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Old August 12th 03, 09:23 PM
Peter B
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Default Cheap Bikes vs expensive bikes - what are the real differences?


"Pyromancer" wrote in message
...
Anyway, the thing I'm wondering is what, exactly, do you get for the
extra money? I'm not knocking it, just curious as to what is the real
difference between a 100 quid ex-catalogue hybrid from the bike shop
down the road and the kind of (to me) esoteric hardware that gets
mentioned here?


I bought my first "proper" mountain bike in '92 after previously owning a
couple of psuedo ones. I was a little bothered that it cost 800 quid but my
doubts were swept aside during the first off-road ride, a lot of it is
subjective but quite honestly it felt so much different. It sounds corny but
it did really feel an extension of me rather than something I sit on and
pedal.1
I still own that bike (some bits beside the frame are still original)
although it spends most of the time hanging in the garage as 3.5 years ago I
bought a full susser in deference to my aging body and didn't hesitate at
paying the £1300 it cost, the subsequent enjoyment I've had is beyond
costing.

As regards road bikes as a schoolboy I owned a decent one but my interest
waned and when it was re-kindled I bought a heavy gas-pipe special and
didn't ride much. Then I bought a decent bike for a bargain price and
realised why I hadn't enjoyed riding, it was the feel again.
After 9 years that got trashed in an rta so I bought another £1400 bike,
it's very, very nice but apart from the improved transmission features it
actually doesn't enhance my riding experience over the £800 pound bike it
replaced by a wide margin, the laws of diminishing returns I guess.

1 This is the main thing to me, the feel and the way the bike reacts to
your inputs, other benefits are smoother operating parts but in fairness
even budget range equipment performs well these days.
I also windsurf and have tinkered with flying things and the most important
factor again is response to my inputs, the better the response the more at
one you feel with it. All wasted on a trip to the paper shop of course :-)

Pete


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