[Closed] How much do you carry on a ride (£)

Thought this was going to be about emergency cash, I normally have a fiver wrapped around my BC card with an elastic band for sub 70-mile rides, bit more for the rare longer ride!

Kit plus tools, maybe £170ish in the summer if I'm in my best kit?

So nearly £600 quids worth of gear on a normal ride, and that’s no GoPro

Probably similar, obviously more on crap long days.

Was in a pub for lunch on a long day ride, the barman was - I think - innocently asking on the value of our MTBs, was a bit disconcerting - could imagine him passing the word out the back - "go for the red one, guy says its worth £2k..." needless to say we were all down-playing the value - but made me think, probably all in the £1k - £2k range, some a bit more (new / replacement rather than s/h value).

At new values £3-400 maybe can't be arsed to think about it. The per ride cost is probably comfortably less than £2-3 though. Kit's pretty tough/well made these days and I own small amounts of cheap to mid range stuff. Vs 45p/mile assumed for the car as a working cost seems pretty sensible.

God knows,

My ‘new’ jersey is from 2014.

My baselayer is more than 10 years old.

My Camelbak is from 2007.

My helmet cost £90 that’s quite new,

my usual shorts were £70,

my Shoes £70 but they’re knackered.

My jacket was probably expensive but was a hand-me-Down my mate gave me when he slimmed out of it.

Socks are from horrible cyber security conference.

It’s probably all ‘worth’ a decent wedge if I had to replace it, but it’s mostly knackered.

It's easy to get to well over £1000 if you're riding in winter and you've got waterproofs, warm kit, lights and so on. Something like an Exposure Toro bar light and a Diablo or Joystick helmet light is north of £500 already.

Find a roadie in full Rapha or Assos and it could easily be £300 on shoes, £250 on shorts, £200 on a base layer and jersey, £200 helmet, £100 glasses....

Also depends on if talking RRP or what was actually paid. I have some nice gear but I love a bargain!

Usually £40 for an emergency taxi/kebab and whatever I'm wearing.

So about £45. 🙂

My commuting shoes are Shimano S-Phyre at around £250 a pair. Helmet is a Lazer Z1 at around £125. Tights, softshell jacket, merino baselayer, overshoes, winter gloves, merino socks and winter cap add at least another £300. That's before I think about Cycliq cameras front & rear plus a Garmin. It would probably be cheaper to drive.

At new values £3-400 maybe can’t be arsed to think about it. The per ride cost is probably comfortably less than £2-3 though

*Never* actually work out the real per-ride cost. Or per-mile!!!

Really, don’t!

I worked out that when I rode to work in my best kit, changing into my suit was a cheaper option. My work suit is Paul Smith.

My road shoes are the most expensive footwear I own.

For the TT bike:
Helmet £500
Skinsuit £330
Shoes £270
Socks £40
Gloves £30

I put my fixed wheel TT bike together for less than that.

Worst loss was when the dog chewed through the pad of my Rapha 3/4 bibs.

For cash, I ride with a crisp plastic £10. I like the new money. It sits in a little Clear wallet with phone, card, BC card and a key.

Just enough to cover the post-ride c&h.

Not much but I did spend over 300 quid on heat moldable shoes once.. since starting running I've really got into spending as little as possible. Eg when I needed a new helmet, 15 quid jobbie from On One. Lads I ride with fall into two categories; dressed in stuff that makes Rapha look like something you'd find on the floor at Matalan, or the poor students still wearing their U23 race kit from several seasons ago, complete with patched up crash repairs. Guess which ones go faster. .

Cash-wise, 12 euros. A tenner doesn't rattle unless I spend some of it, 2e for the jetwash at the garage.

I tend to either get stuff on offer or use it forever being a tight Yorkshire git. Probably still a couple of hundred quids worth though, Killed afew cameras in crashes over the years which is/was annoying.

My personal goal is that clothing items (for all life, not just biking) should be sub £1 per wear.

Shoes £80 5.10. Probably do me a year and a half of riding 2 / 3 times a week
Socks £1-3 maybe? varies. some sort of not white sport socks. Thin ankle/trainer socks in summer
Shorts or trousers £50 to £80. Shorts are well used, trousers are on the second winter and no sign of wear
Sports underwear £10 maybe.
Weather depending, either 1 or 2 of the following items:
- Winter base layer £15
- Jersey £40
- Gore Jacket £90*
Gloves £25
Helmet £60
Garmin £250
Enduro-tastic bumbag £45

Add for the gnarr rides knee pads £80

Add for the night rides head light £120 and bar light £60, (although I won it at an event) rear light £25

*this is the oldest item on the list and probably the only one not at £1 per use. I've got a more expensive and less used waterproof that's even worse.

