[Closed] How do people finance a new bike?

have you looked at that bike leasing company that started recently - seem to fit what you're looking for.

Call me old fashioned.....need I write more?

i generally buy second hand - looking for the bought fancy kit but didnt get used bargains.

"So how do you go about getting a bike thats going to last a good few years with out dropping into the silly money depot. "

well a 500 quid road bike will last a good few years ....

im still rocking a 2005 giant OCR on its second tiagra drive train in that time and i only changed the first as i left it sitting for 8 months while i was touring new zealand.

it was still capible of a 23min 10 TT last year ....

"the quality remains long after the price is forgotten"-henry royce.
buy a bike with the right frame and it will last a lifetime, meaning that overall it represents good value.

I just pop over to my contact in Columbia, make the appropriate arrangements, then wait for the boat to show up in Liverpool

[img] [/img]

I'm fancying a gold-plated titanium full-susser next

I bought a new bike in August on a 0% finance thing for 12 months. When thats up I'll just transfer the balance to a 0% credit card, but it will be paid off in about 20 months in total.

If free credit is available, you have the means to pay, your not silly with money, and have decent insurance, or can face the fact you might have no bike but still be paying for it, then your daft not to take advantage of it.

Save up, I absolutely hate any kind of credit, even the idea of a mortgage* doesn't make sense to me****. I've always saved up and bought what I could afford, that meant a £275 (reduced from £550 in a sale) carrera as my first propper mtb, which lasted about 4 years of continuous upgrading as and when I had spare money and bargains came up, after that most of it was transfered onto my next frame and the pocess repeated. These days I'm lucky enough to almost always have enough money in the bank to buy whatever I like, but I think that's a case of chicken and egg, by never accepting credit I've never had to wory about being tied into repayments, to use your own argument against you, what if your "gunna miss some lovly bikes" because you're making repayments on the one you've got for the next 3 years?

*big mortgages anyway. Why** buy a £250,000*** house (split 50k deposit and 200k mortgage) and be saddled with debt for 25 years, when the same repayments would get you the same house mortgage free in 10 years if you're prepared to live in a 100k house for the first 5 then 175k for 5 years, etc.

** prices always go up, got to get as high up the ladder as possible, keep up with the Joneses, but I need 3 spare bedrooms and a double garrage right now, etc, etc, etc.

therefore by default I think the south east is a stupid place

* student loans excepted as the repayment is tiny and income assessed

"if you're prepared to live in a 100k house for the first 5 then 175k for 5 years"

So where did you get your £100k to buy the first house then, I dont have that kind of money under my bed...

clearly written by someone whos never tried to buy a house TBH

i took the half way house - ex council 3 bed for 175k and do not plan to move - let alone every 5 years. ive never been so stressed in all my puff as i was buying my house - wether thats just cause it was a first time house i dont know but i cant imagine getting into a chain.....

£250K with 4 bedrooms and a double garage?
Not around here, more like £300K

oldgit - Member
Call me old fashioned.....need I write more?

^^This.^^

How much can you spend seizednuts?

Avoid ebay, and ask around. My mate bought an older Pinarello with Dura Ace but no wheels for £275 of a clubman.

FunkyDunk, we're you able to negotiate a discount on the bike. I've always assumed that, if you want to use a 0% credit deal you are going to have to pay full price, but I've never checked as I'm old fashioned too 🙂

I bought a new bike (Trance X2) a few weeks ago from my LBS and was surprised at how easy it was to get a 15% discount on the RRP. If you have to pay full price then that 0% deal starts to look like a pretty horrible interest rate.

But as I say, I am old fashioned. I'll make a concession for the house as, so far at least, it has increased in value faster than the interest on the mortgage. But using credit to purchase a depreciating asset (car, bike etc) always seems daft to me.

Cheers

Andy

The thought of saving each month for a year or more is not really fun when you're desperate for a bike so the M&S 15 months interest free Credit Card is a good option, be strict with it and make sure you pay it off within the 15 months. Ive got mine coming next week which is enabling me to buy a new bike

"FunkyDunk, we're you able to negotiate a discount on the bike"

No because I would never consider buying a current year model when you can get the previous years equally as good model for 26% less 🙂

Buying a bike when I wanted to was good for me because 1. I didnt like my old bike. and 2. Things were starting to need replacing on it ie shocks and bearings which would have got pricey in itself.

So instead of throwing money at an old bike, I now have a shiny ish new bike that I have nearly finished paying for.

