A high-end bike is different -- I step on the pedal, and the bike jumps.

Amen, brother. Amen to that whole post. Getting a £600 Kona after ten years plugging away on a Raleigh that cost £120 in 1990 was a darn-near life-changing event.

I've still got the Raleigh for commuting (there's no secure bike storage at Planet Empeg) but if I forget, at the weekend, that I've changed bikes, I pull the front wheel of the Kona off the floor on corners because that's how much effort it takes to turn the Raleigh, and every Monday morning on the way to work it's "Oh no, the brakes have stopped working! Oh, hang on, no, they were always like this."

Peter