Cost analysis of Bicycle racing for three years

Cost analysis - Bicycle Racing from 2006 to 2009

It would be interesting to note the costs incurred so far since coming back to the sport of bicycle racing in 2006, after a hiatus of 15 years. In 1985 my first road bike was a Peugeot with Reynolds 501 tubing which was bought from Bellite Bicycles store on Jamaica Ave for about $300. Subsequent road bikes were a Swiss made Cilo costing $500 dollars with Columbus tubing bought from a store on Union Turnpike and an Atala frame bought from Al Toefield's Kissena Bicycle store for $400. My initial track bike was a Lotus track bike which had road geometry; this was bought from another racer for about $300. A better track bike bought from another racer was the Riggio which had tighter geometry and cost $500. Those were the major costs which jump out at me after leaving the sport in 1991 to pursue my pilot license. I would say within the span of six years (1985 to 1991) I spent about $10,000 dollars on equipment and racing expense.

Fresher in my memory are the costs for equipment and consumables after coming back to the sport in 2006. Below are an itemized list of the major purchases and expenses:

-Bianchi Pista Concept Track Bike - $1,500
-Specialized Roubaix road bike - $1,200
-Pro Lite Track Bike - $650
-Tiemeyer Track frame - $1,350
-Specialized Tarmac carbon fiber road bike - $1,700
-HED clincher disk wheel - $800
-HED clincher tri spoke rear wheel $200
-Zipp 404 track tubular wheels - $1,500
-Aerospoke front clincher - $300
-Mavic Ellipse track clincher wheels - $500
-Karbona carbon disk wheel - $800
-Karbona carbon tri spoke wheel - $500
-Karbona carbon road wheels - $500
-Rol Volant clincher road wheels - $400
-Track tires and tubes - $600
-Road tires and tubes - $400
-Bicycle clothing - $2,000
-Cyclops spin bike - $2,000
-Indoor Roller - $200
-Indoor trainers - $400
-Bike storage racks - $300
-Misc equipment $1,000
-Books $400
-Videos $400
-Yearly licenses and registrations - $500 x 3 years = $1,500
-Yearly supplements - $500 x 3 years = $1,500
-Yearly travel - $400 x 3 years = $1,200

So far for three years of racing it will cost roughly $25,000. A major component of the expenses incurred were as a result of trial/error, experimenting with different equipment and trying new items, all part of the learning curve and keeping abreast with hyped up technology.