I have 2 tri bikes:

Zipp 2001 - I just got the frame, brand new still in the original box for $600. Had all the parts including HED3 wheels, except a few minor parts. I spent no more then $1,000. No way thats too much for a bike this fast and comfortable. I'd do it again if I got the chance, its worth every penny!! Ultimate speed weapon!!!

Softride SE7 - spent a bit much on the frame set ($3200). But again I had most of the components stting around from another bike. I love the bike, I MAY do it again! Its fast and comfottable. May not since its an extra large frame with an extended carbon seat bracket and its still a hair small for me (I'm 6-3 with a 37" inseam). I'd like to get the seat further forward but it won't go any further since as you go forward the seat slides down the beam at the same time.

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Paul

I have2 bikes. The giant tcr composite which I bought the frame set for $950 and took the components off my other road bike. I'm selling that frameset as soon as I finish moving.
The TT/duathlon bike is a custom built frame. Spent 1200 on the frame. Fits like a glove but not OJ's glove. Got mostly DA parts on it that I got off of ebay. DA NIB F&R derailleur for $95 total, $275 for a NIB Alpha Q fork, etc.
If anything I would like to think I'm a cheap ebay parts shopper and get good deals or I don't buy.

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customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.

I own 2 bikes. My tri bike is a Softride that I bought used for ~$450USD. My other bike is a fixed-gear bike that I converted from my original roadie (a lugged, steel Benotto). I bought that for around $300CAD when I was maybe fifteen, and it's served me for well over a decade.

I make do with what I have until I get out of school. Once I'm working again I'll be able to start saving for a "real" stable... (Colnago Master Light, Titan-Flex, Yamaguchi "Mike McCarthy" track, Cat Cheetah...)

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<If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough>
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I've actually got four bikes - one tri, two road and a hybrid. I'll no doubt some day retire from triathlon (who needs running anyways!), but I won't ever give up cycling until I'm too old and frail to turn a crank.

Someday, when I retire from tri, I'll sell the bikes that I currently own and will replace them with that custom made "rest of my life" $$$ dream road bike.

Then I'll ride away into the sunset with a big smile on my face.

"Did you spend the money you did because only bikes in that price range gave you what you are looking for? "

Ask yourself this.

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customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.

I've got a used Vitus ( shocker, right? ) that I bought for $300. Which I wouldn't doubt is more than it's supposed to be worth, but I'm happy with it. Pretty, shiny, and red.

My wife rides a used Puegot 6 speed, all friction, which we paid $125 for, and she loves.

We have two broken-down Schwinn Varsitys sitting in our garage that we paid, I think, $5 for. The idea there is to fix them up so we learn how to work on bikes without screwing up anything we care about.

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"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

I have three bikes. One is a mountain bike I bought from a burned-out bike shop at a closeout. One is a steel Centurion that is on more-or-less permanent loan. The third is my tri bike. I had a good idea of sizes, etc. so I ordered it on the internet. Chuck's bikes put it together out of mostly closeout parts, but it has a titanium frame, 105 and DA components, carbon fork and seat post, mid-range Profile bars, etc. It is light, comfortable, looks good and makes me feel like a triathlete, and all for under $1,000, including shipping. Am I ready for Kona? No. Would I be ready for Kona with a better bike? No.

Obviously I am a tightwad, but to answer your specific question, I bought the bike because it was the least I could spend and get the features I wanted.

I have 2 bikes currently: 1 road and 1 tri.

I paid $1450 for a new 2002 Trek 5200 at the end of the season that the local sporting goods store was trying to offload. I sold the Bontrager Race lites for like $250 and got 2003 Ksyriums for $500 on ebay from a bankruptcy liquidator. I bought other parts cheap to upgrade it to DA crankset and Selle Italia seat.

I purchased a new 2003 Trek TT frameset off a tri site and payed $2400. I had purchased Hed 3's for like $900 in like July. I purchased a Vision Trimax plus for $275 from Trisports.com. The LBS decided it wanted some business so he got me full 2004 DA and Chris King headset for like $1200 with labor included.

I think buying bikes is like purchasing cars. I guess I would rather save up and get everything I want all at once. Rather than wishing I had bought something and end up with something I really didn't want and purchasing want I really wanted later. Did I really need a Trek TT, probably not. However, I finished college and what a nice graduation present to myself. It is also inspirational. Everyday I see it, it says "you better get your ass to the gym." ;)

My answer is yes on the tri-bike. The newest road bike I got a deal I could't refuse.

