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Comment by nickpeterson | Hacker News Reader

I also have envy for OP-1. I think it comes from yearning to be a different person or have different talents. I have similar feelings about buying a leica rangefinder camera, a mac pro, or a SwissMicros calculator. They just seem like such cool kit and I wish I was the type who needed them.

Then I come back to reality.

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Buying a nice bicycle may be the healthiest of these obsessions: Approximately as ludicrously expensive as audiophile gear, but you don't need to be talented to get some extra fitness and joy out if it. It's as expensive as it is accessible, and if you want to, sociable.

I bought the bike, finally, in 2019 right before the pando. A beautiful Cannondale, CF everything. Since then, I've learned I have arthritic degredation in my back and really shouldn't ride it for any extended period of time.

No regrets, but damn, what a waste of a stallion! Still have the bike, it just hasn't been ridden to it's potential.

At least it's an inanimate object :-)

Upright bars! Maybe read some Grant Peterson too

Just like with audiophile gear, a bike doesn't have to be extremely expensive to reach the point of diminishing returns.

>Approximately as ludicrously expensive as audiophile gear, but you don't need to be talented to get some extra fitness and joy out if it.

Bikes are kind of different. There's an order of magnitude difference in your experience with a proper carbon road bike versus a steel Huffy. People who've only experienced the latter tend to think of biking as miserable. It's the one thing that I tell people to either spend the money on or don't bother.

That's one philosophy.

Another is that if your bike is for exercise, and you spend your time chugging up hills, then it doesn't matter if it's not built from the latest, lightest titanium alloy. The heavier the better in fact.

That's true only if you manage to ride the heavier bike almost as much. You might find it much more enjoyable to ride the more expensive bike, and end up riding more because of it.

Agreed! But there's compromises possible. A well-designed alu frame with a carbon fork is a lot cheaper, but still reasonably comfortable.

My best interpretation of it is that a purchase is akin to a promise to yourself. Buying an OP1 is a promise that you’ll write music in the future, maybe release an album. Buying a Leica is a promise that you’ll get really into photography, maybe publish a book or have a gallery showing.

Of course, the effort to keep a promise is manyfolds greater than that to make it, and spending a few thousands of dollars only requires clicking a button, whereas putting thousands of hours into something requires… putting thousands of hours into something.

Anyways, when I have such consumerist impulses now, I try to break it down. What about this purchase is flattering my ego or making promises to myself? Is there anyway I can get those results without dropping a month of living expenses on a new piece of gear?

100% with ya. High-end music gear and camera equipment are always on my wish list. It's easy to fall into 'gear acquisition syndrome', so I've just tried to be intentional about treating myself to nice gear only when I know I'm really gonna use it. Also thankfully, I live in a big city where I've been able to buy and sell some great equipment on the secondhand market.

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