Poll

What did you/would you spend on your bike? (Canadian or US currency)  This includes everything you would have to spend to get it in good running order if buying used.

Under $100
$100 - $300
$300 - $600
$600 - $800
$800 and above

Author Topic: What did you spend on your bike?  (Read 43066 times)

Nudelkopf

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Re: What did you spend on your bike?
« Reply #100 on: November 02, 2013, 04:30:00 PM »
I spent $1200 (Australian) about a fortnight ago, on a road bike. I don't own a car, so I was happy to pay for a bike that I loved riding.

rubybeth

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Re: What did you spend on your bike?
« Reply #101 on: November 02, 2013, 05:03:30 PM »
Got a nice Trek road bike probably in 2006 or 2007, for about $400 which included the fenders and rack I had added, and a helmet that matches. My DH got a bike a couple years ago from a local used bike shop, and also got fenders, a basket, a bell, some lights, and a rack on the back for about $200.

YK-Phil

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Re: What did you spend on your bike?
« Reply #102 on: November 04, 2013, 02:04:00 PM »
I just moved back to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories to start a new job (three time more money, but also three times more work and stress, less than half the free time, and sadly and more importantly none of the fun I had as a flight attendant...not sure yet if I made the right choice...), and I plan to continue living frugally here, indeed even more so here since I am all by myself, the rest of the family being in Calgary, so I will continue using a bicycle all year long, but since shipping my own bike up here would have cost a few hundred bucks and some headaches, I just bought a used GT Palomar in great shape for $100. I need to change the cassette/freehub, which I can't do here because I neither have the tools nor a workshop, so I'll have to fork about $50 at the LBS. I will also have to get a pair of fenders and winter tires, which I can hopefully get cheap or free from the Good Life Community Bike Shop on my next visit in Calgary.
« Last Edit: December 03, 2013, 08:38:08 PM by ykphil »

SnackDog

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Re: What did you spend on your bike?
« Reply #103 on: November 04, 2018, 06:42:26 AM »
$9/month for the Bcycle bikes. Don't have to maintain it or clutter my garage. Station is two blocks from home.  The new ones are heavy but smooth Trek bikes. Three speeds. Bell. Baskets. Fenders. And a lock.  Can ride to work, gym, grocery, bar, etc.

GuitarStv

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Re: What did you spend on your bike?
« Reply #104 on: November 04, 2018, 07:50:40 AM »

Sure there's no need for it, but they do have their use, the shorts especially. The fabric helps you stay cool, and the tight fit helps you not feel like you're dragging a parachute. Most people know about that. Further though, there's the padding in the shorts which helps with saddle soreness and is not the same as having a softer saddle. There's the chafing reduction given by the tight shorts (this is why you're not supposed to wear your undies under bike shorts). And there's the jersey pockets, which are in the only convenient place for a cyclist to have pockets - on the back.


I can understand the padding part, but it just seems that it is overkill to wear the stuff unless maybe training for a tri or something IMHO.  But, from my perspective, I only ride 10 miles per day max.  Also, I have a large padded saddle, so not much saddle soreness since I got through the initial acclimation.

**I think this topic has been somewhat derailed**

At 10 miles per day max, yeah . . . bike shorts are probably unnecessary.  My commute to work is currently 14 miles each way, and I can do a ride in and back without bike shorts.  When I do more than two rides a week though my ass starts to really appreciate the comfort.  In very hot months I sweat a ton and chafing/saddle sores become a problem without bike shorts . . . this problem goes away when I wear 'em.  Getting saddle sores means at least a week off the bike for me, so I don't risk it any more and just wear bike shorts on every ride.

jeninco

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Re: What did you spend on your bike?
« Reply #105 on: November 05, 2018, 12:21:19 PM »
I'm in the "very, very expensive" crowd: For my 40th birthday or thereabouts I had a custom steel-frame Waterford built, for just about $4000 (that birthday was a while ago). The bike has around 15,000 miles on it at this point, and I ride rather than driving at least 5 days/week. I also ride for exercise/fun once or twice a week in-season. I also don't have a fleet of bikes -- I have an old steel-frame Bontrager (around $100, used) I use to pull the grocery trailer and, very occasionally, to ride on trails, but 95% of my riding is on the Waterford, including on dirt and gravel, and in snow and slush.  With newfangled lights, I also ride all over the place at night.

I am oldish and non-standardish dimensions (long, uneven legs, fairly short torso), and this bike never hurts my back, my rear, or my hamstrings. I regret nothing :^).

singpolyma

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Re: What did you spend on your bike?
« Reply #106 on: November 05, 2018, 12:49:34 PM »
How much I "did" spend is a bit hard to say: all covered by benefit money that must be spent on "athletic gear" or a few other categories, but it's taxable benefit money so I pay about half. First bike was ~$600 CAD (Kona Dew) -- it got stolen a month ago, after two solid years of riding, so I got a used Norco Indie 3 on Kijiji, ~$360 CAD after repairs. That will go to my Dad next year and I'm upgrading to a Norco Indie IGH with Gates Carbon CDN ~$1400.

