How much YOU have spent This year on Bike related stuff?

£90 on some shoes
£90 on some shoes
£40 on disc pads and a new rotor
£60 on new chains
£40 on a rear light/camera from Aldi
£15 gloves
£30 on a cassette
Hoping to find time to do a full strip on my commuter over Xmas which will probably use about £50 of stuff I have in the shed.

Total = £325.

Leeroy_Silk wrote:

Do you mean actual spend, or what the Mrs thinks I’ve spent?

I’ve no idea of the actual amount I’ve spent but Mrs Silk was a little annoyed in learning I’d spent slightly more than £500 on a Bianchi XR4 frame set. 

Just in worn/replacement

Just in worn/replacement parts alone a good couple of hundred. Including the new bike… well… I shudder to think.

Perhaps a better way of looking at it: what’s my favourite best buys:

– Michelin Pro V2 Endurance tyres: far better than my GP4000s IIs (£60)

– Wahoo Elemnt: far far better than my Edge 810 (£160 via some cunning discounts). I hate the 810

– Prescription Oakleys: (£300 ish?)

– Dura Ace 9100 front and rear mechs: (£ no idea). That front mech is awesome.

– A big ass Vornado fan for training: (£80 maybe ?)

– A roll up saddle bag for the tools: (£15) much smaller, lighter, niceer-looking than the normal saddle bags

risoto wrote:

 

Which clothes to buy is a dark art, mystery etc. So you end up buying some stuff you don’t really like, a flapping jersey, another with an annoying zipper, another that’s just a bit too small. The same goes for cycling shorts, pad not comfortable, too tight or too loose, not warm enough in the winter. Jackets – you basically need one for each 5 degree jump in temperature plus a rain and a wind jacket.

Shoes – just bought some cheap Specialized, never liked them so had to be replaced with my now favorite shoe brand – Northwave. Gloves, especially winter gloves, don’t even get me started: Santini states: down to -5 degrees, my fingers were numb at +5c after only a few miles (they’re not even wind proof, but works well in the autumn!).

Baselayers – need lots of them. Socks, same problem as with gloves, few are warm enough in the cold, others too warm in the spring/autumn, where others are too cold. So then you need some toe warmers, overshoes, winter shoes etc etc etc.

Therefore, a lot of what you buy ends up in the bin. Either because you didn’t know what to buy or because you don’t like what you got or it didn’t perform well enough. 

 

Couldn’t agree more – I find myself ‘soldiering on’ with stuff!  Even after reading rave reviews about some clothing, they were disappointing.

Costs were big for me this year, but I don’t regret much:

– Wheels – £420

– Clothing estimated – £400

– Frame bag – £55

– 2x Conti GP4000 tyres, tubes – £60

– New 105 hydro groupset, cos my SRAM Rival of 6 years finally fell apart – £500

– Servicing for 2 bikes/fitting of groupset – £250

– 6-day LeJog trip – approx £1k

– Having to send back Bepro pedals twice and pay for replacement sensor – £250

– Wahoo Bolt [lost Garmin 810 on a ride] – £199

….eek!

On componentry, maybe around

On componentry, maybe around £300, plus some bits I asked for as birthday presents. That includes most of another bike, as I already had some parts.

Plus the £1k-ish I spent on the cycle touring holiday.

Commuting would cost me
Commuting would cost me around a grand a year so I took that on C2W to pick up a ‘wet’ bike, so that’s zero right?

In the process I sold a Specialized that was living in the loft and bought a smart turbo so that cost zero too?

Clothing, well I didn’t buy shoes, picked up cheap bibs from planet X and a couple of jerseys that I didn’t need so around a hundred. New gloves at £25 but I’ll put these down as a commuting essential.

Does my cycling holiday count if it was my only holiday or can I count it as a holiday and just add bike hire?

Am I justifying nearly 2k here?

Daughter has a road bike for Xmas, about £400 worth picked up for £100, also managed to get Specialized Jacket for £13, Spec shorts for £10 and some Spec Cadette shoes for £13 and some cheat breaks for a tenner. I feel this will add to the costs going forwards though 🙂

I don’t like to think about

I don’t like to think about it! Last year was about the bike: a Rose cross for the winter and a hybrid for city/shopping rides to add to the Bianchi Impulso summer bike. Thought this year would be cheap, but I’ve spent a fortune, 2,000 I’d say.

