Been doing a little soul searching lately; i feel like I spent all my free time servicing kit, driving to the post office to send stuff off for repair, receiving stuff in the post, or searching for annoying service bits on the net for my hobbies.

On top of that, my motorcycle is always dirty and in need of cleaning, my house and shed constantly seem to need tidying up and i’m constantly putting stuff in and out bags, in and out of the washing machine, searching for my gloves, looking for the right base layer, packing and repacking insulating layers, coiling up the tires i’ve just swapped for a different set (…i’ve just been touring on my 29er) .

This morning I stumbled on my file of outdoor’ish receipts and was astonished at the amount of money i’ve spent and regularly seem to spend on various one of bits of kit over the years. I have problems with my feet but seem to constantly be buying work shoes, spd boots, climbing slippers, mountaineering clodhoppers etc. It’s all making me quite poor…

I’m wondering if it has to change. If i’m not at work, i feel i spend my whole life commuting (…hauling various shoes, or the climbing gear for the gym after work…) or doing admin tasks. I don’t think it helps that my work also involves lots of equipment, and I spend my time packing and repacking pelican cases full of camera gear on a regular basis.

Now…the problem is that when I’m actually out on my bikes, I feel totally relaxed. I feel happier than at any other time. I recently went touring in Morocco, and despite the 2-3 days hassle before and after the trip (…packing/repacking/servicing/faffing), I can’t remember feeling so zen.

Does anyone else feel the same? Has anyone addressed the problem? Do I need to get rid of all my possessions? Do I need to stop doing my hobbies? Do I need a dose of minimalism or should I just STFU and get on with my life?

I feel your pain brother.

I addressed it by adopting a little and often maintenance scheme. Been for a ride? Clean the drivetrain immediately. Muddy kit and shoes? Brush the shoes off soon as you get back, rinse the clothes before you sit down for a cuppa. Eat the little annoyances as soon as you can.

With accumulating kit, I’ve just stopped buying stuff. Pretty much everything I have is eminently serviceable. I don’t need to have the latest and greatest for everything.

Having said that, the hardtail could use a good clean and there’s a ton of kit I should get rid of to make some space!

Yes, a lot of that sounds very familiar.

I’ve been considering buying another bike for a while, but I keep thinking about how much time and money I spend on components keeping the ones I’ve already got going and I wonder whether it’ll actually make me ride less.

You might find this thread on Bearbones interesting: http://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=8284

I’m having similar existential thoughts. TBH my outdoors life makes me happy and saner so I am not going to give it up. At the same time the way I have accumulated stuff recently has started to concern me as there is always the next best things to try that may make a marginal difference! I am going to try and just use what I have over the next few months and concentrate on simply doing the things I like doing. I get so sucked in by the marketing folk sometimes but when I look back objectively most of the stuff didn’t make a huge change to my performance or comfort.

Now all I need to do is pop some tape on my new carbon wheels and get them popped up tubeless. That will be the last thing, honestly..

I’m not convinced that spreading my riding over 5 different bikes actually increases the amount of maintenance or the number of consumables answer if I’m skiing, paddling or hiking instead of riding then everything lasts even longer. The only issue is then storage – and that’s what garages are for 🙂

I got a bit obsessed with minimising time spent faffing a couple of years back, but I’ve since come to terms with the fact that some faff is inevitable.

I now don’t mind faffing if I end up with a bike that’s riding nice and is going to continue to do so. WRT climbing gear… when I go climbing I am a bit of a scrounger and as all my mates drive to the wall I borrow their ropes if doing a lead wall, and I haven’t got that into outdoor climbing etc.

I obviously prefer being out on a bike to sat in a garage with a bike in pieces, but the fact that servicing is necessary is just one of those things. You could pay someone else to do it, but then you’d still have to take it to the shop, you could pay a cleaner, but could they come in at the times you’d need kit washing etc. (and would you trust them not to wreck anything)?

Just try and accept it, getting out and about needs preparation. If you didn’t prepare you’d be one of those people that gets airlifted from Ben Nevis in jeans/t-shirt with nothing but a selfie stick, then writes a review complaining about the lack of anything to do at the summit.

Wear and tear and damage and too much expense was one of the things that brought about my slow disenchantment after 21 years as the world’s most fanatical mountain biker. And I was riding hardtails, which don’t seem to need as much fettling. Now as a roadie there’s a refreshing lack of maintenance needed; just an occasional check of tyres and clean of brake blocks, as well as washing the bike down with hot soapy water if there was salt on the roads. In summer I wipe the best bike down with a damp cloth and then pull the cloth through behind the brake blocks to remove the black dust from the special soft pads and about ever 3-4 rides I pull the chain through a cloth then re-lube it.

At times in of the year when I am doing lots of outdoor work, or as part of my hobbies I do spend a fair amount of time fettling.

However I think the best way to deal with it is the mindset of how you go about it. I enjoy the radio on and heater on in the garage. I enjoy working out how things work, or how to make them work better. I look to the end product of good quality, well serviced (sometimes old) kit. Where others look at it and see that it is both a labour of love and good kit. This is the case for both hardware and software.

Sounds like you’re falling out of love with consumerism a bit OP… good for you.

Look at how you could simplify, move on stuff you’re not really using?
Possibly equip yourself with stuff that requires less maintenance?

adopt the “Own less, Do more” Mantra…

Have a read of this:

https://www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2016/nov/26/no-spending-year-over-new-way-living-wealthier-wiser

Take up winter fatbike racing in the arctic, there’s so much more stuff you didn’t realise you’d need 😉
(8 bikes and 17ft carbon racing kayak too)

You need to have some kids. That usually puts paid to the free time to do stuff in the early years; kills off the available funds to spend on toys; and means you have even more kit to faff with once they are old enough to join in.