I said big mortgages, not somehow living mortgage free straight out of uni! My point was that being tied into a big mortgage doesn't make sense to me when if you're prepared not to live in the ideal hosue for the first few years and move up the property ladder rather than viewing it as a high jump then after 10 years you could be morgage free and in the same house as your contemporary who bought it with a huge mortgage at the start and still has 10 years to go.

Buying the latest greatest thing is all well and good, but honestly bikes that are not bang up to the minute, brand spanking new do still work for quite some time...

If tighter finances are an issue then look at all your options 2nd hand is a good way to get a much better bike than you would be able to afford new (in terms of Spec) but it's just not so shiney and new, if your heart is set on a new bike then look at previous year models there will be almost bugger all difference functionally between 2010/11 bikes and one sold in 2012 from many of the major manufacturers, so why pay more just for the latest paint job on the same frame?

Personally I'm not a fan of taking credit on anything that involves me tying myself to some sort of repayments for the next couple of years, simply because of the inherent risk that your income might suffer a bit of a reduction these days (Double dips and all)...

Basically just Save up. If you want to get a new bike Set a target value and save up to that, Don't be swayed by the wonderful Deals you seen now because there will still be someting not a million miles different in 3, 6, 12 months time.

I suggest you ignore what you can "own" right now on the never never, and just stick some money away for a few months then see what can be had for the wedge when you can afford to spend it once and own the bike outright...

This goes for C2W Schemes now too IMO, they don't really seem to reduce the cost of owning a bike anything like as much as people seem to think...

£250K with 4 bedrooms and a double garage?
Not around here, more like £300K

It's be half a million+ in Wokingham, or £160k in Whitby (which compared to the surrounding towns is quite expensive!) 😛

genuine lols .... state of current housing youll still have 10 years to go as well.

It's be half a million+ in Wokingham, or £160k in Whitby (which compared to the surrounding towns is quite expensive!)

thisisnotaspoon has he head screwed on...

[i]How do people finance a new bike?[/i]

I've only ever bought 2nd hand bikes, until Xmas before last when I bought my first new bike ever (unfortunately a road bike).
I used Chain Reaction's sale + money off vouchers to get a £2.5K bike for just over £1200. Put it on a credit card and switched that to a interest free card. Paid off over the year with only the 3% switching fee over and above the bike's cost.

I'm also old fashioned it would seem.

If you have £60-70 a month spare then you can wait 12 months and buy something then? You will mis some good deal, and maybe even some great deals but there will be others. Every single year you can buy last years bike cheap.

Just purchased a new 2012 Stumpjumper half of which was financed by selling two bikes and a Tag watch that hadnt been on my wrist for about two years.. rest I used some savings.. picked it up last wednesday and had a stupid off at GT yesterday, bent my thumb back and snapped the bone..heading up for the full plaster shortly, no biking for a good few weeks 😥

[i]*big mortgages anyway. Why** buy a £250,000*** house (split 50k deposit and 200k mortgage) and be saddled with debt for 25 years, when the same repayments would get you the same house mortgage free in 10 years if you're prepared to live in a 100k house for the first 5 then 175k for 5 years, etc.[/i]

Where is all this equity coming from? You clearly havn't a clue about buying houses if you think you can make £75k every 5 years. Have you even thought of stamp duty, estate agent fees, legal fees, etc?

How do I buy a bike - disposable income.

remind me to steer clear of this place if I ever need mortgage advice!

As for bike buying, bought an MTB on C2W two years ago, and just signed on the line for another voucher to get a hybrid.

If I wanted something over 1k (which i hope to do soon) it'd be through selling other stuff on ebay, and buying in the sales...

I save up, buy in sales, or on c2w scheme. don't do credit. it is quite satisfying watching your saving grow knowing there is a shiny new bike as a reward for not spending it all on beer.

0% credit cards are fantastic if you pay them off in the time limit.
using someone elses money to buy something you want........what is not to like?

Where is all this equity coming from? You clearly havn't a clue about buying houses if you think you can make £75k every 5 years. Have you even thought of stamp duty, estate agent fees, legal fees, etc?

Starting point £50k deposit, £1000/month repayments, rates based on HSBC's lowest fee free product from https://mortgages.hsbc.co.uk/repayment-calculator

Buyer A buys a £250k house and pays 4% interest, £1001/month for 28 years.

