Will I be wasting money?

[Marcus Aurelius]

If you ‘want’ it, buy it. Life’s too short to worry about the ‘should I’ and ‘what iffery’. That bike is very nice. It’s definitely in the ‘not strictly necessary’ camp, but if you like it, go for it.

[Morzedec]

Hello, Mrs The Boss Her Indoors has an old Orbit in her stable, and has ridden - at 60 - an end to end on it in the UK, and two 'around and arounds' in France (4000km + each one) during the last two years. Plus, of course, thousands of other miles and kilometres on our daily/weekly/monthly jaunts.


Just get on your bike and ride, and donate the £4000 to me - my wine cellar needs replenishing before the year is out.

Happy days,

[thelawnet]

I'd get the SL Disc 105

[Graham]

Save your money for when you need some electric-assistance and/or a recumbent.

It is those "expensive" machines which will prolong your independent, pleasurable, outdoor, exercise activity.

Anything with electric-assistance will have relatively high running costs by comparison with a meat-engined equivalent.

[peetee]

Morzedec has given me an idea. Set yourself the challenge of Lands End - John O’ Groats on the Orbit and aim to raise £4000 in sponsorship. If you achieve that, go out and spend the same on a new bike. Or, if the experience makes you bond with your Orbit and you don’t want to put it out to pasture, double the charity money.

[Bmblbzzz]

I'm 61 and returned to cycling after a 20 year break. ....

My only question would be is that return now completed? ie are you completely back into regular cycling? If the answer is "no" then I'd suggest holding on to your £££ until you are because a posh bike won't help. If the answer is "yes" then I'd be tending towards "go for it." It's a matter of Time's winged chariot and believe me it speeds up every five minutes. In absolutely no time at all you will be in what was until recently free TV licence territory. Also, hopefully you will be OK healthwise and cycling should keep it that way but you have no idea what may be ahead.

Think what you are most likely to regret in a few years: missing out on a dream bike or shelling out so much hard-earned dough.

When I was 60 and suddenly faced with heart disease, I nearly cheered myself up by buying a big motorbike to compensate. Wisdom got the better of me but approaching my 70th birthday, I treated myself to a posh (by my standards) car. I've now got that out of my system and I'm back to BOF in a Skoda Fabia.

Sounds pretty sensible. Give "returnee" time to become "returned" and then with usage and desires formed, go for whatever bike it is you feel you want.

[tim-b]

Hi
All of the above, plus don't forget the cost of insurance. A £4k bike could take a sizeable additional premium to insure away from home, I stick between £1k and £1.5k for that reason. TSB does a pick n mix insurance that's reasonably-priced and was cheaper than my existing insurer
Regards
tim-b

[Marcus Aurelius]

Hi
All of the above, plus don't forget the cost of insurance. A £4k bike could take a sizeable additional premium to insure away from home, I stick between £1k and £1.5k for that reason. TSB does a pick n mix insurance that's reasonably-priced and was cheaper than my existing insurer
Regards
tim-b

I insured my £12000 best bike, with 1000 quids worth of ‘extras’ for 400 quid. That’s theft and crash and 3rd party liability cover.

[mig]

Hi
All of the above, plus don't forget the cost of insurance. A £4k bike could take a sizeable additional premium to insure away from home, I stick between £1k and £1.5k for that reason. TSB does a pick n mix insurance that's reasonably-priced and was cheaper than my existing insurer
Regards
tim-b

I insured my £12000 best bike, with 1000 quids worth of ‘extras’ for 400 quid. That’s theft and crash and 3rd party liability cover.

harley?

[bgnukem]

I think I'd be worried about DI2 stuff failing and not being fixable by the road side. Similar happened to one of the guides on a guided holiday in Majorca a couple of years back and he wasn't able to get the gears working again.

If you are new back to cycling it might be as well to get your form back using the steel bike and then decide what newer bike you might want to buy/ride. Your preferences might change as you get back into cycling again, particularly if the bike needs to be a versatile all-rounder and you plan to use it for different types of cycling.

'Road' bikes (i.e. racing bikes) seem pretty one-dimensional to me. Great fun on smooth roads on a dry day, but not much use for anything else.

[Jamesh]

Buy a 1k bike and send the 3k to me and I'll get 30 people back on bikes and beating covid!

Seriously has anyone seen any concrete detail if Boris master plan of getting people back on bikes. Have seen headlines of GP's prescribing bikes but no details....

Cheers James

[tim-b]

Hi

I insured my £12000 best bike, with 1000 quids worth of ‘extras’ for 400 quid. That’s theft and crash and 3rd party liability cover.

My buildings and contents cover costs less, and any one of our cars is less as well. QED
OTOH I covered a £1.4k bike for £28. Postcode, history, etc is clearly a huge part of any premium
Regards
tim-b

[freeflow]

Ride your current bike and evaluate what works and doesn't work for you. Like many of us on this forum you are entering the period in life where bits don't work as well as they did and this may dictate what you need (rather than want) in your new bike. Critically evaluate which bits of you are likely to go downhill over the next few years and spec your bike accordingly.

At 4k I'd be eschewing buying a bike. I'd be going frame/fork/wheels/components to suit, unless you happen to find a preassembled bike that ticks all your boxes.

Remember that this bike should put a big grin on your face and make you want to get out and ride as often as you can. Not to spend your life on this forum asking how to resolve a constant stream of niggles.

I would strongly recommend giving 'gears in a can' a serious consideration (alfine/Rohloff/Pinion) due to the ease with which you can lower the gearing, just by changing single chainring and/or sprocket. You will also be freed from the horrendous markup on current 1x or 2x gearing and consequently have much more funds to put into other aspects of your bike (less so with Rohloff and particularly Pinion).

[jimlews]

For what it is worth, my opinion is that yes, you would be wasting your four grand. The 4Gr bike will not be eight times better than a £ 500 bike. You would just be paying through the nose for a load of marketing ballony. As others have said, it's the "meat engine" that counts. Get yourself 'bike fit' on the Orbit and enjoy the ride. Welcome back!

[thelawnet]

Hi
All of the above, plus don't forget the cost of insurance. A £4k bike could take a sizeable additional premium to insure away from home, I stick between £1k and £1.5k for that reason. TSB does a pick n mix insurance that's reasonably-priced and was cheaper than my existing insurer
Regards
tim-b

I insured my £12000 best bike, with 1000 quids worth of ‘extras’ for 400 quid. That’s theft and crash and 3rd party liability cover.

blimey.

Have yet to spend that much on a bike, let alone insurance for one.