Wait a while to see if you really need something.

Aluminium frame with rim brakes is obsolete. Aluminium doesn’t absorb shock as well a carbon fibre, but with disc brakes you can compensate for that with wider tyres. However with rim brakes you’re limited to 25mm and that makes riding on pot-hole ridden UK roads irritating. It was slightly better back in Hong Kong where there were a few traffic free roads in good condition, but here in the UK they are like gold-dust. You’re more likely to compete with traffic who have already worn out the road.

The problem is that with Covid, bicycle prices have shot up which is making upgrading expensive. I’m anecdotally convinced that they’ve increased ~150%. For example about 5 years ago I paid ~£1000 (10,000 HKD) for my Giant Tcr ali 105 rim brake, but a recent ebay auction for a 2 year old ali Giant Revolt with 105 disc went up to £1400. Non-cyclists are surprised at how expensive bicycles are getting but sadly the multi-thousand bike will probably become standard for sport.

Bigger tyres are an advantage in every way, from comfort (which a bike fitter will say is the most important criteria) to speed in terms of reduced rolling resistance. However with the price increases, I do not want to feed into the demand that is outstripping supply.

Upgrading my bike would be nice, but its also wasteful.

I’ve also been re-evaluating what set of bikes I’m going to have. Originally I fantasized about having one do-it-all that’s good enough for all types of cycling I could do, but given the expense of gravel bikes nowadays, plus the ubiquity of second hand town bikes, means I will settle for what I already have. One town bike and a road bike for “sporty” activities like triathlon or a group ride.

I think society as a whole has been made to “want” stuff; things to buy in order to make us happier. The marketing for adventure gravel bikes was designed to target this (see the rise of bikepacking), especially given the grievences with old fashioned skinny tires. But to want stuff and then pay through the nose for a product thats restricted in supply is to feed into bike price inflation which makes the activity exclusive to sport enthusiasts. For cycling to become mainstream as part of the solution to climate change, it will need to ditch its exclusive imagery, and encourage society as a whole to build bicycle infrastructure. I sincerely hope that prices will stabilize, and that the uptake in cycling demand triggered by covid restrictions will also be followed up with better infrastructure that will lead to long term growth. If I buy an expensive gravel bike now, it will just make me more cynical about the state of cycling as a lifestyle. I don’t want to be a cynic, and I want others to enjoy cycling. So I will make do with what I have.