My mountain bike is actually worth more than my tri and road bikes but I ride it the least. I pieced it together over a few months, pro-dealing the whole thing. I would NEVER have spent the money that that bike would have cost me new. I'm halfway considering selling it and getting something much cheaper because it's hard for me to justify having a bike that nice that I don't ride very often. The one thing that stops me is that I really like mountain biking. It's much more fun than roadbiking. Sometimes it's just hard for me to justify subbing a road bike for a mtb ride when I'm training for an IM.

i have recently taken delivery of a 2004 Limited Edition Litespeed Vortex. Did I spend too much?If you equate ability to cost, then yes i probably did spend too much. I look at it in terms of value and the use I'm going to get out of it. I owned my last bike, a carbon giant CFR series, for 8 years. If I keep this bike that long I would consider it good value. A $1000 bike could be considered costly if you never use it.



Many guys I ride with seem to change bikes evry 2 years or so. So over the last few years they have probably spent more than I have.

Looking at the posts here most of the people seem to have 2, 3 and even 4 bikes. Add up the cost of all the bikes and the amount of use they get to see if there is value,

I was attracted by the longevity of the titanium and the good ride quality. The limited edition model only came as a complete bike so there wasn't much option as far as components, everything was pretty much top shelf gear.

also as only 100 were made there is little chance of someone else turning up on one. The Australian distributor tells me that this is the only one he has brought into the country so far.

i just love my bike.

I have 4 bikes that I ride. My main bike is a Pinarello Prince which I paid a lot for (but got a good deal) and totally love. I spend a lot of time riding it, I'd say it's worth every penny. I also have a compact frame Schwinn, which is a great bike, that I ride on the Computrainer and in crits. I have a fixed gear SOMA steel bike that I ride on the road for training, hope to take on the track this year. I have a Santa Cruz mountain bike that I call the "Magic Bike" a perfectly balanced bike that makes me a better mountain biker than I am.

I love to ride! I am, however, on a bike diet. No more new bikes this year.

Leigh

 
Maybe I'm terminally cheap, but I have yet to buy a new tri bike

1st tri bike- QR superform w/2 sets of wheels $500, would still be riding this bike but was at least a frame size too big due to a fit session done by lbs. So glad I didn't buy the shiney new bike from them that didn't fit either!

Softride powerwing 650- bought the frame in new condition for $600 on the internet built up with ultegra/600 parts under 1k

Slingshot tribike<$400 total ebay + ultegra/600 parts laying around the house- such a wierd bike
I had to buy it & cheap(if I had endless money, i'd have a zipp, a hooker bicycle, a cheetah, until then I keep scouring ebay for deals)

old schwin paramount mnt bike- all deore lt<$300

Ok, I will answer your questions precisely, without going off on a tangent. I'm trying so hard.

Pretty? nope, butt ugly '95 Trek OCLV (used to be pretty, I guess)

Spend too much? I don't think so, $1500 with Dura-ace, and a spare set of Mavic MA40's thrown in, in fact, let me change my answer: NO.

Would I have liked to have spent less? absolutely, but realistically thought it was a good deal.

Spent the money because only bikes in that price range gave me what I was looking for? Totally. I actually was able to pick it up after season (dec 95), and if that deal didn't go through, I would have probably...no...willingly, spent more for a bike that would have given the same level of function with cheaper components, like 600 or even 105. The frame that I bought was reason number one for my purchase choice. The gruppo and stuff that fell into my lap as a result of the circumstances were a totally unexpected benefit (a bike shop owner selling his shop and unloading inventory). I doubt seriously that you could spend less money and purchase a bike that meets the performance standards of most somewhat serious triathletes today without that bike being secondhand.

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"Maybe you should just run faster..." TM

I have a terminal addiction to bicycles.

I used to collect old bikes. I had a couple of really old Colnagos, with the old "C" and the flowers (not the now traditional flowers and WC stripes); a track bike with wooden rims and a ten speed road bike with Simplex gears and Modolo brakes. They were devoid of the now famous (or infamous) Colnago paint, the track bike was white, the road bike was Molteni orange.

This went along with the 700c rear/24" (or 600c) front time trial bike in Columbus aero tubing, repleat with the Columbus seat post specially made for this tubing. It got to the point where I had no place to put these bikes, and my friends were calling me Fred Sanford. I also had two bikes that I regularly ride...

