[Closed] Being a bike snob is rubbish

I have two options for you

a. Invert your snobbery, sneer at anyone spending over £1k on a bike. Come up with a selection of BS as to why your budget shit bits are better than the spendy stuff.  I’m sure you have learned some of this from STW over the years too

b. Don’t bother with cycle scheme.  It isn’t actually that great a deal these days and it is compromising your choices and most likely the deals you can get outside a scheme that creams off a percentage of your spend

Only meant as a light hearted post to be honest. The HR bods didn’t even ask for any involvement when there are a couple of people, me included, who could’ve probably given decent input.

I’ll stick to buying used. Only ever bought one new bike in my life. Who’s got a medium gravel bike they want shut of?

Let me give you some starters

1x gearing - Pah, obviously a complete incompetent who can’t set up a front mech

hydro brakes. - cable brakes are so much better for reliability and back of beyond repair

BTW, don’t take me too seriously either 😀

Your first point is a bit too close to home 😂

And the 3rd option is:

Just use it to buy a grand's worth of components for your dream build. Source your frame and wheels elsewhere.

Merlin Malt G1X

OK, if we’re going to be all sensible the 4th option is to use it to buy <£500 worth of kit  as that will most likely give you a smaller final payment % (but check your specific scheme details)

Plenty of cable disc aficionados on this forum (Avid BB7s mainly!).

The clue is in the name "Cycle to Work" 😄

Be grateful you don't work for HMRC, I wouldn't put it iadt them to have checked my commuting mileage to make sure that's what the main use was, as per the agreement.

Boardman ADV 8.9? New one is out soon

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/group-tests/boardman-bikes-333601

Doesn't have 1x gearing but that is always something you can change at a later date. Hyrdo brakes etc and bolt through front and rear axles. Not a bad price for £1k.

Go part c2w and part interest free credit or cash. Most shops are willing to do this. C2w is a 40% discount so you want to maximise what you can on c2w. Last bike I bought was £2100. 1k on c2w the rest on interest free credit. And have used c2w since to upgrade parts.

There must be something for that price, surely? My calibre was 340 quid, has hydro brakes, and I can make it 1x in 10 minutes if I want (which I probably will when I get my finger out!).

Why do alu forks have to get in the sea? never had an issue, had carbon forks and never noticed a difference. There definitely seems to be a premium for hydro brakes on drop bar bikes, just as well I prefer flat bars.

Consider yourself lucky, my employer has put a £500 limit in place which pretty much rules out anything, maybe a frame.

Plenty of cable disc aficionados on this forum (Avid BB7s mainly!).

Hi there!

Go speak to North Road Cycles, I bet they'll be able to sort this with 1x if it comes off.

https://twitter.com/NorthRoadCycles/status/1273519417297641473

EDIT - they do mean sub 1k for full bike. Carbon or steel fork, GRX or tiagra groupset, RS170 wheelset

Are you enough of a snob to turn your nose up at a Boardman ADV 8.9?
As it is down to £1k at halfrauds: Tiagra 2x10,hydraulic discs, Al frame, carbon fork...

https://www.halfords.com/bikes/adventure-bikes/boardman-adv-8.9-mens-adventure-bike-526787.html

For reference Ribble will charge about the same for a CGR Al with Tiagra and tektro mechanical discs. I know which one I'd choose...

I saw one of those Boardmans on the road yesterday looked cool

This was meant as a light hearted thread, but thanks for the input guys. Ten years ago I had no clue and was of the mind “a bike is a bike” and would’ve scoffed at spending more than £500 on one. Now I tut at the spec on bikes at a grand. I’ve become condescending niche man!

That Boardman looks decent, but I’m not liking the dropped seat stays. Fails the ugly test. What have I become?

I know exactly where you are coming from. My employer has done the same thing but we are limited to one supplier and a grand limit.

I looked at it in January. Everything was full rrp. If I shopped around I could get the same bike with 30 to 40% off. The bikes they had were full rrp and most of them last years model. It didn't make financial sense to buy through the c2w scheme. However, my colleague bought his first bike in 20 years, a hybrid, he thinks its brilliant. He will never cycle to work on it though.

I had a look again in April and everything had sold out and the only 29ers were £1800.

Wait until the bad weather kicks in and the stock arrives and the sales start again.

Two options to explore

1 - buy as C2W and top up with cash, lots and lots of shops will accept this (I bought my Brompton this way)

2 - buy fancy components. it's often allowed. Posh Exposure light? Fancy new groupset? Light wheels?

What have I become?

Don't worry, you'll grow out of it.

The simple fact is that almost all bikes are beautiful in their own way. From a £99 BSO up, as they all have something to offer whether its VFM transport, the possibility of rugged adventure, or out and out "new golfer" bling.

It sounds like you don't really want/need a bike to cycle to work on. What you want is N+1 in the form of an aspirational gravel bike.
In which case crack on and start assembling your dream-spec/wishlist and then go cost it out, you'll soon discover 'compromise' isn't such a dirty word.

Rubber_Buccaneer
Subscriber
Let me give you some starters

1x gearing – Pah, obviously a complete incompetent who can’t set up a front mech

hydro brakes. – cable brakes are so much better for reliability and back of beyond repair

Listen to the man(?). He/she makes 2 very good points... 😊

Boardman cross bike for me 2 years ago, 1x + hydro, cracking bike.

Does this tick your boxes?

https://www.halfords.com/bikes/cyclocross-bikes/boardman-cxr-8.9-cyclocross-bike-528973.html

Fine line between what's a true 'cross bike and what's a Grave/Adventure/etc bike. Head and seat angles match the ADV and it's got mudguard/rack mounts, so probably not an out-and-out race bike.

I had one of the Boardman CX Pros from before the ADV was a separate model and loved it.

Don’t worry, you’ll grow out of it.

Not at my age I won’t 😂

Not buying anything I don’t think. I’ll just do my usual and wait for something barely used and second hand to crop up.

As for the aspirational gravel bike quote I don’t even know what to say. Again, supposed to be a light hearted thread taking the piss out of how I now see bikes. I’ll leave it here I think

As for the aspirational gravel bike quote I don’t even know what to say.

Well They are the aspirational 'bike-de'jour' aren't they?
Nowt wrong with having aspirations, and you said you wanted one, thus you aspire to Gravel bike ownership.
I've got one, in amongst all my other aspirational toys...

Again, supposed to be a light hearted thread taking the piss out of how I now see bikes.

And light hearted piss taking of your consumer musings is what you got, after we found you some perfectly good products to reject 🙄 , what were you expecting? Smileys and an 'LOL' after every other sentence?
This ain't 'Bikeradar' We play Hard here, Feelings get hurt almost every week. </sarcasm>*

I’ll leave it here I think

Yeah!!!?! well I was taking my ball anyway...

😉

*I feel I need to add the pretend '</sarcasm>' markup just so we're clear... Nobody here bares you any ill will.

😂 sorry, crap day at work making me grumpy.

The last time my company offered this it was limited to a specific company with inflated prices and there were limitations as to what equipment you could buy.

Couldn't spend it on components only on equipment. In the end I got a helmet and shoes.

Oh by the way I ain't no snob, I'm too cheap for that. Ask my wife