It's a bike, not a Picasso. Give your old bikes a break & take that shiny new monster out to break it in!

yes

It's not a antique or collectors piece like someone won a big race on it or a first production.

It is made to be ridden, get sweaty, get dirty, etc. Ride it.

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"Just don’t abandon everything you’ve ever learned because of something someone said on the internet." - Eric McGinnis

I don't understand the question.

^^^ I'm in this camp. You are getting a new bike and asking if you should ride it? What else exactly do you plan to do with it and why else would you get it?

My knew bike already has chipped paint on the chainstay from a rock. What do you expect...it's CX bike...:)

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"Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps"
Blog = http://extrememomentum.com|Photos = http://wheelgoodphotos.com

Don't ride it, it will depreciate in value

You should garage it permanently. Under a tarp. Just in case.

Putting this into perspective, if you had a new girlfriend / boyfriend or whatever, would you delay riding that as well? Of course not, the new bike deserves to be ridden and is eagerly looking forward to how you'll perform. Don't disappoint her though. Make sure you keep your power "up" throughout the ride! Although you'll likely want to start off gentley with lots of gear shifting and changing hand positions as you become used to each other. I'm sure some good hard pushes up some hills will be appreciated, not too much coasting though, need to keep your rpm up. And I could go on but by now you get the idea.

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BC Don
Pain is temporary, not giving it your all lasts all Winter.

Buy another new bike and then you can ride this one as it won't be your new bike anymore.

This is the only logical answer.

I'm there with you. I just got a new to me frame, got it painted, all new pieces except seat and wheels, and just got it from the shop Saturday from being built. I haven't taken it out yet because it was raining over the weekend. I am dreading the first scratch/nick/smudge. But after I get back from my swim tonight I'm going to have to take it for a spin.

I have told my wife that if she happens to be the first to scratch it somehow to not tell me, just let me think I did it and didn't notice.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

First ride might not want to be 100 miles to make sure you work out all the kinks ... but if you're comfortable and it fits similar to the last one, then a century might be the perfect first ride =)

FWIW, I ride my "race" bike outside when the weather is fair and I have plenty of time (read: not that often). My day in day out training is on my old race bike which is hooked up to my trainer but set up in an identical position to my race bike. I can hammer away, give it a quick wipe down, and not feel guilty at all.

The ONLY thing Foundry bikes got right out of the gate was there slogan (foundry as the name for an open mold carbon frame bike company is dumb).

"It's tool not a trophy."

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"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
Hunter S. Thompson

Wouldn't you need a time machine so that you could go ahead a few weeks in order to ride it?