I started cycling about 2½ years ago and ride 4,000 miles/year. I buy good stuff, typically mid-range or upper-mid to top range if there’s a healthy discount. I don’t do the pro stuff, Castelli bibs, Rapha jerseys and the like. I am in love with DHB clothing, have not bought one item that was disappointing yet.

So, it does take time and lots of money to build up your collection of equipment, spares and, not least, a decent collection of clothes, the latter being the most difficult one as a beginner and ignorant.

Which clothes to buy is a dark art, mystery etc. So you end up buying some stuff you don’t really like, a flapping jersey, another with an annoying zipper, another that’s just a bit too small. The same goes for cycling shorts, pad not comfortable, too tight or too loose, not warm enough in the winter. Jackets – you basically need one for each 5 degree jump in temperature plus a rain and a wind jacket.

Shoes – just bought some cheap Specialized, never liked them so had to be replaced with my now favorite shoe brand – Northwave. Gloves, especially winter gloves, don’t even get me started: Santini states: down to -5 degrees, my fingers were numb at +5c after only a few miles (they’re not even wind proof, but works well in the autumn!).

Baselayers – need lots of them. Socks, same problem as with gloves, few are warm enough in the cold, others too warm in the spring/autumn, where others are too cold. So then you need some toe warmers, overshoes, winter shoes etc etc etc.

Therefore, a lot of what you buy ends up in the bin. Either because you didn’t know what to buy or because you don’t like what you got or it didn’t perform well enough.

Cycling has become my hobby so I don’t mind. But I do find it a bit ridiculous compared to 10 years ago when I rode for ½ year on a 7 gear city bike in normal clothes, no helmet, normal shoes etc. I just spent a few pounds on a saddle bag, mini pump and a very cheap bike computer. Two different worlds.

Now that I’m done (almost!) with the bikes, clothing and equipment, the next round of expenses will be on repairs and tools. I expect this to be a lot less, but then again…

So here we go (what I recall without checking all the invoices), from top to bottom:

– new helmet (MET Rivale – to have two to change between)

– 2 caps, 1 beenie, 1 headband

– new lenses  – Tifosi Slim photochromatic (very nice – and rather cheap)

– new winter gloves (Sportful sotto zero highly recommended), one pair of mits

– 4 long sleeve base layers, two thermal long sleeve jerseys

– autumn/spring jacket (Endura Windchill II – perfect)

– Softshell jacket – really cheap

– 3 bib shorts, 3 pairs of bib tights (DHB plus RH+ polar for freezing temperatures). I got hooked on bib shorts this year which I had never worn before.

– two pairs of long leg base layers for the winter

– 5 pairs of winter socks (DHB merino on sale!)

– 2 new pairs of shoes (Northwave Fahrenheit for the winter, Sonic 2 for the summer)

– special wool friendly detergent to wash all the stuff!

For the bike (s):

– 2 sets of tyres, 4 new inner tubes, 4 patch kits (Park tool on offer, binned 3 packs of useless pre-glued patch kits)

– 2 new chains

– 2 sets of Lezyne lights – only 20£ each plus a Bauch/Müller front and back light. I started to use lights in the daylight for extra safety.

– Top tube bag +  smaller saddle bag – just to try to get something better, not really needed

– new Lezyne bike computer – sold the useless Garmin Edge 1000 (so the Lezyne was ‘free’)

– two new mini pumps from Lezyne – had two from Specialized but it ‘took all day’ to inflate the tyre on the road

– Tools: chain breaker, chain link remover, chain clean tool, oil, degreaser etc, set of 6 hex tools, torque wrench, mini tool (racket with bits – recommended)

– 2 sets of mudguards, Crud was crap, got SKS instead

– one new saddle (20£ Selle Italia C2 – its perfect!)

– one new lock

– Feedback sports Rakk – to park the  bike – its very handy for small jobs

– 2 camelback water bottles

I don’t dare to do the calculations – I am riding some expensive miles though it gets cheaper year by year. But I do think I’m not unreasonable. On the other hand I save on not having to  pay to go to a fitness center, not getting a home trainer and save a bit of gas for the car. Then on the other, other, hand – when you bike you also eat more……..(and drink more coffee!)