[Closed] Financing a mountain bike

If I wasn't a student (with an interest free over draft) I suspect I'd take advantage of one of the numerous interest free finance deals about when its new bike time 😛

Although nothing more satisfactory than holding a big chunk of cash if you've saved up!

Save up. Much better feeling to know it's yours and you're not in debt.

A bit of saving up, some on the credit card and some straight out of the bank. I tend to drip feed the upgrades. Little by little and as and when bits fall apart. A few years ago I started upgrading kit with quality servisable parts like hope and have recently invested in a fork that I can maintain myself without having to pay mojo a lot of money to do. I did once buy a bike on finance and gave up the tabs for a year to pay for it.

Save up, 2nd hand, or look in the sales.

Save up.

+1. Not at all worth going into debt to finance an upgrade.

Save up, though I paid for my mtb with student loan money 😆

Debt is only for essentials, toys are paid for with cash.

Hmm, i built up a succession of hardtails, starting with an old Claud Butler, through a Kona Cindercone frame going cheap on CRC until i built up a GT Zaskar Race 2001. Sold that for £900 and walked into Royles with a grand in cash, took advantage of the interest free offer to pay the extra £1100 on a Mount Vision.

My Wolf Ridge and my Boardman were paid for from a windfall payment from the Redundancy Office that i wasn't expecting - already had a job by that point, plus they had already given me £10'000 🙂

Ignore the puritans...go for it. Ive bought bikes on finance in the past, will again in the future. If you can afford the repayments, why not?

saving £200 per month x 12 months = £2,400. So you could have a new bike by April 2012.

paying £200 per month (debt financed at 0%) x 12 months = £2,400. So you could have a new bike tomorrow.

Are you worried about not being able to meet the repayments? If so, don't get finance obviously. Or a £250k mortgage for that matter.

interesting feedback there guys. I think my problem is that I am trying to save for too many things, and was hoping to keep monthly costs down. Need to sort out my priorities!!

My "new" one was second-hand, so the original owner had taken all of the depreciation (getting on for 60%).

The only things I have had to change are the handlebars and the stem as I wanted some wider ones and a shorter stem.

Keep your eye out on the classified and you will pick yourself up something which is 90% of what you are looking for a very discounted price.

If you want it and can afford the payments them why not? There are many on here who espouse the whole 'if you can't pay cash you can't afford it' nonsense. Not everyone is that fortunate to have a decent job or money in the bank. I'd only buy interest free though.

If it were me though I'd just buy from the classifieds. Loads of bargains to be had. I'd certainly never buy a brand new bike, as I'd never buy a brand new car.

I just pimp out all my biatches to pay for my meaga exclusive Ti niche habit.
If that doesn't work for you you could always try selling your arse on street corners.

Jakeclyro,

You should just buy a bit at a time, decide what you want frame and forks wise, then save for the frame ,buy it then do the same with the forks, then decide on the kit, if you can afford say 50 quid a month, well that would buy a chain, or a cassette, maybe a chain and some grips, each week either buy a part or wait two weeks and buy a bigger part,

presto before you know it you will have a bedroom full of bike bits, then bolt it all together, thats the bit i like and off you go, no cc to pay of loan to clear etc, it's your bike ,enjoy and ride,

i could pay for a bike full out from my savings but i find it better to do it this way myself, it's a good lesson in patience and you will end up with exactly what you desire,

don't forget in these hard times if you borrow, you will be paying say for a 1k bike around 1.4k back, if you can't afford to spend 1k it's madness to spend 1.4k ,

good luck,

don't forget in these hard times if you borrow, you will be paying say for a 1k bike around 1.4k back,

Nonsense. In these hard times bike shops are literally throwing interest free finance at anyone who gets within 100ft of their shop. Businesses selling luxury goods have fallen on FAR harder times than joe public.

before you know it you will have a bedroom full of bike bits, then bolt it all together, thats the bit i like and off you go, no cc to pay of loan to clear etc, it's your bike ,enjoy and ride,

Whilst I am in no way suggesting that your way of paying for bikes is any better or worse than other options, your reasoning just doesn't add up at all.

