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Any noteworthy bike purchase regrets?

Old 09-18-21, 02:08 PM
  #76  
Korina
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Two. Before I understood that I have impulse control issues, I bought a red Specialized Hard Rock that I was going to fix up and pass on; it's still in the garage. Then last year I bought a KHS Montana for I don't know what reason; it's also in the garage.

Okay, a third; the 2004 Giant OCR1 that I paid $200(!) for; I don't know what I was thinking. The bottom bracket's loose, the paint's bubbled in several spots, and the dude commuted on it, leaving sweat-induced rust all over the front. At least it taught me what I don't want in a bike. I think I'm going to trade one or more to my local repair shop for store credit.

EDIT: I've gotten better about impulse purchases; I passed up a very pretty Surly Disc Trucker in exactly my size; the pawn shop wouldn't take less than $700 for it, despite the dirt, the wear, and the dry cables. I hope it found a good home.

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Old 09-18-21, 05:08 PM
  #77  
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Originally Posted by shelbyfv
That's a pretty cool bike. I expect that over your 30 or so years of ownership you could have easily moved it along. Going back to the original thread, let's give thanks for the demise of "nested quotes" or whatever that affectation was called.
But... It's a nice bike.

I can tell you this: The fork might be better used as a boat anchor. The frame, and overall geometry, is good. But that fork... Holy cow! It's a heavy monstrosity. It might be made of cast iron. It weighs as much as the frame.

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Old 09-18-21, 07:04 PM
  #78  
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Selling my Cannondale SuperSix and buying a Cannondale Synapse......worst decision I ever made, .......ever......, quite possibly will even top all the bad decisions I make in the future for the next 25 to 45 years....this assumes I will max out at 101.
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Old 09-18-21, 07:46 PM
  #79  
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1980, I test rode a Fuji Royale and an Austro Diamler. The sales person talked me in to the Fuji, using brand recognition. Not only was the AD the better bike, the Fuji was smaller. Knee problems ensured, leading to a torn meniscus.
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Old 09-18-21, 08:38 PM
  #80  
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Originally Posted by Jno
Preamble: For me, one of life’s contests is to get the best deal on the best thing, at the right time. As a result, I tend to deliberate for a long time before I spend money on expensive bike toys (also because I’m cheap). I notice folks here tend to talk about their successful purchases and/or the qualities they liked less in the alternatives.

Question for the forum: what is a memorable bike purchase that turned out to be one you regret?

For me, I bought an Infinito after testing every endurance bike model I could. I love it, but after I had it about two or three weeks I saw an Oltre xr4 on the road and realized I wished I’d considered, tried it, because clearly the grass looks greener over there. I’ve never stopped regretting the oversight.
Did you ride the Oltre or are you just going by looks?
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Old 09-19-21, 01:05 PM
  #81  
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Originally Posted by rsbob
Did you ride the Oltre or are you just going by looks?
I was thinking the same Rick, but it's a relatively old thread. I would imagine the Oltre is quite a different ride, so it's an odd regret if choosing an endurance road bike.
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Old 09-19-21, 03:43 PM
  #82  
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Related to the thread I just started on the bent chain, I bought a carbon bike, but am regretting it a little due to how it can be damaged by dropping a chain. I was willing to accept the risk of damage by crashing, but a dropped chain is something you expect a bike to not care about too much. I understand that chains are hard, and destructive if they get wedged in places or come in contact with the frame, but it's just that now I think it's a bigger risk than I previously anticipated - perhaps outside of crashing, the biggest risk to the frame. I don't want to start another religious war about carbon bikes, but just an observation from an owner of one.
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Old 09-19-21, 04:36 PM
  #83  
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I rarely have and regrets about buying bikes and bicycle accessories. And I'm a mess when it comes to Buyers Remorse.

Now selling, there's some regerts.

I still wonder where that Thunderstorm Grey Pugsley went to.
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Old 09-19-21, 05:06 PM
  #84  
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My biggest regret is reading a third of the thread before stopping.
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Old 09-19-21, 07:29 PM
  #85  
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Originally Posted by jayp410
Related to the thread I just started on the bent chain, I bought a carbon bike, but am regretting it a little due to how it can be damaged by dropping a chain. I was willing to accept the risk of damage by crashing, but a dropped chain is something you expect a bike to not care about too much. I understand that chains are hard, and destructive if they get wedged in places or come in contact with the frame, but it's just that now I think it's a bigger risk than I previously anticipated - perhaps outside of crashing, the biggest risk to the frame. I don't want to start another religious war about carbon bikes, but just an observation from an owner of one.
You can buy something called a chain keeper that will prevent what happened. Talk to you LBS or research online. If you don’t feel confident installing have your LBS do it.

