baj32161

I have been riding for many years....since I was a kid back in The 1970s and, during all of that time, I have never ridden a high end road bike.

My budget ga always denied me that and I never 2ahred to rest ride one, as it might have made me want to spend beyond my means.

Oh, I have been tempted to many times but could never pull the trigger.

The highest end bike I've ever owned is my current bike, a Specialized Tricross from 2010.

Now, at my age (62) I wonder if I was really missing anything.

I absolutely loved riding all of the bikes I gave owned and wonder if a high end bike would have been a justifiable splurge

I've never been a rqcer or a status seeker so, a mid level road bike had always been quite fine for me.

Am I the only one here with this conundrum?

big john

It depends on how much of a gear head you are, and how much you like bling. I've never had the budget to buy high end bikes but I did buy one used 11 years ago.

It's not like anything short of an e-bike would make me any faster. I wouldn't mind something new and pretty if I had a sudden pile of cash at my disposal.

genejockey 

Kinda depends on what you call "high end" and what you call "mid range". I've never spent more than $2400 to buy a bike, but I have spent $2400. That one is a Canyon Endurace - carbon fiber frame, disc brakes, 105 groupset. There are now two levels of frame above it in Canyon's catalog, and there are two levels above the groupset (R7000 series 105) in Shimano's catalog. To go up those two levels, I'd have to spend almost 4 times as much.

So, would you consider $2400 "high end"? Or "Midrange"?

eljayski 

I don't know how close these guys come to your idea of high end but for what it's worth . . .

These are two hand-built Italian steel "racers," one is Legend "Sella Ronda"


by Bertoletti and the other is Tommasini Techno. They are new to me this year and each cost roughly $4500 fully built. I went with Centaur to have the silver finish which looks so groovy on an Italian steed. They're high end imo because they're built to measure and are made of top quality steel.

Good luck with your quest!

bampilot06

If it makes you feel better I have crashed every high end bike I have ever owned within the first week of owning it. 4 total. My three used bikes I have never crashed.

Mojo31

My take is that if you can write the check, do it and enjoy the day. Don’t do it if you have to finance it. Definitely don’t do it if it will create any type of financial stress.

Mtracer

I sort of went through this last year. I needed to replace my bike after getting hit by a car. I had an insurance check for the bike and other property damage for full replacement value. I thought I might just put this towards a really high end bike. But decided to not do that. This year I had an itch to get a second "road" type bike. In large part to prevent any downtime should my bike need major servicing. My existing bike was a gravel bike that I ran road wheels on. I realized there were some things I really wanted, like Di2, and to get a bike in a color I actually liked. Not just the least bad of the 2-3 options a given bike model and build gave me. And I wanted an actual road bike.

So, I decided to go for it and bought a Trek Domane SLR 7 for a bit north of $9k. So, that's high-end by anyone's measure. Is it 3-5X better than a less expensive carbon bike, of course not. Is it better? Yes! It rides like a dream. I can't say if it's the frame or the wheels. I think a bit of both.

To the OP, you're 62 (so am I). You only live once. If you can afford it, go get your dream bike. And I'm sure you could be very happy spending a lot less than I did. The SLR frame and Ultgera DI2 add a LOT to the cost. On the other hand, if spending so much makes you uncomfortable, as in you feel guilt splurging when you could donate it to orphans or similar, then of course not.

Another thing is how much do you ride? I ride ~8 hours per week, actually on the bike. So, say 400 hours a year. If you assumed $10 per hour, which these days is relatively inexpensive entertainment, in two years that's $8,000 worth of entertainment. A good bike should last a lot longer then that. Of course there are other expenses in biking than the bike. If you ride frequently, you'll likely get a lot more use out of it than someone does their boat or camper.

If you don't get one, are you going to be on your deathbed wishing you had bought one. I rather doubt it. And no you're not missing out on some sort of superlative biking experience. But a nice bike, is a nice bike. And it is nice to have something that is just the way you want it to be. Though that doesn't necessarily mean expensive.

mschwett 

my wife and i could have written this ourselves. we choose to live where we do and the way we do in part because if we felt like, we (and our two little ones) could live perfectly comfortably right where we are for a tiny fraction of our income. for the time being we spend quite a larger fraction on vehicles and toys and clothes and trips and causes, but we know we’d be happy without.

i have two $$$$$ bikes, but would be happy with much less expensive ones, i’m sure. but why not?

john m flores 

I just purchased the most expensive bike I've ever owned. It's great fun but I hate worrying about it getting stolen. I think that I prefer the carefree lifestyle of budget bikes.

