[Closed] Hiding purchases from the wife... Stealth purchases!

Is your friend 12?

And I was just about to say "waits for teh self-righteous"...

Dumping the GF worked for me.

Failing that why not just MTFU and do what you want*?

*After asking permission of course.

I use counter-intuitive psychology - all my purchases are done using wifes paypal account so they arrive with her name on them, she is home day with me at work and so opens everything first, then I leave it lying around the kitchen all week until I can fit at the weekend.
She never complains at me, so it must work!

Mavic kysryium elite wheel set only cost me 200 quid last year 😉 😉
Hang on a min your not my missis in disguise are you

Still single Al?

Tell her its bike bits or a mistress and explain the economic implications of both..... I'm sure her response will be most reasonable 😯

Yep, entire bike snuck in under the radar piece by piece over two years. Rubbing mud from a plant pot into some of my "old" components saw me steeping to new lows. To be honest it became a bit of a sport.

Common

A bit sad but if it makes your life quieter AND you can afford it, crack on

I don't tell my wife what I buy but she sees the boxes and I don't hide parts. If she was listening she knows the value because I told her why I wanted to keep M&S insurance.

She was astonished when I actually sold a bike a while ago. 😳

Nah - don't hide purchases, I just tell the better half and she simply nods. It's great 😀

I was swithering whether to buy a second hand Five frame, she told me not to bother and just buy the new full bike.

Just make sure all your new stuff is either black, red or black and red. Works for me, well that and get it delivered to work...

Or buy at lbs using stashed cash

Sounds like some of you have the easy life. I like the challenge of trying to convince her that those new brakes are essential and how a laid back seat post will take my riding to the next level.

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Skillz

is that a pic of your latest stealth purchase, Al ?

See my "internet woes" thread.

powering down.

Oh, I just bought 2 pairs of Campag Shamal Ultra wheels.

My missus thinks I've changed since we first met.

I pointed out that back when we lived in separate houses I rode just as much, probably more (she didn't believe me when I showed her my old training journals from before we met!) the only difference is now she knows I'm out riding whereas before presumably she thought I lived some sort of monastical existence doing nothing in between work and going to bed*!

*well apart from do what she does and watch crap on TV

I showed her my old training journals from before we met!

monastical existence doing nothing in between work and going to bed*!

Sounds like my university experience - without the celibacy...or work come to think of it.

I've never hidden them really, just have them delivered and laugh if she ever moans. My money = my toys 🙂

I realised I could do what I wished as long as the bikes stayed the same colour.
I have never lied about them as why would i?
f i could not affor dit i would not buy it

I was asked who's motorbike was in the garage, I just smiled 😀

Is that how you wooed her in the 1st place ?

We met on a night out with some mutual friends, I was chatting to the lads at the bar and the conversation amongst the girls was apparently all about how nice my arse was. 8)

It's our anniversary tonight so she came home and gave it a grope and told me it's gone a bit soft 🙁

you're clearly going to have to ride more, spoony !

you can decide on what though 😉

Low (or high!) point in my stealthiness is trying not to rattle the bed too much as I was worried the ti frame and other bits stashed under there would start jangling awkwardly. Went on a mission one day last year and just built it up in the bedroom while she was away. In some misguided way I thought buying her a '98 Klein Mantra in 'blastberry' and rebuilding it using purple & blue ano bits would appease her. She just shrugged.

"This has a really high safety rating, that's why I bought it" usually does the trick.

Tyres are easy.. Frames not so..
To be honest I usually sell something (ie wheels) to get new items.. Sometimes there's an overlap, sometimes there's not.
Most major purchases are done with Christmas/birthday money so no real need to hide anything.
Apart from the time I put my bike in to have my brakes,( avid admittedly) fixed and ended up getting hope m4s for about £280- Evans pricematch thankfully! Still wasn't happy about it though...

Ah, Hope M4's........ Shiny shiny!

Mmmmmm. 3 of the 4 mechs in the shop told me to get them. Not missed a beat in the 18 months I've had them and seem to suit the nature of my 575..

I've never understood the hiding spending on bike parts (or anything for that matter)

Unless you are spending money that you need to keep the family feed and the roof over your head then what is the issue with being honest?

If you are doing the former then you do really need ask yourself a few questions

What's it all about?

You wouldn't believe the ear ache I get if I Even try to talk to my mrs about bike parts...

She's quite happy to ramble on about how her new top/gloves/shoes compliment the colour of her frame though. Today was 10 mins about how she's thinking about changing her bar tape to black as the other f95s she's seen look a bit 'anemic'. **** roadies. Err I mean women 😀

I'm very lucky on this but I do tell my wife that its either 'out on my bike or out drinking in Wan Chai, you decide'.

I spend less than she does on her horse, so I'm pretty safe when it comes to bike/gadget spending.

How topical! My refurbished P6000 Coolpix (old-skool, raw-shooting super compact) arrived today whilst I was out on a shoot, and the neighbour took it in. She chose to deliver it just as the wife got home.

Fortunately, it's a 'business asset', so it's all good. Also justified by pointing out that I'll need a small camera for family stuff (baby due next month).

Bike stuff of any hue / type / cost is generally masively frowned upon though 🙁

In my case it's not the money, it's where I'm going to put all my [s]junk[/s] kit. In a way she has a point - the garage desperately needs a proper clearout. That's at the top of my list of jobs to do, right beneath all the other really important DIY stuff on parts of the house she does actually regularly visit.

I did once try to sneak a Lotus Elise past the missus but it didn't work. 😆
(I already had one but this was higher spec, newer, more expensive etc but it was the same colour!)

With Bike bits I tend to deflate the price a bit when asked but realistically if it doesn't effect how we live as a family it's no big issue, when I had some wheels delivered from bike-discount.de recently she did ask if there was going to be a frame attached. 🙂

You lot are amateurs.

There's a regular on here who got brant to send him a letter saying he'd one a frame rather than try and explain to his wife he'd bought it.

I seem to have mostly reached a point where I have enough bikes that my wife doesn't even know how many there are or what colours they're in. This and Worthing at home makes new purchases easier.

[edit] triple post as it turned out...

Double phone post.

when i asked mrs peterfile what she wanted for her birthday this year she said:

some 6mm prussik cord
DMM Boa carabiner

😆

(she got a very pretty dress and coat too, i'm not a total let down!)

I think we both like gear, so it's not so much of an issue when i buy things we most definitely don't "need". I'm pretty shrewd when it comes to gear, I tend to wait for a good deal and lose very little when I get rid of stuff.

Plus, stuff that we buy definitely gets used, or it gets sold on quite quickly without taking much of a hit.

That said, I think I may have massaged the figures a little when I finished building up the Cove Shocker (for my own sanity as much as anyone elses!).