Background: I got a new bike on the b2w scheme, Ribble CGR 725, setup with guards and pannier rack as it does genuinely get ridden to and from work. I have been working on my 'emergency fund' in line with popular guidance that you should have at least a 3 month buffer to cover periods of not working. It's in line to be sorted by the end of the year.
This means I have money in the bank, as much job security as is possible in a start-up at this point of the world and a desire to have a 'fun' gravel bike to hack around on when not doing work commutes. I'm thinking a Ribble Ti CGR.
So I'm asking, who has made a rash impulse purchase, have you regretted it, have you looked back on it as a great decision? I am not an impulsive person, I am a chronic ditherer and overly analytical shopper, but sometimes I wish this wasn't the case.
Note: not in the bike forum as could be purchases of all sorts of things!
I impulse bought my flat in peebles.
10 years ago.
Its had a few troughs but mainly nah probably been a good idea.
I'm like you I spend ages debating stuff to buy. I never buy stuff on impulse. Often takes years to decide.
Bought a Calibre Fat Bike in Go Outdoors a few years ago. Had gone in for a couple of riding tops. Ended up riding it around the shop and giggling a lot. I only kept it a year or so but it was bloody good fun for not much money. Sold it to a mate and it's still getting ridden many years later.
Only regret the things you don't do and all that 😉
I found that the impulse buying urge can be satiated by buying smallish stuff - I just handed over some work today so ordered myself a fancy gaming mouse with credit I had from buying a fancy gaming laptop about six months ago.
Now buying the laptop involved lots of research and umming and ahhhing over several weeks - which is pretty much my standard approach for anything expensive
Bit of both and depends what it is. I'm generally a purchase researcher for big ticket items, but I am for 'reasons' quite cash strapped at the moment despite being in a good job with security, and by most measures very well off on paper. But, I can't get my hands on it and while I'm a long way from poverty stricken (so, violins away again) cash flow rather than assets is a temporary problem.
And (pitchforks out!) I'm quite enjoying it; living to my means and really valuing what i do spend money on. So the odd slightly impulsive purchase feels a bit exciting beyond what I'd probably in the past not considered, and the cost / price of a dangerous impulsive purchase is now a lot lower.
My recent one was a jacket off Vinted, I was looking for a shirt / shacket type thing now the weather's a bit better (and got a couple for a few quid each) but then there was this really rather cool looking BNWOT jacket for almost 10x the price of what I was shopping for, that I just had a WTH moment on, and then instantly 'regretted'.
Until it arrived, and it is really rather nice and has become a favourite. So, regret followed by happiness.
I am more likely to impulse buy a more expensive thing than a cheap thing. Bought my last car the day after in came into my head to change my car. Just bought something I thought would fit the bill and it worked out well.
Buying a new chainset for £100 would typically take much more research.
I'm a ditherer, researcher, price-comparer down to the finest detail usually... but when these things were announced.. was straight on the website and bought one. Got til end of May, but I don't think I'll be cancelling 😀
I have really tried to limit what I buy since I sold/recycled/gave away a lot of things before my move. That and the old mindset I developed when I was really short of cash in 2002/2003 means I really need to need something before I buy it.
Some of the things I have bought have been second hand and I have kind-of regretted, despite using them and saving a lot of money, but even buying new clothes before the ones I have are worn out (jeans get moved down the stack from "work" to "home" to "gardening" before they end up being binned). All my bikes are 2008-2012 vintage and nothing that I have seen that is current is good enough to make me think I should switch out one of the current three.
I impulse buy food though. But not very often and it is mostly kebab.
Your decision does not sound too impulsive.
You sound like it's not a rush ,so keep an eye on the secondhand market if you are worried about the money side of things or just go for it and get a brand new superbike.
I have bought a lot of secondhand stuff over the years and new bikes as well. Its a big ask when they now cost so much.
For proper impulse buys or even holiday booking I try and sleep on it at least 24hrs . It has saved me quite a bit of money!
Proper impulse buys are when you have not done the research or the salesman is putting you under pressure when you see the product as you pass it on the same day.
Reminds me of my in laws getting a puppy and they are in their eighties!!!
If it's an impulse purchase that doesn't set you up for any ongoing annoying costs or commitments, then I go for it (Bike, Watch, Camera etc.) as if you don't end up using it as much as you thought then you're not really in a bad position and you can either sell it or just be happy using it occasionally.
