Classic & Vintage - Bicycle wives

I feel compelled to start this thread, as an ode to all bicycle wives (or partners of any description) who put up with this hobby. Having told my wife that I just spent $300 on my ebay Legnano that we didn't have, right before Christmas, what she should have done was throw shoes at me. Instead she was supportive as always and just laughed about it. She has put up with my newly acquired Italian accent with the same patience as she did my fake French accent that came with my Gitane. She puts up with late night drunken bicycle mechanics in the kitchen, and boring explanations about why I had to spend so much on the saddle. She never asks why she has to move bicycles to get into the cupboard to get the salt.

Please raise a glass to all of the patient bicycle wives!

She's gotta be cheating on you.

JK!! :)

At least she knows where the money is going and where you are.

Your wife's smart...she probably figures sharing you with an Italian or French bike is less complicated than sharing you with an Italian or French woman! My wife has the same attitude. :beer:

lol! I admit, my wife is pretty good about it, as well....at least to some extent....

However, ....I can't open a closet door or knee-wall opening without getting avalanched by Longaberger baskets or those fancy Lladro figurines......that stuff adds up as well haha! ;^)

...on the other hand, I can't hardly walk through my garage without banging my head on a frame or a bike hanging from the ceiling....it's a good thing my wife is only 5'2" :)

Seems like you should reward that woman with a "new" bike this Festivus. Nothing says "I love you" like giving her something that you would have bought anyway for yourself.

My lucky gal might be getting a new 23" cyclocross bike this year.

jim

my wife is somewhat supported, she is always telling me I sell or give away to many bikes to cheap or for nothing.

Mine occasionally rides with me on her Paramount! Happily, she is into fitness and knows I will NEVER go to a gym. Occasionally flipping parts or parting bikes on ebay allows her to see that it is not just money poured down a rathole, but something that offers both exercise and long term appreciation!

And she is glad I am not restoring cars. Bikes are so much less expensive to work on.....

Unfortunately for my wife I work on restoring both bikes AND cars!

Your wife's smart...she probably figures sharing you with an Italian or French bike is less complicated than sharing you with an Italian or French woman! My wife has the same attitude. :beer:

Good point! I remember a few months ago we were walking in the beaches and I did a double-take as a cinelli super-corsa went past. She just rolled her eyes and said "At least it's not other women!"

I feel compelled to start this thread, as an ode to all bicycle wives (or partners of any description) who put up with this hobby. Having told my wife that I just spent $300 on my ebay Legnano that we didn't have, right before Christmas, what she should have done was throw shoes at me. Instead she was supportive as always and just laughed about it. She has put up with my newly acquired Italian accent with the same patience as she did my fake French accent that came with my Gitane. She puts up with late night drunken bicycle mechanics in the kitchen, and boring explanations about why I had to spend so much on the saddle. She never asks why she has to move bicycles to get into the cupboard to get the salt.

Please raise a glass to all of the patient bicycle wives!

:beer: My wife is much the same. I just bought a new (modern so not linked here) bike right before Christmas as well. In my defense I had not planned to aquire the frameset till after the holidays, but the individual whom I was buying it from wanted it out of his house and thus shipped it early. She's allowed me to take over an entire bathroom in the apartment (of only 2) for bicycle work and doesn't mind how dirty it gets as long as she can get to the linen closet. I think in the long run she likes the fact that cycling keeps me in shape, and she likes that. ;)

We just bought a house! For all you Chicagoans out there, we'll be moving from a small apt. in Wicker Park to a house in Rogers Park. Basement work shop!

After squeezing five bikes into the small apt. (two hers), she has now given me the blessing to have as many as I like! Of course, my new problem will be lack of discretionary funds, as I'm now officially house poor.

my wife (god bless her) puts up with my being a vintage bikeaholic with a wry smile and
the knowledge that a) Bicycles are cheaper than maintaining a 1956 Ford F150 and b) makes me happy
(she actually said she notices how much I like working on bikes).
However she has expressed concern that one of our spare bedrooms is 90% inaccessible. One can
open the door, and walk in exactly 1 foot before having to navigate between
bikes, parts, tools and the odd piece of Dive gear covering most horizontal surfaces.

