The great poet Sir Mix-A-Lot once eloquently said; “I like bling bikes and I can not lie, you other brothers can’t deny…”
Ain’t that the truth! I spend a fair bit of my coin on bikes and bike related stuff. It’s a fact I can’t deny. I don’t really have many other hobbies, cycling is what I do and what I love. To the “Average Joe” it probably seems like a boatload of cash to throw away on pedal powered playthings, but is it really that much in comparison?
Let’s go back to Mr Average Joe above. He might work a regular nine to five gig. He might shell out for a gym membership ($1000/year). He might have a two-a-day coffee purchase habit ($2000/year) then hit the bar with colleagues every Friday for drinks in town (drop $100 at the bar and it soon totals $5000/year). Lets not even go down the smoker’s route of burning money. That stuff adds up!
Pretty soon the money I spend on cycling doesn’t look all that different to Mr Average Joe’s spending habits. That’s before you even think about Mrs Joe dragging him around soulless retail outlets on the weekend buying bland household items he doesn’t need and clothes she’ll only wear a handful of times. Ain’t no self respecting cyclist got time for that!
My bills are paid, I’m ahead on the mortgage, I have no other debts and there’s always plenty of food on the table. Whatever is left I can easily justify on a healthy habit. Plus I’m not having to shell out for expensive medical and psychologist bills I’d probably need if it weren’t for my two wheeled escape. Cycling is quite literally saving my life!
That’s money well spent… #keepthosepedalsturning
Tempo Cyclist - Tasmania 
No argument from me.
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Dead right!
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Right said, Fred! I mean, TC-T!
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I’m a model, you know what I mean? 😉
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I totally agree!
Another perspective that I use it to calculate the “price” per ride for the bike. An important assumption here is that the bike is used a lot – otherwise the logic is not really useful.
For example, for a $3000 bike that you use for 5 years – that’s $600 per year. Let’s say you use it twice a week, on average (incl. outdoor and indoor) – that means approx. 100 times per year, so approx. $6 per ride.
Of course, on top we have to add the other operational elements (tires, oil, tools, etc).
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… and, on the bike side of the equation, you do still have a bike with some residual value at the end of those 5 years.
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True! If I ever do need the money I could sell my bikes/parts for actual cash and recoup some of that investment. Or sell and upgrade… 😂
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That’s a good way to look at it. If I get really nerdy later, I’ll try and work out some sort of “cost per hour” for my bike. Anyway, it’s priceless! 😎
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HA! I was just thinking the same thing!
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