[Closed] How do you pay for your bike/parts?

I found singlespeeds and hub gears minimised my expenditure alot.

Cash at LBS or recent big purchase on 0% card which has been consigned to a drawer.
Debit or credit if and when I use online which is rarely, get decent discounts from various lbs that I have frequented for a number of years.
Rarely buy 2nd hand unless it is new or history is known and can be verified.
Reaching retirement rapidly so all that may change. probably give up mtb and become a roadie/CTC tourer type.... 🙄

I save till I have the money for the part/bike I want.

A little like this.

[img] [/img]

Property, I rent out my house in the UK and any money left over from general maintenance (and ensuring there's money set aside for expensive problems) goes on bike toys.

Cash, card, beer, barter depending on what it is. Wait for deals or pick and choose what I want. I also pick things that I want that are value for what I do, generally following the buy cheap buy twice holds.

A combination of large scale credit card fraud, and international drug dealing keep me in gold plated Santa Cruz

No kids, no other half, mortgage paid off and tiny house bought very cheap anyway, no debts, freelance software developer = loads of disposable.

That said I don't spend as much as I want on bikes due to lack of space. Need bigger house, which means mortgage again and more difficult to get as I've left it so long to move and mortgage companies are more reluctant to offer to self employed 40somethings. Also as a freelancer I have to account for time on the bench.

Technical terms, I pay on credit cards, always paid off. Good for credit score to use credit even if you pay it off.

Good thread Paul. Looking at the finances and then thinking of bike expenditure makes for pretty grim reading for me.

Would be interested to hear any tips.

I've economised by sticking to 9 speed and rotating chains, plus white spirit and plastic bottle for cleaning.

Am thinking about getting an ISA to save up for the next bike, or draw on in case of JRA.

I set aside £100 a month for bike parts. Also if a part works ok I tend to keep it until destroyed. You should see my NW chain ring which is a 12 months old about the a third of the teeth are missing and it is hard to tell what is narrow and what is wide thankfully it has one last ride to do.7

I also tend to buy certain parts 2nd hand or cheap my bike is not gold plated.

Gay for pay.

I buy from my LBS for new items. I get good discount. Odd things online.

I buy a fair bit second hand. I just keep a look out a bide my time. I've now got enough drive train parts that I can replace almost everything in a emergency.

I wouldn't have a problem with buying with a credit card on 0% if it was a big purchase. I would then use up all of the 0% transfers until paid off. BUT I'd stick to a set budget and pay it religiously. Credit is not bad, bad credit is bad.

I don't anymore

Used to have cash for goodies but not now

I did manage to get a new helmet using tesco vouchers at Evans

Buy s/H, in the sales or at trade (been LBS employee recently).

Many are too stupid/vain/rich to realise that a Deore-equipped 03 Heckler can give you as much pleasure (if not bragging rights) as the latest £4K Bronson etc.

Jaffa cakes..

I get to spend money on bikes, my wife gets to keep my testicles in a jar in her handbag.

Other people wonder but it seems to work for us.

Swapped a vw t5 front end for a stumpjumper today, other than that just buy things as I need them.

monkeyfudger - Member
Gay for pay.

I pimp out monkeyfudgers arse.
90% of the money and still a nice tight arse. 😉

I'm far too sensible. I could drop the money on an expensive bike. It's not out of reach. But all my stuff is budget or second-hand. I just find it hard to justify the marginal gains. £300-400 buys you a decent bike. Anything else is a luxury.

That said, I still splash regular amounts of cash, even if relatively small. There's always something else you need. It's the kit. The stuff required to keep you warm. The bike's only a small part of it, it seems.

I sell my soiled pants to Japanese business men.

If I need it I just buy it.
If I want it but don't need it and can't afford it then I don't really need it.
It kinda helps that I don't buy new bikes/expensive parts every few months.

I split my time between being a self employed handyman and sports masseur so I'll never be rich but I'm doing OK.

I don't have any luxuries like a Mrs, kids, house, nice car, central heating etc.

Which means if I want something I can talk myself into it fairly easily, and it's either cash at the LBS or (fully paid off each month) card online.

The upshot of which is that I've got a fair bit of carbon fibre loveliness in the hallway 🙂

Sold my Golf clubs.

Shop around and/or sell old bits to go towards new bits.

I don't have any luxuries like a Mrs, kids, house, nice car, central heating etc.

I see where i'm going wrong now.

Out of my current account (and deal with the consequences later).

always bought what i want, when i wanted it.
and i have had quite a few bikes in the past.
good wage, low outgoings has always helped.
now facing the big 50 next year, and coming out of a dark 5 year period through illness, and also having a pretty much disposable income, i no longer want or need the latest/most fashionable bikes/bike stuff.
i will now ride pretty much any bike at all, because even riding a old clunker is better than not riding at all.

Overtime.

My normal wages pay for all the boring things like mortgage, household stuff and savings. Overtime pays for the bikes and bits.

I hit people until they give it to me.

