robbo400

Hi all,

I've not ridden a bike for over 10 years and have decided that I want to get back into it at a nice level. It is part of my regime to get fit again, having already lost 10kg but still being 12kg over my ideal weight.

I have just had a £5k bonus from work and had intended making 3 purchases: a decent watch, a hybrid bike which I can just jump on to go to the shops etc and a good road bike.

The last road bike I had was a beautiful De Rosa Dual but, alas, I am over the weight limit for the bike. Comfort will be a priority but I'd love to have the same responsive acceleration that my De Rosa has. I thought I'd have to forgo the responsiveness for comfort which is the sensible thing to do. At 53, I am too old to get back into any sort of competition and realistically I want to work up to century rides and doubt I'll progress beyond that.

I had been thinking about either a carbon or titanium frame and was looking online at Boardman SLR Endurance and Kinesis Granfondo Ti respectively. Then today (on vacation in France) I went into a shop stocking Passoni, Colnago, Pinarello, De Rosa, Bianchi and Wilier - wow! Chatting to the guy, who knew I was not buying, he told me that the Colnago C60 had the comfort, speed, stability and durability in line with what I wanted. I spoke to a few guys of my age in the shop who had all returned to cycling in the last 10 years and all owned C40s, 59s and 60s.

The bug really bit when I rung a guy who specialises in Colnago in the UK who can do me the C60 frame, Chorus groupset and Ambrosio Excellence rims for under £5k. Am I being ridiculous in spending all my money on this as it's way beyond what I need and my performance level and look at a bike around half the price (as I'd intended and get a watch and hybrid) or should I go for it?

Thanks