge wrote:

The geometry of the frame is one thing, but having a load of spacers under the stem and head tube sticking above the top tube means the frame geometry was poorly designed.

Unless it was built for a T-rex

No, even for a T-Rex you shouldn't have these aspects. Just a long head tube and short top tube.

MikeBrew

ugo.santalucia wrote:

The point of a custom build these days is having a frame that fits like a glove, of the colour you like and can be easily repaired... hence why builders braze the tubes rather than welding them... a broken tube means melting the braze, replacing the tube and respraying, should be relatively inexpensive, in the grand scheme of bespoke things.

Although mass manufactured carbon frames can apparently be repaired in many cases, I am not convinced the repair goes anywhere near restoring full original functionality

Fair point, but the Filament is carbon. It just strikes me that a many - by no means all - bespoke purchases are motivated primarily by vanity and wanting to be "different". Different is fine, it's just not necessarily functionally good or even aesthetically pleasing. Forgoing the latter for the former is understandable, but forgoing both for essentially just vanity is just plain daft.

drlodge

ugo.santalucia wrote:

The point of a custom build these days is having a frame that fits like a glove, of the colour you like and can be easily repaired... hence why builders braze the tubes rather than welding them... a broken tube means melting the braze, replacing the tube and respraying, should be relatively inexpensive, in the grand scheme of bespoke things.

Although mass manufactured carbon frames can apparently be repaired in many cases, I am not convinced the repair goes anywhere near restoring full original functionality

Repair of my Rourke was never a consideration, its TIG welded too. I'm not sure brazing (as Ricky Feather and others tend to do) is really to improve repair-ability? It certainly does achieve this, just not sure that is the reason why they do it.

For me it was about (a) the bike fitting me like a glove (b) having a "one off" and being different to the flock (c) the whole fitting/buying experience with the Rourke clan.

drlodge

I would describe that Filament frame as a crock of sh1t.

MikeBrew

drlodge wrote:

I would describe that Filament frame as a crock of sh1t.

Now you're just being kind....

0ced0

one needs to look at a fully assembled bike before drawing conclusions

MikeBrew

0ced0 wrote:

one needs to look at a fully assembled bike before drawing conclusions

How so ?

0ced0

maybe said bike won't have spacers, and will port another stem...

MikeBrew

True, but the idea that they deliberately made it look that awkward just for their website promotional shots seems somewhat unlikely. Also, the cliff between the top of the head tube and the top-tube is highly unlikely to be going anywhere.

fenix

I've had three custom bikes made for me. It was quite common back in the day. Lovely bikes but let's not get carried away. They are only bikes.

How many pros get custom bikes made now? And how long do they spend riding them?

Does the average Sunday rider need a custom frame?

Unless you've freaky dimensions - it's getting a bit like the Emperors New Clothes.

wahla21

What's the warranty on a custom built frame/bike?

We went to the triathlon show last weekend and spoke to a really nice guy from a company I have now forgotten (sorry). They make custom built frames to really nice specs and we asked about warranty.
All of a sudden it became a bit weird and the guy kind of muttered something about lifetime although it's officially 2 years....??? WTF!?

Not sure if all custom built frames are the same....

homers_double

drlodge wrote:

MikeBrew wrote:

drlodge wrote:

The geometry of the frame is one thing, but having a load of spacers under the stem and head tube sticking above the top tube means the frame geometry was poorly designed.

Unless it was built for a T-rex

No, even for a T-Rex you shouldn't have these aspects. Just a long head tube and short top tube.

It just goes to show that somewhere there is something for everyone...