Bike addiction therapy thread

Questions about bike hire abroad and everything light bike related. No off-topic chat please

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mpulsiv
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Joined: Mon Mar 24, 2014 9:17 pm

by mpulsiv

Addiction is a positive factor, if you can control it. I read slew of threads where riders are just itching to upgrade bikes every 2-3 years, not to mention ~$3000 wheelset. I think it's a dilemma! I'm a firm believer that age group plays a major role in the addiction, whether it's positive or negative.

You don't need Tarmac S-works when Allez would do.
You don't need Zipp 404 when Flo 30 would do.
You don't need Di2 when mechanical would do.


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Racing is a three-dimensional high-speed chess game, involving hundreds of pieces on the board.

:arrow: CBA = Chronic Bike Addiction
:arrow: OCD = Obsessive Cycling Disorder

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bm0p700f
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by bm0p700f

3 bikes and you want to thin ot out. I have 17 and i font have a fat bike, a single speed road bike, or a quick light road disc brake yet.

I woukd have trouble thinning down to 12 as i like them all.

Also one bike to do it all is a xc 29er rigid with 2.0" tyres dirt drop bars and road di2 sti's with a road/mtb drive train.

This bike can do it all. One road race bike cant.

Stalkan
Posts: 109
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2010 1:04 pm

by Stalkan

Also one bike to do it all is a xc 29er rigid with 2.0" tyres dirt drop bars and road di2 sti's with a road/mtb drive train.


I essentially built my U.P. this way, but with 650b.....On my STRAVA gear page it's nickname is "The Do Everything Bike". If I had to pair down the herd this would be the last bike to go.

Vagabond
Posts: 367
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 2:08 am
Location: Washington State and the Colorado Front Range.

by Vagabond

You're going about this all wrong. You still need a gravel bike, a mountain bike, and a fat tire all terrain bad ass bike before you can even begin to consider that you have too many bikes.
Colnago e Campagnolo

diegogarcia
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Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 7:31 pm

by diegogarcia

This is a brilliant thread and read and I think I can add my thoughts and experiences to it. I am 45 now, and been riding since I was 13 and have had other passion in life, mainly photography, guitar and singing in rock bands. I agree with a lot of what has been said - a lot of it makes sense. But I have experienced addiction from both sides of the counter and there are parallells in many industries, not just cycling.

Going back I worked as a stringer / agency photographer covering big events in the UK and Europe. Great time and saw some incredible things including the rise of digital. As my work load changed / lessened I ended up getting a job in an excellent camera shop as a 'salesman'. This was my first experience of people trying to buy 'brilliance' or success and ultimately better imagery. But, caveat being we all know the pixel count thing was academic to a photographer, but important to a customer. I saw and sold kit in excess of ££££££. Nikon D3, Canon 5D 5Dmk II and so on and astounded by the lack of knowledge but also the fact that when people saw the images of a good photographer they always said "wow, that must be a great camera". At the time I made a decision to not judge people, but help them learn to be better snappers and understand a camera and see 'light'. Tricky at times. I met hundreds of 'pro' photographers who in fact we far from pro, but so be it.

Fast forward to 2010 and I sold a camera to a guy who owned 5 bike shops. By pure happenstance he enjoyed my sale and then when I dropped into his shop he asked me for a coffee and offered my a job. I took the chance to move as there were benefits like trade / cost etc etc. One thing I noticed straight away was the consumer obsession with the weight of a bike, misinformation about gearing and of course lack of knowledge with wheel size/tyre choice etc. I realised that the male road bike shopper was on the whole decent enough a lot of new cyclists buying Allez type bikes and enjoying them on merit. Of course I we met and dealt with the obsessives where the best is not enough and chasing speed with upgrade after upgrade. But again, trying not to be judgemental and just letting people get on with it. Cycling is to my mind, mainly an ego driven sport and on a recreational level there are some decent bike riders plodding about I think. Some are simply just better at it. Same goes with photography, painting, guitar playing.