If it's something that'll saddle you with ongoing costs/maintenance/storage issues like a Speedboat and or a Glider then a bit more thought or dithering might be a good plan.
Ribble Ti frames are lifetime warranty now and fall into the first category so I reckon go for it!
My Stumpjumper Evo was an impulse purchase. I'd got fed up with my old bike chewing through bottom brackets. It's a great bike, and I've had a lot of fun on it, but I've had miles more fun on my Ragley hardtail (also an impulse purchase in the chain reaction closing down sale) frame, built up with the parts from the old full suspension bike.
I rarely buy on impulse, but I don't over analyse it either, If I want something, I'll go and get the thing, but then I go to a trusted source and get it, I'm not bothered to look at a million shops/websites to save myself pennies, or pounds sometimes if it's a unpopular colour or whatever.
Saw a bargain Ebike on FB marketplace, bought it an hour later. Went expecting to be mugged but it’s been the best thing I’ve bought in years…wasn’t even really thinking of getting one yet.
Went to an Art Show, came away with an original painting (Harry Brioche). Three years on, I still regularly stop for a while and just look at it.
Bargain hunting is another thing that slows me down, trawling ebay - checking for refurb stuff, blah blah.
I'm impressed that a flat was an impulse purchase, and I figured there be a lot of bikes buying on here too. Art, nbt, keeping it classy! So far seeing relatively little regret though.
I suppose by impulsive, I'm maybe more saying, before I've got the cash specifically saved for it rather than stealing it from a savings account. I *could* theoretically wait for this round of b2w to end, but I'm not sure I can be bothered to wait that long (~6 months).
Good point above about ongoing running costs etc. It makes me think of some of the landowners who rip off holiday caravan owners and raise costs year or year etc. Lots of examples.
Getting a loan is not a great way of funding a impulse purchase without serious thought first or at least a overnight sleep on it ....that's how I bought an ex rental bike once! It did seem along time to repay it and all the new bike prices dropped in the meantime after covid!
I once bought a Bontrager TI frame from Harry Halls, I think it might have been in the shop when it was blown up. I only went in for something minor. Really liked the frame until it snapped.
Went to an Art Show, came away with an original painting (Harry Brioche). Three years on, I still regularly stop for a while and just look at it.
Isn't he better known for making bread??
OP: Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet, so why not just impulsively buy a Hamlet?! 😆
I get the impression everyone reacts differently. I'm another one for whom the longer-term happiness, after the initial excitement wears off, comes from knowing that despite being impulsive, it was still a good purchase - it still makes sense/ is fun/ gives me joy. So as long as you know in 6 months you'll still think it was well worth doing, go for it!
The only question I'd have is... is it too similar to your existing bike? Another CGR but in Ti - does it have enough of a use case for it? Or might you prefer... a lightly used Yeti hardtail?!
(no clue how much that'd cost, mind...)
We were thinking of a modest budget campervan. Decided to go and view a proper factory conversion that was 30% above budget. They had another viewer due that same afternoon...
It's called the Red Adventure Bus, RAB.
I usually over-research and over-analyse, but I think in time that balances out (so, for example, I dither do due diligence so long that eBay stuff I didn't really need anyway has gone before I get round to making a decision). Usually for high value items (cars, bikes) I'm more decisive if I've set a budget, I know what I'm looking for, and the item fits with that. Having said that, I did see my current full-sus in the PB classifieds and decided on impulse to buy (and smooth over relations with my OH later). The outcome in that case - happiness (absolutely fab bike to ride and OH was understanding).
I bought a gluten free brownie yesterday on impulse. I was concerned it would be too small. But it turned out ok in the end.
On the other hand, I bought an Alfa Romeo a few years ago on as close to impulse as i've ever bought anything big. Brilliant to drive, terrible to own. It's now proving impossible to sell and i'm going to have lost the equivalent of a fairly good car if I do sell it.
We were thinking of a modest budget campervan. Decided to go and view a proper factory conversion that was 30% above budget. They had another viewer due that same afternoon...
It's called the Red Adventure Bus, RAB.
The last car I bought in the UK was the Big Red Bus (a big by 1960s standards Triumph that was modified for rallying). When I moved to Oz I found a similar car in a 1970s Fireball Red colour... basically orange. It was known forthwith as BOB - the Big Orange Bus.
I remember wanting my Ti456 but feeling it was too much, I had other bikes, etc. Then a guy at work didn't appear in the new year, turns out he'd gone to the gym as usual on a day after Christmas had a heart attack and died. Heard from his wife hed'd been planning for a good retirement and ... I realised there's a balance to be had between now fun and future that may not happen fun/safety. That balance is different for each of us, but i ordered that ti456 and rode it until I cracked it a couple of years ago now.
