Originally Posted by
Sunnyrider56
I wonder if it's just that--increasing happiness. I understand that's important and it's important to me too. But there's a competing interest in not wasting thousands of dollars, if it's possible to avoid. Maybe it's irreconcilable..."can't take it with you on the way out" mentality versus minimalism and making do with the least amount of kit.
I'm feeling choice paralysis, and it's extremely upsetting.
You are answering your own question. You consider paying more than necessary to be a waste if it isn't an investment. I'm assuming you're not a competitive racer, in which case the notion of obsolescence is completely irrelevant. Bike technology advances incrementally and bikes basically are products that, if well maintained, have a longer useful lifetime than we do. For all practical reasons, any bike might be your "forever" bike, but the concept is a bit silly because the only thing that's predictable is that, being a mortal human being, the engine is going to undergo far more significant changes than your bike or bikes in general.
Long story short -- this is a "what do I want now" question, not a "what bike is going to be worth keeping in 10 years" question. You can't really know what kind of riding you will be doing in 10 years, nor what the bike market will look like in ten years. Figure out what balance of spending will maximize your enjoyment of bicycling now now, and leave the future to the future.