Nickle and dime....

[Lewis Moon]

Active forgetting is a defense mechanism.

Every time I buy a used frame to build, I'm always gobsmacked with just how huge a hit my bank account takes. It never fails. I total up everything I will need, a priori, but, inevitable as the first flat, the shifters need a rebuild, the bottom bracket comes with three fewer parts than needed, I can't use one of the parts on hand so I have to order another, the cables are internally routed so I have to buy vast swaths of new housing, I always forget bar tape (and I like the good stuff), instead of one BB tool I need two......

...think I'll pop down and sell some plasma.

[benb]

Yep.. it makes pre-packaged bikes look pretty attractive if they happen to come with a set of components and contact point hardware that works for you.

[bcroslin]

Man, I feel your pain. I'm building a beater CX bike and I've mapped out the few parts I'll need that I don't have on hand and it's going to cost way more than I wanted to spend. With that said, t's still less than a new Ultegra build carbon CX bike with throw-away wheels.

[tuscanyswe]

Its part of the fun! :)

I agree its often more expensive than you first think it will be when you ad up all the little things you need to get the finish you want. But hey it will be exactly like you want it!

[makoti]

Active forgetting is a defense mechanism.

Every time I buy a used frame to build, I'm always gobsmacked with just how huge a hit my bank account takes. It never fails. I total up everything I will need, a priori, but, inevitable as the first flat, the shifters need a rebuild, the bottom bracket comes with three fewer parts than needed, I can't use one of the parts on hand so I have to order another, the cables are internally routed so I have to buy vast swaths of new housing, I always forget bar tape (and I like the good stuff), instead of one BB tool I need two......

...think I'll pop down and sell some plasma.

I just got fit, and the cost of re-adjusting three bikes has been crazy. I shouldn't be surprised, but I was. At least I don't have enough money left for drugs...

[Lewis Moon]

I just got fit, and the cost of re-adjusting three bikes has been crazy. I shouldn't be surprised, but I was. At least I don't have enough money left for drugs...

That's what I tell my wife; It's better than spending it at some titty bar.

[jmoore]

The $300 frame I bought last year and moved the full Ultegra group I had in my parts bin onto, cost me about $1000 once it was all built and ready to roll.

[makoti]

That's what I tell my wife; It's better than spending it at some titty bar.

Clearly, you've never been to Canada...

[tuscanyswe]

I find a good way to not spend all that extra cash is to actually not sell off all the small parts in ones bin. I often do sell a campy der and a set of bars i like thinking i won't need these. Set of extra training wheels thats just hanging around, a saddle and those brakes i have no need for..
Few months later i buy the same thing back more or less only more expensive and with shipping costs etc.

I guess its stupid but it also not that great to c all that stuff sitting around in the bin not being used :/

Currently going through a cleanse, but trying to not sell everything off.

[Bradford]

I don't think you understand how bike accounting works.

The initial purchase is captured as a capital expense, which can be depreciated over the life of the bike.

All subsequent expenses should not be counted at all and simply lumped in with the "miscellaneous spending" category that includes any money your wife or kids spend during that time. At no time should you ever record, note, or even admit to additional expenses. If you don't acknowledge them, the don't exist.

If you are asked at any time during the life or the bike how much it costs, you are only allowed to answer with the original purchase price and you are, as required by the man code, compelled to ignore any money that may or may not have been spent on items that may or may not have had something to do with this alleged bike.

See, much easier. I've been using this accounting method for years and its brought me much happiness and dancing bananas.:banana:

[54ny77]

Ahh, the Brass Rail....

To paraphrase Airplane II:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHwE71WVhQg

Clearly, you've never been to Canada...

[J.Greene]

...think I'll pop down and sell some plasma.

Do it regardless. It keeps people like like me alive when people like you generously donate plasma. Yeah you can get $25 but I'm not sure anyone here would be motivated by $25 so do know that people with serious medical conditions really really really appreciate the selfless generosity.

Sorry for the twist and soapbox.

[CNY rider]

I don't think you understand how bike accounting works.

The initial purchase is captured as a capital expense, which can be depreciated over the life of the bike.

All subsequent expenses should not be counted at all and simply lumped in with the "miscellaneous spending" category that includes any money your wife or kids spend during that time. At no time should you ever record, note, or even admit to additional expenses. If you don't acknowledge them, the don't exist.

If you are asked at any time during the life or the bike how much it costs, you are only allowed to answer with the original purchase price and you are, as required by the man code, compelled to ignore any money that may or may not have been spent on items that may or may not have had something to do with this alleged bike.

See, much easier. I've been using this accounting method for years and its brought me much happiness and dancing bananas.:banana:

Sounds just like the accounting for the Iraq war!