Would I spend so much if it wasn't "per money"? I don't know. My bus pass before I started riding was ~$984 CAD / year -- so most of these bikes I could buy brand new every year and still be saving money. A single repair on my wife's car costs ~$700, so again if I can delay one of those by a year by riding the bike pays for itself that way too.

PlainsWalker

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Re: What did you spend on your bike?
« Reply #107 on: November 05, 2018, 01:41:12 PM »
    I dropped $1,200 on a Surly Cross-Check and then an additional $600 on fenders, helmet, lights, rear rack, leather saddle, and panniers. My wife and I dropped from 2 cars to one and I road the bike in to work just about everyday for over a year.
    The round trip is 20 miles and in the heat of the summer saddle sores became a going concern doing that ride every day in my jeans. I switched over to wearing bike bibs along with applying chamois cream and changing when I got to the office and that resolved the saddle sore issue. The bibs get worn under insulating layers in the winter when the temperature drops below freezing. I know we go back and forth on this forum concerning the helmet thing. Mine is bright neon yellow with reflective tape on it so it makes me more visible to motorized traffic. I wear it every time I go out. When I was rear ended by an SUV I was sure glad the helmet absorbed a good chunk of the energy when my head hit the pavement.

GuitarStv

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Re: What did you spend on your bike?
« Reply #108 on: November 05, 2018, 01:55:34 PM »
I've spent many warm summer days on my bike.  Seems like I've spent at least as many cold, stormy times as well.  Worth it.

Boofinator

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Re: What did you spend on your bike?
« Reply #109 on: November 05, 2018, 02:05:25 PM »
Nashbar road bike, somewhere south of $300 all in. Thousands of miles in, definitely satisfied about the purchase. Though a better bike sounds tempting, the big upside with Nashbar is I'd have absolutely zero pangs of sadness if (when?) my bike is stolen (following the long walk home, of course). When I hit FI, I'll probably splurge on a fancy-pants bike.

PoutineLover

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Re: What did you spend on your bike?
« Reply #110 on: November 05, 2018, 02:48:09 PM »
I think my bike cost about 3-400 new about 16 years ago, and I have gotten tons of use out of it. Super worth it, and it's still in good condition for the most part.

robartsd

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Re: What did you spend on your bike?
« Reply #111 on: November 05, 2018, 03:59:09 PM »
My bike (Mongoose Alta) was purchased retail early in 1997. I don't remember the purchase price, but it was probably in the $300-600 range. I've probably ridden this bike 20,000 to 25,000 miles (current average is close to 2000 miles/yr). Including original purchase I've probably spent $1,500 to $2,000 on bike, parts, and accessories over the years which works out to about $0.06 to $0.10 per mile.

jgoody

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Re: What did you spend on your bike?
« Reply #112 on: November 05, 2018, 05:08:42 PM »
My current commuter setup probably comes in just barely north of $600.  It's a 1980s Peugeot "mountain tourer" frame with mostly '90s Shimano Deore DX/XT components from a donor bike that was in lousy cosmetic shape.  Between the frame and parts bike, $200?  But then add nice front & rear racks, cables/housing, panniers, lights, fenders, lock, and helmet and I'll bet we end up just over $600.  I occasionally consider "treating myself" to something nicer since I use it a lot, but I always decide against it for the theft-bait factor.  My current bike doesn't look that appealing to thieves, but does the job just fine.  Having a bike stolen can be a deeply upsetting event if you care a lot about the bike.

Now that's my answer for the question/spirit of the question, but next I have to confess that I am bike obsessed and also have a tandem bike, a cargo bike, a snow bike, a mountain bike, and a loaner bike for friends to borrow when they visit from out of town.  The most expensive is the Bullitt cargo bike which I bought new.  I built my own cargo box and made my own custom wood fenders for it.  My wife and I like to bike tour and the cargo bike allows us to continue doing that despite having a one year old and a three year old.  Plus, it allows for lots of fun around-town rides with the kids and way more "car free" days than we'd otherwise manage.

adventurestache

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Re: What did you spend on your bike?
« Reply #113 on: November 05, 2018, 07:28:33 PM »
I spent around $1000 for a new commuter / hybrid bike. For what it's worth, that seemed to be around the are where diminishing returns started to set in, at least for what I wanted out of a commuting bike.

Slee_stack

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Re: What did you spend on your bike?
« Reply #114 on: November 07, 2018, 12:08:12 PM »
MTB'g is one of my two big physical activities I regularly participate in.

My original bike purchase ($2200 full squish 29er), semi fat wheel upgrades, and replacement/maintenance over the past 5 years has almost certainly broached $3k.

There's also gas charges (to get to some trails) and car costs probably to add on top of that.