Now, I have a Corima Fox that I paid what should be the correct price, rather than the over-inflated price we pay here. I was going through a phase where I was switching frames every year (just about), so I have had one changer on four frames. I get good deals on everything I buy, so this bike has the best combination of great parts, lots of panache, and not too terribly expensive.

My road bike was relatively cheap, being that I got the frame as a New-Old Stock for just two bills, the new Look HSC3 for just over two bills, and used left-over parts to build this mo-fo up.

My track bike was really cheap- it cost me all of three hundred to put it together.

Project One is probably the most interesting bike I have put together in awhile. I put a LOT of blood, sweat, and tears into making this thing, only to turn around and sell it at a later date.

I still want a Zipp bike. If anyone would want to help me out, I would like to work out a trade or something.

I've got three bikes in the basement. one road (OCLV), one TT/Tri (Klein Q-Carbon) and a track bike (Cannondale), the latest addition.

In all honesty, I have no idea what I've spent on these bikes over the years, although I probably could add up what I've spent on the parts that are currently hanging on those frames. As a guess, I probably have 4 grand in the road bike, 2K in the TT bike and another 1500 in the track bike. And I don't even race track, I just liked the bike. Plus I have a bunch of wheels lying around in various states of repair. The best deal on those was a pair of Specialized 3-spokes that I snagged for about $250, but required a bit of work on the bearings and axles to get them functional.

Did I spend too much? No, cause I enjoy riding them, and I stay out of trouble. I know plenty of folks who spend more than what I've spent on by bikes on cigarettes and booze, and that doesn't include going out for drinks every weekend. I didn't need to spend that much, for a rider of my ability I could be riding anything. But I liked the look of these bikes (except the Trek OCLV, which was a warranty replacement for my old Lemond OCLV)

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2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

I was able to buy a new 2002 Trek Hilo frame, had it built with 105 components, SPDR pedals, stock training wheels (matrix aurora on tiagra hubs), plus a basic set of road shoes (nike) all for just $850 last March. I thought I did pretty well. I have since upgraded the wheels and pedals.

I was going to buy a GIANT OCR2 for about $750 - raod bike with all tiagra, but stumbled upon the above deal. The GIANT was without pedals and shoes, of course, too. I was looking to spend <$1,000 at the time. I am pleased with how I made out.

I have a Specialized Allez - I bought it when it was the previous years model and on sale. The bike shop was deperate to get it out of there since they were getting the new ones in -- I feel I paid a good price for it --

The same goes for my husband - his was a previous model year Specialized that was on a deep discount - We buy cars the same way

I'm riding a late 90s Raliegh Technium (Aluminum) bike that one brother bought for $15 at a garage sale and gave it to another brother-in-law, who gave it to me (he's in Iraq doing what soldiers do). I would like to have my own bike and I am willing to set up a "savings plan" [starting NOW] in order to buy one next spring. I'd like to get a road bike (because I'll use it for more than just racing), and am willing to spend up to $1K on it [just b.c I could spend more doesn't mean I should ... in my situation].

My cross-country coach buddy is getting ready to buy a cannondale, and we'll likely go on some rides/runs this summer. My other buddy has a Caffey [is that right?]? [Doesn't take long to meet like-minded people does it?] I have no clue about bikes other than where to sit and to peddle like hell.

My local LBS, which has been just fabulous to me, is a Heron dealer. I would love to give them some business and further repeat business ... but I'm not going to drastically overpay to do so. Are these bikes good for a person that will do a lot of riding and triathlons? Are there better options for someone that has no clue about bikes? [Where is the best place to learn/read about basic bike quality knowledge?

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

I have two bikes, but one is an old mountain bike that is not used much (commutting occasionally>>no mountains in Chicago area!). My main ride is my road/tri bike, its a Kestrel Talon that I got new for $1500 with 105 in 2001. Since then I added some bontrager x aero wheels and Dura Ace 9 for the drivetrain, both at a big discounts. All well worth the money. The talon to me is a great ride; comfy, aero and fast. If I could afford two bikes my wish list would include a P3, Airfoil Pro, or Trek TT.

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Calfee TetraTri Custom, AlphaQ fork, full DuraAce, optimized for weight, purchased at my LBS. Paid the right amount.

Sycip custom road bike, AlphaQ sub3, full DuraAce. Paid the right amount

Sycip custom cyclocross bike, AlphaQ cross, DuraAce, Empella brakes. Again, paid the right amount.

Ibis Alibi mtn bike. Scored a "bro" deal when they tried direct internet sales before going bankrupt. Steal.

Santana Tandem mtn bike, RockShox fork, XT from LBS. Maybe a tad high, but phenomenal service.

