How do you afford a new bike?

VTech

On quick reflection the above is harsh but please please please understand that my intentions are good, I will offer advice if I know the answer, an opinion if I'm soso sure and ask for advice if I am unsure.
I go about things differently from others but I don't mug grannies, I don't steal, hurt people etc and pay tax like the rest of society. Lets get on, it's easier.

Gabbo

team47b wrote:

what about giving something else up and funding a new bike with that?

give up drinking and the average drinker could save up a grand in less than a year.

I bought two bikes in year one! And I didn't think that I used to drink very much compared with other people

Amen to that.

Binge drinkers and heavy smokers should take note of how much they spend. If they done the math, they'd probably realise that they spend in excess of £4k per year on alcohol and cigarettes alone.

This is how I justify spending my money on a bike

Gabbo

Holy cow!

Just seen that 20 benson and hedges silver are £7.08!!! :shock:

£2584.20 per year (assuming you smoke 20 a day)

Inutero

Christ!

I remember when i gave up about 20 years ago that a pack off 100 was about £12.

neeb

AchillesLeftKnee wrote:

On the specific subject of bikes, I reckon borrowing money to pay for a luxury that depreciates like a dead badger is bloody barmy. Okay, so it would be different if it were a professional tool of the trade, or it was a case of needing it for transport when there were no cheaper options, but as a luxury... no, that's just nuts.

Why nuts? At the end of the day you are going to be dead in 20, 40 years or whatever, if a "luxury" increases your happiness and thus quality of life and borrowing for it in the short to medium term doesn't have any detectable impact on your lifestyle or future plans, why not do it? I'm not sure I understand the distinction between a luxury and a non-luxury in any case, if you defined luxury as anything that isn't strictly necessary for survival then nearly everything most of us spend money on would be a "luxury", including most of the money we spend on food (there are always cheaper options unless you are really living on the breadline). At the other extreme, I know people who have massive savings, big salaries, no dependents etc. and who simply are unable to spend money on anything, they are always going for the cheapest & nastiest option even although they lust after the more expensive stuff and could easily afford it. That's more nuts in MHO!

VTech

Maybe he was referring to the need ? There are many options of free credit for bikes and kit if thats your bag.
In general, it is always deemed wreck-less to spend on items you cant afford to buy as a whole, many people are in huge troubles over doing just that so i guess willpower is key to keeping things in perspective as this game can be addictive.

jambo75

I'm a believer in saving up, having said that I bought my first road bike from Evans in 2011, I used Evans because they offered 0% finance on their sale items, granted I was only spending £600, but after a small deposit it worked out at £33 for 11 months, and because of that I enjoyed probably 4 months of cycling I wouldn't of had if I were to save up. Simples.

VTech

jambo75 wrote:

I'm a believer in saving up, having said that I bought my first road bike from Evans in 2011, I used Evans because they offered 0% finance on their sale items, granted I was only spending £600, but after a small deposit it worked out at £33 for 11 months, and because of that I enjoyed probably 4 months of cycling I wouldn't of had if I were to save up. Simples.

0% (just like a normal discount or sale price for those with funds) is a great way to get the economy moving and people spending, I think its great that its offered so widely in the cycling world as it is a costly game.

neeb

Providing you aren't paying really signifciant amounts of interest and you keep things in control, there isn't much difference between buying something immediately and paying for it afterwards, or saving up for it and then buying it. If you can get completely interest free credit with no strings attached then it would be stupid not to buy immediately, but even if you are paying a little bit of interest you are then in effect simply paying a small charge to have the item a little sooner. Seems like a fair deal to me, life's too short to wait for things if you don't need to..

ScottyXTUK

Wow nice debate going, nice to see I'm not the only one using finance

I've decided to use my 0% credit card as I can pay a set rate each month and pay more if I want. Great advice from the guy about life being too short etc, I've always felt like that, live for the here and now.

My other point about buying it on finance is this, usually I catch the bus home from work, this works out at nearly £30 a month. Now the way I see it is that I will be saving myself £30 a month by cycling to work, I get fitter, I arrive at work feeling healthy and energetic and I'm doing my bit for the environment.

If the purchase adds even £50 a month onto my credit card bill then in reality it is only costing me £20 a month extra (Credit Card Bill - Monthly bus fares).

Add in the fact that I bloody love cycling and the independence of choosing my own route home and not having to catch 2 goddamn buses home which are usually full so I have to stand and are full of noisy kids, screaming babies or drunks then I'll take the bike everytime!!!

VTech

ScottyXTUK wrote:

Wow nice debate going, nice to see I'm not the only one using finance

I've decided to use my 0% credit card as I can pay a set rate each month and pay more if I want. Great advice from the guy about life being too short etc, I've always felt like that, live for the here and now.

My other point about buying it on finance is this, usually I catch the bus home from work, this works out at nearly £30 a month. Now the way I see it is that I will be saving myself £30 a month by cycling to work, I get fitter, I arrive at work feeling healthy and energetic and I'm doing my bit for the environment.

If the purchase adds even £50 a month onto my credit card bill then in reality it is only costing me £20 a month extra (Credit Card Bill - Monthly bus fares).