[Lewis Moon]

Do it regardless. It keeps people like like me alive when people like you generously donate plasma. Yeah you can get $25 but I'm not sure anyone here would be motivated by $25 so do know that people with serious medical conditions really really really appreciate the selfless generosity.

Sorry for the twist and soapbox.

Actually, I can't, for some crap medical reasons (no, it's not the sa-weet tattoo of a dolphin jumping over a rainbow made of Chinese calligraphy and barbed wire that I have on my a$$).
So, let me say, hats off to everyone who donates blood/plasma. The world is indebted to you.

[jmoore]

I don't know how you can not spend extra money on a bike, regardless of how many parts you have in the parts bin.

Heck your bars, stem and seatpost need to match. And I had a pair of hubs in the parts bin and got a slamming deal on some new rims, so why wouldn't you go ahead and get a wheelset built. And that wheelset needs new tires because who puts used tires on a bike. Same with shift and deraileur cable sets.

Of course you gotta have new Handlebra too.


And you need to have a stock answer for your wife when she asks how much something costs. $167.53 total is a good number.

[Elefantino]

And you need to have a stock answer for your wife when she asks how much something costs. $167.53 total is a good number.
Unlikely for the rest of us wise ones who learned long ago to let our wives do the books.

Better to ask for forgiveness than permission. :banana:

[many_styles]

I'm guilty of purchases based on aesthetics, but to cut down on component failure, on my last build tried sourcing take-offs or new. Esp for shifters and derailleurs.

[BobbyJones]

A few years ago I bought a pair of shifters here because I thought they were inexpensive enough to have lying around as backups.

Somehow, 3 months later I had a new bike.

Nature abhors a vacuum i suppose.

[PaulE]

For $175 from craiglist I bought an old 68 cm Miyata One-Ten for my 6'7" son who wanted to try cycling. I spread the rear stays myself using Sheldon Brown's instructions. I figured I already had a 9 speed Ultegra 6500 group, including Open Pro wheels, bottle cages, pedals and a pair of 46 cm handlebars, how much could the rest of the stuff cost. Still ended up spending $500 for above the bottom bracket cable guides, a clamp with downtube bosses (no braze on downtube bosses on this frame, (it had the downtube shifters above the downtube on a band) long reach brakes (less than $40 on clearance at Velo Orange), cables, tires and tubes, stem, bar tape, seat, seatpost, chain, etc. But it's a nice bike and suits its purpose well.

[pdmtong]

I don't think you understand how bike accounting works.

The initial purchase is captured as a capital expense, which can be depreciated over the life of the bike.

All subsequent expenses should not be counted at all and simply lumped in with the "miscellaneous spending" category that includes any money your wife or kids spend during that time. At no time should you ever record, note, or even admit to additional expenses. If you don't acknowledge them, the don't exist.

If you are asked at any time during the life or the bike how much it costs, you are only allowed to answer with the original purchase price and you are, as required by the man code, compelled to ignore any money that may or may not have been spent on items that may or may not have had something to do with this alleged bike.

See, much easier. I've been using this accounting method for years and its brought me much happiness and dancing bananas.:banana:

Well played
I have actually sold off every spare part that was kept just in case I find a frame
All the spares I have are for existing bikes only.

This allows me to resist the occasional frame for sale as well as buy all new stuff when that resistance is overwhelmed

[jr59]

I don't think you understand how bike accounting works.

The initial purchase is captured as a capital expense, which can be depreciated over the life of the bike.

All subsequent expenses should not be counted at all and simply lumped in with the "miscellaneous spending" category that includes any money your wife or kids spend during that time. At no time should you ever record, note, or even admit to additional expenses. If you don't acknowledge them, the don't exist.

If you are asked at any time during the life or the bike how much it costs, you are only allowed to answer with the original purchase price and you are, as required by the man code, compelled to ignore any money that may or may not have been spent on items that may or may not have had something to do with this alleged bike.

See, much easier. I've been using this accounting method for years and its brought me much happiness and dancing bananas.:banana:


This should be a sticky! Well played sir! :beer:

[Hindmost]

I am embarrassed to say how much I spent on recreating one of my race bikes from the 80's as an Eroica bike. In my imagination all the required components were in boxes in the attic.

Do you know what money people get for this stuff now? I then compounded the anguish by looking at images of old Palo Alto Bikes catalogs.

[benb]

Interesting thread.

I may be the opposite of some here. I am way lax on selling stuff. (I need to get a BIG post up here in the classifieds.)

And I am super paranoid about figuring out what is the "right" fit & frame size for me going forward. So right now I am in a holding pattern not wanting to acquire much till I'm sure I've really nailed my fit.

