mgopack42 

I am working steady ( essential industry) and so is my wife (also essential), so if the congress wants to give each adult $2000 as stimulus, I might have to buy a present for myself, after I recycle the $ to pay the income taxes I owe.

John E

I'll buy if I need anything, but I am tight on space and reaching the age for downsizing, rather than any form of upsizing.

top506

After mourning the shut-down of my $60 frame and fork powdercoat guy several years back I've found a new to me shop that'
ll do a 'pedal bike' frame and fork for $50! There's a backlog of framesets waiting, Velocals has the graphics, and all other build parts are on hand. For a minimal investment is cosmetics I'll stay busy and focused on other than the current biohazard issues.
My skill set will keep me employed even if the current job/s fall through.

Top

DiegoFrogs

Am I the only one who really doesn't spend that much money on bike stuff?

Honestly, if I don't count the money I spent moving back to the USA from Europe this summer, I'm net positive on the trailing 12 months. I sold my city bike before I left, and bought a floor pump and some lube and grease when I got back here.
Really, I doubt I average more than $200 per year in net spending on bike stuff, and I don't sell much.

In the past couple weeks, I did just buy myself a nice pair of USA made jeans and a set of stainless steel metric allen wrenches from Germany. I don't spend myself into debt, but I do like nice things.

jdawginsc 

Small necessary parts only. I overspent to begin with. I needed to get a grip. Only building what I have for my two boys riders (they have suddenly become interested), and Vanni Losa Cassani frame will get paint and designs, and a nice potpourri of parts. Then, whatever is left will be plopped on here.

seypat

With a son starting college in the fall, I have cut back. I don't think the virus situation will have much impact over all on my business. The tariffs, though are a totally different story. Counting the initial steel tariff that started in 2017, my industry has had about 60% worth of tariffs levied against it and a 50% anti dumping suit. The industry as a whole, ate most of them. When the latest 25% went into effect on Feb 8th, the industry couldn't eat anymore. So starting in March, most of that is getting passed on directly to the consumers. For the gap between the foreign products and the domestic products to close, there will have to be 2-3 more tariff hikes. I don't know if the market will bear it. Combine that with the push that will come after the virus fiasco for everything to be made in the USA, and you have a very serious storm on the horizon. I don't think Americans are ready for everything in their lives to be expensive. Or at least be a lot more expensive than what they were paying before. The average standard of living will have to go way down. That might not be a bad thing. The virus situation will most likely cause that to happen anyway.

malcala622

I'm not buying any framesets or parts I know won't go immediately on a build already in my garage.

No ordering from overseas either.

rjhammett

I have so many parts already and more than enough bikes I don't plan on buying anything. I do have 3-4 bikes that I have been waiting for Spring to arrive so that I can pass them on.

crank_addict

The wholesale goods from China will be interesting to see what happens, regardless of tarrifs. There's 23,000 empty containers in LA ports that China wants back.

rccardr 

Nope, I'm goods, thanks.
Got a project at the painter's, expext that to show up maybe late May, already have the parts on hand.
Other than that, just polishing the shiny bits and riding every day.

Did sell two Dura Ace groups the other day, tho...

RobbieTunes

Yes but it was long overdue.

deux jambes

That’s understandable. Some items which are in our wishlist are not very easy to find. Particularly special frames in the right size.

That’s also why I need to refrain from looking at the C&V sales ads, Craigslist, and eBay. Just moments after I resolved to shelve my project, and cease spending, I saw a great pair of rims at a friendly price in the sales forum. Refusing to buy them is the right thing for me to do right now, but it’s also unnecessarily painful

SurferRosa

Good deals are out there.
​
I​​​'ve been pretty busy scouring over all these local obits for anything cycling related.

deux jambes

I also hope you don’t have to. And I’m with you in the sense that this could be an opportunity to reevaluate our spending habits. For one, I’ve never had a large income. But I could always learn to manage the income I have with more responsibility.

bargo68 

Day 2 of our shelter-in-place order for the Bay Area, and what do I do? I talked the owner down to 100 and bought this:

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/bik...095157162.html

He answered the door wearing a mask and we kept it short but sweet. Elbo-bumped upon completion and home again. Underneath the dust and light dirt, it's pretty much a garage queen! The saddle is a bit tatty, but we'll see.

