Then there are those of us who put our dollars into parts that will actually make a difference in the ride experience, and don't much care if the part comes in loud, custom colours, or bespoke graphics.
Mountain bikes (and bike parts) don't last forever, and while I try my best to equip with stuff that is reliable as possible, I have no illusions that any of my "precious parts" will be with me forever. Every part on my bike is a curated choice, balancing performance, reliability, safety and cost. Occasionally, weight is also considered. There are certainly demographics within mountain biking that can squeeze a lot more life out of any particular bike part than I can, but I'm not going to change the way I ride, or the terrain I ride just so my fluffy, purple anodized bike parts can live forever. I'm after the best performing parts possible. They're expensive. And usually black. Maybe grey. Who cares?
Yeah, my bike is cool and I love it, but I try to avoid falling in love with "stuff" - at the end of the day, it's still just stuff. The truly enjoyable part is the experiences you get to have while using that stuff.
And I do find most stock builds to be quite disappointing these days - notable exceptions being some of the builds from brands like Transition and Commencal. While not everyone's cup of tea, this "new" build from Spesh is absolutely my kind of "min-maxing":
![Enduro LTD](https://assets.specialized.com/i/specialized/93622-32_ENDURO-LTD-DOP-SND_HERO?bg=rgb(241,241,241)&w=1600&h=900&fmt=auto)
July 14, 2022, 10:12 a.m. - Ryan Walters
Then there are those of us who put our dollars into parts that will actually make a difference in the ride experience, and don't much care if the part comes in loud, custom colours, or bespoke graphics. Mountain bikes (and bike parts) don't last forever, and while I try my best to equip with stuff that is reliable as possible, I have no illusions that any of my "precious parts" will be with me forever. Every part on my bike is a curated choice, balancing performance, reliability, safety and cost. Occasionally, weight is also considered. There are certainly demographics within mountain biking that can squeeze a lot more life out of any particular bike part than I can, but I'm not going to change the way I ride, or the terrain I ride just so my fluffy, purple anodized bike parts can live forever. I'm after the best performing parts possible. They're expensive. And usually black. Maybe grey. Who cares? Yeah, my bike is cool and I love it, but I try to avoid falling in love with "stuff" - at the end of the day, it's still just stuff. The truly enjoyable part is the experiences you get to have while using that stuff. And I do find most stock builds to be quite disappointing these days - notable exceptions being some of the builds from brands like Transition and Commencal. While not everyone's cup of tea, this "new" build from Spesh is absolutely my kind of "min-maxing": ![Enduro LTD](https://assets.specialized.com/i/specialized/93622-32_ENDURO-LTD-DOP-SND_HERO?bg=rgb(241,241,241)&w=1600&h=900&fmt=auto)