It was only £20 love, honest

My wife won't let me sell the Bianchi because she loves the colour so much. Not that I want to. So when a NOS Colnago EPS frame appeared recently I told her about the history of Colnago's mad paint jobs, and I think she gets it. Now there's a vintage Columbus KL frame on top of the wardrobe... she doesn't like the colour so I'll send it off to Mercian for a complete respray. We've agreed on pale blue metalflake.

There are two complete Campag groupsets under the bed, too. Bought one piece at a time off ebay.

I built her a carbon fibre step-through ladies bike which she likes.

TBH we each earn our own money and she's happy I've got something I enjoy to do that keeps me fit. Not an issue round here.

Stolen from another rider:
My biggest fear if I die is my wife sells my bikes for what I told her they cost...

I am gonna write a illustrated book called 'is your husband spending more than he lets on? - how to spot expensive bikes and it's parts for housewives.'.

My new hybrid on the C2W scheme bears a striking resemblance to the 20 year old MTB it is replacing. She won't know the difference.

I buy it, don't hide it when it arrives, and she's sensible enough not to ask!

And the bills get paid, holidays get paid for, and if the house account ever needs a top up I do it without complaint!

I have recently moved from the 'business account' plus paypal approach to that of full disclosure. Mostly this happened when moving from freelance to full time, so was kinda forced on me, but...

I must say it's better to live in a full disclosure world. I would spend the house on bikes so it's probably just as well I have to justify things.

She is not bothered by running costs - chains, tyres and the like. That all falls below the 'saving on the tube' commuting threshold. And I have come to realise that it's very seldom you *need* a new bike, or a new second hand bike - well not when you start with five or six in the attic anyway!

I have decided to be good (and green-ish), and operate a replacement policy, and it's quite pleasant to stop lusting after every new toy and just get out and ride. No one really gives a sh*t what you ride anyway, and if they do then they are not the kind of people I want to ride with...

A mate of mine got a bargain for h is first road bike, reduced from 1500 ish to 750 or the likes, bike shop gave him a receipt for about 350 to show the unsuspecting ...

My Wife is smart enough that I'd be wasting my time to try and cover up the cost of my ridiculous cycling habit, but nice enough not give me a hard time about it.
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I've still not plucked up the courage to drop £1700 on a pair of wheels though.

...by not posting details on public forums...that's the best method of not informing SWMBO...of any recently acquired goods....

I earn my wages so don't feel I should have to explain to her what I buy. That said she isn't bothered, as long as the bills are paid and kids are OK she is happy. But god forbid if I leave the house untidy.

Let's just say that the discounts at the Rapha sample sales were great, but not *that* great....

I have also ended up with bits I don't use and have ended up on eBay. Whatever sits in my PayPal account is 'invisible'...

Oh yes, forgot the delivery to the work address!

Once I had to run round the side of the house to catch the postie before he knocked on the front door!

I live away from home Monday to Friday, rideing mostly in the evenings (plus Sunday mornings of course). SWMBO doesn't happen to have the login details for the joint Credit card account and all my on line purchases are delivered to the midweek address or the office, by the time they appear at the weekend they already look used, have marks etc.

Slightly controversial perhaps, but I go for the full disclosure approach...

That reminds me, I must tell John he's 'loaned' me a new turbo......

Tell them you got it off Bob/Bill/Frank as it didn't fit/been upgraded/spare and you have paid £20 rather than/borrowed it.

Cycle to Work so that it only shows my electronic payslip, separate bank a/c, Barclaycard with online statements, and stating that my authentic Castelli gear is actually cheap, Chinese copies.

Learn how to spanner.
Do some work on mates bikes.
Tell SWMBO you charged cash rather than a few pints or bartered your services for parts etc.
Is also an excuse for buying new tools.

Strategic disclosure is the key (otherwise known as mis-direction). So you discuss how you are saving up for a new Garmin but forget to mention the new carbon fibre bars it's going to be mounted on. Or mention that you're going to have to get a new Dura Ace spoke magnet because it pinged across the garage and got lost but forget to mention that it came with a pair of Dura Ace wheels, etc.

Personally while initially all part of the challenge/fun in the end the stress and guilt got too much and now I come clean.

It was after the upgrade programme was complete, but that was just a coincidence

I work in the trade, and the amount of 'Samples' I get are staggering!!

When my bikes cost more than her wardrobes full of clothes (and the cases of stuff that don’t quite fit), I may listen to her side of the discussion more sympathetically.

Just had my most recent purchase spotted... a pair "silly socks" (her words, not mine) that cost of all of £2.99 from Aldi's recent MTB themed specialbuy weekend (she doesn't know about the other 2 pairs yet!) There's no hope for me of sneaking under the radar

Aldi's socks are pretty good by the way - they're having another cycling specialbuy this weekend as well...
https://www.aldi.co.uk/en/specialbuys/sun-3-may/product-detail/ps/p/ergo...

I'm single, no need to explain to anyone.