I’m just interested really, with my perception of rising prices of bikes and parts, and less disposable income these days, personally I’m still averse to borrowing money to fund my hobby or race bikes.

So, how many of you are happy to have the bike/parts you want with the money sitting on a loan / c card / Wonga etc? And bearing in mind that bits break, don’t you have an anxiety about owing money for a binned part/bike?

Or is the entirety of Stw middle class high earners with plenty of disposable income?

Never. Just put up with a cheap trek HT for 7 years so far.

I’ve never borrowed for bicycles or parts. Motorbikes though….

Are the only options buying on credit or being a high earner?

Are there others?

I’m interested in this too.
Nearly every online shop/big lbs seems to offer 0% credit for up to 24 months!

strictly cash

saved up or selling stuff

My only mountain bike is 4 years old now (bought on the bike to work scheme) and if I get a ‘new’ one it will probably be a second hand frame and swap the bits over.

You can buy a pretty decent Canyon for not silly money.

Depends how good the rates are. 0% credit is attractive and often available. But I don’t pay extra for credit.

keep your cash in your bank, and use 0% cards……..no brainer.

You still don’t own the goods though. What’s if you break it? You still have to pay the balance of the item you can’t use. If that’s a bike, that would be eyewateringly difficult for me.

All major purchases I get on credit, even if i’ve got the cash at hand. I tend to use cash for daily living, going out, holidays etc. But for cars, bikes and any other significant purchases they go on interest free credit cards (which are not really interest free as there are charges involved) or loans. I never have more than one loan going at a time, apart from the mortgage of course – but thats a living expense – if you didn’t have a mortgage you’d have to pay rent anyway, which is just daft. In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter if you save up first then buy, or borrow and pay off – its a cash-flow thing.

Ton the premise is you do t have the cash to use – upfront or as a backup n

Nope !,cash parnds me,you get a better deal in
My opinion ,I got 20% discount off my 5 by paying cash !…

Ref bits ,I just recycle stuff through the classifieds & eBay etc …

If you’re savvy enough and able to resist temptation by waiting,generally the deals are there so just wait !.

I fund my habit from the car allowance I no longer spend.

Kryton, 2 things,
1st, i dont buy expensive bikes.
2nd, i have no mortgage.

Last two bikes bought on 0% APR credit cards; one (CX) sold for what I’d paid for it so paid off and the other paid off well in advance. Could easily have bought either/both with savings but with credit card offers being so good it means I can lock savings away in an ISA.

Ton the premise is you do t have the cash to use – upfront or as a backup n

I don’t quite get what you’re saying. You want a new bike but can’t afford one, and you’re worried about getting one on credit in case you break it before paying it off?

How many bikes have you broken so far?

After years of working in the finance industry I would advice against even the 0% credit stuff.

Open an easy access account with the Yorkshire Bank put in what you can each month/week and spend it as it accumulates sufficiently, easier said than done I know.

Quite a lot of racers, most elites included, have a deal with a shop or company for bikes that are end of season invoice. Basically the shop supplies the bike at a reduced price, but defers payment until say, September, by which time the race season is over and the bike can be sold to cover the bill.

This is the only way a lot of riders can afford to race.

A few have the facilities of bank of Dad which obviously helps.

I will only race something I’m prepared to write off in an accident, so no top of the range kit goes on my race bike.

Bought a few bikes on 0%, see no prblem with it whatsoever. However recently with the ridiculous cost of mtb stuff, ive shown a little more restraint and got something that I no longer pay for each month which is nice. Although thats only till I get another full sus next year 🙂

No I’m not wanting bikes or parts on borrowed money grum. But I appreciate some do, and am wondering whether they really do and to what extent, and whether they are comfortable with the frame/bike/part failing before being paid for.

Just an evenings pondering tbh.

I’ve used interest free credit in various forms loads of times with absolutely no problems at all. I really don’t see what the problem with it is? If you can get something on interest free credit why on earth would you use cash if you had it? The interest free credit cards are not quite interest free as there are charges involved but they are relatively small compared to the interest you’d pay on a bank loan or normal credit card so useful all the same.

It frightens me how much folk spend on race bikes and how little they do to improve their times.

Remember debt is simply a way of bringing forward consumption and delaying payment. At some point, this pattern has to be reversed. We are living in the aftermath of a crisis bought on by those who forgot this simple rule.

Would never use credit for a hobby, hobbies are a luxury. I save up and buy at the very best prices I can often online…frames, forks etc 2nd hand.

