[Closed] Lying to the wife about cost of bike parts.

yes.

although mine asked specifically not to be told how much the spicy cost. so i took it as carte blance to buy a motorbike as well!

I don't ask my wife for the costs of what she buys and she returns the favour. It's been a fabulously happy marriage so far 🙂

sad..... 😉

Everybody does it just be more careful than me. I stupidly left a receipt hanging about which revealed the price I actually paid for my new forks : cue mayhem. I of course would never nosey at paper she leaves around even the receipt for the £80 handbag she bought today despite buying one in the sale last week for £50!

No, but we have a kind of "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

I find evasion works better than outright lies;

"how much did that cost?"

"ooh look, a harlequin cat just walked past the window!"

I once painted a cheap bike frame green...

...some weeks later my Kermit Green Niner SIR.9 arrived. 8)

lol @ takisawa2. Good skillz that man.

why?

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*apologies for the f word but couldnt edit it. Mods remove if offense is caused.

you're gonna get abuse for this you know, lying to your wife is just not on and the sign of a doomed marriage or that your whipped/under the thumb.

Yeah coz we all know brutal honesty is always the best thing for a happy relationship. 🙄

Don't ask don't tell. Worst I've had was when the mrs noticed I'd paid a wedge off the mortgage in an overpayment "where did you get the money for that?"

Am I bad man?

Bad - possibly

Man - no, not really if you're scared to tell your beloved how much you spend on bike bits.

Edit: of course it helps if her bikes are as nice as yours.

Everybody does it just be more careful than me.

I don't.

We're perfectly open in our house - I buy something for the bike (or a new bike) and she takes it as carte blanche to buy new clothes, shoes or boots. We often sell things and the Paypal fund is there for anybody to use if they need anything; at the moment it's quite full.

That said, my spend on parts has dropped dramatically since going over to road riding because the kit attrition rate is so much less than in mountain biking.

I don't lie...I just give an evasive answer.

When I asked now much my Rune cost I just said more than some and less than other frames. She would have gone nuts if she knew the real cost. I cam see why too because to someone not into bikes, it's a kit if money especially in the same year as a road bike and BFe are bought.

we both have expensive hobbies so it equals out.
I have bicycles to pay for and maintain.
she has the baby to feed and clothe.

Its not just bike parts either, I just ordered a new lense for the DSLR and cant remember if I told the wife before that the best (canon) lenses have a red ring on the front of them. Hoping I didnt and can pass the new lens off as an old one my dad gave me, as long as I can get it in the house without her seeing 😯

I find scaring the wife by showing all the costs of the really top end stuff that I am thinking about buying, and then comment on the 'bargain' price I got for this 'almost' as good as kit.

The other one is second hand off ebay....

I was allowed to buy an asgard shed the other day as I had been asking for it for 2 years.....

I only lie about the sex toys, but as they come in discreet packaging I can pretend they are bike parts

Standard operating procedure.

brakes - Member

we both have expensive hobbies so it equals out.
I have bicycles to pay for and maintain.
she has the baby to feed and clothe.

I find it better to tell how much discount I got, rather than the actual price, but only if I'm asked in the first place. Never volunteer any information. 😉

she has the baby to feed and clothe.

Genuine LOL... 😆

We sorted this out years ago. Both paid monthly into separate accounts. These accounts bounce the vast majority into our joint accounts to pay for normal life but leaves us exactly the same amount left in our personal accounts. We use that money to buy each other presents (it just feels better than buying a present for someone out of their own joint account), clothe ourselves, put beer money in our pockets and to pay for toys. We have different priorities - she has less expensive hobbies but likes to look nice and I'm constantly getting told I look like a rag and bone man (on shiny bike!). She cringes when we go anywhere together but appreciates that's not where my priorities are. This way there is no guilt about spending up the family savings, no tit for tat purchases, no justifying to anyone for either of us. It also nicely caps that type of frivolous spending and keeps it at a level you worked out was justifiable. It means I can't go out and blow a wedge on a new super expensive toy every year but that's no bad thing.

