Justifying the cost?
DonDaddyD
Posts: 12,689
Clever Pun's thread made me think.
How do you justify/rationalise whether the cost of a bike, clothing, component is too expensive?
How do you justify/rationalise whether the cost of a bike, clothing, component is too expensive?
Food Chain number = 4
A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights. As you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game
A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights. As you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game
0
Comments
-
It's my hobby. Hobbies cost money.0
-
-
I don't.
I just live with the guilt
FCN 4(?) (Commuter - Genesis Croix de Fer)
FCN 3 (Roadie - Viner Perfecta)
-- Please sponsor me on my London to Paris ride --
http://www.diabeteschallenge.org.uk/cha ... n_to_paris0 -
I hardly drink, it's my main hobby and it's that or buying new camera kit and I have enough of that already, ohh and it keeps me out of trouble...0
-
DonDaddyD wrote:Clever Pun's thread made me think.
How do you justify/rationalise whether the cost of a bike, clothing, component is too expensive?
It's probably the same rational I'd use on most purchases. It's cost, both absolute and relative to the alternatives. The percieved advantages/disadvantages compared to the same alternatives, which help determine it's relative value for money. How much use I'd really get out of it and how soon it might need replacing.
A Super-Record casette would be too expensive for my use, I'd not really notice it's advantages enough to justify it, whereas on the other hand, I'm contemplaing whether a set of Fulcrum Racing 1's would be a better buy than a set of Racing 3's at some point in the future as I'd probably only be using either set as "Sunday best's" so it would be better to buy the better set.0 -
Take it you mean when something is more expensive rather than whether? Feeling pedantic today
If it's somethng that I'm not bothered about then I don't buy it. Otherwise it's a mixture of 'I can afford it' and 'I really want it' (though working in the advertising industry I realise the cunning plans marketers and advertising bods hatch to make you really want something as it helps loosen your wallet up....)"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
No car... rarely use public transport.... recently stopped drinking... need to spend my money on something nice.0
-
Cost of train to work - £1200 a year
Cost of gym - £400 a year
vs
Cost of bike (year to date) - 6p a mile0 -
The question you should ask is: Am I going to whine/show off about the cost to everyone I meet after I have bought this? If not, then it's 'worth' it. There's other practical stuff, like: Can I actually afford it? No? Problem solved - it's too expensive.1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
I don't. I use an old adage that my grandad often used to use "If you can afford it and it makes you happy, there's no reason not to buy it". Very wise words. 0
-
You really ought to be able to cycle fast than that. :shock:W1 wrote:Cost of train to work - £1200 a year
Cost of gym - £400 a year
vs
Cost of bike (year to date) - 6p a mile0 -
I don't need to justify the cost of biking kit to anyone except myself.
More seriously, it's all relative. If stuff is well used and I enjoy it then I don't feel bad about having it, but I guess like most people I have my own cutoffs for when things are worth it and when they're not.
Thing is I reckon a lot of the people that express surprise at the cost of bike stuff probably spend a small fortune on things that I'd consider to be a massive waste of money- gym memberships, enormous TVs, phones, clothes, beers every night, car ownership in the city etc etc.0 -
Frequently I do not.
I would like a pair of baggy shorts to cycle in, but paying £50+ for a pair of shorts? get outta here.0 -
I buy as much as possible second hand. It makes me feel like I haven't wasted money.
I bought both my bikes from the classified forums on here. I buy my tyres from ebay and although I bought my replacement chain and cassette from ebay I believe they were new.
HTH0 -
A year's worth of petrol for commuting by car would cost about the same as my bike, according to a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation I made. Once I've commuted with my bike for more than a year, I'm saving money.
This is to say nothing of the health benefits. Once you really get into cycling and start spending beyond what's strictly necessary, well, that's your entertainment budget isn't it? If you weren't cycling you'd be doing something else - that costs money - to pass the time.0 -
-
I don't ever try to justify the cost, other than
1 - Can I afford it
2 - Do I need
I don't ever ask 'do I want it', the answer will always be yes :roll:pain is temporary, the glory of beating your mates to the top of the hill lasts forever.....................
Revised FCN - 20 -
CiB wrote:It's my hobby. Hobbies cost money.
Wot he said0 -
DonDaddyD wrote:How do you justify/rationalise whether the cost of a bike, clothing, component is too expensive?
Are you DX3's girlfriend posting under his username?
No man would care surely......
We have a breach!
Shut up everyone.Fixed gear for wet weather / hairy roadie for posing in the sun.
What would Thora Hurd do?0 -
GregT wrote:Are you DX3's girlfriend posting under his username?
No man would care surely......
We have a breach!
Shut up everyone.
