Rosso Corsa

I'm 15 and hope to be racing next year. My current bike on which I commute, train, mountain bike, and race on and off road is a Trek 3500. Definitely modest, and my wear has been showing of late. But, it sure is satisfying passing people with superior bikes.
When I begin to race seriously next year though, I plan to get a CAAD9 with Tiagra; pretty much the perfect bike for me.

And I will get it with my own money, and to add to the debate, I suppose a minimum wage job would make me wealthy, since I have nothing to buy but investments and luxuries.


blah blah blah engine...

Frunkin

I'm 18 and in high school
I have a Klein Q Pro XX with Dura-Ace. I only have about $1200 in it, but everything is used.
It is way more bike than I need, but I could afford it so I went for it. This spring I raced on an 8 speed sora bike and did fine. It's all about the engine.

CrimsonKarter21

I'm 17 years old, and I race and train (summer/spring/some fall) on a 2005 Cannondale CAAD8 with full Ultegra, Ritchey WCS stem/post/bars, Fulcrum Racing 5 Evolution wheelset for racing and training, and no computer.
$1000+ bits
My fall/winter/some spring training bike is the Bike Forums IRO frameset with a Mercier Kilo TT wheelset, Shimano 600 crank, Sugino 75 bottom bracket and anything else laying around.
$150 frameset, $15 headset, $15 re-used bar tape, $15 tires= $195
My track bike was a total score. I got traded a Mercier Kilo TT frameset for a NJS Kierin frame by the name of "Erba". I'm almost done repainting it, it has a full Dura-Ace groupset with Velocity Espace tubular rims and Spaim CX-Ray spokes.
Under $700.

JPradun

I'm a college student living off savings from pre-college work and then summer work. I started riding 1.5yrs ago. I bought an 06 Felt F75, $1300 or so. 105 except rear derailleur is ultegra. Nice racing bike.

I just built a new bike -- pedal force, carbon, dura-ace, custom wheels - $2500. It was only meant to be $1200, but somehow creeped up in price on me, sending me into massive amounts of debt. OH DAMN! Guess that means I have to enjoy it that much more

My bikes + clothing are worth more than my car...always amusing at collegiate races.

Go Badgers!

CrimsonKarter21

That reminds me, I need to buy all of my cycling stuff before I go to college.

Frunkin

word
thats what I'm doin. Gonna be broke in college, better stock up now.

CrimsonKarter21

Hopefully it won't be too bad for me, since I'm gone for 20 months and have class from 7am-2pm, but another junior I know is going Marian (sp?) college which supposedly has the best cycling team in the country. They're across the street from Major Taylor in Indy.

toucci

Look 595, but I ebayed it and built it with ultegra
Buy nothing, just save as much as you can.

EdZ

I'm poor, no doubt about it, but I have nice bikes. 19 years old. I made about $4000 last year, and I spent/will spend about $3000 of that by the end of the year on bike stuff. Priorities people, priorities.

Doctor Who

Through high-school, I drove a succession of ****ty $2,500 cars that lasted about a year and then died of some terminal problem (engine or gearbox, usually). The $2,500 I spent on one of those cars could've bought me a damn nice race bicycle, as nice as I would ever need.

That's the thing – cycling can be expensive, but it doesn't have to be expensive...verstehen? I remember when I was 16 and working at Staples, I was bringing home $150-170 a week, and just blowing it on CDs, fast food, gas and insurance. If I was more concerned with getting physically fit and riding a bike, as opposed to spending all my money on obscure punk vinyl, I could've easily saved up a couple of grand over a summer spent working, and dropped it all on a nice bike. Unfortunately, I was a much different person at 16, than I am at 27.

airsoft510

I'm 17 and race/train on a Cannondale Caad 8, with record and ritchey wcs stem/post/bar

CrimsonKarter21

And what fun is that?

enjoi

i took second in the va state age-graded road race (jr 17-18) on a '95 raleigh alu. with RSX groupo. I decided to give myslef a treat and bought a used '03 fuji newest with tiagra everything. spending 500 on a bike will give you nowhere near the results as spending 50 (gas money for me) on a trip to the mountains and doing a century.

Dont buy upgrades, ride up grades -eddy merckx

Geoff326

I'm 23 and I ride a CAAD7 with 105/Ultegra which was $1300 when I bought it new

euphoria

It's being parted out but I ran a 20lb. santa cruz roadster with ultegra 9 for six months, $700 total

the stiff aero tubes made a much bigger difference than weight, especially with maintaining momentum on 5 hr. centuries

gmason

What a tiresome rant.

elgalad

I'm a 22 year old grad student.

I've got a Scott Speedster frame built up with 10sp 105 STI's, brakes, and front/rear mech, with ultegra cassette, and Dura Ace crank and chain, which rolls on a set of American Classic 420s, although I'm saving for some carbon race wheels at the moment.

I also have a recently acquired TT bike which is an Azzurri alloy frame (Australian brand - $450 used) built up with full 105 but Ultegra crank and cassette, with Dura Ace chain. I save some cash by sharing wheels and pedals between the two bikes.

All up, the two have set me back about $4500, but I've basically put every possible dollar into cycling over the last twelve months.

There is absolutely no reason to race on anything more than 105, as it works just as well as Ultegra or Dura Ace, and is plenty light - my road bike weighs in at 7.1 kg. The only upgrade I would recommend is the crank to Ultegra or Dura Ace, as this makes a noticeable difference in feel and weight.

nitropowered

I'm 21 college student, and make $8.50/hr probably 3/4's time.

I ride a custom steel bike (I welded myself) with 2007 Record, Custom Cross bike with a mix of campy components, a 2008 Trance X1 mountain bike.

Oh I guess it helps that I work at a bike shop and pretty much all of my pay goes to bike stuff (I sometimes go weeks w/o pay because I bought too much stuff and I owe the shop)

Edonis13

21 year old college student. 2003 allez elite with 105 that i paid $0 for. my dad gave it to me when he upgraded to a roubaix expert. im trying to get in on the BD Kestrel deal but i dont know if its going to happen. i also need to save up for a tri bike in the spring. i havent raced yet but im thinking about signing up for some cat 5 races next summer so i can get dropped and add to the motivation bank. haha.