So for a summer evening round my local swinley (no tools, no lights, no pads, jersey only) £250 clothing plus £250 garmin is the cheapest I can get.

made me cringe at the value of the gear they take out on rides with them

You think that's bad, I hear some people take a £1000+ iPhone with them to the pub.

For me,

I'll discount clothes as I wear clothes when not riding so that's not unusual, ditto my phone.

Lid, god knows now, £50? Rucksack, probably similar. Saddle back with tools, first aid kit, pump, bottle, maybe a lock depending where I'm going. Usually a loose tenner in case the pub at the end doesn't take contactless. So what's that, £200 maybe?

Socks are from horrible cyber security conference.

I may have a pair of those also. White with orange squares? Can't remember the company.

We were on a social ride with some beginner MTB'ers recently and one poor guy was on an old steel basic MTB (I've got a 90's MTB in my stable), but he nearly fell over when he asked the price of my Winter boots. He was a photographer by trade, so we explained it's like you needing certain lenses etc, some stuff can be very expensive.

He was looking to upgrade so we were steering him in the 'what to buy' options.

My cheapest bit of kit is my On-one lid. I did have a £100 Bell lid, but the plastic retaining straps split. I've got a high end Bell Volt that I rarely wear these days (road helmet that comes with optional MTB peak)

If it's a quick blast round a trail centre on a summer day then probably doesn't amount to much. Having said that, with shoes, helmet etc you're probably still talking a couple of hundred.

However for a proper day out in the Scottish hills in the middle of winter I suspect you'd be looking at a four figure sum, if buying everything new. And that's not including the phone. However it's all been bought at various times, it includes safety equipment, lights, GPS etc and some of my kit is still going strong 15 years after buying it.

A quick lap of Whinlatter will see me-

Lid - £50
Shoes - £60
Shorts/top - £~60-80
Pads - £50
Gloves - £15
Optional
GoPro - £280
Phone - £300
Jacket - £90

On longer rides hydration pack with spares, tools and beer money.

And I wear my Garmin Instinct day in, day out but that's another £200, saves me taking the phone though for recording strava. Usually just take the phone to grab photos.

The above prices are what I paid rather than RRP.

Excellent humblebrag topic OP...

I must be doing its all wrong, I don't think I spend 1/4 of what some of you manage to on your cycling ensambles...

I must be doing its all wrong, I don’t think I spend 1/4 of what some of you manage to on your cycling ensambles…

I listed mine up thread, for a quick summer ride I'll be
Shoes £80
Socks £1-3 maybe?
Shorts £50
Sports underwear £10 maybe.
Jersey £40
Gloves £25
Helmet £60

Thats £238 - still no lights, no pads, no bag
Some canny bargain hunting, gloveless and having a head which could get me into an on one helmet that could go down to
£40 + £1 + £30 + £5 + £15 + £0 + £30 = £121.

I cant see it being any cheaper. Of course you don't start out MTBing like this - you think "ooh I can wear this stuff I already own", wreck it in a month, and drip feed buy all the items above, plus replacing the pile of ruined sportswear.

‘Worst’ case, not inc phone, lights or a pack etc, could get into 4 digits at full rrp.

Helmet: 150-600
Goggles 90
Top 30-50
Jacket 100
Baselayer 40
Bibs 180-230
Baggies 50-120
Pads 100
Socks up to 35
Gloves 20-50
Shoes 80-340.

That said, sometimes I’ll just ride in regular shorts and a tshirt.

Best mate got knocked off a few years back. Rapha, Castelli, Giro, Colnago titanium. Don’t think the driver fully appreciated the costs involved.

made me cringe at the value of the gear they take out on rides with them

You think that’s bad, I hear some people take a £1000+ iPhone with them to the pub.

Sheepishly holds hand up...
I reckon I probably spent about the same on riding gear as most above, but I still have most of it, still wear most of it as casual wear, fifteen or twenty years on, which makes it cost effective.
I’ve got a pair of thick Nike leggings which I used to wear on the bike in cold weather that I’m now wearing under my work trousers because I’m outdoors all day, and they must be twenty years old.
As far as actual spending money, I used to carry £10-20, ‘cos I’d make sure any ride had one or two ‘refreshments’ stops along the way...
Now, if I was to go for a ride, I’d be only carrying my £1500 phone and paying with that.