I went way overboard...

[wavedancer]

If you can swing it, I say get the best you can! Beautiful bike!! I got a Titus and felt somewhat unworthy, but I decided that getting the "perfect" bike meant that I couldn't blame any deficiencies in my riding on the bike. Gotta be the engine! Gotta keep working to improve my skills to match the quality of the bike. You will have a wonderful long-lasting relationship

[pinkbikes]

Ooo - that is gorgeous! I know exactly how you feel about going overboard.

I have always been a dedicated roadie and only fairly recently started riding an MTB. I was talked into it by my husband - a slightly earlier convert who took to it with a passion usually reserved for the reformed smoker who wants everybody else to quit!

Since I am a roadie and hate wasted energy, and was unsure how much I might like MTB, my first purchase was a very conservative hardtail (Kona Lisa HT) bought with an eye for value such as my very Scottish genes would dictate.

Of course MTB turned out to be as addictive as any other cycling pursuit, and so it was that in short order I was in the market for a duallie with some nice gear. Long story to short - I ended up with one of these... a Specialized Era Marathon.


I love it with a passion and it was worth every lousy Aussie dollar I paid for it. But every time somebody goes "Hmmm - nice bike!" I feel compelled to point out to them that the legs riding it don't in any way measure up to the standard of the bike!

Enjoy it - ride it like you stole it!

[TBird]

That bike is a beauty! I love Babette, my Giant Cypher, and I am sure I get out on the trails more because of her.
It's funny--I'm in the market for my first road bike, and I'm having the same misgivings about getting "too nice" of a bike. As if we somehow need to justify how we spend our own money! Somehow those old men driving Porsches don't seem to have the same issue...

[pardes]

I'm sooooo happy about your bike and NO ONE HERE WILL EVER THINK WE CAN OVERBOARD ON A BIKE.

Heck, I just ordered $200 worth of more CuddlDuds long johns and undershirts for winter riding. That's not overboard, that's a necessity!!!!

[Aggie_Ama]

As if we somehow need to justify how we spend our own money!

This made me laugh. We have a "friend" who is constantly ribbing me about how many cars I have had. When we met I had a new Beetle I was leasing through the back part of college and beyond, kept it 4 years when the lease was up and bought a Saturn Vue. The Vue was a POS. I traded it in after 21 months and 11 shop visits and bought my current car I love very much and have had 2.5 years. My most expensive car? The current which is a $18k Dodge Caliber.

So in this time she had a Mazda she drove for 6-8 years her parents bought her out of high school, bought a Tahoe Denali and then decided that thing had too many problems and bought a brand new loaded SUV a year later. Her last two cars cost more combined than my three. Yet I am wasteful and get so many cars. Next time I think I will have to tell her where to go.

Enjoy your nice bikes, earn them by loving them. When I replace my Craigslist Hardtail it will probably be more bike than I need but I deserve it because I say so.

[stephanie1129]

Isn't it amazing how wonderful a great bike can make you feel? It just goes to show that sometimes money really can buy you happiness