stapfam

I seem to be spending money on spares right now. Not just on my bike either. Had a mates bike in a few weeks ago and it has cost him £100 ($160) in parts so far. Just spent another £50 for him as the bike was in a right state. But he has admitted that since he had the bike 2 years ago- all he has bought are 2 tyres. Not bad for a 240lbs Mountain biker doing about 5,000 miles a year.

My bike(s) have cost me a lot more than that this year. I have a night ride planned and my old lamp is just about to pack in so £210 for a new one.



Same lamp but 6 years difference. twice as bright at 680 lumens- Half the weight- Double the battery life and about 2/3rds the price. The new one is on the right by the way. Same time as I bought that I got a new lock and Hawser- Had to be a Kryptonite as They are one of the best but are worth it----I hope never to find out if they work though.

Then last Sundays ride- 2 new Michelin PR3 tyres for the Pinnie. Already have a box of 10 tubes so hopefully wont need them for a while. And a new Wedge. Wish I didn't buy this online now as although I chose the medium size out of 3--Will it be too big or too small? And as I don't have one in stock---Ordered a spare chain as they have a good price on them.

So since January I have spent nearly £600 (Around £1,000) on bike bits With chain Reaction. Luckily only about £400 is mine and I should be able to recover the cost of the other parts as they are for other peoples bikes. I don't bank on that though as we seem to operate a barter system round here- If I play my cards right I shall be getting the Electrical problems sorted by my neighbour- Get a load of Plants and Fertiliser for the garden and The wifes car will get a free service. Just get the feeling that I would rather have a new set of wheels. Nice set of Dure Ace Carbons would be nice.

TheHen

My next "spare" purchase will be N+1. We will be ordering a new tandem sometime in the next couple of months. Similar to your light, it will be two-thirds the weight and cost of the one it is bumping. I don't know about the battery life. I'll have to check on his fitness level.

John_V 

My new Colnago came with one bottle cage. I purchased another one from Colnago so I would have two matching cages. I also bought two matching XLC brand aluminum cages, in white, as backups since the Colnago cages are either plastic or nylon. The one Colnago cage cost me more than the two spare cages did.

rdtompki

I'm thinking of a spare wheelset for the tandem, Spinergy's look interesting, but the darn daVinci wheels are so stout that I'll never need a backup. We'd be faster on the Spinergy's, no doubt.

Tires, tubes, brake/derailleur cables, chains, quick links, etc. we are all set.

NOS88

Today I'm picking up a pair of Shimano Ultegra 6700 shifters and a set of Dura Ace 7800 brakes both with less than 1,000 miles on them. I don't need them right now, but at this price ($150), I can't see passing them up. Eventually, I'll use them for a new build of some sort, or as replacements.

qcpmsame 

Next purchase for me will be some bottle cages that aren't as heavy as the Specialized aluminum I got when I bought the bicycle. Too bulky and tight on the bottles. Maybe some ABS plastic or even, dare I say it, a pair of carbon fiber cages. Should be at least 5 MPH faster with these.

John_V 

Bill,

These are the ones that I just picked up as spares for the plastic ones that I now have on the bike. They're pretty stylish and very light weight; about as light as an aluminum wire cage. I got the white/black but they have them in blue/black as well. Not sure how well the match will be to the color of your bike. The black part is rubberized and helps the bottle from coming out.

XLC bottle cage (Click on the Variations link to see the other colors.)

Retro Grouch 

I've messed with bikes for a long time but I haven't been too smart about guessing what spares I'll need.

Around 5 years ago I actually bought a brand new set of 9-speed Ultegra brifters because I had 2 bikes that were equiped with them and new replacements were getting impossible to find. That's a pricy spare to keep laying around. Eventually my grandson and I built up my son's old Felt aluminum/carbon frame with them and now it's a nicely equipped, unused spare hanging on the wall.

wphamilton

Wheels.

OldsCOOL

Valve stem adapter.

stapfam

I know I am offroad where downhill speed hitting Lumps in the trail take a lot out of the wheels but I went for a strong hub in Hope Biguns- Rim was Mavic full downhill spec X729 and 36 spokes 14g straight to hold them together. Compared to the Rhyno Lites the bike came with on Tandem XT hubs and 40 spokes- The Handbuilts were no heavier but Take a lot more punishment Than the Rhynos ever did. The rhyno rims were replaced after about 600 miles-- The handbuilts have done over 10,000 miles with only retrueing once a year.