RCMoeur 

I think I'm in a similar situation. When I was young, I couldn't afford high-end stuff. I raced on a secondhand Raleigh Pro with used mid-range Suntour components. Some other racers did make comments about the, um, thriftiness of my setup, but I kept up with them, and even won a few events. Fast forward through the decades, and I've never felt a great need to have the latest and greatest, as I have been happy with what I currently have.

With my current cash flow, I could buy a new carbon fiber road bike or light composite dual-suspension MTB. I could certainly appreciate the advantages of a newer bicycle, but I think I wouldn't get that much more happiness out of them than I already get on my current bikes. I don't race anymore, so I don't need maximum lightness or performance. I may have access to super-light carbon-fiber racing frames, but my old Raleigh Pro is still around and rides fine. My offroading is intermittent, so a high-end MTB may just occupy space much of the time.

nesdog

I made this same upgrade. As a retirement present to myself in 2019, I went from a 2014 Domane 4.3 (all 105) to the SLR7. I thought to myself "It's the same geometry, and measurements. Why am I doing this?!"

For me, it was totally worth it. The SLR rides better and has provided countless hours of satisfaction. Could I have stayed with the 4.3? Of course, and I'd have been fine with that. But I knew I could afford the SLR and I'm always the "Buy Reasonable" person. For just once, I wanted to own something high end!

Jklotz

You said you have enjoyed cycling throughout much of your life. In my eyes, you have already won.

I know a lot of guys who always want the next shiny, new thing. As soon as they get it, they are on to looking for the next big, shiny new thing. They don't seem, to me anyways, to enjoy the activity of cycling as much as they do buying stuff.

If you can responsively afford a new bike, nothing wrong with that. Getting a new bike is a very rewarding experience, at least for me it is. As long as I don't loose sight of what truly makes me happy, which is riding with my friends and staying fit. The bike is just a tool to that end.

So, to answer your question, are you missing anything? Probably not. Marginal gains are for pros trying to win the Tour de France. For the rest of us, do what makes you happy.

lasauge 

I think this is really a philosophical question that you can only answer for yourself: what's your relationship to the things you own? Would it be prudent for you to spend money on an expensive bike? If affording one is something you'd have to sacrifice for, is the potential experience/pleasure worth making the trade off for? Are there intangible things (like aesthetics or a preference for DIY) that mean you might prefer a 'lesser' bike?

But I'll give you an answer in case it's of interest as someone who has ridden lots of different bikes across the spectrum (I'm a bike obsessive nerd and I've had multiple bike industry jobs): If my brother-in-law who is not a cyclist let me know he wanted to try road cycling and wanted my advice on what was worth buying, I'd try to get him on a mid-range bike around $4-5000 in today's money. For that you can get an endurance road bike with a carbon frame, carbon wheels, hydraulic discs, and 105 Di2. The bike I have in mind would give him 99.9% of the experience of riding a really nice modern bike and hopefully hook him on cycling. If he wanted to spend more I wouldn't discourage him, but realistically I don't think he'd be in a position to appreciate more than that since beyond that point you're paying for increasingly small weight savings and minor improvements that you have to be pretty picky to care about and won't change the ride experience for most people (like the buttons in the tops of Ultegra/Dura Ace Di2 shifters).

PeteHski

Yeah it depends how far down the rabbit hole the OP actually went. The law of diminishing returns falls off a cliff with bicycles pretty much at around $2400 😂 I draw the line at about twice that value with a second tier group set (SRAM Force AXS), second tier carbon wheels (DT Swiss ERC 1400) and second tier carbon frame (SL about 200g heavier than the top level SLR version at the time). My spare bike has third tier components (Shimano 105 etc) and is just as fun/fast to ride.

PeteHski

This poses another question ie choice of materials, technology and fit.

