wphamilton

Also, consuming the extra calories doesn't necessarily mean that we're wasting the other nutrients in the food. It could be just higher calorie content for example (which I think is generally the case for me personally). If we need and utilize that food anyway it can't be counted extra as bicycle fuel cost. So I tend to your option C also.

You'd really have to track grocery bills and weight, a period of riding vs not riding, to get a good handle on it but that's getting a little extreme IMO.

noglider 

Hmm, I hadn't thought about resale. That presents a big change in the model here, and it shows that cycling is cheaper than some of us were counting.

Phil_gretz

I agree with this. I think that a relatively modest new or newer car will wind up costing about $0.50/mile to own and operate over its life.

I'm in my 4th year commuting on the same bike as my primary commuter. It's working out to ~$0.35/mile with parts replacement, tires, etc. But this doesn't count money spent for lighting, bags and cold weather gear and the like.

My other bikes get ridden, too, but for fewer dedicated commuting miles. I'd guess that their cost of use works out similarly enough. But I don't record mileage so wouldn't have a guess on the total miles ridden on each. No clue...

I'm willing to pay a bit more and take more time for the opportunity to ride my bike while others are driving. Those are worth it to me.

woodcraft

The activity that cycling has largely replaced recently

involved driving ~1000 miles/month (+ similar amount of buying stuff),

so most of cycling cost is offset just by less gas for driving.

rm -rf

Huh, this is an interesting thread.

I justified my expensive road bike by estimating the cost per hour. Would I pay $5 or $9 per hour to do something I enjoy -- yes.

I didn't include the costs of driving to interesting locations or the energy bar per hour, or the craft beer after the ride!

logical

For the current road bike purchased in June the cost per mile is $4.

Previous road bike after considering resell is: .95c a mile

First road bike and considering resell: .29c a mile

The price I pad for each bike has gone up exponentially since my first road bike. After riding my first bike for 4000 miles I finally "knew" what I wanted in a bike. Second bikes cost jumped 4 fold compared to my first road bike. Got bored of the second bike and purchased a newer bike that cost roughly the same as the second bike after upgrades.

Given my history of number of miles on previous bikes my new bike would end up at $1.5 dollar per mile before I wanted a new one But I suspect this new bike will see much more miles than the rest of the others for the fact that I am spending on other things and I could never use my current bike to its fullest potential anyway.

acidfast7

I agree. My costs per commute are quite high even when one looks at per h commute time or per commute. I also think there are some artificially low numbers in this thread.

I-Like-To-Bike

The suspected low numbers may be the true result of commuting cyclists not wrapped up in an N+1 mindset, or in a seeming contest with others and/or themselves to see who can buy and maybe even use the latest and greatest bicycles, accessories, and bicycling specific high zoot brand name "kit", but instead use the same fully paid for equipment, more or less, year after year.

I-Like-To-Bike

Just think of the money allegedly "saved", if bicycling replaced activities like yachting, deep sea fishing, sky diving or mountain climbing!

indyfabz

I recently ordered a pair of winter bib tights for commuting. They are backordered and should arrive in about 2 weeks. Got them on sale for $131. For some unexplained reason, the retailer shipped me a pair of women's 3/4 padded tights, size S. When I called yesterday I was told I didn't have to send them back. Just dropped them of at my ex's place, which is across the street from my office. If they don't fit her I am going to donate them to a LBS that sponsors a youth cycling program.

RubeRad

Yes, a large part of keeping my costs low is I adhere to an N=2 philosophy rather than N+1. I have my commuter and my mountain bike. If I get another bike, it would replace one of those and I would get rid of it (or hand it down to somebody else in the family).
Exception, I am vaguely interested in picking up a folder someday for air travel.

wphamilton

I didn't agree with really any of it. Even on a per commute basis, my cost is less than 35 cents per commute on that bike, and since that includes the up front cost and is only 3 years that number will go way down before I'm done with it.

It is much less than the cost of driving, even if I exclude the cost of the car and insurance.

acidfast7

Do you not agree with my costs or any of this thread? I've been quite diligent in keeping track but am open to criticism

Just with a quick scroll I'd say we're really looking at 0.20 ± 0.05 / mi over the long term when people are honest with themselves.

wphamilton

I have no issue with your costs but that doesn't mean people are fooling themselves and don't have much lower costs.