Add in the fact that I bloody love cycling and the independence of choosing my own route home and not having to catch 2 goddamn buses home which are usually full so I have to stand and are full of noisy kids, screaming babies or drunks then I'll take the bike everytime!!!

If you have a zero rated CC this could be a bad move as the chances are that you have a decent credit score in which case (and only if the place you are buying from offers 0% interest) you should get a separate credit agreement and maintain your "available funds" which will keep your credit file in tip top condition.
Of course if you have no intention of using/applying/wanting credit within the next 6-12 months this wont have any effect but if you were this could become an issue and I always live by the principle of making sure im covered in case of rainy day. (in other words, you may be fine now but imagine if you needed quick cash for any reason and your card was maxed out and you had no other means of helping yourself) of course, I and all of us would hope this never is the case.

RowanM

I live on two minute noodles until I have enough cash. Then I buy the bike and go back to eating healthy enough that I can ride it!

centimani

Personally, i pay cash. Just did my Ribble Sportive that way.
I'm lucky, surplus funds in the bank (thats probably losing me money at the moment anyway) and a careful non wasteful lifestyle, yet i buy the things i REALLY want.
Interest free can be a good option but beware not paying in full in the correct time...i got absolutely hammered that way once, forgot the last date to clear it off some years ago and ended up paying a fortune extra for the sake of a couple days.

Druidor

going for the cycle to work scheme, as 5 kids = skint

slowmart

£ + marketing + bling + bling whore (us) = ££££££

Going back to the OP's question; the simple answer here is the relentless use of man maths to ensure the new acquisition makes sense. Whether or not it is affordable doesn't usually enter the equation. That is how it has been and how it will always be. 8)

nunowoolmez

verylonglegs wrote:

Late-thirties, no kids and single. It means money and time for hobbies such as cycling

This.

Plus a little bit of help from my flexible friend & being wise & astute with sales & shopping around for the best deals. I started out with a ride to work scheme bike which i somehow quickly upgraded leaving just the frame, rear derailleur & leavers as the only original bits. Then i somehow ended up with two more bikes. How did that happen!!!

As i always say...at least it ain't crack!!

nunowoolmez

Although i am actually mid thirties...:)

diy

I will never pay finance on a depreciating asset. Something like a bike, either find one used and make a saving, get a mate with a bike2work scheme if you don't have one yourself or try interest free finance.

Last thing you want to do is bung it on a credit card and pay it off over a few months. Credit cards are usually the most expensive (apart from loan shark/payday loan types).

If money is tight, then set your budget realistically. You can get fairly decent bikes used for £500-800. The great thing about used bikes is if you buy well that 800 quid bike will be worth 600 in 2 years, which is hard to beat.

Someone might suggest you lease a bike, but always work out the cash equiv. and interest and remember that leasing is not owning, its renting. You don't actually own it at the end.

I have used bike2work, but mostly I buy used bikes or parts and build my own.

neeb

I think this just comes down to personality and priorities. Some people worry a lot about money (beyond the bounds that I would consider rational) and have deontological personal moral codes such as never paying finance on a depreciating asset or whatever. Other people such as myself have a purely consequentialist view of the wisdom of any individual financial decision - if I decide next Thursday that what would really make me happy is a Colnago C59 frameset or whatever, and that in order to be able to ride it this summer I need to borrow money on a credit card and pay it off over a few months at the cost of £100 of interest, I might decide that such an arrangement is a good deal for me personally, given the totality of my priorities and the desire to maximise my own happiness and fulfilment. Obviously it would have been better if I had realised at the beginning of the winter that I would have such a requirement and saved up for it in advance, but finding myself in a different situation it would be stupid (in my mind) to delay being able to ride the bike for another season for the sake of £100 and an inflexible personal financial rule.

The main thing is that you are in control of all of your financial decisions and fully aware of the consequences of them. The danger, of course, is that borrowing can lead you into situations where you lose that control. For some people the best way to avoid that is to draw lines in the sand they will never cross, but for others it is more of a dynamic, ongoing process of assessment based on the integrated totality of their needs, financial, emotional and physical.

CiB

How do you afford a new bike? Easy. Assume as of today that you'll want one, one day. And if it's not a bike, it'll be a fancy TV, or a laptop, or an ipad or a car or a horse or a mortgage. You just will - that's not a guess or an over-confident prediction, it's just fact that virtually all of the [male] population will one day want or need to have a wodge ready to splurge on something like a bike.It's a 100% cert that sometime over the next few months or years you're gonna want to buy something expensive. The time to start wondering how to pay for it isn't the week that you decide you want something, it's 3 days ago, so start chucking cash somewhere as soon as.

Once you get used to ferreting a bit of cash away on a regular basis you don't miss it, and the regular little bit soon grows to something usable that you can use on a whim without having to justify it or borrow or kick yourself for not having some readies stashed away.

This isn't much help for our OP, but a lot of people will come across this and wonder what the answer is.

dmclite-3.0

I have used 4 years 0% finance on a new bike before, just saved for the deposit and off I went.