Buyer B buys a £108k house and pays 4% interest, £1050/month for 5 years, then either repeats the process buying a new house and renting the old one out, or sells that and use the equity as a deposit on a bigger one, or decideds they quite like having £1000 a month extra cash. Either way he's got £108k(plus any growth or decline) equity to play with. Say they then decide to buy the same house as A for £250k (yes if might/probably will have grown, but judgeing by the continued freefall round here I'm not betting either way, next door was bought for £120k in 2007, next door but 3 just sold for £55k), so they need a £142k mortgage. HSBC would do 4%, 15 years, £1001/month. So they've paid off the mortgage on a £250,000 house 8 years before person A.

Person A on the other hand has £72k(plus any growth or decline) equity after 5 years (Vs B's £108k).

So unless house prices go through another bubble and puts A's house beyond his reach withign 5 years, person B comes out on top paying off his mortgage 8 years early.

Things not accounted for:
*Inflation of wages making the repayments comparatively smaller, but we'l assume A and B are able to overpay at similar rates.

*Stamp duty, fees, etc, lets say B pays £5k the second time, thats 6 months extra on the mortgage, so they're still 7.5 years ahead.

*house prices rising, but growing populations and smaller houeholds tent to push up prices at the bottom first, so at least in %age terms B is better off after 5 years, even if A's house has gained more equity. Similarly, B stands to win if prices continue fall as and flutuations affect him less, another 25% drop leaves him £27k out of pocket, but it would leave A in -ve equity!

*B could buy an inbetween house for ~£175k for example, pay that off at £100/month and finish the mortgage even sooner than doing it in 2 steps.

i bought mine at 0% over 12 months, paid of in 12 months, simple

[i]If you have £60-70 a month spare then you can wait 12 months and buy something then?[/i]

Not if you've just busted your bike eh? 🙄

[i]Starting point £50k deposit, £1000/month repayments[/i]

And where does the average first time buyer get their £50k deposit from and pay all the assosciated fees?

Starting point £50k deposit, £1000/month repayments

And where does the average first time buyer get their £50k deposit from and pay all the assosciated fees?

Both ficticious buyers started with the same so you can delete £50k and replace it with £25k, £20k, £10k, £0.00 + a pint of larger and a packet of crisps, as long as the ammount owed is the same and you could still get a mortgage the sums would still be the same. Infact it'd benifit B even further as he'd have a far better loan/value ratio thus gettign better interest rates.

when I was a Saturday boy at Dave Mellor Cycles... we got trade prices and worked for parts... don't think i ever saw any cash the whole time I worked there...

my private paper round and the illegal school tuck shop paid for the other bits...

I bought mine on credit. A bike not a house which was the original topic. 🙄
2011 model £1350 reduced from £1900, 2012 model is now £2100. Even paid the deposit on a credit card. If I leave it the full 36 months then it all comes to £1700 which is still a saving kind of.

I'm using a 15mo / 0% M&S credit card and all the while keeping the money that I have spent on it in an interest bearing account. In essence, my wife's iPad / my new Inbred / her 40th birthday eternity ring are actually paying me interest to have them.

I'm chipping bits off it at a rate that will clear to debt as the interest free period runs out.

People who use credit are not idiots. People who don't understand how credit works or how to take advantage of it ....... need I write more?

As for buying 3 houses and trading up every 5 years. that's 3x the agents fees, 3x the solicitors fees, 3x the stamp duty, 3x the removal costs, 3x the effort of redecorating....... I reckon that lot would set you back best part of £10-12,000 all told.

similar to me dee66,
bought 2011 model at Xmas - 1400 down to 950, bash it on the card, pay of quick as poss 😀
As long as I can see paying it off in a period where the interest is less than the saving it's a case of see it, want it, card it 😀

[b][u]Gary_M[/u][/b] - [u]Member[/u]

And where does the average first time buyer get their £50k deposit from and pay all the assosciated fees?

If he or she is anything like me, by serving 22 years in Her Majesty's Armed Forces. In 7 years from now, I plan to use my lump sum in exactly this manner, my pension to cover my mortgage repayments and - all being well - wages from a new job for income.

[i]If he or she is anything like me, by serving 22 years in Her Majesty's Armed Forces.[/i]

Tricky if you haven't got your employer funding your accomodation for the 22 years it takes to save up, though.

[i]How do people finance a new bike?[/i]

I save.

[i]What little money i got saved [/i]

Isn't earnig you diddly squat in the bank or under your matress.
So just go buy the bike.
Theres a good boy.
😉

As for buying 3 houses and trading up every 5 years. that's 3x the agents fees, 3x the solicitors fees, 3x the stamp duty, 3x the removal costs, 3x the effort of redecorating....... I reckon that lot would set you back best part of £10-12,000 all told.