Currently soft furnishing are under negotiation - I'm putting forward an amendment that that there are only so many cushions any one person needs and any future purchases come from her and her alone. I'm going to lose!

No point, Mrs L does my account, I get a receipts passed to me with a raise eybrow if it's considered a little bit spendy 😯

Both the motorbikes have got me in trouble though.

Tell her you lied.

Tell her it was actually £128, and if she doesn't like it she can sling her hook, and you'll find someone else who's more of a doormat who won't dare to ask questions about finances and bike parts...

Go on..I dare you.

You would be amazed at how many people at work know someone who has got spare cycling stuff and have given it to me. I have a ‘Bike Box’ which is a secret money haud, well I have 2, just in case my wife finds one. If I do tell my wife how much stuff is, it is never the correct price, usually half, if not more off the real price. A lot of stuff gets delivered to work and I smuggle it into the house or shed. I have cycled to work before and fitted new parts to it at lunch time and cycled home with the new stuff on the bike.
Sorry but that is how it is for me, my wife hates the bike.

Brakes...that's funny.

But have you ever had the minerals to say that to her? A guy I work with referred to the kids as her hobby. I don't think it went down too well.

As an interesting exercise google the price of all those creams clogging up the bathroom.
Last year I managed to find mrs zip paying for £300 worth of clarins at duty free. Apparently she had saved a fortune and needed it as she wanted to look her best for me.
Women will always out smart us.

...my wife hates the bike.

I've never understood this mindset. Being into bikes is a very healthy, beneficial thing. You are fitter, healthier, happier etc. It gives you time apart which is essential for a good relationship too.

If you'd said that your wife hates the pub, then I could understand it...

I find it better to tell how much discount I got, rather than the actual price

We both put the same amount into our joint acct that pays for all our bills. anything left over is mine and hers. I recently bought a Shan and a pair of Lyriks to go with it, I was asked how much they were, and I told her, she was absolutely fine with it. She keeps tabs on Mega TR prices (her next bike probs), so it's not like she doesn't know the prices of mountain bikes, and associated stuff.

LOL. Just had some Crossmax SX delivered to my house for a friend. Made sure the invoice was ripped off the box before he took it home. He also bought some Float 36' off me.
So he's gone from black wheels and fork to bright white wheels and fork and his wife's not noticed! 😀

Thing is, you will get a lot of use out of that wheel. Wives buy handbags on a whim 'cos they have an extra pocket or the strap is wrong on their current one, and then only use it a few times before determining that it too is wrong and they need another...

I find evasion works better than outright lies;

Agreed, or logical reasoning, although I realise this is of questionable merit on the fairer sex.

"How much was that frame?"
"Significantly less than the Audi R8 I've been talking about for a while now, I'd go as far as saying a bargain, in fact, I can't now afford said supercar (glossing over the fact I never could), and as such, this frame has in effect saved me almost £120k"

I had to tell her now as the I can't get things delivered to work and when(if) the box turns up on saturday I will have a lot of explaining to do. I'll still get grief for the fifty quid but I'll play it like 'the hub was on it's way out and I don't want to fail when I'm zooming down a hill so if you'd like your husband to remain in good health then shusshhh*'

*I may not actually say shusshh if I want to retain 2 testicles.

Am I bad man?

No. Just pussy whipped.

We both put the same amount into our joint acct that pays for all our bills. anything left over is mine and hers.

This works until you earn substantially differently - if I did that now I'd be like a pig in shit and Mrs C would have have -£500 every month. One of the hardest things in life I learnt to live with as I 'grew up' was watching my income go up and my personal toy money go down.

Luckily, receipts are also very easy to photoshop.

Mrs L almost has hawk eyes and can spot a new component at 20 paces 😉

No. Just pussy whipped.

^^This. MTFUFFS

Quite the opposite here. Today she said:
'how much have you spent on bike stuff this month - is it £162?'

My response:
'no, it's £192 actually'

Why the hell did I do that????!

