[Closed] Does anybody else find that new bike cause stress ?

No I fret that I am going to break something on the first ride. I then usually do break something, so once that has happened it isn't new anymore and the stress goes.

Choosing a new bike, yes. I can procrastinate over a new bike for months and I'm always certain that there is a better deal out there if I just search one more website...

Once ordered and in my hands, however, all of the stress vanishes and I'm as happy as a pig in muck bolting it together, fettling and prepping. And once, riding...well, it's a bike. What could be better? 🙂

I try to not be too precious over new bikes. They get used, they get marked and (eventually) they break. They're a tool - get out and enjoy them!

Stress over it not being that great, yes I've had that a couple of times especially with custom bikes that weren't quite what I'd hoped for in various ways.

Latest two purchases have been ace though - first proper road bike and a new tandem that's a perfect replacement for our creaking 1994 model!

To be clear I'm not remotely bothered about scratching it. I think mountain bikes look better with a few battle scars anyway. It's just the worry about whether I've made the "right choice", which is stupid as there is no one right choice.

It took me a few months, hadnt been riding much, family, shite weather, boggy trails etc, then it got nicked!, a month later got it back,

had a 'get to know u again ride' on it  which was good, but then a big stack at the end.

Went up to innerleithen for 1st round of UKGE unsure if it was a keeper or not

and now im in love with it

Its possibly a bit too much for my general riding, but was brilliant in the big hills!

I have this at present, never really owned an expensive bike from new with a big initial outlay.

I've owned some nice bikes but they always been a bit "triggers broom" with me buying nice used frames, and usually fitting wheels and other components i already had. But after a ridiculous amount of overtime i treated myself to a Reilly Gradient with all new Ulterga, Hope callipers, Easton EC90 bars and seat post etc. it is beautiful and far too nicer bike for my fitness and skill level, but now i have had about 20 nervous moments building it, i had kittens cutting the carbon steerer, even though i'd measured it 10 times, and now i'm almost scared to get it dirty as it's so shiny!

I prefer clean and well-serviced to new and shiny.  Less stress.  Just as well really as haven't had an actual new new bike this century.

I do remember the stress of spending nearly £2k on a Rocky Mountain back before 2k, and then it snapped on the 3rd or so outing.  Took 6 months to get a replacement frame.   Then the re-build.  Then the new replacement fell very slightly against a house corner-wall.  Ding/crease in centre of lovely metallic-flaked taperwall top-tube.  My brain felt dinged.  I like a bike to be a bit beaten up but mechanically sound.  Am eternally working towards that happy marriage!

Not really. I'm one of those idiots that don't really research much but buy what's in the ballpark of what I like riding and what I happen to fancy and can afford. Which is nuts as I keep my bikes for a good few years after spending a decent wedge on frame, forks, parts etc.

Recently moved to a Yeti SB6 which I am loving - handful of local rides then last weekend in the Lakes.

Not really. I’m one of those idiots that don’t really research much but buy what’s in the ballpark of what I like riding and what I happen to fancy and can afford.

Sounds very sensible to me 🙂

I'm with Captain, my stress is about getting it and it not feeling as good as the test ride. or reading about other bikes I should have tried.

First month is generally being really happy with the bike, but a nagging thought saying I wonder how much better it would have been if I'd just spent x more and gone for the Lyric....

My newest bike is 14kgs, bought about 3 months ago, even now I'm thinking about whether I should have spent the extra and gone for a lighter carbon frame. Then I get on the bike and fall back in love!

Stupid thoughts as the bike is far more capable than I'll ever be. I also don't think I've ever had a bad bike, from £200 second hand commuters to high end silly light carbon bikes. I get to test ride the bikes for a good week or so and this really helps, this does restrict my buying choice to the one LBS, but its a penalty worth paying in my opinion.

I have a tactic in that I keep buying magazines, reading reviews online etc until the wife is bored of it - she then just says "just go and buy the damn bike you really want". Has worked on the last two purchases.

No

I kinda get what you mean. I started a post asking what type of rider people are with similar thoughts.

I too struggle with choice, or the vast amount of it!

Yes, I've got a spreadsheet with about 50 bikes in it... because of my choice in bikes (boutique/low volume brands, Whyte aside), it's nearly impossible to get a demo ride. So it needs to be a purchasing commitment based on geometry, personal experience and reviews.

