Just how much would you pay?

[Vantage]

Given my life expectancy can't justify more than a few '00 quid now.

I've been on benefits for over 10 years due to health issues. I genuinely can't see myself living to retirement age and if by some miracle I do, I'm certain I'll either be in a wheelchair or blind.
For those reasons, I can justify the huge cost of my bike. I'm going to do everything I can to enjoy life while I'm still able.

[djnotts]

Given my life expectancy can't justify more than a few '00 quid now.

I've been on benefits for over 10 years due to health issues. I genuinely can't see myself living to retirement age and if by some miracle I do, I'm certain I'll either be in a wheelchair or blind.
For those reasons, I can justify the huge cost of my bike. I'm going to do everything I can to enjoy life while I'm still able.

That's the other response and very admirable! Mine is driven by need to leave as much cash - and as little hassle selling stuff - as possible to my children. If both were as well placed as one is I would spend.

Good luck to you.

[Cugel]

Given my life expectancy can't justify more than a few '00 quid now.

I've been on benefits for over 10 years due to health issues. I genuinely can't see myself living to retirement age and if by some miracle I do, I'm certain I'll either be in a wheelchair or blind.
For those reasons, I can justify the huge cost of my bike. I'm going to do everything I can to enjoy life while I'm still able.

That's the other response and very admirable! Mine is driven by need to leave as much cash - and as little hassle selling stuff - as possible to my children. If both were as well placed as one is I would spend.

Good luck to you.

I've never scrapped a bicycle, despite having owned several over the decades. Ditto for many other items associated with hobbies; and now anything we buy must have this resilience from a scrapping-end. Unfortunately, it does take a certain amount of capital to buy such well-made things - but me and t'wife have always been savers and somehow failed to waste oodles of cash on ephemera such as foreign holidays and fashionable (for a couple of months) clothes, not to mention gallons of grog and packets of lung-rotters.

Here's a lesson I learnt about buying stuff: buy the best you can afford but avoid the law of diminishing returns. The advantages of doing this are:

* You get a proper thing that functions well, for a long time and might even look good.
* Such things tend to retain their long term value far better than do the cheaper things, which can often tend to dross.
* Retained (or even increased) value in things, even used, allows you to sell them on easily when you want a change.
* Retained value is not just monetary but also in quality - someone else now gets to use the thing for another decade.
* Good quality things, passed on when no longer needed, avoid the landfill.

As mentioned, it does take a wad of capital available for such purchases - but the advantages of saving for such a thing are great. The capital remains and you find that after you've sold on the well-made thing, you have a wodge to spend on the next well-made thing. You also have to practice maintenance. Being "kind" when using the things also helps.

Buying for fashion or because other Jones have got one is a big mistake. The rascals only get a different one next month and you have to keep up.

Cugel

[Nearholmer]

To get the “real answer” to the question posed by the OP, one would need access to the trade secrets of all the bicycle retailers, and they would surely reveal quite a few “guilty secrets” of keen cyclists.

There is definitely a slice of the market that is about people “treating themselves” to very expensive bikes and when I look at the road bikes ridden by a lot of club members I can see rather a lot of dosh on display.

I sense that maybe the demographic of this forum is unrepresentative of keen cyclists overall, perhaps being somewhat tilted towards the older end of the spectrum, more “touring” than “current roadie”, and better equipped with tools, time, and competence to do self-builds, so maybe able to create good bikes for less money.

In short, f the OP wishes to convince himself and his other half that it’s OK to buy a dead-fancy bike, join a road club, get them to meet at your place, and trick them into starting one of those “my bike is fancier than your bike” boasting contests in front of the other half.

[freiston]

I set to searching for a credible meaning of "LSWR" in context and then find that it's no longer in the post where I saw it mentioned!

[Nearholmer]

For some reason, auto-correct decided that I wanted to talk about a long-defunct railway company. I didn’t.

[thirdcrank]

Like freiston, I searched for a meaning but I concluded it must be a reference to trainspotting or model railways. I also searched the thread itself to see if somebody had mentioned t higher up. Where does all the time go?

[CliveyT]

My most expensive bike is just over 6K euros, but as it's a tandem Mrs T had as much a say in purchasing it as I did

Pictures please!

This is the beastie, and it's a good example. Would have been expensive anyway but quite a bit more to have it in a custom colour. Reasoned I can afford it, and it will be the only one I'll buy in my lifetime

[roubaixtuesday]

My most expensive bike is just over 6K euros, but as it's a tandem Mrs T had as much a say in purchasing it as I did

Pictures please!

This is the beastie, and it's a good example. Would have been expensive anyway but quite a bit more to have it in a custom colour. Reasoned I can afford it, and it will be the only one I'll buy in my lifetime
20220721_002.jpg

Lovely, thank you