But at 45 I have realised that I am nothing more than average on a bike. I enjoy it and like others looking at a.n.other bikes because that it what we are; male. I realised due to becoming a salesman, that men are progressive, always looking for something else, where as on the whole a woman in my experience remain content with her first purchase. Also cycling seems to be a judgemental sport. We judge ourselves and our kit based on the performance and kit of others. Being killed on a climb is tough going irrespective of age, ability and kit but thats when the obsession can begin. How do I get quicker, leaner, faster, a better bike ? Maybe. Also, a man buys his son and himself a Manchester United kit each and they love it, the club generate revenue and its win win. A man buys an HTC kit or a world champs kit, a polkadot jersey and rides out in it and is considered a fool, a poser, a knob. Why ? I have no idea as its the same as the Man U thing to my mind.

Of course the western world and commercialism drives it forward and we take the bait. I sum it up by saying that a man buys a 55" HD4K TV one weekend and the following weekend he goes back into the store only to see a 60" TV on offer. The process starts all over again. The answer is to stay out of the store and enjoy what you have. Simple as that.

Don't beat yourselves up, enjoy what you can. Life is short and one day turning circles will be days gone by. I myself am mulling over a new TCR Adv Pro 2 - I know myself too well to know it will happen. It is not if, but when LOL :mrgreen: The thing I learnt best of all is moving 15 miles away from work and buying a Langster and commuting 15 miles each way. It brought me on quicker, faster, stronger than any weekly 60 mile bimble did and I still do this. I made me realise for the recreational rider 105 or Ultegra is enough as I spend 90% of my cycling week (120 miles - 150 miles on average) on an alloyed, one gear heavy wheeled bike and I love it. Finally, I would looooveeeee to buy a Dogma F8 - absolutely love it, but for me just a little too out of reach ££££ wise !!!! and I will be no quicker. Fast legs make a bike fast but I would grin like a cat with two tails for sure.

rajMAN
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Joined: Wed Mar 17, 2010 4:20 pm
Location: UK

by rajMAN

The less I reach for the bike, the more I reach for the wallet! :(

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DMF
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Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 10:14 am
Location: Sweden

by DMF

I think of bikes as I think of cars... Putting a Ferrari chassis on a Fiat won't make the Fiat a Ferrari, neither will putting a Fiat power plant into a Ferrari make that Ferrari a Fiat...

The wisest and truest words I've ever heard about performance bicycles is this "Nothing will make a bike sing like a tuned body" ...that said, the Fiat and Ferrari scenario still holds true, and the differences between DuraAce F8's and 105-dressed Allez' are just huge...

I won't use the words good or bad here, I'll just give credit to the notion that the difference in feeling that touches every fibre of my body riding one bike versus another, is huge... Even in the same "league" of performance...

McGilli
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Joined: Sun Jun 07, 2015 6:57 pm

by McGilli

Aggravating...

For me - I can get the best girlfriend for example. Beautiful, funny, smart - she can make me feel great. BUT. After a while.... I will start thinking... Is there something better? Or it could be a motorcycle... Or guitar...

Same with bikes for me. I just finished my latest build a month ago. I love it. Best ride I've ever had. It's perfect. Until it isn't. For some reason I can't explain.

And now I find myself scrolling around Ebay, Pinkbike, Craigslist... Not looking for anything exactly... but looking for something that will make my new build better.... It's just in my brain that it must have something new... different...

Just like my first build I did last year - awesome - and then as soon as this summer hit - I was convinced - I just had to sell it and build a new bike. I had to. Didn't want anything to do with last years build any more. Sold it asap. I remember when that bike was 'my baby'....

So... I don't think I have an addiction per se... unless I'm addicted to just never being 'finished' with things...

AJS914
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Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2014 6:52 pm

by AJS914

It's basically a shopping addiction. We get this pleasure from spending hours and hours specing and researching parts and reading about frame geometries. Once the bike is built there is nothing left to do but ride it and that doesn't fulfill the same type of need.

It doesn't matter what the hobby is. It can be boats, cars, computers, guitars, guns, golf clubs, etc.

I think it's good to reflect on why one is no longer satisfied with last years dream bike and try to channel the energy into something more productive.

donald
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Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2005 11:32 pm
Location: san francisco ca. usa

by donald

The nature of life is expansion of happiness. The mind is always seeking something more, anything that can temp the mind with the possibility of more happiness, the mind wants to go there. change is also part of it, everything is changing. We all decide how much we want to feed our desires for something more or to whatever degree we can accept what is, until we change again.

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