I’ve only had one notable impulse purchase really.
2004 PSA on here for cheap Kona Explosifs at Halfords. Turned out there was only a few scattered about, it was the same price as the frameset only but came built up as a complete bike with components from a Kona Blast?!
I rang up my local Halfords, they were very confused why they had had a flurry of calls about the one they had in store and requests to ship it to other Halfords far and wide. I was straight in the car and 30 minutes later I’d bought a new bike. Thought I’d regret it but it was great, over the years it was an XC Bike, hub geared and got me into singlespeeding! I suspect the frames were seconds as the V brake mounts were skewiff hence the cheap component build, but I changed it to discs.
Normally I spend ages procrastinating, recently bought some tailfin stuff and after 9 months knowing I would end up buying it, I had to be impulsive to actually make the purchase!
I've started to get annoyed with my partners analysis paralysis, so on a few occasions i've just gone and bought it, wrapped it up and delivered as a birthday/xmas present if it's expensive or "i thought you'd like it" if it's not.I'm like you I spend ages debating stuff to buy. I never buy stuff on impulse. Often takes years to decide.
I used to be an impulse buyer, but i've impulse bought everything i want. So i've sort of stopped now.
I've just impulse bought an electric car. I detest car shopping and negotiating with dealers. Had a 9 year old diesel with 90k on the clock that was soon going to need a new clutch/DMF. 1st car we took for a test drive we bought, obviously got hit on the trade in value as usual. I am slightly regretting it, not because it is a bad car but because of the money. Trying to resist the urge to see what else I could have bought for similar money.
I'm of the opinion..just buy it. Life's too short and you'll just end up buying it later. May as well buy it now and get the use out of it, especially a bike with the summer months coming up
Trying to resist the urge to see what else I could have bought for similar money.
Comparison is the thief of joy - no more so than after a big purchase. I have learned to stop, enjoy the new thing / experience / whatever and not look back at 'what if...'
I snapped my chain the other night, only done 400km on the new bike and chain so hadn't bought any quick links for the T-Type as I thought I'd get longer out of it.
Whilst buying a new one and quick links from tredz I ended up sticking a magic mary radial in my basket and paid up without thinking because this assegai tyre has been the worst tyre I've ever used in my life, had more crashes on my bike since riding with it these past 4 months than I've had in the past 15 years and every time it's because the front tyres washed out or lost grip, but now I'm skint until tuesday due to some big home furnishing spend earlier in the month and my local pub is having a big reopening today after being shut for over a year and getting fully refurbished which I'll be missing out on
Also @toby1 I know all too well the worries of working for start ups as my last 4 companies I've worked for have been SaaS startups, I often keep a 0% purchase credit card floating around in my wallet just for reassurance
I've never regretted buying a bike
i used to be an impulse buyer, but over the years i have learnt that todays brain fart might be tomorrows regret. Therefore if i think i want something, i will sit on it for an unspecified period of time. If i still want it a month later, then i know its for me.
I still do it on occasion with cars. Fancy something new, set a budget, then keep increasing that budget, as i can get XYZ in a newer, lower mileage model. Take out a loan to bridge the gap once sold existing car. get new car. Love it for a while then regret having a loan out and worry about having something 'nice' that could get damaged, so end up selling it, repaying the loan and going back to something that needs little or no borrowing to buy. Usually a couple of grand out of pocket. I am hoping i have learnt my lesson by now.... but i wouldnt bet on it!
Its a fine line between catering for you wants and/or your needs. Its nice to have nice things, but not at the determent of living with worry or regret.
Overall 2 opinions really stand out, 1, no one ever regrets a bike purchase, the other, is it already too much like the CGR 725 I already own, which is something that had crossed my mind too ... back to the drawing board maybe, more indecision! After all this I'll probably not end up buying another bike and just buy a coffee grinder I don't really need.
@eatmorepizza, Hah, I also have a 0% card (with nothing on it) as a 'just in case I decide to buy something' card too. It did have our ski trip this year on it while the actual money for it stayed in the bank earning interest and I paid it off over a few months.
There's impulse and then there's impulse.
If you've thought about it for five minutes and you know the market then it's a deliberate decision not an impulse. Choosing to have a new bike rather than more savings is a rational choice that only you can make.
