Originally Posted by
TwinOaks
So, I started commuting to work three years ago. Then last year we adopted another dog and I take her our mountain biking regularly. Just before Christmas I started wrenching my own bikes. I wound up building up new wider rims and a drive train on my MTB. This meant I needed a new pair of tires. Then I put an Alfine 11 and a front disk brake on my commuter. I regularly clean my drive trains and fiddle with stuff. Accessories, tools, and parts of various applications are all over my shed. Now that my MTB 1x9 setup is showing signs of wear I want to put an Alfine 8 on it and set it up for adventuring, touring, and bikepacking, and of course buy yet another pair of 26 inch tires. I think my wife wants to kill me. Is this a normal obsession? And should I find another hobby? Should I try to make some cash on the side with this?
Other hobbies are just as gear obsessive as bicycling but bicycling is probably the most affordable and most useful. You can't drive a golf ball to work. Horses cost way more to maintain than cars. You can't drive a boat to work...well, unless you live in Houston...Oh! Too soon
And then there are cars. Collecting, restoring and driving old cars costs roughly 10 times what a bike will cost. Dropping $6000 on a bike is crazy talk but dropping that much on a car is basically entry level stuff.
My shrewd little bother talked his way into a motorcycle when he was 15 by planning to build a super go-cart from a basic case motorcycle. He had plans drawn out and some parts collected so my parents suggested he buy a motorcycle instead because they could see the upcoming carnage. Never mind that my bother didn't have the skills nor equipment to actually weld a frame, they let him buy the motorcycle anyway.
Perhaps that's what you should do with your wife. Start planning on buying and restoring a 60s muscle car or making a kit car. Leave magazines and catalogs around so that she can see your new obsession. Once she sees the price of parts, she might see bicycles in a whole new light.
By the way, when
I asked to buy a motorcycle, I was told "No. You'll kill yourself." That's was their basic response on everything. Kind of why I ended up obsessed with bicycles. I think I better off in the end.