tbo

I got a new (to me) bike and I have starting to track spending on this new bike and whatever expenses I remember or put together on my existing bikes. This is hobby only, no flipping, though occasionally a bike may be sold to keep the fleet at a reasonable number.

Honestly, I'm not sure if I like knowing how much $$$ is being spent or not. I will keep tracking for now. I am being scrupulous about even assigning costs to each bike from stuff in the parts bin for cables, pads, a reflector, etc. Even tools, if purchased for a specific task.

Do you track your bike spending or not?

Niteshooter

NO! Bad news if the wife finds it!!!

Essthreetee

No. I keep mental notes of what has been purchased and how much it was, but I don't write it down for fear of knowing what the total REALLY is

exmechanic89

I feel the same way, I keep general mental record but nothing too detailed. That way I can tell myself I didnt spend as much as I probably did.

tbo

, but not a problem in this case. She commutes to work on a bike. The bikes save us from having a second car. The one car we do have is 6.5 years old with 25K miles on it. In suburban FL, that's not bad.


Yeah, that's about where I am, leaning slightly more towards having a better picture. That wanting to know is winning, at least at the moment.

GordoTrek

no way, takes the fun out of the build. Unless i'm building it up for somebody else.

Spoonrobot 

Of course! Between saving for retirement, saving for a house and keeping my emergency fund topped up I need to monitor bike spending just like everything else. I keep a detailed spreadsheet with a tab for each month and record every purchase I make.

For flips I monitor everything I spend to make sure I'm at least making something, on paper. Also helps to true up with the taxman at the end of the year if I end up making enough.

The Golden Boy 

The amount of money I hemorrhage into bikes would be utterly shocking if I were to see it written out.

miamijim

When I was flipping and collecting I kept very detailed excel spreadsheets. Now its mental notes, but I don't buy anything that I cold lose money on.

LeicaLad 

I'm not obsessive, but I keep a running list of purchases, noting item, date purchased, price and source.

I also keep a separate file of components by category (brakes, hubs, stems, bars, pedals, etc.). It helps me plan builds, and know that I really DON'T need that lovely hubset on offer, as I have three NOS sets already!!!

It's less to track expenditures, but more on inventory control. Plus, if I do want to sell something, I can quickly find what I paid for it. I do find that I don't remember prices paid - except for the occasional outrageous deals!

bobwysiwyg

No I don't, but I think my wife does.

mstateglfr 

Yup, a spreadsheet where each bike I have bought has its own tab. All costs are included for all bikes. Anything thats then been swapped to another bike is then changed accordingly. I also have a tab where 'bike parts' is listed for when I pull something off but dont use it right away on another bike, it goes to that tab and sits.

Everything I have refurbished and sold is tracked. Same with anything I have donated to our collective(full bikes, frames, components).
I count everything down to cables and housing. Cable ends and grease are where i end though...I dont count those on a per bike basis.
The only semi-difficult part is assigning vale to components I pull off a bike for use or assigning value for used components. I subtract the value of components from the bike's initial purchase price and need to remember to assign the same value to the bike said components go to.

There is also an overview tab listing every bike, the amount currently invested in each bike, and if sold or donated the amount I got. I count donated value the same as cash in hand(funny I take this liberty when i admittedly am precise for the rest of the process).


This is done for all bikes I have ever purchased as an adult as well as all my family's bikes. It started because I wanted to understand how much I was spending and just grew from there. Its not really a hassle because I have a template to use for each new bike so adding one in is simple.



At this point, I consider it a game and a hobby in and of itself. My goal is to get to a point where all the bikes I(we) own are effectively paid for by all the refurbished and donated bikes I have(and will) work on.
Pretty sure Ill never reach that goal, but its fun to try. Every bike I refurbish or donate means Im $40 closer!...assuming we dont then buy more, which is hardly realistic.

Fahrenheit531 

Not having things on paper means I can more easily convince myself I broke even when it comes time to sell.

tbo

I get the tracking as a game and hobby in and of itself.

I'm also glad to see that tracking seems to be a personal thing and I wasn't being crazy about being ambivalent.

Also glad that it's not a cause for a BF religious war. No comments implying "Of course you should track - how could you not up to now? You're out of the club" or "No way - tracking is evil and takes all the fun out of C&V. You must be banished."

jamesdak 

I do, just as I do with my cars. For the bikes it just so I can track spending. For the cars though it's helped greatly when selling the last two.

davester

Tracking bike expenditures? That's just crazy talk!

mstateglfr 

Yeah, there are so many varied interests on this forum that it'd be tough to get a consensus on something like tracking $ spent.
Some want a bike to be exact original when refurbished. Some want a bike to be ridden to show it respect. Some want a bike to be a mix of old and new. With so many approaches, there is rarely anything that can be fully agreed on as being wrong.

calamarichris

Compile evidence that can later be used against me? There's a brilliant idea I wish I'd never heard of.

markwesti

I kept a pretty good on my last build , I'll never do that again .

non-fixie 

No, that would mean having to put a value on everything in my parts bin. Too much work. As long as there's something left over at the end of the month I'm good.

No complaints from mrs non-fixie yet. She tried the "but you already have a bike" line once or twice, to which my answer would be "but not this one yet". When I showed up with two identical bikes (only a two cm size difference) within a fortnight she gave up.

Scooper

No.

Ignorance is bliss.

corrado33

Heck no. Bikes aren't an investment. I don't want to know how much money I've poured into them.

tbo

We'll see how it goes on this build and how crazy I want to get digging up old dirt on the other bikes.

It seems that "Oh my gosh no!" or some variant is the most preferred response here.

mountaindave 

I keep a detailed spreadsheet. My problem is I don't always inventory parts acquire when not purchased for a specific build, then I have to make educated guesses.

due ruote 

I don't bother with it, although if I flipped a lot of bikes it would probably make sense.

What I really should do is keep a maintenance record, so I can avoid things like looking at a wheelset and having no idea whether it's been two weeks or two years since I did the hubs. And I don't even have that many bikes!