I had a chain drop into the abyss when removing my bike from a KICKR which scarred my carbon but the nicks were less than 1 mm.
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Old 09-19-21, 08:30 PM
  #86  
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My regret was buying Look Keo pedals before doing more research. Always loved my fantastic yet heavy Look Deltas so never dreamed Looks improved replacement pedal would creak like an old rocking chair with every pedal stroke. (I have to put candle wax on them to make them stop, but that’s annoying for the expensive Carbon blades).
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Old 09-20-21, 04:50 PM
  #87  
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I regret purchasing my first 10-speed, because it was too big for me. The shop said it was too big, but I could pedal and brake OK, and I wasn't willing to wait for the next shipment to arrive. My crotch still hurts from an emergency stop when I think of that bike.
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Old 09-21-21, 08:50 AM
  #88  
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1) A Bianchi road bike that didnt fit after a professional fit. It had me stretched out like a middle aged man trying to do the superman pose in yoga class. Additionally, that generation of Sora gruppo was awful.
2) A Park bench stand, cause bench stands just dont work well.
3) An old Batavus road bike I bought on Ebay that began breaking down as soon as I started riding it.
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Old 09-21-21, 12:24 PM
  #89  
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I bought a BikeFriday tikit. A year later, they sent me a recall, saying 'Hey, there's a little problem with the tikit. The frame sort of breaks. A rider has been hurt. Or maybe a couple riders. Anyway, quit riding it. If you want to fix it, let us know and we'll send you a part.' So I requested the part. It came about a month later: a little sheet metal bracket to bolt on the bike to triangulate a part of the frame. It had to be hand fitted. They didn't include the hardware necessary to install it - I had to get that from the hardware store. Installed, the bracket blocks the hand grip used when rolling the bike in the folded state.

So several years later, they sent me another notice: 'Hey, there's kind of another little problem with the tikit bike. It seems, well, sometimes, the stem sort of snaps off. Two or three (or four) folks have been hurt. Quit riding it. If you want to fix it, send us your serial number and we'll send you a new part.' I looked all over; my tikit didn't have a serial number. I contacted BikeFriday. They said, 'Yeah, we built some tikits without serial numbers.' What kind of jackleg manufacturer doesn't put serial numbers on their bikes? Anyway, I requested the part. Seven months later, I recontacted BikeFriday and asked where my part was? They responded with a whinny letter about how they were just a little family owned business and they were doing as best they could. By making demands on them, did I want them to go out of business? Finally after nine months the new stem/handlepost arrived.

Three months after that, one of the new, 'stronger' stems broke and injured the rider. BikeFriday responded by taking their on-line forum down and discontinuing tikit production.

And to think, for the same money I could have bought a Brompton.
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Old 09-23-21, 06:56 PM
  #90  
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Still haven’t worn my bike shorts, rear rack isn’t used much. Bungee net would smoosh most things. I can strap the kids scooter though and have the trailer for groceries and such. Phone holder is unnecessary as I’m not going far to use the map and otherwise shouldn’t be on the phone. Think I need a drink holder though. Really just riding around the beach with a milkshake.

walmart combo pack of bike junk clearly is a bad buy. You’re Going to need a better pump pretty quickly, tubes and tire wrenches are fine, flashing light reflector with brittle plastic and zefar water bottle just contributing to the earths demise.
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Old 09-23-21, 07:02 PM
  #91  
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Originally Posted by Jno
Preamble: For me, one of life’s contests is to get the best deal on the best thing, at the right time. As a result, I tend to deliberate for a long time before I spend money on expensive bike toys (also because I’m cheap). I notice folks here tend to talk about their successful purchases and/or the qualities they liked less in the alternatives.

Question for the forum: what is a memorable bike purchase that turned out to be one you regret?

For me, I bought an Infinito after testing every endurance bike model I could. I love it, but after I had it about two or three weeks I saw an Oltre xr4 on the road and realized I wished I’d considered, tried it, because clearly the grass looks greener over there.
I’ve never stopped regretting the oversight.
Amazingly ridiculous post.
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Old 09-24-21, 08:26 AM
  #92  
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I regret buying a Niner RLT9 RDO. I regret attempting to purchase Niner accessory bags. I regret contacting Niner support.

