[Closed] How do you finance a new bike?

I use credit, make sure I can afford it and go 0%. My latest bike I took out an interest free credit card as I got a better deal doing that rather than using the shop finance.

How do you finance a new bike?

Armed robbery, shoplifting and drug dealing mainly.

In reality... I don't. New bikes? Yeah, right. 😆

Dont buy the latest stuff and dont buy it new. Cold hard cash i put asside each month to feed my habits!

- applies to cars - it equipment - clothes , a/v equipment

Not being fashionable saves me a fortune.

I just don't buy them if I can't afford them. That Yeti is well out of what I'd consider my bike-buying budget.

TBF, I've had a bike via C2W, which is a sort of "credit" arrangement.

buy second hand and only then when it matches a tight wad Yorkshireman's pocket

[i]I hate using credit[/i]

If you can afford it, and it's short term, why do you hate it?

I don't buy silly expensive bikes!

Use savings and/or sell old stuff.

2nd last one was cash and deferred payment arranged with LBS over 3 months.
last one is on credit, deal was very good and will work out good when it's paid off.

I don't. Can't possibly justify that much on just me in the face of other financial demands (children, house, car, holidays).

Savings. I never use credit. I only buy things I can afford outright. It's a bit of OCD I have.

I know I'll end up with a mortgage soon at which point I'll be even more OCD about money.

Affording credit is a loose term.

My definition of affording credit is having the cash set asside in the bank for that specific purpose and using 0% to profit onte savings

Most folks i know in my localitys idea of affording it is being able to meet the monthly.

I hate using credit

If you can afford it, and it's short term, why do you hate it?

I just hate being in debt & although I could scrape together enough to pay it off in the back of my mind I'm thinking if a big bill comes in, heating breaks, car probs etc then I'm stretched to breaking point. Just paranoid & not an optimist I guess

0% cards.
why bother using cash in your bank when you can use someone elses.....no brainer to me.

I have no objection in principle to using credit but I've always been able to get a better deal with cold hard cash.

I am eternally grateful for the [s]idiots with more more than sense[/s] discerning early-adapting consumers who buy the latest stuff, don't use it, them flog it for half what they paid for it

God bless you all!

*wanders over to the classifieds*

😀

Credit Cards - if managed correctly, give you the benefit of added insurance and other benefits such as reward points. And also they let you keep hold of your cash for a little longer 🙂

I looked at a Yeti this time last year, about a grand off the rrp and 3 years 0% finance. But it was a 26er so I walked away because I can't see into the future.

I buy s/h bikes and parts for a fraction of what that yeti is priced at. they might not be as shiny but they are just as much fun to ride.

I looked at a Yeti this time last year, about a grand off the rrp and 3 years 0% finance. But it was a 26er so I walked away because I can't see into the future.

hoverboards, apparently. They're already here. Have been for years. But they won't release them because they can't decide on an optimum size for the jets. There are presently 3 options...

Has to be cash for me, really good realstionship with my LBC means in there, cash is king.

I cant imagine paying £100 a month for 3 years when the item devalues so much, so quickly.

Save up, pay cash.

pay cash buying a model a few years old works for me, I know what to look for and go on condition, saves me thousands. Only thing I use credit for is my mortgage

0% cards = free money with transaction protection and goods insurance - silly not to really 😀

What on earth is wrong with interest free credit?? I use it regularly, although not because I can't afford things just because it is super easy and great value. I usually only do it if I have enough savings to ensure that I could pay it off if I needed to. If you have a decent regular income then interest free credit feels like free, because you don't really notice the money and just budget a little each month to accommodate it. What's not to like...?

I only buy stuff when I can afford to pay for it.
I may pay by credit card but pay it off in full when the bill turns up.

As has been mentioned above I also don't buy really expensive kit and got a better deal for not using credit.

Si

What on earth is wrong with interest free credit??

nothing in my eyes. suppose it depends on your situation. suits me.

Loaned to the hilt - life's to short to ride shit bikes

Overtime.

When I work overtime it gets put in the bank account to go towards bikes and stuff like that. If I want a new bike and I've not got the money to pay cash then it goes on a 0% card and my overtime pays the card off.

Save up, I don't like being in debt. I do use the credit card to buy most things though but pay it off immediately.

I buy new but only pay cash or get the 0% deal on a card & already have the funds in the bank to cover the debt if something goes wrong.
That said the most I've ever paid for a bike was £2000 for a Speccy Enduro back in 2005..

interest free credit is a bit of a myth in my eyes, yuo can always negotiate a harder deal with cash as the interest is not really 'free', its just absorbed into the list price and hence mark up on the bike you buy.

I'm with trail rat, I only buy what I can pay for in cash. You can always build a bike from parts and upgrade as you go/wear stuff out/break stuff. You can build up quite a fleet, as we both know 🙂

Buy second hand.

Or have a relative who works in the bike biz 🙂

today's bikes seem more & more out of reach (see the latest Yeti) so how do you pay for the latest stuff?

Don't buy the latest stuff? Be happy with what you have?

If you feel happier not having debts then you'll feel happier riding what you have and not what's got you on the monthly.

Personally I think buying used/in sales/self-builds are the way to combat this. You spec the bike/frame/parts that you can afford at the time and upgrade when funds allow.

