Secret Bikes ?

porker33

Does anyone have a secret bike??

One of my mates bought a winter bike a few weeks ago and daren't take it home in case his wife finds out.

So, I seem to have another bike at home cluttering the place up, until further notice!

The bike has been fettled, fitted with helicopter tape to prevent cable rub, matching carbon cages fitted....but only ridden once.

Is this as crazy as I think, or perhaps not uncommon after all?

MattC59

I bought a pair of carbon wheels a while back, at a price which was too good to turn down. I mentioned to the Mrs that I might buy them and her response wasn't quite what I'd have liked !!

So I bought them anyway

However, my old wheels were white with black tyres, as the new wheels are black, I've camouflaged them with white tyres. As far as the Mrs is concerned, I have a black & white wheel /tyre combo. Job done !!

I've not told her about the Garmin 800 that I bought the other week though

That said, I don't know why I should keep these items secret, she went out on Saturday and spent £200 on clothes followed by £160 in Boots FFS !!!!

martinwitnam

I've done it!
Bought a new bike and kept it at work. I'd tell my GF that I was going out to do the shopping, keep a set of kit in the car, ride, shower at work, do the shopping and then head home making the excuse that I'd bumped into a friend and done coffee!

Omar Little

When i bought a new mountain bike my ex went crazy thinking i'd spent about a £100 when i already had 2 other bikes - she thought that was the price of bikes because of how much they cost in tesco. I may have given the impression that she was nearly correct in her price estimate. Eventually it dawned on me that i was being pretty pathetic and wasting time being with someone who didnt like me spending my money how i pleased and having to lie about it when i never made a comment about how she spent her money - it just wasnt a healthy way to have a relationship when i started making up stories about winning competitions whenever i got some new gear and the big box from wiggle or crc arrived

Also no point being with someone so stupid to believe i was winning a competition every other week!

Yossie

Oh yes!

1 Charge Plug ("I'm looking after it for my brother while he's in the desert")
Loads of new lycra in a drawer in the garage
New 'bars, stems, cranks, seat posts in boxes dotted around the garage
1 new full Red groupset stashed at work
1 new frame on its way down, forks to follow, will be a winter build up.
Shed loads of parts for the race m'bike

Don't forget to use work as storage and have the bits sent to friends' houses as well.

So long as you save up and spread the cost out you can get away with it quite easily - its the minute you hit the credit/debit card with one large payment that you're going to get rumbled.

It also helps to have a barrister as a very good friend to finance same said purchases - I now treat him as guardian to my children/loan shark

Gazzaputt

My favorite thing was under the radar purchases.

This was until she opened my bank statement.

IMO she was way in the wrong for opening it!

verylonglegs

This thread reads like a great advert for staying single, some of you have less freedom than a teenager living with their parents!

blueheeler

Um....I am the opposite...just before I press the 'buy now' button I run things past Mr B but he always tells me "You must have it"
Feel sorry for the previous posters having to be so devious, my advice is too dump such a demanding GF/wife. It's your money not hers.

martinwitnam

Verylonglegs! You're not at all wrong there.
I also built up a bike bit by bit by, as previously mentioned, getting the components sent to work. I finally got my ex to allow me to buy a new frame, swearing that I was going to transfer the components from my old bike. Of course when the bike got built it looked all sparkly and new. The only old parts being saddle, h/bars, wheels and pedals.
So about a week after the bike was built my ex presented me with an itemised list of all of my purchases from Ribble!
And a week later the bike got stolen and all of a sudden she had the money to pay for some on-line course in some weirdy subject when normally she hadn't got two pennies to rub together!!!!
(Did anyone notice the word "allow" when referring to buying the frame?)

Redhog14

Time to MTFU: It is your money so long as kids etc are not going without shoes what is the issue.. Have a serious conversation with them about it, it might change your priorties and theirs.

Having found my self single at 37 I spend how I like and found a GF who has more bike stuff and bikes than me (6 at the last count!) Problem solved. Except the divorce cost me far more than a Carbon Pinarello could ever do!

guinea

Just get your missus to buy stuff for you.

So far I've had a powertap, garmin and a set of boras.

If she's not keen then she's not worth it anyway and you should get rid of her.

on-oneplus26

My Mrs bought a pony last year followed by a load of tack followed by a horse box followed by comp enteries and currently we are buying a field to keep said beast in!

There has not been so much as a tut when a box from CRC arrives altough sadly I still try to order at times when I know it will delivered when she is a work!

Wonder if she does the same with her horsey stuff?

amun1000

on-oneplus26 wrote:

My Mrs bought a pony last year followed by a load of tack followed by a horse box followed by comp enteries and currently we are buying a field to keep said beast in!

There has not been so much as a tut when a box from CRC arrives altough sadly I still try to order at times when I know it will delivered when she is a work!

Wonder if she does the same with her horsey stuff?

Oh god dont get me started on horses - they soak money up. Just standing there costs money with horses.

My half wanted horses so we had stables built, c/w tack bought, field rental. Not to mention all food stuff, where to put the manure, farrier costs etc etc etc etc.

Funny how whenever a couple of parcels arrive containing bike stuff within less than week of each other comments are made - 'A lot of parcels have been arriving recently'

Jesus!