People who use credit are not idiots. People who don't understand how credit works or how to take advantage of it ....... need I write more?

If you make do with what youve got, and save up and buy something better, once you've got through the initial period you'll always have more money to spend, as in dee's example, if they save for 36 months he'd have £1900+interest, if he bought now on credit he'd have £1700. Although in that example the bike appreciated to £2100 so he still got a bargain.

[b]wwaswas[/b] - [u]Member[/u]

Tricky if you haven't got your employer funding your accomodation for the 22 years it takes to save up, though.

Not really. I pay £595 pcm for my privately rented, 2 bedroomed, 3rd floor flat. Along with £112 pcm Council tax, approx £70 to British Gas for electricity (the flat has no gas) and approx £40 in water rates.

So no, my employer doesn't fund my accomodation in any way, shape or form.

Save for ages and buy 2nd hand. When I got my road bike I put it on my credit card and paid back over a few months.

ok - but why not just spend the rent money on Mortgage now and have your pension for other things in the future?

[i]ok - but why not just spend the rent money on Mortgage now and have your pension for other things in the future? [/i]

Are you FSA regulated ?.

It was a question, not advice.

Hence the '?' at the end.

[i]Hence the '?' at the end. [/i]

Aye.
My Bads
😉

how exactly is buying a depreciating asset taking advantage of credit, you still end up paying more than cash and the bike doesnt make you any money, the only way to gain a financial advantage from credit on a bike would be a guide who needed a new bike to work.

Your asset is depreciating anyway? How does it make a difference whether it's my cash or someone else's that is paying for it?

I've got about £1200 on credit. If i pay that back over the 15mo that the 0% deal remains in force I'll pay back - £1200. At the same time I've got £1200 of my cash in an interest bearing plan which i didn't spend that i reckon will nett me between £50-100 in the meantime. So, by end of the 15mo I'll have say £1250. Pay back the £1200 i owe, I'm £50 better off.

OK, it relies on you being able to save the repayment in the timeframe (or in my case, already have the cash available if i want it) in order to do it, but I still can't see why being paid £50 to have the stuff you want now instead of waiting 15mo to achieve the same is any bad deal?

[b]wwaswas[/b] - [u]Member[/u]

ok - but why not just spend the rent money on Mortgage now and have your pension for other things in the future?

Fair question. Because of the transient nature of my job (posted to a completely different town, country or even continent every 2-3 years, the location of which you can express a preference for but are by no means guaranteed to get) it would be very difficult and expensive to sell one property and buy another each time. There is also no guarantee of being able to sell a given property in the notice period the Army gives you, which can be as much as 6 months or as little as a fortnight.

[i]If he or she is anything like me, by serving 22 years in Her Majesty's Armed Forces. In 7 years from now, I plan to use my lump sum in exactly this manner, my pension to cover my mortgage repayments and - all being well - wages from a new job for income.[/i]

But that means you're not buying your first house untill you're forty something.

[b][u]Gary_M[/u][/b] - [u]Member[/u]

But that means you're not buying your first house untill you're forty something.

Correct.

0% is different, it doesn't cost you anything, you get the bike now, everyone's happy. But it does rely on you not playing the game, the card issuer is still going to make money, they're just rellying on a few people going over the 0% terms and having to pay it at 29% or whatever.

Also (and this is the part of credit I don't like*) there's a lack of flexibility, if you forwhatever reason lose your disposable income after 6 months (say your boiler belw up, the dog got sick, a friend is getting married in whistler bike park, the government discovers your porn stash and you need to emigrate in a hurry) you still have the debt to pay off, if you were saving for 15 months for the bike you could divert that money elswhere and continue saving once things are back to normal.

*note what I've said is a view and oppinion on credit with facts to back it up, you can make credit work for you, but I disagree with it on principal.

[i]0% is different, it doesn't cost you anything, you get the bike now, everyone's happy[/i]

It does cost you.

I get discount for cash / on a sale that doesn't require credit.
😉

2nd hand for me. I haven't bought a new bike in 5 years, and even that was on the cycle to work scheme. If the OP puts his spare cash into savings, a year would yield about £800 - which gets some pretty damn fine machinery if you look in the classifieds.

