Artmo 

A few days ago I received a Pinarello Galileo 105 as an award for riding a century and raising $6,000 for a charity. It arrived in its box and after one little hitch with a wrongly routed gear cable which was resolved by help from Mechanics forum I assembled it and set it up. What a machine! I've only ridden 30 miles on it to date, but it's soooo comfortable. No personal pics yet, but you can see it at
https://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.c..._1896_16477222
and, no, I'm not advertizing, just happy and proud!

HWS

Nice lookin bike!

domestique

Bellisimo!

Love Italian!

GP

You should be proud to have raised $6K for a charity. Great job!!

Beautiful bike, too.

the beef

Awesome, you deserve it. Such an awesome ride!

CardiacKid

What charity kicks back a $2000 bike to someone who raises $6000? Did the people who contributed know that 1/3 of their contribution was going to you? Where do I sign up?

Romulus

Really beautiful... The $6K went to the charity, the bike was probably a sponsoring donation from the industry which they kick back in organizing the ride... Great job!

CardiacKid

How is that different than me raising $2000 for a charity and you raising $6000 for the charity and them giving you my $2000.
The charity could have auctioned the bike or had a raffle or got the donor to give cash in exchange for their name being prominently displayed.
Don't get me wrong, I am not judging the OP. I'm sure he didn't raise the money for the purpose of getting a bike. There are probably easier ways to do it.
All charities give some kind of gifts to their bigger fundraisers. I have noticed that the quality of the gifts is on the rise. I think this one is over the top.
Don't forget to declare that bike on your taxes. It is income.

ChristopherM

Wow, I guess no matter what positive thing happens, at least one person has to come in and rain on the parade.

dyslogical

sheesh. stickler.

Congrats man!

Artmo 

You make a valid point and I told the organizers that I thought it was a bit over the top. I raised the highest amount of anyone and also won a weekend at a resort which I gave back. Over the past 10 yr or so I've raised over $45,000 for charities which have organized century and 150 rides and received a number of "prizes" as a result. In almost all cases I have returned them to the "pot," but this time, I thought I would indulge myself. I am now helping this particular organization to improve its fundraising and get its prizes more in line with participants' achievements.
How much charity work do you do?

Artmo 

I don't understand your math; the total amount raised for the event was MUCH more than $6,000.
And yes, all participants knew what the prizes were before the event.
Again, how much charity work do you do? It's very easy to sign up at one of your choice .

Lithuania

awesome dude!

Congrats on the bike and all the charity work. You are a better person then I will ever be.

botto 

“Behold I do not give lectures or a little charity, When I give I give myself”

Walt Whitman

botto 

Congrats on the bike and full respect for raising the cash for charity.

woodcycl

Great looking bike!! Way to go for the charities also! It takes a lot of time, effort, and determination to raise that kind of money for charity. Impressive.

Kimbercop

Congrats to you and thanks for all the hard work raising that money. Don't let petty jealousy ruin your moment.

Artmo 

Touche'!

Artmo 

Nice one!

Artmo 

Just back fom a 21 mile ride alone - not too fast as I have a chest cold, so kept it to 65-70% HRmax. I love the bike!!!

Thanks all for the positive comments. It's not really that difficult to raise that amount of money. Except for one pledge, it was all done by mail and email.
And CardiacKid - your math is a bit off, but as I said you made a valid point; the bike was a bit over the top but it made me go all out to raise the money. Pity it didn't have that effect on more people. My first priority was the charity towards which I have a great personal affinity and I would have raised at least $5K in any case, but the bike was a real incentive to push a bit harder.

Talewinds

What's it matter if you raise $6000 and the industry kicks back a $6000 bike? Your efforts are righteous.
"Without charity, I am nothing." Corinthians 13:1-3

Chubbychicken

Beautiful bike. Can't wait to see you photos!

Grats on raising $6k too!

Surferbruce

pinny's rule! congrats.

GuitarWizard

Don't ride with a chest cold....

merlinextraligh

Obviously, more than one person raised money for the charity, but only one got the prize, and as pointed out, the prize was likely donated in whole or in part. So it's not $2000 cost to raise $6,000. It's likely some fraction of $2,000 to raise a multiple of $6,000. To guage if its reasonable you need to know the ratio of the charity's fund raising costs to the amount it actually spends on its charitable mission. This information is available from independent auditing sources. You simply don't have enough information to reach the conclusion that this is over the top. To the extent your concerned, check the fund raising costs as percentage of operations for any charity to which you're considering donating.

And it is true that the bike is income to you, but you get a deduction to help offset that for any donation you made personally, and any out of pocket costs you had in raising that money.