Zinger

Or when you kick the bucket she'll be selling your bikes for what you said you paid for them.

Shamrock

I don't ask what all that beauty salon stuff cost and she doesn't ask what all that bike stuff cost.hint buy the same color bike all the time and she will never know when a new one comes along.if money is tight ,when the bank offers a 12 month no interest loan take it and pay the bike off.just don't be late or miss a payment ,then the rate goes up to 29 percent

cccorlew

My sweet wife's bike cost as much as mine. And she has one more than I do.
I can't imagine being married to a person I'd lie to about money.

And if I was even considering lying, I sure wouldn't post it on the internet.

cplager

I don't know that I'd call this wisdom, but it's definitely true.

dbg

Lying is almost always a bad idea. But you could add some perspective. When I say, "less than your annual shoe budget" the topic never comes up again.

Dudelsack 

Yeah, the height of irony was when my wife tried to give me crap for buying a new set of cycling shoes, even though the ones I had were still serviceable.

I said, "But I got them ON SALE!" and nothing else was said about it.

robtown

My Kestrel Evoke did cost $300, but that was for the 2008 Frameset and headset. End cost closer to $750 w/o wheels. Just got some sweet parts I have not installed yet.

robtown

I put something like $3500 down on my OutRiderUSA trike and got busted (it hit my bank account for a day). She didn't know for a while longer that I owed another $5k once it was custom built It was all money from selling some other bikes and flipping a few dozen so she couldn't get too upset. BTW - she knows the final price.

John_V 

Same here. We've been married 45 years and have had separate checking and savings accounts for most of those years. There's never an issue with her as to how much money I spend on anything as long as my half of the bills are paid. However, I usually tell her ahead of time if I'm going to purchase any high dollar item.

Dave Cutter

I reserve the right to lie at Christmas time. It just make the whole shopping/gifting thing simpler. But other than that I don't lie to my wife, lawyer, or doctor.... it just wouldn't make sense. Actually.... I hope that doesn't sound judgmental.. I am not particularly ANTI-lying. I just don't enjoy it.

jdon

Being that it is our money, we discuss any purchase over $1000. Always been that way so for me, that is normal.

cannondale125

Sweet. Ya my frame and fork was about the same for 06. But just finishing up some 6700 ultegra group. )

Sixty Fiver

I could never imagine lying to my wife about what a bike cost...

Bikey Mikey

I wouldn't lie, like many others posting here. In my case, I couldn't anyway--I am horrible at lying--so I don't(nor do I wish to).

Rowan

We sit on the couch with our laptops on our... laps. The other night I keyed in our post code to find the freight cost for a TT frame I am interested in buying. No sooner had I done that when I got: "What was that you just bought?"

I can't get away with much. And the issue is more like that I have to buy two of everything -- bikes, frames, jerseys, pairs of panniers, dynohubs, lights, it goes on and on -- because, that is the way it is.

OldTryGuy

41 years married this year and never separate accounts. Wife's money is hers and my money is hers. I don't care what she does with it.

a77impala

We have two accounts, ours and hers! So far it works. She has access to ours I do not to hers.

Fred Smedley

My bikes usually trickle in part by part, Is omission lying?

miss kenton

My husband knows that if we can't afford it or I don't need it, I won't buy it. I have been the treasurer in our union for 28 years, except for his brief stint at it early on where it was quickly proven I am much better at it than he is. He doesn't have to question any purchases, and I don't need to lie. As a result, we both sleep better.

bkaapcke

You should gauge this by how much she lies to you about her spending. To cover the lack of accurate info factor, add 20%. Then multiply by 10 for sheer audacity. If you are within that range, you are O.K. This is what is known as "routine lying" between spouses and gives a useful estimate of its upper limit. bk

i know, I've been married for forty years.

noglider 

I put myself in my wife's shoes. If I expect her to be annoyed at what I spent on a bike, I ask if her annoyance would be justified. And it would. So when I've spent too much on a bike, I tell her. I tell her I shouldn't have spent so much. And I say I'm figuring out what to sell to offset the extra cost.

Lately, I think she's been spending more on bikes than I have. She realizes that having a better bike would help her keep up with others and is likely to get her more time in the saddle. We have two homes, so she decided she wants four bikes. She wants a go-fast bike for each place and an errand/hauling bike for each place. Not only that, she wants the errand/hauling bike in the city to be lightweight so she can lift it over the subway turnstile. This means she needs one cheap bike and three expensive bikes. She now has one go-fast bike, the heavy hauling bike, and the light hauling bike. Next to buy is her other go-fast bike. She's going to wait a while for that, since she's spent so much recently.

VNA

The truth will come out eventually!

A lie is not worth a bike and its enjoyment!

jyl

Tom, sounds like you will get to find out if two n+1 people make 2n+2 or n^2+2n+1

ChargerDawg

Just a couple of comments, some which may have not been covered.

How much do you ride the bike? Is the bike going to be a garage queen, show off piece or used for years until it is no longer serviceable.

You can look at other hobbies and activities and figure out if you are over the top.

If your finances can afford it, then go for it.

But I would not lie to a spouse about it. That just opens up the door to many future problems.

By the way, I bought my bike off of fleabay As the story goes the person purchased it, found out that he really did not like biking, and put it up on ebay. MSRP for the bike at the time was 4K. I wound up getting it for 2.4K, and the tires still had the nubbies from the mold. Probably less than 10 miles on the thing.

Figure out your cost per mile.

Tpcorr

Math isn't my long suit, but the way I read your formula, it's telling me to buy the bike and hug my wife