The correct financial view is that financing is the worst way to pay for a depreciating item. Like a bike or car.

Of course, this never stopped a huge # of Americans to rush out to lease their car even when they say they're very interested in saving thousands of their own dollars.

Fortunately, bikes are a much smaller purchase, but still, it's much more disciplined and cheaper to pay for it in cash and avoid the interest charges.

Leasing makes little sense from an economic standpoint. If you doubt this, why do you think leased and financed vehicles are so highly pushed by car dealers? It ain't because it's saving you any money - it's because you're paying a lot of extra dollars that go to the dealer. If leasing were really a financially efficient means of buying a car, you'd never hear about it, and it would be never be advertised, because it would be minimizing dealer profits. When's the last time you saw an ad about how great it was to pay for your car in cash up front? (Versus the endless 0% down in the first year blah blah blah...)

Bottom line: If you can't afford saving your own bucks to pay for the actual value of the item down the road, how can you possibly justify paying for it with interest down the road? (Which is what you do with a lease.) The only exception to this rule is if your income will go up in the near future, and you really have to have the item now (like a car, or gasp-bike.)