Also (and this is the part of credit I don't like*) there's a lack of flexibility, if you forwhatever reason lose your disposable income after 6 months (say your boiler belw up, the dog got sick, a friend is getting married in whistler bike park, the government discovers your porn stash and you need to emigrate in a hurry) you still have the debt to pay off, if you were saving for 15 months for the bike you could divert that money elswhere and continue saving once things are back to normal.

true - but that is a 'risk' (with risk definitely meaning calculated risk) you take - plus you do also have the chance to liquidise your assets and you stand a reasonable chance then to get your repayments down to a manageable amount, or at least mean what flips to 29% small enough that you aren't totally screwed.

Hence why i don't mind having £1200 on this basis, but I didn't blow the full £8000 limit I was given on other stuff. Because that is a risk that is not worth taking. And that's the issue - too many people (on here as well as in real life) just as default take the position that buying on credit is a mugs game. The issue is people who don't understand when / how to use credit, banks making it too freely available to them, and then everyone bleating when the inevitable happens.

I absolutely hate [u]any kind of[/u] credit,

I get discount for cash / on a sale that doesn't require credit.

Depends how the credit was arranged, the shop might have a 0% deal which costs them 10%, so that's there to be negotiated with. An interest free credit card on the other hand doesn't cost them much more to process than a wedge of £50's.

I get discount for cash / on a sale that doesn't require credit.

Not on the items I bought you wouldn't. Plus i get free cover for them, as a result of buying distance on a credit card.

While some of the arguments in favour of credit above seem (and may indeed be) sensible they do tend to assume that you are paying the same price on credit as you would have done with cash. In my experience that's very rarely the case. As somebody said "you need to understand how credit works" and that means understanding that, one way or another, somebody has to pay for it and that somebody is usually you. Even if it's as simple as the shop having to pay a percentage to the credit card company, that's still a percentage that they can't pass on to you, which is effectively an interest charge that you are paying for using your card.

Cheers,

Andy

Do Apple do discounts for cash then?

[i]An interest free credit card on the other hand doesn't cost them much more to process than a wedge of £50's[/i]

Yes.
When I bought my FSR, tag price 1900, I paid 1500.
He told me he didn't need cash as it would cost him to push the notes across the counter at the bank.

Same for a watch I bought.
I negotiated a discount, offerred cash.
But they took the card instead of the cash.

Anyway.
Paying tag price, thinking that you've done well getting 0 percent credit.
Isn't a deal, in my book.

[i]Do Apple do discounts for cash then? [/i]

Do Apple produce and sell bikes then ?.

Tax refund. Result.

cold hard cash.

in the words of my dead grandmother "there is nothing better than a new bike"

the money for my next frame is sat there waiting, as stated above, its earning zero interest so i cant wait to hand it over.

Does appear some people are confused as to what credit is. Anyone who buys a bike on 20% apr is crackers, but so you would be if you bought a house or car.

However most bike shops offer 0% finance over 1, 2 or 3 years which is still credit,but free credit. I wouldn't buy a bike ever at full RRP, but see 0% finance on a bike with nearly 30% off it as a very good deal. It means I get a new bike now rather than saving for months on end whilst the old bike falls apart and needs bits replacing.

[i]He told me he didn't need cash as it would cost him to push the notes across the counter at the bank.[/i]

Is there not a fee applied by the issuer for credit card use? So it costs the shop money?

People who use credit are not idiots. People who don't understand how credit works or how to take advantage of it ....... need I write more?

When I worked in a bike shop the people who asked for the interest free credit were either:
a) very poor with 8 maxed out credit cards already
b) silly rich and were simply taking advantage of the system.

This was in the days of cheap easily available credit but on the occasions when someone was refused a deal, they either
a) walked out the shop
b) brought out a big wad of cash and bought the bike anyway.

There were some very smart people out there moving money around constantly on interest free cards and taking all the advantages of airmiles, cashback, discounts etc that were offered at the time.

[i]Not on the items I bought you wouldn't. Plus i get free cover for them, as a result of buying distance on a credit card.[/i]

Then, one, you're buying from the wrong people.
Two, I pay off my credit cards, completely, each month.
They aint getting my dosh that way either.

[i]He told me he didn't need cash as it would cost him to push the notes across the counter at the bank.

Is there not a fee applied by the issuer for credit card use?
[/i]

That was his point.
To process a card was something 3 percent, IIRC.
And the bank would charge him for accepting a cash deposit.
It was going to cost him to make a sale (thanks to those banks, eh ?)
SO why take the additional risk of holding cash.
He took a card and I still got 400 quid off.

