You all ride rubbish bikes!

[crud]

i almost bought a new bike recently but for the money i thought it looked a bit cheap. spend 1k or retro and you get quality. riding dynamics are totally different of course.

 

[Raging_Bulls]

Spend that money on a modern bike from one of the lesser-known brands, and you've got quality as well.

I'm a sucker for modern bikes, but I'll NEVER buy a modern Scott, Specialized, GT, Trek, Cannondale, Merlin or other major brand.
You pay way too much for the brand name and don't get any extra quality in return.

Hmm ... come to think of it ... aren't all of those brands I just listed American?

 

[crud]

the groupsets / finishing kit on most of the 1k bikes i looked at leave a LOT to be desired

 

[We_are_Stevo]

I'd probably but a Ragley if I had the money - but they get slated anyway so perhaps I'm biased out of empathy...

 

[twain]

No, just buy more Privateer's than MBUK sales - then they might get the message.

But I doubt it.

I'm not 19 anymore, I dont look forward to next years 'new', I sit and think about all the money I've spent on 'new' with 'new' not living up to expectations and 'new' being a disappointment. Then discovering 'old' was no-where near as bad as I remember so 'old' took over. With 'old' costing half as much as 'new', the magazine purchasing stopped and 'new' became forgotten with 'new old' taking the place of 'new' and new 'old' was discovered.

I sit and think of all the money I've spent on 'old' and 'new old' and how much it has exceeded expectation and has cost half as much as 'new'.

i love this.
am i too young to say that i feel the same way too? (i'm 27 - nearly 2.

 

[dendy]

I was about to spend over a grand on something modern but after looking at was on offer I decided to spend £900 on building a semi modern stumpy m2 y2k. My mate has a modern cube ltd race and whilst a decent bike we both struggle to see how it trumps my stumpy apart from the brakes. In fact I am quicker

 

[highlandsflyer]

I bought a year old Bianchi recently, that sold for around £400 when new. Apart from the components I would put the frame up with plenty Alu bikes I have ridden costing five times as much.

I happen to think it is one of the most beautiful bikes as well.

The whole thing about full suss, etc. is a distraction. There were plenty, in fact I reckon a better variety, of 4" odds travel bikes around back in 98 for example.

You can talk about long front forks, but on a hardtail do you really need more than the near 5" I had back in the 90s? For the kind of riding I do, no.

I think some of the best 3 or 4" full suss bikes came out in the late 90s, so you don't need to leave the retro arena to have just about every type of bike you need unless you are a down hill or extreme free ride agent.

 

[superstu]

Spend that money on a modern bike from one of the lesser-known brands, and you've got quality as well.

I'm a sucker for modern bikes, but I'll NEVER buy a modern Scott, Specialized, GT, Trek, Cannondale, Merlin or other major brand.
You pay way too much for the brand name and don't get any extra quality in return.

I agree completely with what you said except...I would have put Merlin in the value for money park..not really a major player (for complete bikes at least). The Malt's have always represented amongst the best value for money around.

 

[cce]

Spend that money on a modern bike from one of the lesser-known brands, and you've got quality as well.

I'm a sucker for modern bikes, but I'll NEVER buy a modern Scott, Specialized, GT, Trek, Cannondale, Merlin or other major brand.
You pay way too much for the brand name and don't get any extra quality in return.

I agree completely with what you said except...I would have put Merlin in the value for money park..not really a major player (for complete bikes at least). The Malt's have always represented amongst the best value for money around.

i think he's talking about the american merlin...

 

[Huntso]

Most modern bike i've owned was a 2003 M5 Sworks and it was very nice, but when it came to just keeping one bike the 1993 Merlin Mountain was an easy winner

No discs or long travel fork, but don't exactly need them, not so sure because its old that makes it crap, in my eyes considerably nicer than most of the latter day Ti frames I have seen