Viner V5 team, carbon fork, DuraAce/Ult mix, with fenders, commute bike. Frame cheap off internet, parts laying around.

Vitus Carbone9, Mavic SSC Simplex Modolo group. Coffee shop bike built from the old parts box of odds and ends.

Hi, my name is Charlie, and I have a bike problem. I like bikes with panache. Anyone can walk into their LBS and have an AMEX slapdown. I like unique bikes that 6 other guys on the ride won't also have. Clean and classic set-ups. (Tom's IMNZ bike is right up my alley!) I'm now lusting for a 2004 Campy Record group to put on the Viner and really let that frame enjoy what it was intented for. And last night I started talking timeline for getting another Sycip custom built with scandium tubing as my primary cross bike and the current one will become my pit bike with an Ultegra group. But I drive an old SUV with 145K (too many winter Tahoe trips) and I really don't spend money on anything other than wine.

Mr. Tibbs, where are you going with this thread?

I could have spent a hell of a lot more than I did and have less bike.

I bought a "Martec Superbike" frame at Chucksbikes.com. It's a carbon "copy" of the BP Stealth carbon monocoque frame. I'm almost ashamed to say how cheap it was, $385 for the frame and full carbon fork. Best deal I ever had.

Built it up with Dura Ace, Ultegra components. Hed 3 front wheel and Renn Disc. It's not the lightest bike out there but for less than $2000 I think it's a bargain.

I have 4 bikes----bought all of them either off ebay or via a pro deal with a friend in Canada. I am a 100% believer in buying the best parts possible for the least expensive price. My first bike had 1984 era Dura Ace components, and with the exception of the rear derailleur (rebuilt twice before died), BB (ditto) & cassettes, all the parts looked & performed like new when I sold the bike a couple of years ago. I know Ultegra is supposed to be about as good, but I've ridden it & it just feels softer on the braking & shifting.

Moots YBB Mt Bike: paid a bit high for the frame & built the rest myself. The perfect mb for me as I'm not going off any drops more than 2'. Climbs like a goat & is comfy.

Moots YBB Cyclo Bike: still building--this will be the bike I probably ride the least, as it will be my rainy day climbing bike. As I live in SoCal, it doesn't rain much, but I wanted a bike I could use on the fire roads in the San Gabriels when I don't want to deal with the roads.

Time VX Special Pro: this will be my 10 year bike (although the newest Time frames look ridiculously nice). Bought it via a pro deal out of Canada. I thought my '03 LS Vortex would be my 10 year bike until it got stolen. This is better. Completely forgiving & comfy on 5 hour rides--the LS after 4 hours was too much--this is just right.

Zipp 3001: I looked for 2 years before I found one in my size. It just looks ridiculously fast. Its pretty comfy--I rode some P3s & while the position is easily dialed in, you are still riding a rock. The '04 Blade also looks good, but still, the comfort + speed factor of a beam vs a traditional frame is unmatched. I just had it overhauled by Zipp (still under warranty until the end of 2004) so it should be good for some time. I will never get rid of this bike. It is the only bike I've owned where I would gladly have paid full retail price for the frame.

Did I spend too much on my bikes? No, I am, for the first time in YEARS, completely satisfied with my bikes. I don't have any bike lust when riding or visiting shops. I built each of them EXACTLY the way I wanted them--you can't do that with an off the shelf bike. Did I spend the $$ due to range??? Good question--I spent the $$ necessary to get what I wanted, but I certainly was careful on my expenditures--with the exception of cables, nothing was bought at retail. As arrogant as it sounds, $$ certainly wasn't an impediment to getting what I wanted--I just had to sure to allocate the resources appropriately & thru the correct channels so I can justify my "needs". I'm in the wine biz--I've got private clients that drop $10k on 12 bottles of wine--try justifying that to your significant other (much less yourself). It all depends on what a dollar is worth to you.

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"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs." John Rogers

It's hanging on the wall at the foot of my bed - 2001 Colnago C40 w/DA & Ksyrium SSCs bought at a small shop here in Switzerland. I added the Zipp carbon cranks and profile bars when my tri bike died and the C40 became my only ride. For races I throw on a pair of Nimble Crosswinds I bought a few years back and My Baby is perfect. I paid about CHF 7'000, which was about $5,000 with the exchange rate several years ago. Did I pay a lot? Yes. Was it worth it? Yes. From short rides to long rides, it performs like a star.

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I am a living animal, tied to a dying soul. -PKD