Koyote

Ah, yes -- another thread centered on the question "Why on earth do you people spend your money differently than I do?"

There's no better way to waste time on BF.

Wilfred Laurier

Yes, you pay a premium to get a new thing.
But there are a couple of real advantages in buying new - for bicycles, the two big ones I can think of are warranty (bike company warranties are not tranferrable from the original owners) and size selection (there are lots of used bikes on the market but not too many in my size).

The other thing about 'used' is that you are always guessing about the condition - even if it looks clean, that doesn't mean the hub bearings aren't worn out or the frame hasn't fatigued.

I have only ever bought used cars. Four years ago I bought a Mazda with ~60000 km on it. It needs ~$1000 worth of suspension repairs now.. The same time I bought my car, a friend bought a new Toyota. The only repair he has needed is a brake pad replacement. I know he paid more, but I feel the peace of mind he got for the extra money was worth it.

teejaywhy

You realize he's agreeing with you?

teejaywhy

You PAID for that?

Leinster

My bike cost $1100 new, (previous year’s model clearance sale) 5 years ago, with a 105 group set. At the time, I could have bought a used 10 year old bike with Dura Ace or Ultegra for less. But the 10 year old Ultegra bike would have been 9 speed, whereas my bike is 10 speed.

But if I buy the current version of my bike, it would now have 11 speed, the option of disc brakes, nicer wheels and cranks and saddle, a more aero frame etc. The price has gone up to $1500ish and more, but the quality has improved year-on-year. I’m happy with the value I’ve got out of my bike for when I bought and how much I paid, but I would have got more bike for my money if I’d held off a model year or two, and would get a lot more if I bought new today.

DrIsotope

Value is relative. Apparently, spending $5k on a bike strikes the OP as wasteful. Ask a typical non-cyclist what's the most they'd ever spend on a bicycle and you might hear $500, or more likely $200. Odd are that same non-cyclist will have a $1,000 smart phone that they will replace in 2 years... with another $1,000 model. Value is relative.

To some people, $5k or 10k or even 15k on a bike is not a lavish expenditure. Buying habits are often not about intelligence or the lack thereof. People are absolutely free to fulfill their wants to whatever extent their funding allows.

eja_ bottecchia

It all depends on what you are buying.

I love expensive, fine cars. I cannot, however, afford to buy them new. So for my last car, I shopped for a Certified Previously Owned (CPO) model. My wife and I bought matching CPO Mercedes convertibles, with full factory warranty, for a lot less than their price new. The cars were leased returns and you couldn’t tell them apart from their brand new counterparts.

My bikes, however, I bought them all brand new.

The difference? The cars were fully covered by their factory warranty. No worries or concerns.

A used bike, especially a CF bike, could have hidden damage not covered by a warranty. So I will not buy used.

OTOH, I will buy a used vintage or classic steel or titanium bike.

The OP’s basic premise is not necessarily flawed; he just makes blanket statements that don’t sit well with everyone here.

indyfabz

*yawn* That's the best you got?

puma1552

So which is it?

Yeah, high end components from a decade ago that have now been superseded by the lower end components of today. Methinks someone doesn't understand trickle down engineering.

And besides, nobody will ever know this bike retailed for $2500 but was had new from the LBS for only $1200 (minus wheels/pedals), so in a decade, I can probably still sell it to you for a grand and laugh all the way to the LBS to buy my next new one:

u235

You got burned, I paid $200 for mine and no shipping.

DomaneS5

I guess I'm an idiot. All of my bikes were new when I bought them.

bruce19

Unless I know the bike I don't buy used. This is because I don't trust myself to pick up things like hairline cracks in a frame. Having said that, I did commit to buying a Pinarello AL frame. But, it's older and for money I could afford to lose.

Flip Flop Rider

agree except for tv. used tv?, uh no

Flip Flop Rider

new bike is a good way to reward yourself

Metieval

well, when you are unemployed. You have the time to sort through 1,000's of bikes on ebay to find that pristine bike.

other wise time is Money, and its better to work, and then just spend that money at the bike store.

buying new is called "Time management"

mstateglfr 

I see this repeated often and always chuckle since it doesnt at all apply to me or most anyone I know.
Outside of work, my time is worth almost nothing. I dont produce at that time, and whatever I spend that time on is of equal value- $0. If I spend 2 hours riding bikes with my kids, or spend 2 hours on yard work, or spend 2 hours scrolling thru ebay for a bike- those 2 hours are all worth the same in terms of money- $0.
That doesnt even take into account how many on this forum are active DURING work. Even when my time is money, it still isnt spent as efficiently as it could be. And that applies to many others I know. 'Many others' = everyone I can think of right now.