Two bikes with associated knee pads helmets etc, climbing gear, field hockey gear, hiking gear, running gear, squash stuff, 4 tents!!!
On top of all that is the DIY stuff kicking around plus two more bike frames, wheels and a couple of tool boxes and my little 2 up 2 down house is well and truly full.
Not giving up any of it because it’s what i enjoy doing. I view the cost as essential purchases for my well-being

Overwhelmed with kit in the past – have been more discerning recently, especially using running kit for cycling and vv and some mountaineering kit too. Shoes were/are the biggest issue – with triathlons, XC and ultras, i had far too many

Wardrobe still has stupid amount of event t shirts and running kit

I wouldn’t stop doing what you enjoy…..that would be the worst thing! I often feel the same way about MTB’ing. Always seem to be pulling my bike apart, cleaning, fiddling et etc and it can get annoying after a while. But once you get out riding all of that tends to go away due to the fun factor. Also, if you dont work on/look after your gear, sods law it will brake or fail when you are trying to have fun and ruin your day, so a bit of a catch 22 really. Its worth putting in the effort to get the hassle free reward.

For a period a few years back I was buying all kinds of outdoor gear until I had two of each item or even 3 or 4! Eventually enough was enough and I just stopped. Gear lasts for ages – so what if a jacket is 2 years old. As long as it still functions well, there is no reason to replace. I just stopped online shopping and that fixed 90% of the problem. Living in London also had something to do with it…..space is not on my side and the wife was starting to moan! Now I only buy something if I need it. One thing out, one in. It seems to work.

Good luck finding the happy medium!

I think with bike kit finding the right ‘n’ for you and then sticking to it, and getting rid of the other ‘spare/obsolete/useful one day’ stuff helps.

Riding bikes trumps everything else. Yes the house and car is a mess, nothing else in life gets sorted out, I have little time or enthusiasm for other hobbies (movie fanatic, photography, dicking around with gadgets), but the enjoyment of bikes, relaxation and getting outdoors just means I don’t really care anymore about the rest.

I’m no longer obsessed as I used to be about latest movies/dvds etc, AV equipment, photography gear and filling the house with gadgets. I’m just obsessed about bikes and bike parts / tools 😀

Part of the problem for me is that I’m reluctant to get rid of stuff I don’t particularly need, just because it’s worth more to me than it would be to anyone else.

For example, I’ve got too many rucksacks, but I’m not going to get rid of the better ones which are actually worth something, obviously, but the older ones I probably wouldn’t get a tenner for so they’re probably not worth selling so I keep them for the odd time they get used.

I think compared to a lot of people here, I don’t actually have very much stuff. I have 2 bikes (a hardtail and a road bike), a motorcycle, a basic climbing set up and some photography gear. DIY and building stuff is another problem, as its existence is a constant reminder you should be doing something else.

I think on the bear bones thread (SOMEONE up there recommended it^^) one guy summed up what I feel is my problem:

New stuff, hobbies, better stuff for said hobbies, tools, diy projects. Then there’s the philosophy of preparation, survival, EDC, and expecting to deal with all eventualities. All this gets worse when I always feel I need better, always modify, hack, diy everything and keep stuff for said projects, and constantly find new hobbies. It quickly just all gets too much.

I’m constantly not happy with buying whats on the shelf. I’m always seeking the best, reading reviews, Modifying something or taking something to pieces to upgrade the bearings/sealing/whatever. I’m almost obsessed with maintaining my stuff; i like things to work and work like they should.

I think most importantly though, this whole outdoor lifestyle is meant to make you feel more independent and less reliant on the consumer world, but at the end of the day the industry is like any other, it encourages you to buy more. You get the feeling, that the more you buy the free’er you; because it often seems like consolidation. The log burner frees you from the boiler repair man, the boots will allow you to climb in tougher conditions, the down jacket is hydrophobic so can be used in more conditions, the 29’er is a tourer and XC machine… blah blah blah. But the whole thing can eventually drive you to distraction!!!

northwind +1

I’ve always been a bit ruthless about clearing out kit that I don’t need. It’s a mindset that goes beyond bikes and outdoor gear, which isn’t always popular in my household! If it’s old and unused, it gets sold, recycled, donated or binned.

I’ve recently consolidated two bikes (road and urban / touring) into one, with two sets of wheels. My MTB is currently set up as a rigid singlespeed for winter, before it regains its bouncy fork and 1×11 for the summer. I do cycle a lot, so despite having “only” 2 bikes I regularly replace parts due wear or updating.

I tend to sell bits immediately, but did have a massive clearout before Christmas when I got rid of things like a seatpost-mounted pannier rack that had been unused for 5 years etc.

I also find the constant pile of things that need to be sold, packaged, posted or listed online one of the most stressful and burdening things of all! All this talk of selling things and consolidating makes me feel like having a nervous breakdown.

I often find myself making excel spreadsheets of things to sell, and In the next column the things I need to consolidate the sale. The whole thing is almost a full time job.

Wait until you have family of five who walk, bike and canoe….

I am limited by budget, storage and inclination to have minimal kit. I just don’t buy much.

I’m both quick to clear up and happy to have mucky kit. This saves lots.

I buy kit on durability as much as anything, this helps things massively.

The grass doesn’t always get mown, the bedroom is a year past when I thought I would decorate.

I enjoy time pedalling, paddling and wandering – as do my family. I won’t waste this time on DIY, kit maintenance or shopping etc.