I couple years ago I was chatting with a lady in a slightly better neighborhood than mine while our kids played. Her husband's hobby involved flying the 4 seater airplane they own.
Our hobbies don't have anything on the cost of that one.

Even though I graduated college over 2 years ago, I still have $20,000 to pay back and my current job still doesn't pay enough so I am still quite poor. I recently bought a new bike since my other one broke and I dismantled it. Even though I only paid $260 for it, was still a bit out of my budget. Now if I was making over $30,000 year I would be looking into carbon fiber and all sorts of high end components just because I could actually afford it.

I'll vote with the no budget, every available moment option since it's the closest. I'm pretty well set at this point so most of my spending is little upgrades and necessities (tubes, new helmet since the last had a crack in the side). I do have my eyes open for deals on things I "need". Two truly budgeted items in the pipe right now: trainer (PM if you have suggestions) and building up my LHT for loaded on/off road touring.

Times are a bit tight and $20 a month is what I have to keep all 3 bikes (mines, hubby's, daughter's) going. I also compare it to how much we spend on car repairs (just for the fun of it. I don't include gas & oil changes in these calculations). If I include gifts & generous help from friends, $700 worth of time/money/equipment has been spent on my bike alone since the last $700 car repair. However, we just had a $900 car repair this week so the money-clock started ticking again.

Same here. Started in summer and am slowly adjusting gear as I go. Tight budget, no credit cards. Spend a lot of time online shopping and researching. W106s, flashlight last month. Better gloves, pedals this month. Once the necessities are done, will only spend money for maintenance.

I vote for 1,2,and3:D

We normally budget pretty tightly on normal income. However extra money comes in from various sources and a percentage can be spent on cycling stuff. Also I am constantly on the prowl for cycling stuff, usually C&V friendly stuff;) My "big" purchase last year was a used Staiger Florida (German Trekking bike) that came fully loaded with racks, 700c wheels, Nexus hub generator, etc for $175:D the original game plan was to strip it down for parts, however it has about $75 worth of racks and folding baskets added to it and become the grocery getter. I currently own too many bikes (probably about 16 ridable) but the total cost of accumulating them was under the cost of a high end MTB or Road bike.;) Every now and again my wife harps on the price of a tool or piece of equipment, but it usually goes away when I drag out the spread sheet and compare the costs of my hobby with say my FIL who just dropped almost $50k into a 1957 Chevy hot rod.:p or her step brother who has antique aircraft or her half brother who has a Harley and bowls in 2 different leagues:rolleyes:

Aaron:)

My bike budget is being blown through by my wife on her bikes, clothes and accessories. I'm happy she is out on a bike and we can go for rides together so it is money well spent. Someday I hope to make enough to buy me some more then basics :D
Husband: 1 rideable bike (tank of a bike though) stored outside.
Wife: Racing Road Bike, Hybrid (ancient one though), recumbent and a 4 day old Cyclocross Bike currently all stored inside.

I checked the spend like crazy option; not because I buy the $6k carbon fiber bike, but because I've acquired and maintain/update a stable of 6 bikes. I shop carefully, taking advantage of free postage, 30% - 70% off sales with another 10% - 20% off the order. I also hit some of the one-a-day internet sites. About 75% of my bike spending is funded by turning over bikes on Craigslist.
My weak spot is cold weather gear - especially gloves / socks / and shoes.

I picked #3, although my definition of "need" is pretty elastic.

(BTW, love the OP's avatar: Gene rules!)

I voted for 3 :(
But what I really need and what I think I need still means "NEED".:D
So at times I find out that I really did not NEED it. But I needed to buy it.:eek::rolleyes:

I got caught up into race cars with another friend for a number of years, now that is behind me for some years now, I can afford just about any bike/gear I could ever want, I also have tons more time to tinker with/enjoy riding them, and plus my bikes have yet to come back home wrecked evey other weekend.

A nice coincidence for me is that before we were married, Mrs. Caloso used to date a guy who into racing cars. I imagine the guy spent more for gas and tires in a weekend than I can spend on bikes all year. So it's just a matter of framing the perspective.

There should be a 5th selection.I don't spend anything on my bike(s).I have 70 parts bikes that have all the parts I may need.I haven't had to buy anything for the last 12 years.I don't believe in buying cycling "shwag" of any kind just to look like what people perceive a cyclist to be.I don't race(so forget the Spandex) but put over 5000 miles a year on my bike(s) commuting.So it's not that I'm not serious about cycling but when I see a fellow rider all decked out with the spandex,clip-in shoes,little mirror on the helmet(what he/she's wearing cost more than what I paid for my bike:eek:)riding a higher end new road bike and they're not signifigantly faster than I am.They look like they should pump me off easily!I always ride in my street clothes and don't wear a helmet.

Same here. I can't say that I only buy what I need at the cheapest price possible. I suppose I only "need" one pair of cheap shorts, but a nice pair of bibs feels a lot better and saves my taint from a lot of problems. I don't have a bad habit of buying things I don't have, but sometimes I might buy things at a higher price level than I really need.

2007 was the first year I kept track of every dollar I spent on cycling. I spent a lot more than I wanted. In 2008 I'm going to aim for a budget of $50/month. We'll see how that goes.