Last year I bought a Whyte 529 full build, I stripped it an sold all the parts as I just wanted the frame because of it geometry. It's the cheapest bike I've ever had with QR rear, and I was worried it would be rubbish once built up, and waste lots of money on top end components. Turns out it's the best HT I've ever had! I've put thousands of miles on it all year round and it's handled it all perfect. It was a grower though. Took me a little while to get used to the longer stays and other traits.

Now really conflicted on getting a Cotic FlareMAX... geometry looks good, but it's got longer stays, so it is more difficult to manual? With the LS geometry, is it too stable to play around on? Will I regret spending 2x or even 3x more on this than other bikes..

I've made plenty of poor bike choices early on, but now seem to get on with everything I buy based on personal experience.

Reading between the lines it seems like you actually didn't make the right choice. If you had your worry wouldn't be there. not while riding it anyway.

Understand what you mean.

But I love this "research" stuff and the test rides.

All bikes are different. Every bike is a huge, huge learning experience!

But: I never expect the "perfect" bike. I always have a certain (low) budget level and try to get as much as possible out of this budget...

Test rides: stress in the first week (did I assembly all the stuff correct?). Beginning of second week: no stress at all any more!

Strange so: it takes a bit time to really "know" and "like" the new bike. Negative and positive things show up with new bikes...

Biggest fun then: to bike with your pals - and see how the new bike is doing... that's pure joy!

Only when I find the perfect bike for me, but  it's not in stock.....for 8 months.

Surly, I'm looking at you.

I can kind of see where you're coming from and have sometimes felt I could have made different choice with purchases. But then most of my choices are severely limited by available budget so I don't dwell on it for long.

On the other hand I think **** it, let's just get out and enjoy what I've got.

I definitely have less stress on bikes I've had a while. Plus learning to do most of the maintenance myself has got rid of the sinking feeling I used to get when something started making an odd noise.

I stress about spending the money, but then once I have it's all gravy.

New bikes make me ride more as I feel the need to justify the expense.

 Pouring over geometry charts,

This is most peoples big mistake. Select a couple of bikes which seem to be suited to the riding you like, try to test ride them if you can (no idea how people are able to do this) but then just buy and ride it and try to enjoy yourself.

I've never had much money to buy bikes so I don't have the luxury of selling on a bike/frame for a loss after a few weeks so I just make sure I get used to it and change my riding slightly to get the best out of if necessary.

Took me a little while to get used to the longer stays and other traits.

Now really conflicted on getting a Cotic FlareMAX… geometry looks good, but it’s got longer stays, so it is more difficult to manual? With the LS geometry, is it too stable to play around on? Will I regret spending 2x or even 3x more on this than other bikes..

I can't really answer those. I don't find I any harder to manual, but I'm crap at it anyway, so it doesn't mean that you wont. A couple of things to bear in mind though: First, it sounds as though you grew to like the slightly longer stays on the Whyte, so it might not be a bad idea to try something even longer for a bit to see how you get on. Second, chainstays aren't the only factor that matters of course. As I understand it BB drop is just as important a factor in how easy it is to lift the front. The FlareMax has longer chainstays than some other options, but also less BB drop than many.

Reading between the lines it seems like you actually didn’t make the right choice. If you had your worry wouldn’t be there. not while riding it anyway.

I see what you are saying, but I fear that's just not the way I'm wired. It's not actually while riding a section that's the issue though. It's more that I'll ride a section thinking "this is fun", then start second guessing myself. Would it have been even more fun if x. Or I'll mess up a section then worry that maybe I wouldn't have messed it up if I'd opted for a different bike. Given how often I mess stuff up whatever I'm riding that's clearly bonkers.

I should stress that this isn't specific to the current bike. That's actually going rather well, but it's been a feature of all the bikes I've bought recently. It just takes me a few rides to stop worrying about whether I made the right choice and just enjoy riding again.

To make matters worse, some of the bikes that I've most enjoyed took a while to gel with and others that felt great at first quickly lost their appeal. So, it really is bonkers to put so much pressure on the first few rides.

Nope never ever.

Here's a Friday song for you though. 😉

That's me, oddly adorable 🙂

@Roverpig - Cheers! Been following your other thread with interest. They do look fantastic and seem to tick lots of boxes.. I'm getting the new Solaris for sure, so that might sway my opinion.

