Best £10 (ish) you ever spent?

[ABlipInContinuity]

£10 doesn't seem like a lot of money these days. But sometimes you can spend a smallish amount on something that turns out to be far better or more essential than you ever expected. What's the best £10 you ever spent? Firstly, cycling related. Secondly, in general?

On cycling gear:

• A buff - purchased from Evans somewhere in Londinium on a freezing cold day when I was wondering around with the bike I couldn't ride due to a runny tummy. Now it's always the first thing I grab for a bike ride on a winters day

In general:

• A bottle of wine and a chinese take away consumed in what turned out to be lovely company

[Charlotte]

On cycling gear:

• A road ID.  It was just over $20, but that's more or less a tenner and if it ever gets used, it'll be worth it's weight in jewel-encrusted platinum.
  
  

In general:

• A box of immodium anna bumper pack of TP prior to my recent visit to New York.  If I have to explain this any further, you've clearly not experienced the Yellow Runnybum Horror.

[rogerzilla]

Recently, some mange treatment for Mr. Joshy (worked out to about £10 per shot, anyway).  Cleared it up in a week and fixed his runny eye as well 

Bike-related...two Specialized Turbo S tyres from Paul Milnes Cycles.

[Seineseeker]

Yesterday, a USB cable to attach my old laptop drive to my PC. It was in fact fine, I can now restore all the stuff and I have 30GB of quite portable capacity. I can check a couple of other old drives now too.

Cycling. Maybe the sigma speedo on my cruddy bike. Cheap, but does the job.

[mike]

bike stuff is easy - a thin yellow gilet in a planet-x sale - I wear it almost every time.

non bike is harder to think of. Possibly a wok I bought when I was a student which I still use to cook almost everything (**perfect** for fried breakfasts, but they do taste a bit of curry..)
 

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Biking - not sure. I quite like stuff from the Glow Company, as a rule.

Non biking - the £18 I spent on typing lessons at night school when I was 17 or 18. Totally worth it.

[teethgrinder]

It's got to be the second hand frame I bought for a tenner. I've lost count of how many miles it's done, but must be over 30,000. It got me around the Crackpot 1000 in 2000 and has been ridden to Scotland and back a few times. It still gets me to town and to the shops, but I won't use it for long rides anymore. Very rusty at the stress points where frames usualy break from fatigue. Lots of rusty lines in the frame there.

[nicknack]

I think my track pump cost about a tenner. Wouldn't be without one now.

Non bike is probably the old alto sax mouthpiece that I found in a shop's chuck-out box. Used it for years.

[vince]

A winter training jacket from Cycle Promotions in a sort of Look rip-off design. I've worn it every winter since and its been great.

[diapsaon0]

Cycling is probably a Mercian frame I bought last week on ebay for £1.24. Needs a repair and is off to Derby as soon as I find time to strip it down.

Non-cycling has got be an Armani suit, bought in Oxfam for a tenner.

N

[Elleigh]

Cycling - My cycling gloves

General - my £10 data package, that allows unlimited BB messaging, emails, PIN messaging and surfing the net

[Jacomus]

• Cycling

Cheapo magazine subscription to TWO (I'm a BIKE reader by preferance), recieving a buff that is still in constant service three years later.

• Non-cycling

Last weeks food bill for Emily and me - 7 days of food for the two of us for a tenner. Tough times, but kind of satisfying!
[/list]

[Spikey]

£12:50 entry fee for BCM audax.

[Otto]

A Rapha Etap t-shirt..brilliant quality..like new after 4 years

[andygates]

Bike-related... my Cool Tool.

Not bike-related... a couple of rubber atoms to slip over my tongue stud.  If you have to ask... 

[alan]

The first time I dated Marj.

[agagisgroovy]

I've told you all this more than a thousand times, but my dad found my current commuter bike at a car boot sale for £10 and it had a new LX chainset (has since broken, but still), and it was a Specialized Hardrock but an older one before the frames got totally oversized. We did put on some new brakes, swapped handlebars/stem with another bike, used the rack off the bike I rode when I was about 10, and used some old mudguards I had replaced on another bike with some prettier ones and it had some tyres from the 'they won't do the touring bikes but they still have a few miles in them' plus a cheap dynamo and lights and some bright orange £1 bar tape. So far it's saved a couple of hundred quid by commuting for 8 months, and I use it for Go-Ride and short (less than 30 miles) off road rides. And if I do grow out of it it'll get a good use the squablings and it'll fit my mum too. 

Non Cycling ... the £5 DIY not EMI Gaidhlig na Lasair punk CD, there's probably some others that I've forgotton. 

[longers]

Cycling related: A Ron Hill lightweight waterproofish jacket for £10 in my local seconds and samples outlet. It's got zip off sleeves and is a gillet and jacket in one. Very much used and loved.

[nutkin]

Bike related: My £2 armwarmers.
A pound an arm can't be bad - they stay up on my skinny arms, and they're PINK!

Non-bike: a bottle of jojoba oil from Neal's Yard. Great for taming wild-hair days, of which I have a few.

[annie]

I can vouch for the 'pinkness' of Nutkin's armwarmers and have some pics somewhere.

For me, cycle related would have to be my tub of Udderly Smooth - used to soften n soothe those delicate parts.

Non cycle related - Udderly Smooth, can't think of anything else at the mo.

[Valiant]

Bike Related: Vittoria TT Randonneur 32mm Tyres. I thought these would be slow, painful and crap compared to my ProRace 2s. Infact they've been the opposite and seem set to last a long time.

Non Bike: Too many to list :S

[francisbarton]

Cycling: 2 pairs of second hand ATAC pedals from ebay.

Non-cycling: A 5-minute phone call to my mum when I was 17, thousands of miles from home, and completely distraught with homesickness. She knew just what to say and what not to say. By some distance the best £10 I have ever spent.

[Maffie]

Cycling as to be my gloves I got in the sale 

Non cycling hmmm the bus ticket to go pick up my new bike 

[ABlipInContinuity]

Non cycling hmmm the bus ticket to go pick up my new bike 

I don't think that quite counts as non-cycling... 

[bobajobrob]

Cycling related: Halfords track pump. Copes with 120psi+ with ease.

Non-cycling related: Philishave twin head (OK, was 25 pounds or thereabouts). The battery still lasts for 2 months at a time after 8 years of use. That's 0.85p per shave