While Mrs RBIT is on mat leave, I've discovered that having the odd component delivered to work works well, though it does leave the smuggling-bits-out-of-the-car problem.

When she goes back, it'll be back to getting stuff from the LBS on days I'm off and she's not.

The lengths some of you have to go to are unreal.

I couldn't and wouldn't live like that!

c_g's way was to get rid of the bloke and say hello to a bit of Ti and plastic. Problem solved. 😆

I fine that "well it's better spent on bike parts than booze and hookers" works well.

Mrs A gave up asking years ago and it works for us. She has an idea of some things, mainly the camera gear but otherwise it's all good.

Conversely when she has a minor guilt trip on spend on clothes, I do occasionally say do you [i]know[/i] who much I've spent?

Her only comment when a friend (who's husband had also got into MTB's) was commenting about the cost was to say "if he knew how much she spent on her horses she'd be the one in trouble".

And as I've not been working for the past 18 months, it's her money I've been spending 🙂

pretty similar to convert; we have our own accounts, and pay equally into a joint account that covers our living expenses (mortgage, bills etc etc). I do with my leftover money as I wish and so does Munqe Chick.

Given we have the same interests she knows exactly how much bike stuff costs (she has more mikes than me FFS 🙂 ), usually if I'm considering a purchase she's the one going "ooh that looks cool...".

Also helps that my "cast offs" seem to find their way onto some of her bikes (lyrik forks, hope/mavic wheels, Saint brakes, we're not talking dumping junk).

I've got a new bike hiding in the darkest recesses of our basement that I have *ahem* forgotten to mention to my other half. I've been waiting for the right moment but unfortunately I haven't been able to get a flight to a far-enough-away country yet. 😳

convert

Currently soft furnishing are under negotiation - I'm putting forward an amendment that that there are only so many cushions any one person needs and any future purchases come from her and her alone. I'm going to lose!

You can never have enough cushions though 🙂

Why the eff do you need to cover the whole bed in cushions. They all get chucked on the floor at bed time.
Certifiable.

[i]OR[/i] put them on the sofa and they get covered in Dog Hair. Never buy black cushions if you have a mutt.

Been known to pass the odd purchase under the radar in the past, very much open about it these days.

No point it trying to pull the wool over her eyes on prices, she'd think it was too much whatever I told her!

Both our salaries go into the Joint A/C, we then pay ourselves an allowance into our individual accounts. That way, we boyhood get the same amount each, whatever we earn. The fact she earns more than me is a bonus too!

She doesn't actually hate bikes, just a bit bemused by the whole thing!!

My new bmx arrives tomorrow. Told my wife tonight as I was dropping her off for a night out with her friends. She was cool about it!

We have the separate accounts but a joint account for household stuff but it doesn't stop her going on and on about how much I spend on bikes even though it is clearly my money. We have both been married before and the kids are hers and not mine but strangely she doesn't object to me spending money on them!

I'm in shock reading this, how can you live like that 😯

After 15 years together we have never lied about what either of us has purchase, if I buy a new piece of kit for my bike she expects something for hers... now that's when the looks start ha ha

I don't lie about the purchase price of bits for my bike. Mrs coolhandluke knows its my only hobby and how much I love it. I took it up years agho and its the only hobby that I've actually stuck with. She thought it was a 2 year fad at first!

Anyway, its my money and I don't moan on about how many purses she has or how much they cost.

CAUTIONARY TALE:

A few years ago I built a bike up from spare parts for Mrs stAn to use on the odd occasion.
At the same time I had just about finished building one of my own bikes. I had decided I wanted some black Raceface bars. Coincidently her bike also needed some bars.
I popped off to my lbs and purchased some black Raceface Diabolous bars for myself and a cheap as chips,silver,Trans-X bar.

when I got home she took intrest in both sets of bars and said she wouldlike the blackones on her bike -I replied,'..no,they're for my bike.' She then asked what the difference was - nothing except ones silver and ones black. This went on for some time with her persistently asking for the black bars to be fitted to her bike.