JanMM

Looking into buying a set of GXP external bearings to have on hand for my two bikes with Truvativ cranksets. The bikes were new in '08 and '09 and each have several thousand miles. Got the appropriate tools quite a while ago. I figure if I have a bearing set on hand, that in itself will forestall problems.
Nope, no interest in ceramic bearings.

Monoborracho

I'm teaching a course at the local college as an adjunct this semester, and Ms. Mono said I can use the stipend for a set of Zipp's for the tri bike.

She was standing there when the bike shop dude told us a set of Zipp tubulars would shave 30 minutes off my half-iron time, so it must be true. It also means less time for her to wait on me, so she was all in.

I love the bike shop dude.

Seve

I'm going to give a set of open tubular tires a whirl.

Rowan

The plastic ones are not overly strong, especially in heat. I prefer the polycarbonate ones because of their price and I really like the clear ones. Then I have carbon fibre ones (at around $20 a pop) on the Ti and CF bikes.

I won't ever use aluminium ones again. They mark water bottles so badly after the oxidation wears off them. The polycarbonate and CF ones don't and they hold the bidons really well.

Rowan

The plastic ones are not overly strong, especially in heat. I prefer the polycarbonate ones because of their price and I really like the clear ones. Then I have carbon fibre ones (at around $20 a pop) on the Ti and CF bikes.

I won't ever use aluminium ones again. They mark water bottles so badly after the anodising wears off them. The polycarbonate and CF ones don't and they hold the bidons really well.

Artkansas 

I did a $300.00 overhaul on a 23-year-old Specialized Hard Rock about a two years ago. Now that I am unemployed, it seems like money very well spent as the bike is running solidly.

Wogster

You need to take a proper frame of reference, You got a lot for £600, put a new set of tyres on the car, of the same quality as those bicycle tyres and see how much you have left from that £600. I completely overhauled the mountain bike this winter, total cost CA$80, and half that was tools I will be using over and over, now I didn't replace the tires simply because I replaced them last year. I spent nothing on the road bike, it got it's expenses in the year before, although I would like to put on new brake shoes before the summer season starts, so maybe I will spend a total of $10 on it, this year. It will cost $40 for an oil change for the cage and it needs the winter boots swapped with the summer ones, and the %$#@! A/C needs to be looked at, I've never seen a car A/C repair that was less then $800.

I do need to get a front light for the missus' bike, but that will be a simple battery light, nothing fancy, we don't ride a lot at night, so it's more to be seen then to see.

stapfam

Car will not bother me and it will cost me about $50 on parts to get it serviced--I Am a mechanic. Small car and bike tyres cost more than the car ones will. Car tyres will last 20,000 miles- Bike and I will be lucky to get 3,000. Car does 5, 000 miles a year and the bikes will do about the same this year. Insurance will be the cost on the car but with the Milage the bikes and the cars do- I reckon they will cost about the same except for fuel. But with coffee and Pie costing about $7 and Petrol at $11 a gallon- I should think that will be about the same per annum.

I begrudge spending money on the car but the bike is necessity.

pdlamb

I've already got in spares:
1 front wheel
2 rear wheels
B-17 and seatpost
Shifters (1 set each Campy and Shimano)
Brake pads
Tires
Tubes
Shifter cables
Shifter housing
Brake cables
Rain jacket
Chains
Lights
Bar tape (that needs to be put on Real Soon Now)
And a bike.

I'm trying to talk myself out of a spare frame. A little help here?

stapfam

No chance-- Spare crankset and you are almost there.

Retro Grouch 

I mentioned the bike that my grandson and I put together using my spare Ultegra 9-speed brifters. As far as I can recall, the only out-of-pocket thing that we bought for that bike was handlebar tape. Everything else came from either my spares bin or my son's spares bin.

Phil85207

The only thin I have bought in twos were Magic Shine lights. I have one for the helmet and one on the bar. Its one of the best things I did for night ridding. Actually the helmet one is my favorite, as I can see where ever I am looking. With the two of them it's like taking your own high powered street light with you.

dynodonn 

Today, it was some spokes for the rear wheel.