Cuda, if Mrs Cuda is that accepting I've got a lead on a nice Gazelle Baanfiets (Pista frame) :D

marty

My wife and I talked about this fairly early in the obsession, right after I went for a long ride with my sons (20 and 17) over McKenzie Pass in the Cascades last June. As an aside, the three of us are all six feet or over, so we were all on beasts from my herd of 60-63 cm vintage steel. She told me that any hobby that makes me happy, gets me together with my boys, keeps my resting heart rate under 50 - and, costs way the hell less than golf - is fine with her.

Mine supports and encourages my bike habit, too. But then, I support and encourage her Stephen Colbert (http://www.nofactzone.net) and tarantula (we're up to 7 now) habits, so it kinda works out.

I think mine just puts up with my bike habit. She sure doesn't understand it!

Cuda, if Mrs Cuda is that accepting I've got a lead on a nice Gazelle Baanfiets (Pista frame) :D

marty

and if cuda ain't interested i may be :D

also, cuda...are you into mopars?

and if cuda ain't interested i may be :D

also, cuda...are you into mopars?

1) Wish I could be intrested, but am interested in knowing the price regardless.

2) I'm more of a 67 Chevelle fan, but wouldn't toss a 70's 'Cuda out of my garage! ;)

My wife is very much the same, except when she's really angry at me she goes after the Colnago. With a hammer. Two sides of the same coin.....

While Mrs. Stringbreaker isn't a bikeophobe she is a lover of fine sewing machines and anything to do with quilting and such. She induldges in her hobby and I in mine I don't ask how much her embroidery machine costs or the serger or the quilting machine she is saving for. Nice to have our own checking accounts and one for the household remodeling projects that way there are no arguments. I pay the house payment and the car insurance and she takes care of the utilities and groceries. Its worked that way for us for 12 years now. Oh yeah and she really likes to bike we usually ride together at least once a week for anywhere from12 to 30 miles

Well, I'd better hustle in here and talk about that fine Mr. East Hill, who not only doesn't mind my bikes, but figures he'd rather have me getting an old bike every once in a while than him having to go out and spend a lot of money on jewelry or shoes and whatnot.

In return, he has a nice room set up so that he can do hand re-loading.

Oh, and when he asked whether or not I thought snakes were cool, I told him that yes, snakes were cool, and if he wanted to get one, no problem :) . So we have three.

Stringbreaker, tell your wife that I have an Elna from waaaay back. I love that Elna :D .

East Hill

Ms. PB not only puts up with all the bikes from the dump that then get redistributed to fellow C&Vers, she also puts up with the church. Need I say more?

I had this habit, and cycling habits in general, long before I met my bethrothed. She was already a rider, and still is. One of my best training partners. She doesn't really like all of the bikes in the garage, and I have agreed to start reducing the herd. I think I'm gonna tear down about one of hers for three of mine...

We have a tacit understanding.

I'm a bike nut. Mrs. Caloso is an oenophile. I don't say anything when the big brown truck arrives with a case from Sonoma or Paso Robles. She doesn't say anything when it arrives with a box from Nashbar/Harris/Velo-Orange or some town in Holland.

East Hill: The Mrs. is strictly into the new computer controlled stuff. She can take a picture and digitize it into a pattern and then program what colors she needs then it downloads to the machine and away it goes. Pretty cool. She can do all this really neat stuff but when I need a pair of pants hemmed or a buttons sewn on it takes forever. :) I'm not complaining though she puts up with me and thats a good thing

The Mrs. Cummings replaces my worn bike clothing before I start whining about needing new stuff.