By "interest free credit" I mean using a 0% card, not an in store finance deal, and the card has always had the same discount blagging power as hard cash in my LBS 🙂

I beg, plead and generally demean myself in front of the children until MrsMC takes pity on me and issues strict instructions as to how much money I can have and what I must sell in order to pay for the [s]new inner tube[/s] whatever it is I wish to purchase.

God help me if the planned job/role swap takes place and she becomes the main wage earner. 😥

interest free credit is a bit of a myth in my eyes, yuo can always negotiate a harder deal with cash as the interest is not really 'free', its just absorbed into the list price and hence mark up on the bike you buy.

disagree with this.
most businesses don't want to deal in cash nowadays. I work on a trade counter, we are currently bringing in a account or credit only system.

in the world of any business cash is no longer king.

New is a very odd concept. Ok, both my Malt 2 and Malt-R were new, but got justified because they were heavily reduced, I had the cash spare and was preparing to make my final capital purchases for a while (think of it as a yearly toy budget blow-out). It helped that my previous bike had been stolen and I needed another one.

I've just bought a full sus though and, after many. many hours of reviewing and soul searching, I just could not justify spending a shit-tonne of money on a brand spanker, despite loving the Bronson and secretly liking the Aeris. So, I ended up buying a second hand 2012 Stumpy from a man in Bracknell.

It cost about the same as my Malt 2 and I think I have had far less buyer's remorse than I would have done if I had spanked 2.5k on an Aeris or 3.5 on a Bronson.

I paid for it with cash, because I had the spare cash saved up for it.

"in the world of any business cash is no longer king."

Depends if your dealing with the owner of said business or not.

Mainly cash (or at least a credit card which is then paid off in full). I have one bike on cycle to work though and a few years ago did 0% shop finance (could have bought it outright but made more sense to use their money).

0% Finance.
Why save, when you can have it now, and pay back the money you would be saving?

I have a very simple rule when it comes to finances. I wont borrow money for anything unless it will appreciate in value faster than the interest on the loan. So, for a bike, even 0% is out as it means that the day after I buy it I have a loan that is greater than the asset and I don't like being in that position. As RD said, it's about not knowing what the future might bring.

But each to their own. There are logical reasons to justify all sorts of things. That's just a rule that's always worked for me.

Ram-raiding is the cheapest way to acquire a new bike. Make sure you TWOC a large enough vehicle though.

Alternatively there is a thriving market in donor organs in some of the more seedy parts of the world.

From now on ill be being frame only on credit with a decent depsoit then a mix of new and second hand parts for the rest of the build.

Cash was always king for me, bargaining power etc. as stated, but my next purchase (from my long suffering LBS) will probably be 0%.
The money is in the bank already, but might as well stay there a little longer and farm a little interest.
The main difference is I have normally gone N+1, this time the spares bin has gone on ebay, one bike has sold and the current bike will be split, frame/forks/wheels sold and new ones procured. Puts a few quid back into the pot.

Cash, cycle to work, 0%.

Whatever it takes.

I save. Don't have credit cards or small loans. Got a mortgage, wife, 2 kids and little disposable income so I either sell bits and bobs to fund other bits and bobs or just save a few dollars here and there and save until I can fund. And plan ahead. My 40th in Feb so I'm saving bits as the missus says I can buy a new bike.

From my own pocket! Lucky enough to have no unsecured debts so I have a decent dispoable income every month. That said I'm still quite tight and generally only buy second hand and after a length of time waiting for the right deal to come along. I also change bikes very infrequently.

Save and buy, latest bike was bought by saving for 26 years... yep really... admittedly that was an endowment policy for my 1st mortgage - I'd already paid off.
Never owned a credit card or had a loan of any sort (except mortgages).

I choose my bike ,then wait for someone on here to buy the same model.
After a short while I start a few threads questioning the reliability,aesthetics,performance and manliness of their choice,backed up with some made up horror stories and lies.
It's only a matter of time before it appears in For Sale section at a huge discount 😉 😛 🙂

Cash at my LBS is frowned upon for anything over £50. They pay more in bank fees to process cash than card fees. It depends how honest the owner is with putting money through the books though.

0% credit card with a firm commitment to pay it off in a set time. Although I would only do that if I had the cash available in savings. No bike is worth the sleepless nights worrying about how it would be paid off if the worst case scenario happened.

It's quite amusing listening to friends who will either max out a credit card "because it's available" or the others who won't do credit yet have eye-wateringly big mortgages.

For a long time its been picking up a second hand, (year or two old), decent frame & then picking up stuff second hand stuff over time.

Started down this route to build up a Five just after Xmas.
Got a few months in but they bought out the new Five, so I picked up a 2015 "old" model for a good deal, plus they had 0% on it.

If I'm honest, I don't have the time/patience to be shopping for parts through the classifieds these days, so I convinced myself it would be easier to just buy a complete new one. 😉

My only new bike ever was a cyclescheme purchase.
All prior to that were eBay and an ex-demo.

But my ol' man left me some money, so he's bought my latest one. (Thanks Dad)
Still can't bring myself to buy a new MTB though. My Yeti is just the job (that new one at £3K for the frame - effin ridicularse!).

how do you pay for the latest stuff?

EDIT forgot I had one on cyclescheme a few years ago, but that was to replace a stolen commuter.