Mountain Biking

I agree with this sentiment.

I was a former racer and a suspension tech. When I get a new bike it takes me a few rides to get the suspension dialled.

However, once dialled, that begins a year of deeper tweaking that could include changing damper shim stacks, various internal reconfigurations with volume spacers and suspension mods.

It basically takes me a year of ownership to really feel like the bike is doing what I want.

I think I can basically take almost any suspension package and eventually modify it to what I imagine. So I don't super care if it's a Fox or Rock Shox or air or coil, these are not essential constraints on ride quality.

I also usually take about 2 years to figure out the wheels and components to a point where things have the right set of characteristics all together. For example, I won't enjoy riding a stiff handlebar with noodly rims, for me it's all a stack of springs that have to respond evenly in various loadings.

Having given this anecdote, what I see other riders doing is total part and total bike swaps. They have a valid issue with some shortcoming on their current ride but they don't have the right strategy of tuning, so what they do is trade one set of problems for a whole new bike, repeat, repeat.

I actually hate riding a new bike, it makes me ride much slower and much worse.

As someone who can do a lot of basic level auto diagnosis and repair, I don't treat a car much different.

When you start to pay other people as mechanics, it is often a rational monetary decision to sell a slightly used item and get a new one... If you flip items fast enough that you never pay for depreciation or maintenance you can get away with it...