Jack Hughes wrote:My road bike is now nearly 10 years old. Every time I price up a replacement I end up thinking "I'm not spending that much on a bike".
I ended up in a bit of a similar position - I got Champ in 2009 (and he wasn't new then) - and have indeed ended up spending more money on n+1 that I did on my first car... but I justified it as being a significant birthday present to myself, plus sitting on a bit of redundancy money that it seemed rude not to invest in cheering myself up rather than something dull like putting it in a pension...
n+1 (should I ever find time to actually collect it) is a Trek Emonda Disc with some sort of electronic gadgetry (which I am not entirely sure I believe in... but when making such a significant investment, I figured I might as well get all the options, as I am not planning on ever needing another bike unless I break this one...). The plan was just to have a nice toy for pootling around the roads on (probably would have gone for a Domane as being even more suitable for leisurely riding for the elderly, but that would have cost even more, and trying to be semi-budget conscious).
Will be quite exciting to actually have a brand new bike, as everything other then My Little Pony (who cost the princely sum of £465, but was responsible for getting me into this mess) has been second hand.