Did I feel a little weird going out and doing this considering the current global events? Yep, but I'm in a committed relationship with no children and currently manageable expenditures and the tear down and rebuild is therapy gold for me.

Stay healthy everybody!

Nemosengineer 

I keep a positive attitude and roll with the punches, I have spent my adult life in either defense or oil and gas industries, both are roller coasters, this virus will also pass and things will return to a new normal. I don't plan on slowing down on any personal projects as these are my "safe place" and a way to keep myself sane. That being said, always having a "Plan B' has saved me much grief over my lifetime.

: Mike

deux jambes

Crazy times. And I’m glad that the way it sounds, due to the nature of your job, your lifestyle won’t really be be turned upside down.

You’ve also given me an idea. The frame I was going to build up is in pretty rough cosmetic condition. I wasn’t worried about that so much, and I was going to just throw parts on it. But now that I’ve decided to hold out on spending, I think I’ll take this time to give the frame some extra love, and restore it properly. It’d cost very little, it’d keep me occupied, and the frame is certainly worth the effort.

Kilroy1988 

I work in fresh produce and fruit doesn't stop growing and coming off the trees/vines, or going through the production process for just about anything, especially when people are panicking and pointlessly buying out store loads of stuff!

However, we have a large program that provides ready-to-eat grapes for schools, chains such as Starbucks, Disneyland, etc... And the orders have ground to a halt for such things here in California. We're scrambling to redirect the product towards supermarkets, which will require completely repackaging the grapes - approximately 50,000 boxes worth just on site now, and several boats full are on the water from Chile. Operations there have been halted with the expectation that we won't be able to move any further volume until the schools re-open.

Crazy times, many industries are scrambling. Here in California food production will never make the "non-essential" list so as long as I don't get sick, I've got plenty of work to do!

That said, I already bought a rather pricey frame recently and have some things up for sale. I'll be focusing on selling for a while, except for a couple bits and bobs I might need to tinker around.

-Gregory

Jmpierce

I'm buying ammo instead of C&V parts...got all the bikes I can ride.

ThermionicScott 

For the most part, my bikes are "complete" and I have spare parts to keep them running for years. I've been eyeing a particular $$$ upgrade part for my rando bike, but with the events of the last couple of weeks I'm going to keep my powder dry for the time being.

repechage

A few bikes that I was planning to sell complete will be sold parted out. I see parts doing much better than bikes.
the second shoe to drop reality will be the receipt of those quarterly 401k or other mutual fund statements. Then folk will Feel poor.

merziac

Well, I am not happy about it but it's waaay overdue so it is what it is, BIG project on deck right now, still a little ways off and waaay to many other projects, frames, parts and pieces so unless something phenomenal comes along, I'm going to be in a holding pattern for now while I see if I survive working at the hospital.

I am not optimistic at all but I am going to ride my bike as much as I can to try and keep Chicken Little quiet so I don't have to smash his effen little head.

deux jambes

Agreed, it’s not a welcome situation by any means. I’m glad you have project material on hand to keep yourself engaged if you wish/need to be. And that you plan to get a lot of riding in too.

I’ve decided to hold off on finishing my shopping list for the Benotto for now. The cost of a wheelset, bottom bracket, and the few odds and ends I still need, is a good chunk of change that may be better to have on hand should the sh*t hit the fan.

I’ve recently gone back to working with kids myself. I took a position at an overnight shelter for runaway and homeless youth. The possibility of shutting down operations is definitely staring us in the face.

Best wishes you and all who are working at hospitals. We both work in high risk environments. Be safe, and take care Van.

Pompiere

I had heard once that it was cheaper to make new containers than to ship them back to China. That is why you see so many turned into storage buildings. That was the case when my BIL was deployed to Kuwait. They turned empty containers into housing units for the base.

merziac

Tx Matt,

glad you got back to important work, like it or not.

That's my problem, the hospital seemed like a "greater good" deal and on a good day it is, those are few and far between, nonexistent for now.

So much uncertainty for something that you normally think of the infrastructure as being rock solid and laser focused when there really seems to be no clear path or plan.

Boggles the mind whether I'm a smart enough guy or not, common sense seems to have very little if anything to do with it, staggering, literally, I encounter things every day that any sentient being with a pulse would say .

Good on ya and I hope we live to tell the tale.