I have a feeling that this thread is really going to resonate among C&V members. My wife doesn't really comprehend my interest in vintage bicycles and is shocked by some of my ebay purchases. I am always quick to point out when a bike very similar to one of my ebay finds sells for more than I paid. Her response is always the same: "So when are you going to sell some of those bikes?" I am actually going to post a Peugeot on craigslist as a bit of appeasement. Oh, and I told her not to buy me anything for Christmas. The Legnano I just bought will suffice.

I've been married for 33 years, but I feel like I have betrayed my wife by my excessive expenditures on vintage bicycles and components over a six month period starting in August of 2006 through March of 2007. She really has no idea how much I have spent ($15,000) but she knows it is alot. My purchases were all made on ebay. I consider my purchases a form of an addiction, which I now have under control, thank goodness and Dave Ramsey (http://www.daveramsey.com/).

I have promised her I will try to cull my fleet and try to empty my spare parts bin on ebay, but I love this stuff. I do know that I have been tempted to cherry pick on ebay, when truly unique and rare items appear, but I am doing my best to avoid any more purchases.

My marriage advice is never to buy any "stuff" unless your wife agrees with it. In marriage, don't think of it as "your" money, rather as "our" money. My wife is very thrifty and a real trooper putting up with my nonsense. I would not appreciate it if she spent $15,000 on costume jewelry on HSN. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Mrs. Syke (and yes, in the Deranged Few M/C, that's how she's known) is incredibly supportive. We've got this little tradeoff. Patti is a house junkie. Shortly before we married, I let her talk me into selling my completely paid for, small and cozy, house for something a lot larger, much more her style, and complete with a 15 year mortgage that I really didn't want.

Which trashed my plans at the time to retire at age 50. So I'm still holding a steady job to keep the bills paid, while she's working intermittently, at best.

In return, I can come home with anything I can afford in two wheels or four, pedal or motorized, and she'll never complain. She sits with me watching the Grand Tours, passionately believes that Landis is innocent at one point in her life she was an analytical chemist - don't get her started on French labs), follows MotoGP on an almost daily basis, watches AMA and World Superbike, and supports me completely when it comes to wearing club colors.

From time to time, I'm very tempted to move back to my old home town in western PA and I'd be among the brothers from the old club that I founded, my real family . . . . . except that now, said club is a chapter of the Outlaws. 1%ers.

Her comment? "If we move, you ARE going to prospect the Outlaws, aren't you? Because if you aren't, I can't see why it would be worth moving."

Can't ask for much more than that. Yeah, I miss my eight year overdue retirement, but there are tradeoffs in everything.

I've been married for 33 years, but I feel like I have betrayed my wife by my excessive expenditures on vintage bicycles and components over a six month period starting in August of 2006 through March of 2007. She really has no idea how much I have spent ($15,000) but she knows it is alot. My purchases were all made on ebay. I consider my purchases a form of an addiction, which I now have under control, thank goodness and Dave Ramsey (http://www.daveramsey.com/).

I have promised her I will try to cull my fleet and try to empty my spare parts bin on ebay, but I love this stuff. I do know that I have been tempted to cherry pick on ebay, when truly unique and rare items appear, but I am doing my best to avoid any more purchases.

My marriage advice is never to buy any "stuff" unless your wife agrees with it. In marriage, don't think of it as "your" money, rather as "our" money. My wife is very thrifty and a real trooper putting up with my nonsense. I would not appreciate it if she spent $15,000 on costume jewelry on HSN. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

I know that on occasion that my husband spends far more than I do...but when he does, he makes sure that he has everything paid off before he sets off again.

Me, I was brought up on thrift shops, charity shops, day old bread. Even though I was the oldest girl in a family of six children, I was also the shortest one. I made the clothes, everyone else wore them until they grew out of them and THEN I got to wear the clothes that I made. That situation did not change until it was apparent that my sister Ann was going to top out at least five inches taller than I am.

I am fortunate in that my job does not require expensive clothing. In fact, the older and sturdier the better. Charity shops are my friend, and every great once in a while I might even find a bike :) .

