Two contradictory pieces of learned wisdom about this. First, the ego wants wanting more than it wants having. So, as soon as we satisfy a want, the ego move on to wanting something else. If that weren't true our consumer driven economy would pretty much collapse. Three months after getting a new Riv road bike the owner will read in fantastic custom bike review in Bicycle Quarterly and the ego will start wanting again. Some people get swept away and some hang onto reality.
Second, virtually all product lines exist along a price / performance line, and somewhere that line has a sharp bend in it. Up to that curve additional spending yields significant advantages, after the curve the buyer has to spend increasingly large amounts of money to get less and less advantage (except perhaps to the irrational ego). For example, reducing the weight of a bike from 27 to 26 lbs without sacrificing strength cost very little, but reducing it from 17 to 16 lbs. will cost quite a bit more. Rivendell bikes are pretty much positioned near the top of the break on the bicycle frame cost - performance curve. Unless you have some special need, like an unusual body shape or unique high milage application it doesn't make a lot of sense to move up the curve on a new frame. But that is not universally true for all the other parts. Many of the components Riv supplies as stock are good parts with good cost - performance trade offs but are still closer to the bottom of the break in that curve. So the buyer would be much wiser to gradually upgrade components - hubs & rims, cranks and brakes. Over the years I have upgraded my stock Rambouillet - White hubs, Open Pro rims, White VBC crank, Paul's Racer M brakes. The bike is now lighter, stronger, more responsive, and much easier to maintain. Now all I have left to do is ride the bike and control my ego. Michael, take care of Self; it's one of a kind and irreplaceable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/TJt_bvKBK74J. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