If you save up over 12 months, you just have a load of parts sitting in your room and a bike that you can't ride for a year, yet you still pay £1,000. Sure, you don't have a loan to pay off, but you've just missed a year of riding.

If you take out £1,000 interest free finance over a year, you get your bike tomorrow and spend a year riding. And guess what, by the time your mate has finally built up his bike and is so pleased with himself for not having any loan to pay off, you'll have already finished paying yours! Difference is, you'll have been riding for a year while he's been sitting in his bedroom reading Singletrack.

I just don't get it at all. If you have doubts that you would be able to meet the monthly repayments, then of course you shouldn't be taking out finance.

But even if the worst came to the worst, and say you somehow lost your job, got no redundancy pay and didn't have any savings after 3 months of singing the finance agreement.....just sell the bike and you'll pretty much have paid back the finance

When I was a student I bought 1 bike a term time but since leaving uni i don't get such pleasures. Look around for 0% deals like Hargroves etc or get a credit card and be savvy with it. My frame is relatively new but my wheels, forks and brakes need replacing. I can do 0% with my local shop although will probably use my credit card for an online retailer as it's cheaper

yep peterfile,

your right why wait and save for something when you can use someone else's cash to pay for it and have it now,

hey wait a minute! Isn't that what everyone keeps doing thus triggering a banking and financial crisis
that has caused all these austerity measures that everyone is struggling with ?

as for my reasoning i think i would rather own a pile of parts that equal a bike than borrow the money
to pay for one,

just trying to help the guy and keep him from going down the same road as a lot of other citizens,

shoot me down for suggesting it !!!!!

old fashioned maybe ?
😀

Finance isn't a bad thing, and the economy depends on it. Finance that you can't afford obviously is, so as long as they can afford the repayment. Imagine the gall of people who buy cars and houses and don't even pay cash up front. The cheeky bastards, have they no shame....

hey wait a minute! Isn't that what everyone keeps doing thus triggering a banking and financial crisis
that has caused all these austerity measures that everyone is struggling with ?

No, it is not: What has caused the financial "crisis" is banks making bad decisions with our money and loaning money to those who can't possibly afford to pay it back.

Actually, as other say above, our economy relies on "good debt". Now I am not using that as an excuse to take out a loan for a bike. However, if you can afford the repayments, then what is the problem?

Again, as others have said, if you try and save up, then you are missing out on a large period of riding and, let's face it, life is too short...

I think one example of how finance is useful is this: A few years ago I needed a new sofa. Now, I had the money in the bank, but I went into DFS and they offered me a 0% finance option. I had the choice to spend cash I had in the bank, or pay it off £20/month for a couple of years - I could easily afford the payments and I preferred to have the money in the bank for another day. It was an easy decision to make.

If you'd started saving 2 years ago and turned down interest free finance I think you'd be currently very upset.

Bikes have lept in price over those 2 years

I bought a year ago when there was a shortage of larger bikes. I paid £800 for a bike that had been ridden once, he'd paid £1300. You don't get 0% finance on deals like that

What are you riding at the moment?

I went full suspension due to a variety of soft tissue injuries, but if your yound and able bodied I recon you might as well stay on say a deore on one (456 or inbred) I can't believe there is much in the uk you couldn't do on that

look for secondhand frame bargains my last 2 bikes cost a fraction of rep and were in mint condition
you just gotta be patient and wait for the right deal

your right why wait and save for something when you can use someone else's cash to pay for it and have it now,

hey wait a minute! Isn't that what everyone keeps doing thus triggering a banking and financial crisis
that has caused all these austerity measures that everyone is struggling with ?

Actually, no.

I'm not having a dig at you mate, just suggesting that the panic and misunderstanding of debt/financial meltdown has, understandably, made some people unnecessarily wary of finance.

