this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2023
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For me it was "buy high quality pillow" because you sleep for one thrid of a day etc. I needed a new pillow anyway so I came to the store and bought the best they had. And it was ... ok. Like it's a fine pillow but my sleeping haven't improved really, it's basically the same. So I was disapointed :(

So, which life pro tip disappointed you?

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

You also get diminishing returns.

If you spend £400 on a bike instead of £200, it might actually be nearly twice as good, but spending £2000 doesn't mean it will be ten times as good, when you're in to bikes that cost £10k+ you're talking about fractions of a percent better than the one that costs many percent less.

The top of the range items are good for enthusiasts, but almost always not worth it for casual consumers.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For a $200 bike, it's never going to work the way it's intended to work. ANY bike you buy at a department store--and many that you buy at general sporting goods stores--will be garbage. In 1995, the rule of thumb was to spend at least $500 on a bike to get something that you could realistically ride every single day; that's about $1000 today.

I'm saying this as someone that worked at bike stores as a mechanic off and one over about 15 years; the cheap dept. store bikes someply can't be fixed and adjusted to work the way that their owners expect.

(PS - yes, fixies are cheap and light. No, you should not under any circumstances ride them on public streets or trails. If you do, sooner or later you will have a serious accident that will involve stitches, broken bones, possibly surgery, and probably rehab.)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I concur with you, but I'd phrase it in a different way: if your budget is $200 for a bike, you should be shopping for a used bike-shop/reputable-brand bike on Craigslist or whatever.

Also, agreed about fixies, except that switching the flip-flop hub to single-speed mode and adding brakes makes it fine.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Well, that's why I specified fixie rather than single speed. 🙂 I'm not a fan of single speeds since they're inefficient, but they're not inherently unsafe, and I'm not going to tell people that they're suicidally stupid if they ride one.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Very true for bikes in my experience. Guitars as well.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

£500 - £1000 is the sweet spot for electric guitars. Anything much higher than that is the exact same guitar, just with extra bling.

Acoustic/classical guitars are a bit different and even though they still suffer diminishing returns, a higher price can be more easily justified.