I’ve wanted a bicycle since I was in second year of university. I’d always ridden as a kid, and the idea of using a bicycle to commute instead of a gas-guzzling-environment-ruining car was very appealing to me.
Unfortunately, as a debt-ridden and cash-strapped university student, buying a bicycle, even a used one, seemed like an extravagance. I was worried I wouldn’t end up using it and thus end up wasting the money, or that I wouldn’t have the cahonies to ride a bicycle in city traffic. So I wistfully hoped for a bicycle, but never actually got one. Until two weeks ago.
Choosing A Bicycle
It’s been five years since I first lusting after a bicycle, and in that time I’ve done a fair amount of research on what type of bicycle would suit my lifestyle. I knew I wanted a cruiser bike which has a larger seat, a rear rack, upright handles and wider tires. These features make it a good all around bike when compared to the more specialized road or mountain bike varieties. I also knew that I wanted a multi-speed bicycle, to make hills easier to handle.
Once I knew that type of bicycle I wanted, I went online to peruse the offerings at Canadian Tire, MEC, Amazon, and Kijiji. I didn’t have much luck. It seemed like there were plenty of fixed gear cruisers available at a reasonable price, but multi speed cruisers were harder to come by, and more expensive. I wasn’t prepared to spend more than $500 on a bike I wasn’t even sure I was going to use.
I go through the process of searching for a bike every year. So when I started my traditional Spring search this year, I was pumped to find this beautiful bike on the Canadian Tire website. The Schwinn Sanctuary 26 inch Womens 7 Cruiser Bike
My Review of the Schwinn Sanctuary 7 Cruiser Bike
I’ve had my new bicycle for about two weeks now and I’m in love. It’s so adorable and a joy to ride. The larger tires are perfect for riding on the road and light trails. The 7-speeds allow me to negotiate the country hills without much difficulty and the large seat makes longer rides very comfy.
Since I live in a rural area, I haven’t used it for commuting or running errands – the stores are too far away! Mostly I’ve been using it for cruising around our local neighbourhood on the weekends and visiting nearby family members. I’ve gotten lots of compliments and even my husband – who is a much more seasoned biker than I am – commented “Now that’s a nice bike” after a quick ride around the Canadian Tire parking lot.
The Cost My New Bicycle Hobby
Besides the cost of the bicycle, I’ve also purchased a helmet and side view mirror. Overall I’ve spent about $350 on the whole set up. I didn’t buy this bike to cut down on my transportation costs, so this bike isn’t a cost saving measure. It’s purely for recreational purposes, that said, I want to get my money’s worth, so let’s consider it’s cost-per-use.
What is Cost-Per-Use?
Basically cost-per-use is the dollar value of a purchase per use. Concert tickets have a very high cost per use, since you only get to use it that one time. A pair of jeans, on the other hand, have a very low cost-per-use. If you pay $60 for a pair of jeans and wear them 100 times, the cost-per-use is $60/100 = $0.60 per use.
So far I’ve ridden this bike 5 times, putting my cost per use at $350/5 = $70 per use. That’s pretty high, but the more I use it, the lower the cost-per-use will be.
Affording Impulse Purchases
I classify this purchase as an impulse buy because I wasn’t specifically saving money for a bicycle. Although this was an impulse buy, it’s one I’ve been wanting to make for over 5 years. I didn’t have money put away specifically for this, but I didn’t charge it on my credit card either. I simply took money out of my personal savings, and I’ll be slowly replenishing those savings over the next few months. To say it feels great to be able to randomly shell out $350 without having to put it on credit is an understatement. It feels great, like I’m a “real grown up”.
Do you have a bicycle? Have you recently taken the plunge and spent money on something you’ve wanted for a long time? I want to know!