Eventually I had to fess up and tell her mine were actually a lot better and a lot more expensive. To which she replied 'Yes I know. I can tell the difference between a piece of crap etc. etc. I just wanted to see how you would justify it all'

So,be careful. Ask yourself do they not know what you are up to,or is it that they do know but don't really give a sh#t ?

It doesnt matter how much you try to educate the Mrs, the fact is she will never understand why I paid £500 for a wheelset that saves me 200g.

unless...

The most effective policy now is to carefully time an e-bay sale to coincide with the item i bought 3 weeks ago to emerge from its hiding place in the loft. So the conversation then goes.

'' What! £120 for new handlebars, why? What was wrong with the old ones?'
' Not a lot, thats why i got £90 for them on e-bay (lie)'
' oh ok then just dont do it again'
(i will of course)

I gave Mrs Kenny a hard time once about buying another new handbag. She retorted with a question about how many rucksacks I owned for various outdoor activities. I admitted to about nine, and then shut up.

Also, when buying some nice new hand built wheels for my road bike recently I told the guy in the shop that no, I didn't want them delivered to the house. And that I would be paying cash so it didn't go through out joint credit card and appear on the bill. He laughed and said I wasn't the first male customer like that.

I blew my cover on holiday when I pulled out a great big abus chain and fastened my bike to an old fashioned radiator in the house we were renting. I could see it slowly dawn on her the that my bike may be worth a bit more than five hundred quid I'd told her it was worth a few months ago. She never said anything but gave me that knowing scowl for a second.

that they do know but don't really give a sh#t ?

This one.

I once bought my wife a ring; in terms of cost/benefit bikes come out way better and I think she probably agrees with this. Oh I got her two rings actually, think I need some more stuff.

My engagement ring was a Santa Cruz Juliana - best present ever 🙂

My wife wouldn't let me spend 200 quid on a seatpost (reverb) so I said it comes with a sadle.......

Also my new road bike only cost 100 quid.......

Mrs belives everything I buy bike related is second hand, used once or twice and is about 70% off new price.
My Matt black covert was only £1300 and is soon to be kept company by a Matt black bandit which will never be seen together 🙂

c_g's way was to get rid of the bloke and say hello to a bit of Ti and plastic

😆

I tell her the price but use the 'safety' card....... "yes those new XO trail brakes and new floating rotors are dear, but they are much safer as I can stop faster", likewise new Urge helmet etc etc. Always results in being told to buy the safe things as she worries about me getting hurt if I don't have the safest bits!!

My (our) LBS who have built up a number of bikes for us over the years, hers and mine, will if you ask nicely do yo two receipts - known as the receipt and the wife receipt. Interestingly it was my wife who told me about this.

I have never needed this service, but if you do he'll be only too glad of the trade - email me if you want the LBS name.

As long as its roughly the same colour I can get away with it. Put 40mm wider Easton Havoc Carbon Bars on the FS and the missus wondered why she started walking into it. Think I've got away with it though.

My missus used to have a heavy, not so great decathlon cheapie special. After updating that with a properly fitting specialised mykaf fsr she suddenly 'gets' lightweight quality bike parts. That bike was money well spent!

I waited until i was told about a positive pregnancy test before coughing up to some new slant forks, but she got in first coming clean about a £20 handbag. It was a good news day. 😀

Haha nice one Dan.

I don't really spend a huge amount on bike stuff tbh, never hide any expenditure from her though.

Tom83 - Member
My new bmx arrives tomorrow. Told my wife tonight as I was dropping her off for a night out with her friends. She was cool about it!

Cool. Cool as Mt freekin Etna with a dusting of snow on it! Just you wait, just you wait! She may have been drunk or not listening lol.

You may need to hide the cost of that new maxle lite mind Tom!

I had a set of X0 trail brakes sent to my mates house so I didnt have to admit I'd spent another £240 on bike bits.

I did feel a bit embarrassed about buying them anyway - I didn't really need them (but that's no reason for not buying them of course)