I’ve slowly built up a Five for circa £1500 with CCDB, 36’s, Reverb etc. I couldn’t/wouldn’t be able justify paying £3000+ for a bike.

Deferred gratification always feel better…if you’ve waited to get what you want for some time it’s real sweet when you finally get it, I think it makes you value it more.

last whole bike i bought was for my wife. 1200 quid on zero %. i paid 200 deposit, and the rest over 12 months, which is not much to pay out.

also, i dont drive to work, never have, so a 1000 quid bike can be used for a year and thrown away. i am still quids in compared to someone who drives.

I only buy what I have the cash to buy typically. The only exclusions being a house and a car.

I do have a credit card for cash back on fuel so may put a new bike on that, and pay it off immediately.

Event though 0% credit is available through lots of online retailers, the takeup is only 1-2% of all orders typically so it’s not as widely used as you would think.

Never bought anything we couldn’t afford. Have used 0% credit and C2W, but have always been able pay for it, especially as other bikes have been sold to help pay as well.

MrsMC may have differing views due to differing priorities, of course, 🙄 but at no time have other family needs or priorities been affected by my bike spending.

I will only race something I’m prepared to write off in an accident, so no top of the range kit goes on my race bike.

This for me. Bikes are definitely tools to train, race, have fun on. Not fussed about boutique brands or top end kit. Also there comes a point when the returns very much diminish, and it’s probably not at as expensive a point as people seem to think. Never used credit for bike stuff, but then other than the mortgage I don’t use credit for anything.

Just because they’re not taking up the stores credit options doesn’t mean they’re not using credit. It staggers me how unsavvy some people are when it comes to debt. They’ll buy stuff on their normal credit card with good intentions of transferring to a better credit arrangement but never get round to it and end up clocking up huge sums in interest.

Of course people need to be sensible and keep it under control – you’re borrowing off Peter to pay Paul, but you must not forget to pay back Peter. the problem comes when companies market credit to people who can’t afford it.

Race bikes are fuelled by bonus money really, I’ll stash it ’till I’ve got enough for whatever I want. I’ve felt positively poor at the road races I’ve been at though…shit loads of bling bikes on top of nice cars!

I will only race something I’m prepared to write off in an accident, so no top of the range kit goes on my race bike

^ This. For sure I’d have to save bloody hard for a few months to replace my “race” bikes but if you can’t afford to hurl it down the road and not really care about writing it off you can’t afford it.

I have done occasionally- built my first full suss on credit then paid it down over a while, worked out fine. I wouldn’t do it day to day though.

I’ve got 2 bikes on 0% deals at the moment!

One is paid off next month, the other is a nice new road bike for commuting on.

The full suss was an exuberance of epic proportions at the time but has been well worth it as my only off road bike (not strictly true now I think about it)

The commuter/road bike is still less than a season ticket on the tram to Manchester for the year,and the stop by my house doesn’t open for another 12 months or so.

Honestly can’t see why I wouldn’t, I get paid a lot in overtime and bonuses which is better spent paying down old, inherited debts :/

No bloody chance.

I have motorbikes too so my disposable income is spread thin on bikes; my usual plan of attack is mend or make do. If something is broken/shagged then i’ll spend money. My mtb is 8yrs old & i’ve been running on a semi-slick High roller (7yrs old) for a while now. It’s been a long time since I felt what grip is.

And don’t race what you can’t replace.

Which is why my race bike runs 6600 Ultegra – which is very nice kit indeed. Di2 in 4th cat? 😆

I built my current one buying bit by bit when I had the money. Now I might get credit on the next one seeing as I can sell it for what I paid for it twelve months later when I want something new.

I don’t see what the problem is in buying bikes on credit. Bike to Work schemes are exactly the same thing, an upfront loan paid back over time.

My last two bikes have been cash bought, but the one before was on 0%, then the three prior to that (now all gone) were on Bike to Work schemes.

However, I know all too well that you should insure bikes on these schemes – a mate lost a two week old road bike due to theft, and is paying it off over the next year or so…

Done most of everything.
Last bike was deferred payment to the LBS over 3 months as we had to bring the purchase forward to secure a good deal.
Next one could be LBS Interest Free option to spread the payment and not wack savings.
It’s different ways of spending cash.

I do most of my “big” payments (anything over £100 normally) on my credit card then pay that back over a fewmonths. Never bought a bike on it though, its more stuff for my house and strangely, tattoos 😆