I used to lust after those when I started downhill. I converted a GT XCR to a single front chainring instead and raced that. Lovely little bike still in pieces in my garage!
I always wanted one too but could of never afforded it. It'll never get used but it's nice to look at and hopefully might go up in value in years to come.
My old pushbike, just used for nipping about on, never anything serious but it's been good for purpose, occasional use. Full XTR and Carbon bars I think. No doubt crap by todays standards but it's still light enough and strong and seems to pedal easier than anything reasonably priced. I wouldn't mind a road bike but it would probably get little use and I'm not sure I'm that into lycra, women can get away with it. I have a decent gym down the road and don't use that much recently, need to get my shit together if I want to do some track days next year (leathers are too small) but the weather is not helping. Will just have to learn how to play golf properly.
Gave up push bikes a few years back....setting aside bling and mods but the running costs of a pushbike outweighed a motorbike.....it came to a critical mass one night on the way home from work, in the winter, raining and cold....i suppose you could probably have replaced the scene of Basil Fawlty whipping his morris with me on the side of the south bristol ring road with me hurling abuse at one Trek Madone II.....
@comfysofa I had similar sometime last year where on my 8 mile commute home I had 5 punctures (2 spare tubes in the bag at all times, and a puncture repair kit), carried the bike the last mile. learned a bit about crap tyres vs decent tyres that day! I haven't fallen in to the trap of blinging up my pushbikes, as I see it as another bottomless pit. other than tyres, tubes and lights, I keep the bikes as standard and try to improve my riding/fitness (age keeps fighting back, though!)
I've blinged many bits and bikes over the years. But bikes are truly incredible now. So my Whyte T130 is exactly as it came to me... The Parkwood got a 1X crankset fitted for ease, but other than that is untouched. My biggest cycling expense i see coming up is my son, he's currently racing on an Islabikes Beinn 24, but in 12-18 months he'll be moving up in size and classes, he races competitively in XC Racing and CX racing currently. He's coming out tonight for his first proper winter night ride, i think he'll do the first 6-7 miles then we'll get the wife to collect him, i'll then crack on for another few hours. He's only 8 years old but he's got some pace that's for sure.
Heh - i never spent anything on them more than they needed....it was just a tool to get to work but riding 100 - 120 miles per week takes its toll on a pushbike (so much so that i was running 2 at once) as one usually was waiting for spares while the other was being used.... Your the first person ive ever spoken to who was like me (bag full of inner tubes, spare tyre in there as well, puncture repair kit, tools etc etc). When youre doing high mileage loads of other stuff comes into play as well...id say, middle of winter i could get no more than 2 weeks out of my bikes before they needed a through clean from road side dirt and if you didnt...youd pay, which i did...dont clean it and the drivetrain will destroy itself and thats more money... Factor in down time for repairs and it fucking well adds up i tell thee!
Jeez - you play a fucking pushbike game...! Rode to work for 8 years, fucking hated every minute of it. Cost me a shed load of money and i came out the other side weighing more than i did when i started.
Kinda. It's more a virtual reality than a game. Using a Garmin speed / cadence sensor and a turbo trainer along with your bike you race people across the world in actual (virtual) races. I've dropped 17lb in the last 8 weeks and ridden the best part of 1000 miles. It's cost me nothing at all, the wear on the components are minimal.
one of the guys in the office has just got one of the smart turbo trainers to hook up to his computer and TV screen - sounds pretty cool. I have a very old Japanese turbo that is very basic and only seems to fit the 26" marin wheels with a 30mm slick on it, makes me sweat like a pig in a bacon factory. my gym has just got a couple of wattbikes, and I have downloaded the app to see what it can do. looks pretty good, though, doing 30 sec power bursts, and even 6 second power bursts is pretty interesting.
Just to scare Comfy and the other non-cyclists.... Here's how much the Turbo trainers are.... obviously you need a bike too TACX NEO SMART TRAINER RRP £1199.99 | eBay
From the other end of scale .... Mine is a 1951 Rudge. I know its date of birth cos its stamped on the 4-speed Sturmey-Archer gearbox. It was well posh in its day, with Reynolds 531 tube frame, triple-sprung leather saddle, fully enclosed chaincase, colour matched dynamo lights with battery pack back-up, alloy sidestand, integral steering lock and stainless rims and spokes which still shine after 60yrs without ever polishing them. Oh yes, and the best ever, Lucas "Road King" bell. These days its well stripped down though, and sports a set of Renthal ally trials bars. And until last year it was still using its original rear brake cable. Still does use its original chain (though the chainguard went ages ago). The chainwheel has the trademark "hand" shape in the centre. I call it the "Spirit of Amsterdam" and I have a kind of hankering that when I'm too old and decrepit to ride it anymore it would be nice to just park it on a bridge over the local river Soar and leave it there for the next person. It is actually responsible for my return to motorcycling, in a way. I used to commute into Leicester on it for work but there were so many occasions when I craved something with an engine simply to be able to get out of the way of the homicidal car drivers, that eventually I got one.
