Having considered the collective wisdom of the group, I've realised that to gain the bits at the price i can afford there are 2 options
1. Buy old bits and clean them up.....well i already do that..
2. It may be possible by spending many hours hunched over ebay/ friendface/ grinder- tree whatever......
However No2, i feel, is a serious waste of time, with very hit / miss benefits. "Screen time" as i believe its called is not something i get anything out of (this is probably the only exception) and as such the idea of spending hours trawling for parts and miss spoolings to save £10 on a component is just not an option for me.
So, Im going to ask my old boss if i can go back to work 1 day a week! 8 hours work to get 10 times the financial advantage i would get from 8 hours of trawling! Plus i get my workshop privileges back without feeling like I'm sponging ( not that they dont get their moneys worth every time i pop in!). Anyway I digress.
Back to my original question at the top^. Is it putting me off? Well yes, in a way, even if its not putting me off, its making me think twice about taking on projects or the direction i take. This limitation is quite depressing....don't get me wrong, im not after top end stuff, i just want to stay where i am and am comfortably happy.
I think the argument made by some that essentially you just have to "suck it up" is a little harsh (whilst true), especially on those with lower /less disposable / fixed incomes. Whilst that is in fact "life", when it effects a genuinely enjoyable, longterm outlet or hobby, its a bit of a blow. Sometimes we forget the advantages of group membership and how much that contact can mean to some.
All I ask is next time you shove an item up for sale on the forum, just ask yourself " how much does this really owe me", be nice, make somebody's day and bask in the good karma.
Normally, I don't post in threads bitching about pricing. It's the law of the jungle, supply and demand and all that.
However, how you framed the OP is very thought provoking. Well done to you for that, it got my two brain cells rubbing together.
When I see you framed it all down to only two options, I think you have missed some tricks.
- NIB the moment it is out of the box, and installed it is roughly -30% the original price.
- A complete bike is
never worth the sum of it's parts. For this to be untrue, we are talking something absolutely and historically extraordinary; which you don't appear to be in the game for.
- The bike industry is a fashion industry. Waves, re-inventions, nostalgia, new, exciting, been, has been, new fangled, bees knees, etc. etc.
The two options you state above to "survive" in the price whacko game don't take the above into account. The way this hobby pays for itself is splitting and flipping. I saw posts above against all this, but the bottom line is if you want that RD, you buy a complete bike with it, then flip the rest. You will end up with the RD for nothing, a spare BB possibly, a frame to piss about with and try for knowledge reasons, and if you did it right a little profit selling what you don't want by refurbing cleaning bits to extend your hobby either sideways (buy more equal value tat) or vertically up (higher end exotica for that Paul Rasta mech) or pay for a new fridge that broke last week (trade the XT FD in for LX FD which would do fine for your daily rider with no noticeable differance).
Many projects here are all about investment and the long waiting game. As mentioned about "hoarders" even though they don't know what it is for, it is exactly the right approach. Parts die and wear (except for that Paul Rasta rear mech which just changes hands and sits in a glass cabinet or next to the coffee table read (it certainly does not get thrashed)) and anyone with any sense does have an attic of bits waiting for that frame to come along. Those who have the frame but not the bits will be forced to sell the frame at some point, and those with the bits in the attic waiting will have a magnificent build at a good price.
Going to Ebay to buy parts is a money pit, but with some thought and investment, it can be turned around completely where you are not on the shafted end of the equation. All that said, it's good you are contributing with thought provoking questions and are also willing to invest in time for refurbishments which takes skill and practice. That alone, I can't see how you could feel a bit depressed, and dare I say, a looser in this hobby, most people want click to buy immediate gratification and only get satisfaction from purchasing.
Perhaps time you set a different level of a project? One that uses your skills (and kinder on the environment) and not your bank account or bike economy thinking?
Anyhow, peeps, all the best for 2022! I'm going to fully rat arsed in a moment!