Jason82

Gazzaputt wrote:

My favorite thing was under the radar purchases.

This was until she opened my bank statement.

IMO she was way in the wrong for opening it!

You want to nip that in the bud mate. Fair enough if it's a shared account but if it's you own she shouldn't go near it. Threaten her with treason if she does it again, I think that's the charge if you open someone elses post.

Ben6899

Jason82 wrote:

Gazzaputt wrote:

My favorite thing was under the radar purchases.

This was until she opened my bank statement.

IMO she was way in the wrong for opening it!

You want to nip that in the bud mate. Fair enough if it's a shared account but if it's you own she shouldn't go near it. Threaten her with treason if she does it again, I think that's the charge if you open someone elses post.

Treason?

Nuggs

Ben6899 wrote:

Jason82 wrote:

Gazzaputt wrote:

My favorite thing was under the radar purchases.

This was until she opened my bank statement.

IMO she was way in the wrong for opening it!

You want to nip that in the bud mate. Fair enough if it's a shared account but if it's you own she shouldn't go near it. Threaten her with treason if she does it again, I think that's the charge if you open someone elses post.

Treason?

Surely only if the post in question is addressed to the Queen?

rajMAN

Classic thread. Up and down the land men living in fear.

cornerblock

rajMAN wrote:

Classic thread. Up and down the land men living in fear.

Fear? I'm not in fear, if I want a..... ooh gotta go...

Feetsocks

My wife buys me bike stuff for birthdays, anniversary and christmas. Always better than the stuff I buy myself. Saves her having to think what to get me I suppose.
Have asked for a bike for our 10th wedding anniversary in October..........

Jason82

Ok it stopped being treason after WW2 but:....

Interfering with mail - Postal Services Act 2000 Section 84

Triable Summarily (Magistrates court)
6 Months and or a fine (Max)

A person commits an offence if they without reasonable excuse intentionally delay or open a postal packet in the course of transmission by post or intentionally opens a mail bag.

A person commits an offence if, intending to act to a person's detriment and without reasonable excuse, opens a postal packet which they know or suspect to have been delivered incorrectly.

If you work for the Post service you could commit other offences under Section 83 triable either way (Magistrates or Crown court) and get a sentence of 2 years and or a fine.

ColinJ

Someone once told me that he always bought bikes the same colour because his wife didn't notice that they were new! (Presumably, she never looked in the garden shed?)

I wouldn't dream of having a relationship with any woman who thought it her business how I spent my own money.

As long as the agreed shared expenses (home/family/holidays/pensions ...) are paid, why worry what the other partner is spending his/her money on?

Jason82

Stop spending money on the bike and go down the pub every night for a month and spend the money there and make sure you come home drunk most nights. After that your wifes/other halfs will let you buy as much bike stuff as you like if you stop going to the pub. See you have comprimised.

Jim Will Fixie It

guinea wrote:

Just get your missus to buy stuff for you.

So far I've had a powertap, garmin and a set of boras.

:shock: Can I have your missus!?

AndyD2574

Secrets!! My other half walks into the garage and counts the bikes just in case another one has appeared!!

Running out of reasons why I need another bike!!

You can never have enough bikes!

There is always a wee hiding place you can squeeze another bike into!.......just buy them all teh same colour and she will never notice!

mouth

my mrs holds the purse strings in this house.

The general rule goes: If I NEED it (new tyre, lights etc) I get it. If I WANT something (this years new Trade Team jersey, that carbon helmet, new shoes even though nothing wrong with the old ones), Christmas, birthday, anniversaries come into play.

Redhog14

Jason82 wrote:

Stop spending money on the bike and go down the pub every night for a month and spend the money there and make sure you come home drunk most nights. After that your wifes/other halfs will let you buy as much bike stuff as you like if you stop going to the pub. See you have comprimised.

Not mention the relaxing of the stomach profile and the softening of the tungsten butt...

I would like to say that my GF recently bought herself a Ti road machine (#6) but didn't tell me for a week cause I was bitching about not being able to buy myself a new bike. The worm has turned! (But I was quite happy to secure a long term lease on her Orbea roda bike)

amun1000

A woman should never come between a man and his rides.

beverick

Grief, I've bought so many things under the radar that Sir Robert Watson-Watt must wonder why he actually bothered inventing it. Items include:

The 2003 road bike which cost £1399.

The 2011 mountain bike cost which cost £1300.

At least two digital SLRs and a couple of lenses.

None of my bikes are actually secret but their individual and combined costs are, shall we say, unclear.

I have recently noticed this:

http://www.drakescycles.co.uk/m1b0s6p22 ... 2011%29%0A

which may be the latest nafarious acquisition.



Bob

cornerblock

amun1000 wrote:

A woman should never come between a man and his rides.

Oh I don't know!

Pross

The wife bought me my track bike and the latest edition to my stable, a fairly cheap second hand mountain bike. I may have undervalued my best bike though as she thought even £1k was a lot (it seems the same amount is quite cheap for a diamond ring that you can't do anything with though!).

Jason82

My mum used to buy stuff for herself and wrap them up and claim at christmas they were from friends at work. I swear my dad thought she was having an affair at one point.

Myself I am single and free so I can buy whatever the hell I want most recently a beer fridge that holds 36 cans.