A hobby neednt be calculated at a per hour pay rate. That turns it into a job.

To make it apply to ebay- If I look at ebay from 8pm to 10pm, watch tv in that time, or bake a cake and exercise it off in that time- its all worth $0 because my time is not money for most of the day.


I cant imagine living a life where my time is always worth money. It would be exhausting trying to calculate the opportunity cost for each activity at any given time.

indyfabz

Yep. I bought my last road bike as a reward for paying off my $247.5K mortgage in 11 years.

livedarklions

There's plenty of perfectly good used "how you spend money is wrong" troll threads on BF, not sure why OP went through the trouble of buying a new one.

Snob vs. Slob thread, no. 18,806.

Wilfred Laurier

Can we get a mod to rename this thread?

Koyote

[QUOTE=mstateglfr;21097942]I see this repeated often and always chuckle since it doesnt at all apply to me or most anyone I know.
Outside of work, my time is worth almost nothing. I dont produce at that time, and whatever I spend that time on is of equal value- $0. If I spend 2 hours riding bikes with my kids, or spend 2 hours on yard work, or spend 2 hours scrolling thru ebay for a bike- those 2 hours are all worth the same in terms of money- $0.
That doesnt even take into account how many on this forum are active DURING work. Even when my time is money, it still isnt spent as efficiently as it could be. And that applies to many others I know. 'Many others' = everyone I can think of right now.

A hobby neednt be calculated at a per hour pay rate. That turns it into a job.

To make it apply to ebay- If I look at ebay from 8pm to 10pm, watch tv in that time, or bake a cake and exercise it off in that time- its all worth $0 because my time is not money for most of the day.


I cant imagine living a life where my time is always worth money. It would be exhausting trying to calculate the opportunity cost for each activity at any given time.[/QUOTE]

And yet, you (and all the rest of us) are doing that all day, every day. Each time you decide to spend your time on something, you are making a trade-off (i.e., sacrificing other opportunities), which means that you are choosing the option with the lowest opportunity cost.

indyfabz

+1. A few years ago I read s story about cheap vs. frugal. According to the author, one distinction between the two is that a cheap person will spend a good amount of time trying to spend the least amount of money possible. A frugal person, on the other hand, will do some research but won't take that to excess because he/she knows that time, not just money, also has value.

Metieval

eventually people learn that time has the most value, as time is the only thing that isn't replaceable.

weiwentg

For bikes, a possible advantage of buying a new stock bike is that you can get the store to make sure it fits you, which can involve replicating your previous bike position, which can involve changing the stem length and angle. You get the manufacturer's warranty. You know that any flaws in the bike should be either their fault or your fault, and not the previous owner's fault. It's easier to get exactly what you want, if you have a preference about that sort of thing. That does matter - the question is, does it matter to you?

Bikes do depreciate fast, because the technology is changing quite rapidly. There's nothing wrong, per se, with a lot of older tech. It may be more limiting to what you can do with the bike, e.g. the gearing on 10s groups is probably a bit taller than 11s, disc brakes can perform well in a greater range of conditions than rim brakes, older road bikes probably can't take tires larger than 28mm on modern rims. However, those limits may not be material to you.

mstateglfr 

We arent always doing this. I specifically said where my time is always worth money. Any decisions on what to do when time is worth money would take place when I am at work. The rest of my life is different and decisions made during hours outside of work are opportunity cost decisions, but not for money. Instead they are based on enjoyment, or responsibility, or whatever other basis I am using to decide what to do.

My point was that if my time were always worth money, meaning I could be paid the effective hourly rate of what I earn at work, I would have a tough time deciding to do things that I do right now.

Kapusta

Except you are not buying a NOS 9 year old bike. You are buying a bike with 9 years of use. So how much you are saving depends on the condition.

It also depends on whether you care about design changes over the past 9 years. This could mean the components themselves or the compatibly with newer standards.

For example, you want a bike with a fairly “road” like geo and also tire clearance for 35s? I can tell you from experience (looking for such a thing in 2010) that there are not many 9 year old options.

It also depends on the TYPE of bike. For example, other than tire clearance, there is nothing I care much about that differentiates a road bike from today and 9 years ago. But with mountain bikes, the changes over any 9 year period are immense, and honestly, I doubt I would even pay $500 for a 9 year old FS MTB that retailed for $5K unless is was literally never ridden.

Also, while my overall experience with eBay purchases have been generally good, I have had less than stellar luck when it comes to bikes and bike frames.

And unless you live in a very populated large area, good used options can be limited.