How ridiculous are we?

[bicycletricycle]

We all own ridiculously expensive stuff

[redir]

What is so smart about it?

[reuben]

Originally Posted by bicycletricycle

We all own ridiculously expensive stuff

Sage observation. We tend to be blind to our personal foibles.

[Coffee Rider]

Originally Posted by Peter P.

They must be Rapha tubes.

Rapha tubes were less.

[MikeD]

I don't think these tubes are patchable and they may not be able to take much heat. But, if you're a weight weenie...

[pasadena]

Well we all have our tolerances and justifications on what is acceptable and what isn't...

it isn't about what you can afford.
It's about what you are willing to pay.

Marketing exists to make you justify parting with $300 for a helmet,
when a $80 is just as safe.

So it goes with everything, I guess i'm just being a hater...and hypocrite.

Originally Posted by reuben

I'd certainly be willing to spend $300 USD on a helmet to save my noggin, and I'd also be willing to buy a saddle that works for me. But so far I've managed to stick to $150 USD shoes. $2500 wheels? Nope, and Ye Olde Potatoe can verify that.

I can afford all of the above, but fortunately I inherited some sort of "reasonable" or "frugal" gene from my parents, God bless them.

I'm getting old, I weigh too much, I don't ride enough, and I no longer have a desire to race in any fashion. What I currently own already (lugged steel frame) exceeds my current ability. I'm not real happy about that, but c'est la vie.

[BobbyJones]

That’s how these things start on The Paceline.

The critical threads first. Then in time, the ones praising the product appear to be followed shortly thereafter by the apologist ones.

Can’t wait.

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by bicycletricycle

We all own ridiculously expensive stuff

True, but not really the point. Suspect we all own some ridiculously cheap cr@p too.

Originally Posted by pasadena

So it goes with everything, I guess i'm just being a hater...and hypocrite.

I don't think you're necessarily being a hypocrite. We all have our own calculus for justifying paying a premium.

Tubes are in the "doesn't make the cut" category … for me.

[pasadena]

Originally Posted by cgolvin

True, but not really the point. Suspect we all own some ridiculously cheap cr@p too.

LOL

I don't think you're necessarily being a hypocrite. We all have our own calculus for justifying paying a premium.

Tubes are in the "doesn't make the cut" category … for me.

agree. It's hard to complain about prices, then totally not blink an eye while buying $200 bib shorts....

[Tony T]

Originally Posted by cgolvin

I just received an email from a retailer advertising the new (?) Pirelli Pzero Presta SmarTube. $36.99 … for a tube.

I'm generally willing to pay a premium for quality items but some products just make me shake my head and mutter "cyclists are idiots".

Pairs well with an $800 SUPERPISTA ULTIMATE CUSTOM ARTIST EDITION

[nmrt]

i do not care about analyses such as the ones on this thread. riding a expensive bike for x number of days a week is no justification to buy it or not.

it is your money, if you have enough to spare, do as you please.

if i had the moolah, i would be in line to get a 911 GT3. no doubt about it. despite the fact that i would not use it at 1/10th of it's capability.

just like if i had the moolah (and the desire, which i do not), i would buy a 18k bastion and ride it two times a month.

[reuben]

Originally Posted by cgolvin

True, but not really the point. Suspect we all own some ridiculously cheap cr@p too.

When I take a few large steps back and examine myself (a lifelong task requiring lots and lots of practice and embarrassing honesty), I'm always amazed at how much I'll spend on some things and how much I'll scrimp and save on others, despite empirical data that suggests I do the converse.

Bike? Kayak? Stereo? Photography? Sure, I got the bucks. Well, OK, I'm still RELATIVELY cheap on the bike stuff, compared to many on Paceline. But that's a relative, not absolute, scale.

HVAC settings? Clothes? I'm sure I can save $5 or $10 USD somewhere, or just wear that raggedy shirt a few more years. I run my dryer about two times per year because I'm cheap, it's better for the planet, and everything dries just fine in the air, either inside or outside. Heck, I switched it off at the breaker box. And yeah, I rigged a clothesline from the house to the garden to dry clothes, with old fashioned wooden clothes pins, just like my mother and grandmothers did. And I feel pretty good about it - lookit me, savin' the planet.

$1000 USD to rehab/repaint my mediocre mid-1980s steel Bianchi? Sure, I'll pay that. In fact, I did pay that. Lookit me, shipping stuff around and paying for new chemicals, killin' the planet.

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by pasadena

Shoes: $450
kit: $700
bike: $12,000
helmet: $300
wheels: $2500
saddle: $300

$37 innertube sounds just about right for cycling.

And a $12 nitrogen fill, right?

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by C40_guy

And a $12 nitrogen fill, right?

Funny, that was my thought reading the response from @nmrt — this isn't about splurging on a GT3, it's about springing for the nitrogen inflation once you have it.

And just in case someone else didn't read it the first time I wrote it … buy whatever the F you want.

[Ken Robb]

What do these tubes cost in Europe or Britain? It seems that on quite a few items prices overseas have been quite a bit cheaper than in the USA.