The next time I tried being a bit more clever. waited until the bike shops started clearouts in the late autumn and looked for a bargain. I eventually got a 2011 Felt F4 for £1800 from Sigma and used a 15 month 0% on purchases tesco mastercard to pay it off. The beauty of this was as well as a bargain I got a wedge of tesco clubcard vouchers and have had a a couple of good family days out and 3 good restatraunt deals out of it too. `So if you plan what you want, get a card application on the go at the right time this could be a way forward. I have to do it this way as I have 3 kids and my wife doesn't work, so saving normally would take forever and there is always something that the savings goes on in the short term.
Saying that I do have my "man-jar" in the garage where spare change goes to cover tubes, bars tyres etc, these purchases drive my wife mental.

neeb

CiB wrote:

How do you afford a new bike? Easy. Assume as of today that you'll want one, one day. And if it's not a bike, it'll be a fancy TV, or a laptop, or an ipad or a car or a horse or a mortgage. You just will - that's not a guess or an over-confident prediction, it's just fact that virtually all of the [male] population will one day want or need to have a wodge ready to splurge on something like a bike.It's a 100% cert that sometime over the next few months or years you're gonna want to buy something expensive. The time to start wondering how to pay for it isn't the week that you decide you want something, it's 3 days ago, so start chucking cash somewhere as soon as.

Once you get used to ferreting a bit of cash away on a regular basis you don't miss it, and the regular little bit soon grows to something usable that you can use on a whim without having to justify it or borrow or kick yourself for not having some readies stashed away.

This isn't much help for our OP, but a lot of people will come across this and wonder what the answer is.

Can't argue with that.. Again, personality comes into it though. It's the most sensible thing to do, but not everyone is good at (or sufficiently prioritises) making the most sensible decisions all of the time, especially when the less sensible option doesn't lead to a detectably different outcome in terms of life quality.

dwanes

Finance, particularly 0% finance is the way forward for me. The thought of handing over,say, £2000 of hard earned savings would make me weep. I would rather have it sat in my account and take out a 0% finance or credit card and pay off gradually.

Some people pay for a £10,000 car with their savings, that would make me feel physically sick. Paying finance doesn't hit home quite as hard.

Also (as someone already mentioned) saving when you have a family is very very difficult.

BUT you have to be sensible and limit what you do have on finance. When it is paid off, you can then get something else.

The Mechanic

I don't understand why anyone would pay off a 0% loan early. This is, in fact, free money. Consider it a discount on your bike. If you have the cash but the shop offers 0% then take it, put the money in the building society and draw out the payments each month. That way you make interest on the money in the Bsoc and get the bike now. If you get 3% interest on the savings account, you are saving 3% on the bike.(subject to a reducing balance). It's a no brainer

degsy_103

I saved up the best part of £2K 2 years ago to purchase a nice new carbon bike. Took me a while, but I did it. But when it came down to it, I could not justify handing over that amount of money for a bike, no matter how much I wanted it.

So, I saw the same bike on 3 years interest free credit and that was that. I bought the bike on credit, but in the secure knowledge that I had also saved and banked the equivalent amount. Conscience clear.

Frank the tank

Gabbo wrote:

team47b wrote:

what about giving something else up and funding a new bike with that?

give up drinking and the average drinker could save up a grand in less than a year.

I bought two bikes in year one! And I didn't think that I used to drink very much compared with other people

Amen to that.

Binge drinkers and heavy smokers should take note of how much they spend. If they done the math, they'd probably realise that they spend in excess of £4k per year on alcohol and cigarettes alone.

This is how I justify spending my money on a bike

I've never smoked, drink moderately, don't have a big holiday every year, going to work costs me nowt in travelling. I should be a firkin millionair but I'm bloody not and I haven't got a plethora of really expensive shiney bikes either. :?

team47b

so wot you spendin' all the dosh on then Frank?

Please don't answer - bodyparts

VTech

team47b wrote:

so wot you spendin' all the dosh on then Frank?

Please don't answer - bodyparts

I was thinking the same although electricity and gas are the new cigarettes and booze !!
I know plenty of people who work all the time and are broke and I have old schoolmates who dont work and are doing just fine. As has been said above, there is always something that needs buying, its all about where you prioritise the goods you want to buy. How easy is it to justify a bike ? easier or harder than a new TV, Car, Holiday ?
Its amazing how we can actually classify a bike in the same sentence as a car and holiday ehh !

smidsy

VTech wrote:

Its amazing how we can actually classify a bike in the same sentence as a car and holiday ehh !

Indeed. Would not waste my money on a holiday

Anonymous

The Mechanic wrote:

I don't understand why anyone would pay off a 0% loan early. This is, in fact, free money. Consider it a discount on your bike. If you have the cash but the shop offers 0% then take it, put the money in the building society and draw out the payments each month. That way you make interest on the money in the Bsoc and get the bike now. If you get 3% interest on the savings account, you are saving 3% on the bike.(subject to a reducing balance). It's a no brainer

If you have the cash why not just get a discount on the bike?
They must pay a bit for the credit (someone will know on here) so it would be silly to lose a sale by refusing to discount.

But yeah, once its on 0% (like mine), there is no reason to pay it off early.