I purchased a Cannondale touring bike some twenty years ago. I was dissatisfied with the set up of the bike and resorted to Rivendell to change the bars, seat post and saddle. After a lilltle while, I swapped out the stem, another set of bars, the bell and bought some pretty bottle cages. Things were quiet for a couple of years until I bit the bullet and bought an Atlantis frame (no 93). Of course, things couldn't stand still after that so I acquired another handlebar, stem, plastic fenders and a new set of wheels. I moved to Wollongong, a coastal rust belt city with stunning beaches. I changed the bars, the stem, the saddle, installed stainless steel fenders and bought a set of Paul's thumbies with Silver shifters. Other bikes intervened and, on return, I was dissatisfied so I swapped the handlebars back, swapped the silver shifters for shimano, replaced the crank, installed custom rings and a lovely long cage derailleur.
When I can't sleep at night, I cruise Pauls website and think about swapping the brakes out. This doesn't include consumables like handlebar wrap, handlebar grips, cables, chain, brake pads, leather seat goo, chain cleaner, chain lube, bike cleaner, tyres and tubes. So over a twenty year period I have coughed up about fifteen to twenty gorillas in Constant Dollar Values. Take the worst case and calculate on a gorilla a year which I consider a pittance compared to the joy of cresting a hill to see the sun rising from the ocean or scattering the firetails and blue wrens when i cut through Puckey's Reserve or standing abashed when some bright young thing in a negligible bikini gushes over that beautiful bicycle. Next year I'm off to a major bicycle event in Sydney where they have a swap meet and I believe that I will have to take a double table. I have four bikes and am considering a fifth. The fourth is a custom as will be the fifth but evenso I have plans to swap out the saddle. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