Chuck Naill

A friend gave me a 1980's Trek that I rode for several years until I damaged the frame on a car top carrier. Then I rode my son's carbon bike that was a bit too big for another couple of years. When I decided to get a bike in 2017, I discovered touring bicycles with gravel tires. This has allowed me to ride trails and gravel roads plus streets and rural roads. I am happy with my decision.

freeranger

You state "I absolutely loved riding all of the bikes I gave owned"--my view is that the bikes you have owned have suited you well, without spending a lot. I've never ridden a "high end" road bike either. But my trusty '06 LeMond Reno is still and always has provided me with a pleasurable riding experience. I could have/can afford a high end bike, but can't justify it for what riding I do these days. Did I miss something in the past by not buying a high end bike? Don't know but had many good times, still good times, riding the LeMond. Sounds like you were (are?) having a good time with the bike(s) you've owned. You're ahead of the game!

jadmt

my buddy has a Cervelo R3 and we were on a ride and we swapped bikes for a bit, it weighs sub 16 lbs and oh my was it nice. he told me he has well over 40,000 miles on it. not sure the year but it still had rim brakes. If I fell into a hole and it was filled with cash I would be looking for something like that but getting back on my $2099 Canyon edurace cf didn't make me feel like I was missing much, altho his chris king hubs has me wanting a wheelset built up with a CK or similar angry bees type hub....

jrobe

I remember when I bought my first Cervelo R3 after having ridden low end Trek's all my life. I almost crashed when I pedaled hard and the bike surged forward so fast that my hands came off the bars. I had never imagined responsiveness like that. That was a revelation for me on high end bikes. I put 80,000 miles on that bike and now ride a second R3. Those bikes were worth every penny to me.

I also have an older Bianchi steel frame bike that I bought fairly cheap. That bike rides like a Lincoln Towne Car but that is fun too on occasion and the bike was cheap.

easyupbug 

Being lucky in life when carbon really got going in the late '70s I would get the latest offerings every few years and after some time dump them and go back to my beauties, they just did not offer up much to me, I did not race but did do centuries. That ended in '99 with a Trek 5500 which still is around but not ridden. Now 73 the ride comfort has become most important and I am appreciating the ride I am getting a titanium Moots & and a Litespeed but find I ride some old favorites just as much if they will take larger tires.

genejockey 

It does seem like for a "serious" bike, $2000-$3000 is the floor, and then beyond that you're into diminishing returns. GCN just did a video comparing "The bike you need", in this case a Canyon Endurace AL with Sora/Tiagra to an Aeroad CFR with Dura Ace. On the same 13km route, riding with the same average power, the Endurace was 37 sec slower than the Aeroad, which is either a lot or almost nothing, depending on who you ask. The Endurace model they tested seems to be one not sold in the US, with Sora/Tiagra and cable disc brakes, that Canyon sells for $1000.

But I'd be curious to see a test of, say that entry-level Endurace AL vs say, the CF7 or CF8. The step from $1000 to $2-3000 seems like the big one, to me.

mschwett 

i’m surprised the difference was that much - a little over two percent faster! the real question, of course, is whether the fancy bike was more enjoyable for the rider. hard to quantify!

genejockey 

Impossible to quantify, because it'll be different for every rider.

Hermes

I like to make every ride matter and the most fun possible and feel fabulous while doing it. That statement is a big YMMV. More expensive may not be more fabulous but it may. Budget allocation to cycling always matters. That is why I am riding an older bike versus the new S-Works or Cervelo with disc wheels.

This is my latest pic of my bike but also has me in it so apologies for breaking tradition of the bike in front of the garage door. My primary road / race bike is a 2014 Cervelo R5. I reconfigured it from SRAM red manual shifting to SRAM electronic shifting and recently replaced the Fast Forward wheels with their latest design 45 mm wider rims. The wheels have the widest rim that my bike will accommodate. I use 25 mm tires and they match up with the rim. The weight with pedals and cages is 15.2 pounds for a 58 frame set that includes an SRM power meter.

When I first bought it, I thought the ride was a little harsh on higher pressure tires (too stiff). With the new wheels and tire setup (lower pressure) and electronic shifting, it is very competitive with one of the newer models and the ride is much more refined and I like it a lot. When I am training on the road or touring, it is a very fun, light bike. I recently rode 15 days in Mallorca Spain and climbed some of the epic climbs. Fortunately, I remembered to pack my fast legs. Slow legs do not work well on this bike (or any bike).

PeteHski

I agree it makes more sense to compare 2 bikes of the same type at different price points. I would expect a base level Aeroad to be faster than a top tier Endurace over a short average route. But I would expect the Endurace to be more comfortable on a long ride over patchy mixed roads. I bet nearly all of that 37 sec was due to a more aggressive riding position and the more aero bike design, rather than the cost difference in components. A base level Aeroad would probably be only a few seconds slower than their top tier version.

But of course you could argue that all these bikes are high-end compared to whatever bikes the OP has been riding. We have no frame of reference.

Edit: Sorry, just noticed that the OP did mention his current bike, but I'm not familiar with that model.