East Hill

I've found that flipping bikes regularly combined with building a bike for my wife has resulted in her blessing upon my "habit". Admittedly, I keep few of the bikes I wind up with, and pay little for them to begin with.

Now, if only I can condition her to the smell of PB Blaster; she's threatened to outlaw it!

Mrs. L has put up with my new hobby quite well. I''ve been extremely into bikes for about 6 months, and we've been married only four of those months. The only bike I ride is the Trek 1500 I bought this summer. Shortly after I got that bike, I saw a Bridgestone RB1 with full Ultegra (and brifters) for $300. This is where I came up with the idea of a bike fund. I bought the RB1 and told her I would sell either it or the Trek. It was tough, but I ended up parting ways with the RB1. A good decision, because I got way more for it over ebay than I was expecting. The profit went into the newly established bike fund, which is the money I allow myself to spend on bikes. I can buy whatever I want bike related, and I make up for it by flipping bikes.

Right now there are five bikes in our house: I'm preparing to flip her old Schwinn World, and a Nishiki Prestige I thought might fit her but didn't. I'm keeping the 63cm Fuji s12 ltd for myself for now, and just upgraded her to the Miyata 1000 I was boasting about in another thread. Until I flip one of these, I still have a couple hundred bucks left.

As an aside: I've learned a lot about cool bikes just from being on the forums, but haven't exactly ridden many of them. My ideal is to have bikes coming and going (usually in my size) so that I can get a feel for what I like. It's fun!

None of these rules are hers, and I don't think she would be concerned if I didn't have a bike fund set aside for bikes, but it certainly makes me feel better about what I'm doing and how I'm spending our money.

Mrs. L has put up with my new hobby quite well. I''ve been extremely into bikes for about 6 months, and we've been married only four of those months. The only bike I ride is the Trek 1500 I bought this summer. Shortly after I got that bike, I saw a Bridgestone RB1 with full Ultegra (and brifters) for $300. This is where I came up with the idea of a bike fund. I bought the RB1 and told her I would sell either it or the Trek. It was tough, but I ended up parting ways with the RB1. A good decision, because I got way more for it over ebay than I was expecting. The profit went into the newly established bike fund, which is the money I allow myself to spend on bikes. I can buy whatever I want bike related, and I make up for it by flipping bikes.

Right now there are five bikes in our house: I'm preparing to flip her old Schwinn World, and a Nishiki Prestige I thought might fit her but didn't. I'm keeping the 63cm Fuji s12 ltd for myself for now, and just upgraded her to the Miyata 1000 I was boasting about in another thread. Until I flip one of these, I still have a couple hundred bucks left.

As an aside: I've learned a lot about cool bikes just from being on the forums, but haven't exactly ridden many of them. My ideal is to have bikes coming and going (usually in my size) so that I can get a feel for what I like. It's fun!

None of these rules are hers, and I don't think she would be concerned if I didn't have a bike fund set aside for bikes, but it certainly makes me feel better about what I'm doing and how I'm spending our money.

Just sayin'...if she doesn't want that Miyata 1000...it IS my size :) .

East Hill

I actually did just order my wife a new bike for Christmas!

After we rode the Lake Pepin 3-Speed Tour last May (riding borrowed bikes) she shopped ebay and craigslist for a 3-speed of her own, month after month, and finally bought a Ladies Armstrong (yes, with S/A 3-Spd. hub). So that's my next "project" It's parked in the living room now.

She and I both ride certuries and double centuries (caltriplecrown.com), and in fact she encouraged me to ride doubles again; after I'd sworn them off following P-B-P '91. We have 12 bikes around the house (studio, garage) which works out: hers - 5, mine - 7.

So it really is all good, and I have no worries, no complaints.

Rick / OCRR

My wife is a more dedicated rider than I am (I hate the cold), brags about how I build and maintain our bikes AND is cute as hell in her riding gear.

Am I lucky or what?