mconlonx

I don't know if Trek is still doing it, but they did have an offer where you could get a Trek card and use it to finance your purchase. Interest free if paid off in full before the first year, but if you did not pay it off completely by that first year, you get socked will all the interest.

bmthom.gis

All the shops around here offer financing, usually at very good rates. How else are shops going to move $5k bikes? I see nothing against financing. Depreciation is what it is. Had to finance the wife's car, 1.8% APR and making almost double the required payments...it'll be paid off in about another year and interest will be minimal. ****'s expensive in this society.

noglider 

Financing something that is not likely to depreciate is not a bad idea, because it lets you have something sooner than when you had the money saved up. This is why mortgages make sense. But if you are still paying after you are no longer using something like, for example, groceries, it's a terrible idea. A bike is in the middle. It doesn't depreciate terribly fast. But it can get stolen or ruined pretty easily.

Kindaslow

The only bikes that I have seen to hold any value at all are Bromptons. In your area, does a new bike have even 50% of its original vale after 3 years? Because, in my area, they do not.

noglider 

@Kindaslow, true, bikes depreciate, which is why I wouldn't finance one, but it's less stupid than financing today's meal.

Kindaslow

My wife and I have done well financially. Yet, we still use cash for every weekend, the workweek, and on many trip. We plan what we believe is reasonable, then if we run out we are done. I watch people use cards for coffee, meals, etcetera. If they can pay them off each month, great. If they can't, it is kind of crazy.

Each person needs to live, learn, and make their own decisions. Hopefully folks learn without too much pain when financing is reasonable and when a person just needs to wait and save.

mcours2006

It helps that the interest charges on your mortgage is tax deductible. Ours is not. But then again, when house around here appreciate 20% year over year, who cares if you can deduct the interest.

InTheRain

I have heard of financing bikes. It's not all that unheard of for ebikes. If that is going to be your main transportation, I think it's a fine idea. Just think how much bike you get just for the amount people pay in registration and insurance on a vehicle.

You may even be able to afford the bike you want and the one that keeps you excited about riding rather than spending $400 for something to take up space in your garage.

mcours2006

Bottom line is that you can finance pretty much anything...furniture, electronics, etc. so why not bike, but not sure as per OP why one would brag about it. You can brag about the bike, but I'd probably omit the fact that it was purchased on borrowed money.

tjspiel

It's a great idea for bike shops. It allows the bike shop to make a sale that that they otherwise would not. If a buyer has to go some place else to come up with the money they're less likely to come back.

Is is a great idea for buyers? That I don't know.

I would guess the reason the buyer in this case was "bragging" about it, is that they got interest free financing for a year or something like that. For some people that seems like a great deal and a shrewd purchase. Others would consider any kind of debt to be something that should be avoided.

It's all about priorities. My wife and I have no debt but our newest vehicle is 11 years old and we live in a small house that still needs work 18 years after we bought it. Not everyone would be content with that.

Anyway, I've heard people "brag" about interest free financing, especially if it's known that they don't have a lot of money. I wouldn't call it bragging exactly, it's more like: "It's OK, I'm getting it interest free."

chopsteeks

I am happy for the buyer. If he is happy with getting a loan.....bless his soul. If he is happy about getting his bike....bless his soul.

What I am reading here are folks bragging about how they are financially stable....bless your soul.

If the buyer had the same financial stability as you folks are, he will not get a loan either. Bless all your souls.

tjspiel

I am financially stable and it's a combination of work, choices that we've made, and... luck. I consider myself quite lucky in a lot of ways.

But it's not because I'm financially stable that I don't finance new bike purchases. It's because I'd not buy a new bike if I had to finance it. I haven't bought a new bike in over 20 years and that one was less than $300.

Now, if I were a talented racer, and racing was my dream, then I can see taking on a debt to finance something to help me realize that dream. You only live once. But for competing at the level I've competed at, or for commuting. No.

pdlamb

Hate to bring it up, but 20% year over year sounds like a housing bubble. Might be time to move to Saskatchewan for a few years, come back and buy your house for 50% less than you sell it for!

bmthom.gis

I would never voluntarily live in Saskatchewan! Especially if I already lived in Toronto.

NYMXer

I got lucky when my dealer told me about the "S" card and the 0% financing for the first year. I applied, got the bike and paid it off in the year, so I borrowed money for free. It worked out good for me. There are promo's out there all the time, and many CC's offer free interest the first year too.