"There were some very smart people out there moving money around constantly on interest free cards and taking all the advantages of airmiles, cashback, discounts etc that were offered at the time."

Thank you 😆

We do this, probably put £1k per month through credit cards to get points etc.

I agree that if buying your £2k bike will take up all your disposable income per month then thats just stupid. However if its only a % of your disposable income, and you have weighed up the risks/benefits then its a good thing to do, as it frees up cash for other shiny things.

To the OP, [url= http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/offers.php?cat=7 ]Pauls Cycles[/url] offer discounts and interest free.

"An interest free credit card on the other hand doesn't cost them much more to process than a wedge of £50's. "

so you pick your bike shop carefully - sole trader independant. give the owner a wedge of 20's you get a bike , hes got a slush fund for his safe , everyones happy.

that said i have not found one local they are all chains.

and TINAS - what happens when your in negative equity with your 1st house due to the markets or simply end up with a house that wont shift as seems to be happening quite alot just now - even up here where its still fairly fluid....

I only plan to move if i move continent or get a significant cash injection for any reason that would make a significant dent in clearing my mortgage

Then, one, you're buying from the wrong people.
Two, I pay off my credit cards, completely, each month.
They aint getting my dosh that way either.

1. Apple, On-One (neither of whom offer cash discounts as far as i'm aware) and a local jeweller who'd already substantially discounted the item and made no further concession for cash. How can you say I'm buying from the wrong people for a semi-bespoke item sized to fit at a price I was happy with in that case?
2. So do I*. I never pay interest on anything, apart from my mortgage. *Any CC that is not paid in full is deliberate because it's 0%, and thus by not paying is earning me interest.

No need to buy new with the STW classifieds - so much unused kit going cheap.

Cash, loan, credit card - what's the point in saving up for a year if you can have it now? :p If you're disciplined to save for a year you're disciplined enough to pay off an interest-free loan or CC. Sure if you lose your job you're in trouble but then you'll probably also have a mortgage to worry about so paying for a bike will be the least of your worries.

[i]Cash, loan, credit card - what's the point in saving up for a year if you can have it now? :p If you're disciplined to save for a year you're disciplined enough to pay off an interest-free loan or CC. Sure if you lose your job you're in trouble but then you'll probably also have a mortgage to worry about so paying for a bike will be the least of your worries.[/i]

theres loads wrong with that logic.

But simply. I'll save for a year and either get the out-going MY bike, or the incoming MY.
No Credit.
😉

and TINAS - what happens when your in negative equity with your 1st house due to the markets or simply end up with a house that wont shift as seems to be happening quite alot just now - even up here where its still fairly fluid....

No need to buy new with the STW classifieds - so much unused kit going cheap.

Really?
7 years ago I'd agree, 2nd hand stuff was half price.
3 years ago I'd agree as parts prices were going up quickly.
Today? Flicking through it a lot of stuff is only slightly less than the same stuff new from Germany.

e.g. Hora's SLX cranks, in good conditon, £50's not a bad price. But the same cranks are <£100 new from the continent, and come with chainrings and a BB.

Reverb's go for £150-£180, I only paid £175 for my new one!

I'm building a new hardtail up, going to cost me a smidge under £1k for a chumba HX1 with XT double, X9 gearing, sektors, hope hoops, XT brakes with ice tech rotors, nukeproof stem and post, da-bomb bare bones pedals, carbon bars, hope seatclamp and headset, anodised bling bits, etc etc, only existing bits were the forks (~£200 new) and gears (£150). I reckon you'd struggle to get something that good off the shelf or much more than a couple of hundred off in the classifides.

My bikes have always been bought when possible, at a discount, then upgraded over years.
I'll admit that my current 575 frame was bought on my credit card but that was discounted and only after I sold two other bikes and various bits to pay for it. Upgrades to its current spec have taken place over years- christmas and birthday money is saved and goes towards new forks, wheels etc when needed. And even then it's bargains that I've been buying. Made do with older bits until upgrades possible.
Taken 2 years to get my yeti to where I want it but it's only cost me about £2k max whereas, if I'd just bought it all at once id have been looking at maybe £3k plus easy.

Ah so better off on paper but still stuck with a crap house you can't shift for near what you paid.person a doesn't actually need to sell to climb the ladder.

Suit your self

Clearly your better educated than me - paying 200 quid more than I would have to rent something 3 times bigger than my ( cheap For the same area) rental.

Maybe if you rent in a crap area and aspire to own in a reasonable area your logic works