I probably could have possibly gotten something for $2k all in, but why?  MTB'g is a passion that I enjoy multiple times per week, every week!  I even enjoy wrenching on my bike.  Its not actually 'work' to me to maintain it.

Long ago, I tried to stop judging what people spend on their passions if they can truly afford it.  If they spend it on stuff they don't use...well I'll continue to judge that.

As an aside, I do almost always wear cycling shorts (although often under baggies).  Fun and comfort are paramount for any ride.  A ride becomes a chore quickly when you start chafing.

10mi isn't much, particularly on pavement.  I don't wear cycling shorts on my beater bike ($300...15+ years ago) when I ride around town.
« Last Edit: November 07, 2018, 12:11:28 PM by Slee_stack »

Slow2FIRE

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Re: What did you spend on your bike?
« Reply #115 on: November 07, 2018, 05:31:57 PM »
About $500 with sales tax in 2003 for my mountain bike.

Around $275 in replacement parts, maintenance and "upgrades" over the years.  (so I selected $600-$800).

Was using my bike for some commuting and plenty of extracurricular activities.  Now I work from home and only use the bicycle for play time.

letired

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Re: What did you spend on your bike?
« Reply #116 on: November 07, 2018, 06:01:25 PM »
I've spend somewhere between $600 and $1000 on two bikes (the first one was stolen after ~6 years) and assorted parts and maintenance.

El Jacinto

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Re: What did you spend on your bike?
« Reply #117 on: November 08, 2018, 07:42:58 AM »
I bought a single speed bicycle on craigslist for $450 several years ago. I lived in a flat area then, so it was a great idea, but not so much now. I can't really ride for commuting, since I now live on a hilly (very steep in a couple spots), curvy, two-lane road. It's dangerous enough to drive. I'm definitely not riding it on a bike, so I limit my bike riding to going around the neighborhood for fun now, though the single-speed struggles with the hills there too.

dashuk

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Re: What did you spend on your bike?
« Reply #118 on: November 08, 2018, 10:18:07 AM »
No offense intended to anybody posting on here, but I don't understand why anybody would pay $1000 for a bicycle.  Isn't the Mustachian point of getting a bicycle to save money from not using your car?  It would take forever to get back the cost savings from buying a $1000 bicycle.

We probably gain $1000 a year from the fact our bikes mean one motor vehicle rather than two in the household, even for reasonably mustachian choices of motor vehicle. Actually it's only the fact the in-laws live somewhere really awkward that stops us going car-free, although that wouldn't be the entirety of another $1000 because there'd be some train and car rental in there.

That said, although we have a few $k worth of bikes, I've never bought an individual bike for more than $700, although upgrades, etc probably mean my least-mustachian triathlon bike might have ended up owing me twice that. I'll reclaim most of that by selling it though.

Of the purely transport bikes, the most expensive was our tandem, which is also the only one bought new and probably stands us at $800 by the time kid seats, etc were factored in (allowing our whole family of four to travel on one bike!). Only had that 6 months, so it's probably only saved us $100 or so in fuel, parking, bus fares, etc.

My commuting bike was bought used for about $250, and I've done over 5600 miles on it. I have worn out a set of wheels and various other bits though, so maybe again $800 total costs over that time. Going forward this one is likely to do 400+ miles a year now I'm only cycle commuting.

Probably the most likely to raise eyebrows in our fleet is that child #1's (4yo) current bike was over $300 used, and that he's had nearly $600 worth of bikes in under three years. However, both his ability and enthusiasm for cycling are way beyond his peers, #2 will end up riding them all as well, and they will still have some residual value even after that. So no regrets.

robartsd

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Re: What did you spend on your bike?
« Reply #119 on: November 08, 2018, 01:05:31 PM »
Probably the most likely to raise eyebrows in our fleet is that child #1's (4yo) current bike was over $300 used, and that he's had nearly $600 worth of bikes in under three years. However, both his ability and enthusiasm for cycling are way beyond his peers, #2 will end up riding them all as well, and they will still have some residual value even after that. So no regrets.
Quality kids bikes are important to having a family biking lifestyle. If you take care of the bikes and are connected with a large enough network with other family bikers, you should find someone who needs the bike and appreciates the quality enough (so many kids bikes are junk) that the depreciation should be modest even after your two kids have outgrown them.

FLBiker

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Re: What did you spend on your bike?
« Reply #120 on: November 08, 2018, 02:24:58 PM »
I know we go back and forth on this forum concerning the helmet thing.

Wait, do we?  Helmet every single time I ride (OK, not when I'm at work and biking within campus, if I'm honest).

Anyways, I spent ~$300 on a Gary Fisher Mako about 10 years ago.  Wow.  I can't believe it's been that long.  I commute about 10 miles a day, but I've dropped to 1 day a week due to day care drop off.  Until last fall, I did it everyday.  If I did touring, I'd spend more, but for a commuter it's been fine.