Dude, do you see me with a Garmin or Fulcrum racing 1's?
You're a Bank man, you did this! You let her win!!!
If you could see my soul you would see the outline of a person curled up in a ball shivering in the corner, crying to himself and desperately trying to remember that he was once a man who spent on his bike.Food Chain number = 4
A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights. As you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game0 -
Avoid heart disease & diabetes - priceless.0
-
DonDaddyD wrote:If you could see my soul you would see the outline of a person curled up in a ball shivering in the corner, crying to himself and desperately trying to remember that he was once a man who spent on his bike.
I'm booking that as a win...
I am trying to re-grow my nuts (removed at some point by thin incremental marital slices) and one step on that path is buying my new summer bike without asking permission from the domestic CFO.
Right now I'm talking the big talk....Fixed gear for wet weather / hairy roadie for posing in the sun.
What would Thora Hurd do?0 -
Always Tyred wrote:
You really ought to be able to cycle fast than that. :shock:W1 wrote:Cost of train to work - £1200 a year
Cost of gym - £400 a year
vs
Cost of bike (year to date) - 6p a mile
Erm....eh?0 -
snailracer wrote:Avoid heart disease & diabetes - priceless.
Worked for me.
Since I was diagnosed as having high blood pressure (currently on prescriptions) I have carte blanche to do anything directly related to excercise.
Off to Majorca for a week next week on a boys cycling holiday :P
Paid for by the wife :shock:
No, I wouldn't swap her 8)None of the above should be taken seriously, and certainly not personally.0 -
£66 a month (train fare) equates to £792 a year, plus its my hobby
Annual maintenance on the bike is maybe £100 at most (do my own wrenching)*
So I can spend £700ish a year before it actually costs me anything.
And by "justify the cost" you mean perceived value for money, its hard not to justify paying what seems like a lot for stuff you use everyday - £300 for a set of wheels that cover 5000 miles in a year equates to 6p per mile (my wheels cost £70 btw!), if they last two years then thats 3p per mile and so on.
Its all academic though as in the real world youll spend the "savings" on something else anyway.twitter @fat_cyclist0 -
Mrs DDD and I were dicussing finances. It ended up being about only my finances.... funny how that always happens. She set a milestone, funny how that happens as well..
By the end of the year, as long as 'x', 'x' and 'x' has been paid I can buy a Garmin.... :x (I didn't mention the wheels or probable new bike as well... didn't dare really).
That's how my bike stuff is being justified.
But if 'x','x' and 'x' that would mean I would be nearly completely debt free. Isn't that a crime or something?Food Chain number = 4
A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights. As you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game0 -
Ah, if you have debts, I see her point.
Prev. relationship turned out with my (now ex) wife giving me green or red light on what I could buy.
Despite me bringing home most of the moolah.
I really resented this.
Current relationship, not doing the same mistakes, and keeping finances separate, with a contribution from each towards common stuff.
Earning more than my partner means I contribute more, but she's not sticking her nose in my finances.
The projects we have together are budgetted together, and a financial plan is drawn, which leaves us each with enough money to buy stuff, either for ourselves or each other.
It means I can treat her to a surprise weekend without having her decide before if it's reasonnable or not FCN 4(?) (Commuter - Genesis Croix de Fer)
FCN 3 (Roadie - Viner Perfecta)
-- Please sponsor me on my London to Paris ride --
http://www.diabeteschallenge.org.uk/cha ... n_to_paris0 -
We're all different Derdly-Der but our method is simple. I pay for the roof over our heads, over-payments on the mortgage and vital things like wine & other bills; the lovely other ½ pays for extravagances like food, school things & holidays. What's left is ours to do what we feel like doing, jointly or separately. Once you've got a bit of a bike fund going it's hard not to keep adding to it tho, and you can dip into it freely without justification. Boxes that arrive with a bag of Haribos & some bike-related stuff in them can then be freely enjoyed.0
-
Mrs DDD and I split everything 50/50 (our incomes and dispossable are similar). I pay for the car as she can't drive, which I'm fine with as it's mine and I get to choose which (I'm thinking Golf diesel next). If we have kids she needs to learn to drive .and buy her own...
My debt is nothing out of the ordinary, in fact my Dad said he couldn't take me seriously when I told him how much.
I've had all the plagues of my generation but I could never understand those who have annal salary levels of debt.
I have a dispossable income, which I squander, that needs to change. However, Mrs DDD figured out how close I was to being completely debt free (12-18months). By completely I mean not even having or needing an overdraft let alone a credit card or loan. Her lips whetted a little at the thought and now nothing but achieving that is justified and anything bought is questioned.
:x but wierdly Food Chain number = 4
A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights. As you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game0