Interestingly enough, these people would lose sleep over a £1,000 finance agreement for a bike, but not their £250,000 mortgage on a depreciating asset.

Our world revolves around credit facilities. If they didn't exist, neither would home ownership (other than for over 50's who have been saving all their lives), we'd all be living in social housing (where would the demand be for housing developers? In fact, where would they get the money to build the houses from?) and I can assure you that more or less all good mountain bike brands would disappear (how would people save for bikes if they have to save up £200k for a house, £15k for a car, £10k to have their bathroom fitted etc?).

I usually transfer some funds from my account in the Cayman Islands

I wouldn't dream of getting a loan out for a bike but then I the only debt I have is my mortgage and that will be paid off this year. I took loans as a student as the rates were so low and paid them back when I was done. Apart from that I've never had finance, nor will I as I just don't like owing people money.

The big risk of financing a bike for me would be if it were stolen or probably more you crash and break it hugely (non warranty) you could then be left paying for 18 months for something you can't use.

I wouldn't dream of getting a loan out for a bike but then I the only debt I have is my mortgage and that will be paid off this year. I took loans as a student as the rates were so low and paid them back when I was done. Apart from that I've never had finance, nor will I as I just don't like owing people money.

Are you in your 40s/50s? Did you buy your house before the market became so inflated?

You are in a pretty fortunate position. There's not many people in their 20s/30s who are paying off their mortgage this year.

How long did you have your mortgage for if you don't mind me asking? If you don't like owing people money, wasn't it difficult to owe so much to someone for so long?

The big risk of financing a bike for me would be if it were stolen or probably more you crash and break it hugely (non warranty) you could then be left paying for 18 months for something you can't use.

That's what insurance is for.

32 this year, Mortgage will be around 9 years old when I clear it. It was hard to owe the mortgage but the best option for me as I didn't want to be wasting rent so I took it.

steveh must be a banker !

32 this year, Mortgage will be around 9 years old when I clear it. It was hard to owe the mortgage but the best option for me as I didn't want to be wasting rent so I took it.

Fair enough, that's pretty impressive, don't know many people who were mortgage free at 32.

Upgrade? Why?

Fix, repair, replace bits when needed.

but not their £250,000 mortgage on a depreciating asset

Houses are depreciating assets? Don't be daft. Just about the only thing that you buy that IS more or less guaranteed to go up in value over the course of the loan you take to buy it.

some people don't like having the same bike their whole lives though molgrips 😀

You don't need to, you just insure it and wait for it to get stolen.

Or just have it gradually morph into a different bike over time.

Houses are depreciating assets? Don't be daft.

Tell that to someone who bought a house in 2007. On a 90% ltv mortgage.

Over 25 years your property will have most likely appreciated in value. But if you bought a house with a large ltv in 2005-2007, it's quite likely you had some sleepless nights after watching the value of your home correct itself.

How many actually hold that asset for the mortgage term though? How many people live in their first house for 25 years? Compare that to the number of people buying a home in say 2005 and wanting to move in 2010.

However, the point I was making was that some people seemed less worried about huge mortgages on a depreciating asset (even if it is a temporary depreciation, it was still depreciating for a number of years) than £1,000 interest free finance on a bike.

Corrections in the housing market are fine if you have sufficient equity in your house and you have no intention to move until the value rises again, but unfortunately that can't be said for a great number of home owners. Unless of course you're saying that the last fall in house prices had no negative effect on home owners at all?

Tell that to someone who bought a house in 2007. On a 90% ltv mortgage.

Like me?

I suspect most people's experience is like my parents'. First house cost £3,000 or something, current one is worth almost £300k.

That's a pretty solid investment I reckon.

It appreciates LONG TERM.

fair enough

It's all well and good for people who are young with no mortgage to be sanctimonious. I'm 38 with massive mortgage with 25 years to run. Not everyone is so well off/good with money/fortunate. That's the real world for you. But if being in such a good situation affords bragging rights then fair enough.

It's a little sad though.