So right now I have a pretty modest bike that I am doing 99% of my riding on... All City Space Horse with Tiagra and some basic cockpit modifications along with better tires.

But in a box I have:
- Complete SRAM Rival group (used - from my Serotta Concours)
- Complete 10sp Ultegra group except for one missing shifter (used - from my BH G5 I destroyed)
- Extra set of wheels (nicer than what is on my space horse) that don't really work on my space horse due to different rim widths - too much of a pain to readjust the brakes
- 2 Extra MTB bars
- Extra Tiagra 10sp flat bar shifters
- Extra brake levers
- 2 Extra Road handlebars that don't really fit me
- Something like 5 stems
- An extra Thomson seatpost
- Several extra saddles

The stuff in the box is probably worth more than my primary bike.

I do have my MTB which is pretty high zoot but fairly old but I barely ride it these days.

I am pretty much in the accounting category of my wife only really knows about the whole bike purchases. Little parts just kind of appear but I wouldn't really try to hide an entire groupset. (That would be easy to hide though)

[erslah]

- An extra Thomson seatpost


Dibs ;-p

[inkandsilver]

I bought a beat up '83 Trek 610 frameset for 50 bucks... realized I had "most" of what I needed for a parts bin build... and still it has ended up $ $ $ $ $. And it's still beat up. Getting close, though, just trying to find some 10 speed Ergos to shimergo it up. It would have been a lot cheaper if I didn't decide to convert it to 650b.

[PaMtbRider]

I just picked up a "complete" bike on Ebay. Of course complete doesn't include pedals, bottle cages, garmin mount, pump, seat bag with multi tool, tube... It's amazing how all that stuff starts to add up.

[pdmtong]

I may be the opposite of some here. I am way lax on selling stuff. (I need to get a BIG post up here in the classifieds.)


I probably pulled back $6k from stuff "just lying around".in the past 36 months once I made the effort to log the stuff that needed to go and made the effort to post in the classifieds.

$6k. Really? Yes, really. Such was my "addiction". Most things were stuff I thought I wanted, or was trying. Or change of heart as styles changed (clothes - does anyone really need more than 3 jerseys 3 bibs?)

Some things I broke even, some made money, some "lost" money but rational commensurate with age.

In the end, I don't miss those parts or jerseys. Funny thing is, my wife still sees what's left and wonders "why".

Oh, don't think I saved that cash. no, it was in paypal secret "off-balance sheet" mad money bike fund. some converted into bora one clincher dark label and r-sys SLR. bit left earmarked for shamal mille.

addiction somewhat tamed, far from eliminated.

oh, whittled my 16 arione CX (slave to fashion and matchy-matchy) down to six but now bloated back up to 10. my only solace? far less than krhea (fist bump to the bike cave king)

[benb]

Nothing I have is brand new so we're not talking anywhere near $6k! That's crazy. :eek: (Though maybe if I parted out my MTB.. it's got a near brand new Rock Shox Monarch and some near brand new Hayes Stoker Trail brakes.)

[benb]

Dibs ;-p

It's the bent one..

[pdmtong]

Nothing I have is brand new so we're not talking anywhere near $6k! That's crazy. :eek: (Though maybe if I parted out my MTB.. it's got a near brand new Rock Shox Monarch and some near brand new Hayes Stoker Trail brakes.)

it's more than crazy. it's just plain stupid. and embarrassing. it speaks to how easy it is to "nickel and dime" your way to a hoarde by sending funds via paypal.

a few lessons
- dont buy stuff just because it's cheap. buy it because you need it.
- there is no reason to hoarde parts - example you cannot give away 10sp sram bits now.
- there is no reason to stock up on spares (shoes, helmets, etc.) new models come out that are functionally nicer, fit better, look better.
- didnt take bath on the items because most I got on good deals so and was able to recover +85% or so on a lot of it.

I dont have a basement or a huge garage. so lack of space is a forcing function

but, the main driver was waking up one day and instead of lamenting the fact I could never find the money for a nicer wheelset, realized that if I just reverse nickel and dime my hoarde and worked hard to monetize it, I already had the money there. idiot!

make a list
post a classified
use the tapatalk forum smartphone app to take pics and post them
set a price so items sell
start rolling in benjamins.

wouldnt you rather have some cash than that drawer of parts thats just sitting there?

[jmoore]

I could maybe get $100 for my spare parts. Maybe. No way i could get to $6k.

[thermalattorney]

I put every last nickle and dime in a spreadsheet. That way I see the cost and let it serve as a warning for next time....

[SpokeValley]

Clearly, you've never been to Canada...

Ah, the pealers...:)