The world would be a better place if we could un-invent the word stress.

Oh i'm stressed at this and that, everything!!!!! Erm.. no. you're just a highly strung loonball with coping isses*! 😆

*Not speaking specifically about the OP!

Erm.. no. you’re just a highly strung loonball with coping issues

🙂

Thanks, that's made my afternoon. Maybe I should get a t-shirt printed 🙂

Nah, it's only bikes, just ride the bugger

Does anybody else find that new bike cause stress ?

Nope.

My friend was being really precious about his new bike last week.

I scratched it putting it into my car.

He is much better now.

I didn't charge him at all for this service.

Let me know if I can help you out...

OP, i think this may be a feature of building yourself. If you bought a complete bike off the peg you'd be judging the whole package rather than specific parts.

Nah, it’s only bikes, just ride the bugger

This..kind of!!

I guess no one makes terrible bikes any more - and you should get a feel for how they SHOULD ride from geometry stats. I guess the fact I ride hardtails/rigid makes this easier, as I know people have preference to rear suss designs.

I reckon that as long as you're in the 'ballpark' or a bike fitting you, and being fit for purpose, you can change most things to make it suit you.
Or..just realise it's just a bike and go ride the damn thing!!

DrP

I feel worryingly like we were separated at birth 🤪

It's waiting for it that's causing me stress! Promised 4 weeks, it's now 6 and no sign. That causes me stress - I want to ride it!!

@ndthornton I wish you'd made that offer earlier, I could have used your services on my new bike.

Luckily i managed to scratch it myself cleaning it after the second ride so I've now progressed straight to the "It's just a bike, ride it" stage in record time.

In the past year I've bought/built myself four bikes (2x Full-sus, 2x Hardtail), the first one of each I bought because they were the best choice and the second two quickly replaced the first two because they were the bikes I actually wanted even though they're heavier, lower spec'd or both! I'm much happier now!

I wouldn't say any of it was stressful though, who doesn't enjoy buying bikes & bike parts?!

on my most recent purchase, it was a disaster from the first seed all the way through.

I decided to buy a frameset to go with some tyres i had, as you do, so saved some cash up, decided I would get a singular swift, all the reviews were positive, the size numbers matched up with what i expected to fit and it looked right. IME, if it looks right, then it’s right.

Went online to order frameset, out of stock.

messaged sam on fb re delivery times for a medium, got a message back ‘no idea when they will be back in stock’

slightly miffed, decided on 2nd choice of surly karate monkey, charlie the bikemonger had them in stock, so i ordered one. Gets email back ‘out of stock’ but they could do me a discount on the brand new karate monkey. Decided to go with that, ordered it, arrives a couple of days later with a slightly dented bb.

after speaking to charlie, decided to try and insert bb, turns out its fine.

then more stress with the build, i had never seen a 44mm headtube before so was worried about that.

the frame wouldn’t take a triple chainset, managed to fit a double by spacing it over 1 spacer.

front mech, despite having 4 to choose from, none of them would fit due to tyre interference, but managed to get one of these new ones where the cable goes in at the front.

after all that though, the bike rides brilliantly, and is perfect for what I wanted it for.

get out and ride, everything will be better after that.

Not meant in any way to be pejorative, but I just correctly guessed the identity of the OP from the thread title alone.

Ouch 🙂

Yes OP. That's me exactly.

I bought a new bike in March. It's fantastic and probably the best bike I've owned. However, it's a 650B and I was split between it and a 29er.

The bike I've bought is the base model in the range and I'm beating myself up about buying parts to upgrade what is a great riding bike or putting the money towards a change to a 29er perhaps 6-9 months from now.

It's FOMO I reckon.

Totally get where you're coming from.

Bought my first brand new bike since I was 14, last year. Umm'd and ahh'd over various choices, 650b vs 29er, etc etc. Eventually settled on the one I bought, which was 650b, because I liked the company and the bike, but kind of wanted it to have been a 29er but they didn't do one at the time.

Then 8 months later they announced the 29er. If I'd known, I would have waited. Now I'm finding I'm riding my £150 singlespeed more than the £3.5k bike, just because I feel disillusioned. I know it's ridiculous, but there you go.

OK, so I'm bonkers, but at least I'm not alone. That's something I guess.

FOMO, that's a good one.