Once you learn how to play the credit card games, you can make them work for you rather than against you. Read you mail and benefit from it. I have CC's pay me to accept their offers, and after the term, I cancel most of them, but not all.

PatrickGSR94

We try to pay cash, also, but for things like trips we usually use CC for everything (safer than carrying wads of cash), and then pay for those charges with cash either before or after the trip. I have wanted to just use the cash in the past because it's instantly there and we always know how much is left. But my wife always gets paranoid that we'll lose the cash somehow.

mcours2006

Yeah, they've been talking about that bubble for years. Not planning to sell or move, so bubble or not, doesn't affect me one way or another. It just makes my net worth look impressive, but you can't eat your house. ...yeah, I know, you can take out HELOC and do a lot more than just eat, like say, buy a bike.

mcours2006

The west and prairies are actually one of the fastest growing provinces in Canada. Everyone is leaving the east coast.

tjspiel

We use debit cards mostly, but did do the "envelope" thing for awhile for frequent expenses. After each pay period, you put whatever you've budgeted in the "grocery" envelope for example. The idea is that you don't spend any more than what's in that envelope. I won't lie, we did sometimes steal from other envelopes if we ran out of money in one or another.

There's been plenty of studies that show that people will spend less if they have to part with the cash rather than using a card. But there are advantages to cards like reward programs, etc. We've since moved to an envelope based budgeting software, so now we have virtual envelopes.

If were up to my wife though we'd operate strictly in cash, but it's definitely not for everybody.

Traveling is something we really like but we don't currently finance vacations either. We save for a big trip every other year or so. If we couldn't afford to do that, then I'd be tempted figure out another way. We went to Hawaii a couple of years ago and I sold a ton of crap to help make it work including some cycling stuff. That's why I'm down to one set of studded tires.

PatrickGSR94

What budgeting software are you using? I'd love to try that instead of dealing with getting out cash in certain bill denominations and dividing it up.

bmthom.gis

Oil. I met plenty of easter coasters who had moved from NS, and heard there are lots that will travel to the plains just for work. Not my cuppa tea there. I feel strange if more than a few hours from the coast. I mean, Lloydminster at least had a Timmies and Canadian Tire - they are on the map!

oddjob2

A chick magnet set of wheels may help if you have your own crib, but does it work when you say, "Want to ride in my Z and go to my mom's house for a booty call?"

mapeiboy

Same here . Bought the current house 25 years ago and plan to stay till the end . House is a roof over my head to keeps me warm/dry that's all . I don't look at it as an investment like most of people do these days .

DMC707

Hmmmmmmm

On the surface, -- I'd say its foolish to finance a bicycle ---

On the flip side, --- I put my Yeti MTB on a low interest credit card 1.5 years ago and still have a balance on it -- that's basically the same thing . I didn't have a spare 7k just sitting around in my mad money account

That's not smart from a financial perspective, especially at the rate modern MTB's depreciate, -- but I use the card for other things as well, so its hard to keep up with whether the bike is actually paid for by now or not

I'll tell ya this though, --- I'm glad I did -- darn thing gives me a reward back in stress relief everytime I hit the trails However, Ive never bragged about having to put it on a card, in fact, I'm a tad embarrassed about it. When people ask me "how much" - I usually just say - "Hey, it costs what it costs "



Was recently looking at the S-Works e-bike-(looking in admiration, not thinking about buying one ) -- its 10k . If a guy used this as an alternative to a car 3 or 4 days a week and treated the purchase like he would a car -- you know , giving himself 2 years to pay it off and paying a dedicated amount each month to do so -- heck with it .

Just one more guy out there trying to live a healthier lifestyle and in debt , -- could probably offset about half that in tax write offs with some creative accounting anyway



So many instances where financing can sneak into our lives -- PAyPAl credit, or linked to a credit card? - same thing

andr0id

Wow, you can still deduct interest in Canada?

In the US, we have only been able to deduct interest for primary home loan for decades.

When it comes to bicycles, there are way to many options available that it makes no sense to take a out a loan.
You can always find something used and in good shape if you can't afford a new bike from a shop.

Hmmm, I did just get an offer from my CU for a 0% interest on purchases and balance xfers for 18 months if I sign up for their CC. Maybe I should get a new MTB?