I don't pay for them - I just tell my lovely man what I want. He seems to think I still owe him for my latest bike 😆

I don't really understand the question. Even entry level stuff lasts an age now if maintained slightly so surely the right and proper answer for any given person is 'by living within my means!'
Good cheap kit has eliminated any relationship between smiles and ££££ surely????

I personally bought my bike on 0% finance. Ok so you lose haggling room, but it was like £60 a month. I simultaneously put any spare money into a savings account and when the savings account balance got higher than the remaining credit- I paid it off. Took about 14 months I think.
Anyway, so now it costs me around £1k a year but that includes loads of races and events. Pretty good value really seeing as Radio 4's 'More or less' program calculated that every minute spend cycling, increases life expectancy by 1 minute. So it's like cheating extra life out of the system really- bargain 😉

I have a job I quite like, and my other expenses are kept very low. Oh, and I don't earn enough to buy a house, which ironically means I [i]can[/i] buy a bike.

The paperclip industry is roaring at the moment....! 😀

Oh, and I get on very well with my LBS. They're top people.

Oh, and I get on very well with my LBS. They're top people.

That's not what they told me. They said you smell of wee, and your shoes look funny.

I work full time in my LBS so get trade discounts. Live with parents although half my wages go on rent etc.

Set aside a couple of hundred savings each month.

Ride my bike to work so no car outgoings (yet).

Spend the rest on whatever i want. Normally bike related

No Kids/Wife/Gf, no mortgage (I'm council house scum), I don't worry about carpets/decorating/soft furnishings etc…, I work 3/4 days (24 - 28 hours) a week for a smidgeon over minimum wage as a chocolatier despite being with the same local company for 8 odd years, I live in a very rural area of Dumfries & Galloway so now't else to spend money on, I don't really drink or go out to pubs etc - i do like nice things though, whether that be well designed or just good quality stuff (gadgets/mac's/my DJ stuff/espresso machines - c'mon….it's stw after all 😉 .

I also help out/work up at my best mates farm/shooting estate for one day a week so that pays more than 3 or 4 days work at my main job.

No debts, but no easy access savings either (less than £1k in the bank) - i do have an amount invested in various projects as i had an insurance payout 20 odd years ago, i broke my spine quite badly in a car accident - spent 10 odd years having fun and doing exactly as i liked then calmed down a bit when i hit 30 and decided to be sensible with the rest so it's there but not really there if that makes sense.

I love my bikes but can't ride like i used to be able to but i still enjoy having nice kit so as it's all my £ i'll spend it as i find it.

I write a lovely letter to a bearded fat man up north each December. If I have been a good boy all year, what I asked for gets poked down my chimney...............I'm sooooooooooo excired 😛

I buy nice bits when they come up reasonable in the sales .....or on offer.

I commute on the bike and effectively spend what would be the petrol money/parking or train ticket so instead of wasting 150-200 I keep fit and get to spend on something nice.... I also make my own sandwiches and don't buy 3quid coffees.....not tight honest...just rather spend it on bikeshit

PSAs on here are great.

I spend the car allowance from work that i don't spend on a car.

Don't use credit cards, just save up a bit every month then use it when needed

Low out goings, and an attitude of I love quality stuff , and quality kit removes excuses to not go out which in turn extends my quality of life. That's worth more or less any price.

Can I afford it = yes = buy it

Simple really

PSAs on here are great.

On balance yes, but can also be costly.

Ditto signing up to Superstar's Facebook feed for the December daily offers.

A couple of strategies:

1. Only buy what you need.
2. Set aside a fixed amount each week/month to cover the cost of something major, like a new bike.

Obviously the more disposable income you have the more you can afford to set aside but £100 a month is less than a cup of coffee and a sandwich per day from a shop. Biking to work saves me £7 per day, that's £35 per week or £150 a month. Make allowances for holidays, bad weather and illness and I'm looking at around £1500 a year.

I've financed 3 bikes in the last 10 years, 1 I sold before the of the first year and paid for it for another, 1 got stolen and I paid for it for another 2 years - which was like a little '**** you' from the thief every month and 1 I paid off after 6 months and kept for 5 years.

The rest I've either bought with windfalls or bought for a fraction of the new cost second-hand with cash, I seem to always be able to get the next upgrade for little money by selling well and buying well - I tend to wait for opportunities rather than fixate about it.

I told myself I'd never buy another new bike or finance anything ever again -but 650b has kind of killed that - I'll probably ride my current bike till the wheels come off, hang it on the wall and take the arse rape for a 650b.

I'm pretty broke at the moment with us having a baby this year and needing to move early next - 26" bikes might have taken a dive in value now, but when the tipping point comes in a year or two when there's more 650b bikes second-hand than 26" bikes they'll be next to worthless.

I'm still at 6th form, so live with my parents and have little to spend money on except bikes at the moment (although a recent trip to London with the girlfriend did empty out the wallet a bit).

I'm lucky enough that my parents have really supported me in racing, and they'll pay for anything I actually need to carry on racing - wear items and anything that's actually broken. I just buy things that I'd like but don't need like weight weenie type items.

[img] [/img]

B.R.E.A.M

😉