I often think my quickest decisions are usually my best ones and try to know when to trust my brain.
Ingnoring legacy catholic guilt telling you that spending money on fun is evil doesn't constitute an impulse. I'll go and see my shrink again now. Bless me father...
Madame wanted some kitchen chairs to replace the miserable-to-sit-on-Ikea things we'd been putting up with for years, good plan, I hated those chairs. We went into the local not-cheap-shit furniture emporium where I quickly dismissed the kitchen chairs on offer as not suitable and wandered aimlessly around the place. Madame "disappeared" too so tired of walking around I looked for somewhere to sit on the basis that as she'd do the whole store she'd find me eventually. A reclining leather chair looked comfy so I plopped down, reclined it, put my feet up and dozed contentedly. When Madame found me I suggested she try the chair and the reclining sofa that matched; we bought both. Impulse purchase, no regrets, though I blame the chair for missing the end of many films and even Paris-Roubaix.
However, it's a good thing Decathlon and Intersport have a flexible returns policy as sometimes I get home and wonder what I was thinking when I dropped things in the trolly.
I was looking for a new car and ringed a few small ads in the local paper. I passed the paper to Madame, she read the ads and passed the paper back pointing to a house for sale next to one of the car ads. We bought the house and 26 years on I'm sitting in it.
MrsTH and I bought the first house we looked at as Mr and Mrs, ticked all our requirements and it’s still good 7 years later.
Same with the car.
Bikes, as above, I’m pretty well versed in what’s available vs what I want, and if it isn’t, I can get it made, so no real impulse buys any more.
Tend to book nice restaurants on a whim, had some disappointing meals in fancy restaurants, but that tends to be the exception.
pointing to a house for sale next to one of the car ads
bought the first house we looked at
Probably erring into personality types here. I looked at 3 house on the same road before buying the house we now own, 17 years on we still live in the same house. I didn't buy a Ti bike yet either.
Bought an ex-display Orro frame for 300notes, 2 mins after the email landed, cos it was too good not to. Then spent the next few weeks agonizing about the build kit - getting the right shade of bottle cage bolts is important. Bike has since seen me up AdH and Croix de Fer in style.
More recently, bought a tandem from @nbt, precipitating a much needed shed sorting (anyone need 4 winter wheels?) and likely summer long diplomatic finagling to get MrsEpic to the pub as stoker
I bought some cheap Fox 32 forks for my wife's bike a few years ago. Then I found that her bike didn't have a tapered head tube. So I bought a new frame that was discounted. Then, I figured that, seeing as I had a new frame and fork, I should buy a new wheelset and an XT groupset that was pretty heavily discounted. Would be a waste to have a new bike but finish it off with old bars, saddle, etc. So I had a new bike. Later I realized that I could have just changed the lower headset on my wife's bike to an external cup and the forks would have fitted. I regret nothing.
I have.I've never regretted buying a bike
On the plus side, i used it a dozen or so times, bought something better and stashed the frame in storage for a while then sold it at a profit. (Mostly due to the massive discount i got on the new bike.)
Go easy on the beer when you finally get there, the last thing you want to do is get so ****ed that you drop the bike on the way home
Surely the whole point is that she acts as designated driver once at the pub? 🍻
I bought a cargo bike, a Kona MinUte, off a PSA on here 10 or 12 years ago. I still use it and it's brilliant for nipping to the shops. Zero regrets.
On the other side, bought Mrs Lunge a car from a well known Car supermarket. We both knew it wasn't right, but was Ok, but we also had some time pressure to make the purchase. As soon as we collected it we had buyers remorse. That got swapped within 2 weeks, thankfully with minimal financial impact.
fairly well impulse bought an electric car.
our current wagon was unable to go into the ulez , it was getting on a bit and was tired of daily life. (9 years in our care - 6 of those with children beating crap out of it)
the old car is now my car on a much reduced milage and use - and if i breaks down that's my issue but ill run it into the ground.
thanks to franksinatra on here highlighting eligibility for some rural funding - we had applied for funding , sold my current decent but too small for the family car (only 4 seats) on and picked our replacement within the week in line with the funding being withdrawn at the end of that month.
Couldn't have been happier with the decision. the cost is fully offset and some by the fuel savings , the car I've inherited feels even more tired now I'm using it daily - so i feel happier in that my wife and kids are in what appears to be a nice reliable car
Only downside i see is i cant use this one for a celtman support vehicle as ill run out of leccy before the end 😉
