I thought I would do a break down of my bike purchase costs. I know there are few bike geeks out there. One favor though, please don’t waste my time telling me how you could have saved me $5 dollars. I am not removing my rear bike rack to purchase your suggestion. It won’t happen.
A few things that need to be clarified.
When I woke up May 16, 2019 I had no plan to start this ride this year. By the time I went to bed I most of my plans figured out in my head. At the time I was in Oregon and 7 days from returning to Canada.
Keep in mind:
1) I had no bike
2) I had no winter gear
2) I had no website
3) I was working 80 hours a week as a long haul truck driver
4) My weekends consisted of only 36 hours. Saturday 9:30pm to Monday 9:30 am
My original start date was going to be December 31, 2019. I was able to move that forward to November 12,2019. In my opinion that I got what I got done as quickly as I did was nothing short of a miracle.
Because everything happened so quickly and unexpectedly my bike of choice was a no brainer. I will link to that blog post at the bottom of this post.
My bike of choice was a MEC National bike. I used MEC because there was one 5 minutes from work in Burlington Ontario and MEC’s can be found in most major cities across Canada for regular maintenance. I needed a bike shop that I could count on. I also used another great bike shop in London Ontario called Outspokin Cycles for basically everything I could not get at MEC. They were great because they would open their doors after hours when I drove past in my truck.
At MEC a huge thank you to Trevor, Richard and Dan. At Outspokin a huge thank you to Cody and Fred
A few items were direct from the manufacture such as KLite and Click Stand. A few items from Amazon.
Typically I would show up at MEC every 2 or 4 weeks for an hour or two dropping off a few new parts/supplies as I received them. And checking up on progress and discussing MEC product options.
I don’t want to say decisions were made on the fly by any means but decision were made and then action was taken. What was accomplished in 5 1/2 months between bike, website and Facebook bike group promotion was nothing short of crazy.
Before
After
| Bike | Subtotal | Taxes | Total |
| MEC National Bike | $1,440.00 | $187.20 | $1,627.20 |
| Brooks carved all weather bike saddle | $150.00 | $19.50 | $169.50 |
| Moloko handle bars | $119.99 | $15.60 | $135.59 |
| Cascadia 11 29er bike fenders | $47.70 | $6.20 | $53.90 |
| pedals | $19.80 | $2.57 | $22.37 |
| SP dynamo hub | $199.99 | $26.00 | $225.99 |
| Shimano SM-RT54 Roter | $22.99 | $2.99 | $25.98 |
| Shimano shifters | $69.99 | $9.10 | $79.09 |
| Schwalbe winter studded tires x2 | $139.90 | $18.19 | $158.09 |
| front wheel spokes | $54.00 | $7.02 | $61.02 |
| brake leavers | $38.00 | $4.94 | $42.94 |
| bike stem | $22.00 | $2.86 | $24.86 |
| bike labor | $390.00 | $50.70 | $440.70 |
| Click Stand kick stand | $63.75 | $0.00 | $84.65 |
| GP3 hand Grips | $49.95 | $4.00 | $71.65 |
| K Lite bike light for dynamo hub | $711.83 | $0.00 | $711.83 |
| K Lite rear light | $117.67 | $0.00 | $117.67 |
| Blackburn rear light | $69.99 | $9.10 | $79.09 |
| shorter bike stem & handle bar tape | $57.99 | $7.54 | $65.53 |
| Surly 26-29″ rear bike rack | $189.99 | $24.70 | $214.69 |
| Surly 2.0 front bike rack | $214.99 | $27.95 | $242.94 |
| BOB Trailer | $469.95 | $61.09 | $531.04 |
| Wolf Tooth cage extensions & trailer kickstand | $150.97 | $19.63 | $170.60 |
| Blackburn Outpost bottle cages | $60.00 | $9.00 | $69.00 |
| bottle cages | $15.50 | $2.02 | $17.52 |
| $5,443.44 | |||
| Bags & Panniers | |||
| front Panniers – Sporty Packer Plus | $275.99 | $35.88 | $311.87 |
| rear panniers – Roller Plus | $229.99 | $29.90 | $259.89 |
| Ortlieb FramePack | $199.79 | $25.97 | $225.76 |
| Blackburn fuel tank bag | $45.99 | $5.98 | $51.97 |
| Ultimate 6 Pro E Bar Bag | $275.26 | $0.00 | $275.26 |
| $1,124.75 | |||
| Accessories & Miscellaneous | |||
| Kryptonite Heavy Duty bike lock | $130.57 | $16.97 | $147.54 |
| heavy duty lock cable | $24.00 | $3.12 | $27.12 |
| cargo net | $8.95 | $1.16 | $10.11 |
| pannier security lock | $15.00 | $1.95 | $16.95 |
| bike misc / Canadian flag | $25.12 | $3.27 | $28.39 |
| bike misc | $6.53 | $0.85 | $7.38 |
| Bike parts/tools | $153.49 | $19.95 | $173.44 |
| Bike straps (for bar bag) | $10.00 | $1.30 | $11.30 |
| extra bike mirror | $24.00 | $3.12 | $27.12 |
| spare folding tire | $52.89 | $6.88 | $59.77 |
| Wet Chain lube | $12.95 | $1.68 | $14.63 |
| Thread Lock | $9.99 | $1.50 | $11.49 |
| Bar Mitts | $109.00 | $14.17 | $123.17 |
| $658.41 | |||
| Grand Total | $7,226.60 |
So there you have it.