Basically I regret every interaction I've had with Niner bikes. The bike rides and fits me well, and has good components, but the quality control is non-existent. Paint quality is abysmal from both an appearance and durability standpoint (seems carbon was not properly prepped as paint flakes off & seems barely adhered), bottom bracket shell not round, aligned, or sized within spec. It's a supreme disappointment. Their e-commerce stores did not support checkout for months (while saying check back in a few), and once it's finally back up and running, their merchant processor says they don't accept cards their site shows that they do. Contacting support gets you a generic "We have been experiencing very high seasonal increases, it may take us a few days to respond back. Please be patient with us." message and on the occasions where they actually do respond and start a dialogue with you, they then disappear and stop responding. Continual overpromising and underdelivering, while blaming a new system for their lack of answering the phone or responding to messages for months.

It's a shame that they design some excellent bikes, but seem to put no effort into quality control or customer relationships. It's no wonder they went through bankruptcy in the past as they seem to have no idea how to run a business, and despite new ownership and capital, continue to have the same problems that plagued them a decade ago.
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Old 09-28-21, 12:20 PM
  #93  
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a car with only a Class I hitch. only good for 2 bikes
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Old 09-28-21, 01:13 PM
  #94  
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At the start of covid, I bought Miyata 1000. No regrets at all about that. However, I immediately decided that I needed a new crank so I bought a Sugino for $250 CAD + shipping which was almost the same price as the bike itself. Unfortunately, I didn't know much about chainline etc back then and I really don't know if the crank is compatible with my spindle, bottom bracket and such. I probably won't get around to installing the Sugino until this winter so, in total, I'll have spent about 18 months wondering if I botched that purchase entirely. I tend to obsess over things like this so it's not been a joyous experience for me. And, of course, the big bike shortage that I feared when I bought the Sugino will likely have dissipated entirely by the time that I get mine installed.

I can feel myself getting pulled towards purchasing a redundant, 1" threadless fork for one of my older bikes and repeating the Sugino mistake.. The existing carbon fork was in an accident and I'm worried that I'll find myself with no viable 1" threadless fork options in the future. I have bike related hoarding issues...
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Old 09-28-21, 02:34 PM
  #95  
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In '12 I had a Madone 6.9SSL...loved it. Light, quick, great looking. In '13 Trek came out w/ the 'new' Madone and I thought I should order one. Great looking frame but it had the under-the-chainstay brake in the rear, and it always made noise. Always. I regret every buying that piece of s**t.
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Old 09-28-21, 02:47 PM
  #96  
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More bike accessory than bike, but my latest regret is I recently bought an expensive easy-entry waterproof top tube bag that mounted using the built-in top tube screws on that frame (Cannondale), but after an unexpected and abrupt stop, where a double-foot dismount was needed, and where I placed my "undercarriage" over the top tube, I quickly realized that the top tube bag was much further back than I had anticipated, and a lot more rigid than one would ever hope for, causing me a whole bunch of "discomfort". That top tube bag was promptly retired after that ride, and I'm now looking for a bag that's a little softer/flexible, and that mounts a bit further forward.
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Old 09-28-21, 03:08 PM
  #97  
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I also bought one of those Topeak racks that attaches to your seat post and allows for the attachment of a bag that kind of slots in there. It's a good product but it was pricy to ship to Canada and I bought it to replace the backpack that I always wear. As it turns out, I missed the backpack and reverted to that almost immediately. I don't like being constrained into packing overly light.
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Old 09-28-21, 04:47 PM
  #98  
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My sister in law just bought a brand new Fuji dual sport with a 7 speed freewheel cluster. The rear derailleur mashes with he big cog , and the B screw is all the way in. incompatible parts on a brand new bike bought at a LBS>
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Old 09-28-21, 08:46 PM
  #99  
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I regret buying the original rotors on my touring bike (wish I had gone with the XT ones I wanted), I regret buying the wrong Fox Factory fork recently I got the correct one and have since sold the other one for what I paid but I still wish I hadn't done that. I should have measured and done some calculations and stuff and I didn't. I also kind of regret my Proteus frame, I am glad I rescued it from being a crappy fixed gear and getting mangled but I really haven't ridden it and honestly I want to get rid of it but hate selling bikes.
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Old 09-29-21, 09:57 PM
  #100  
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I have lots of regrets, none bike related though.
Tim
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