Consider, you have total about 3200 miles since 2013. That's less than a year of my commutes, so my up-front costs, per mile and per commute, are a fraction of yours (since 2015). You've spent $300 on maintenance and incidentals, which isn't a lot but 3 times what I've gotten by on. Your costs are not at all unreasonable, but I assure you that I have honestly included everything including accessories and if anything have overstated the per mile cost. Because I have 3 sets of tires and haven't worn any of them completely out yet. So I dispute your estimation of .20+/-

Granted it is very easy to spend that or more, but not that hard to be way under 20 cents either. Where the median lies, I'm not going to guess.

kingston 

Most people aren't trying to minimize dollars per mile.

If you were, it wouldn't be too hard to get it down to a nickel. That's 10,000 miles on $500. Easy.

A penny would be a lot harder, That's 10,000 miles on $100. I wouldn't want to do that.

Twenty cents is luxurious. That's 10,000 miles on $2,000. Anybody could do that without even trying that hard. Those of us who spend more are just buying fancy stuff we don't really need to make the miles more enjoyable.

OldTryGuy

I can appreciate the desire/need to determine CPM, for myself it is irrelevant. Enjoyment at what-ever it costs to obtain/maintain that enjoyment.


I have 4 rides, each having its own ride characteristics and thus a purpose. I've found money on the ground riding each one and actually look for the change while riding. Money found = reduction of CPM. Most found at one time $20.00 and the least $0.01.


Have never flipped a bike.

acidfast7

I don't think would be so easy.

Lighting alone and a bike lock would eat up most of $100. A used bike at best would be $100. Then at least $100 in parts ... tune up ... brakes ... tyres ... etc...

I find it really hard that someone would be under $300 at 0 miles.

I didn't include my helmet (€100 new) as I don't wear it at all in England but wore it everyday in Germany.

Over those 10,000 miles ... many tubes / tyres will be used. Patches can reduce the cost.

But I'd imagine at least one chain, maybe a cassette, a few sets of brake pads. Other incidentals will also wear out (tyres / saddle).

A wheelset in my type of urban environment won't make it 10,000 miles (especially not at on a sub $300 bike).

I think people, when honest, would be hard-pressed to be under 20c/mi when everything is included.

acidfast7

Maybe, but 3 sets of tyres isn't cheap. A set of Schwalbe Marathons over here is about £40. So that's £120/$150 in up front costs.

I think we should be compared cost/commute, which is a more accurate reflection of costs. Also, I've only done 450 or so commutes since 2013. Part of that is I try to work fewer days, part of it is that I walked for a while as it wasn't worth riding (time was the same either way.)

Also of interest is the type of commuting, mine is very cycle-dense. Meaning my bike takes more abuse in the rack/pen than from the actual usage. Fenders snap off, etc... Things get damaged ... students probably flatten my tyres ... so I park right under the CCTV.

kingston 

You're right. If you include all the startup costs and don't account for resale when you're done, it's pretty hard to get down to a nickel a mile.

However, If you account for the money you get back when you sell your stuff at the end and buy decent quality used stuff, it gets a lot easier. Fixed gear with beefy wheels and long wearing tires would keep the maintenance costs quite low. You'd have do do all your own maintenance, buy used tools and sell them when you're done. Taking it to the shop would kill the financials.

acidfast7

We'll I'm at £100 for a solid lock and two lights. Then another £40 for a set of fenders and a bike computer. (That's £140 or $200 what I bought it).

I spent £299 on a new bike. I could've got that cost down to £150 ... £100 for a bike and £50 for new bits and bobs (two tyres / tubes / brake pads / grease / cable). £150 or about $200 again.

So, now I'm rolling with £300/$400 and zero miles.

To get to 10,000 miles or 16,000 km ... based on my experience ... I'd probably need 3 sets of tyres at a minimum. I had a Schwalbe Lugano split in half (got the money back at put it toward a Gatorskin). The Gatorskin hit some debris and was ruined. And my Schwalbe Marathon has slices down to the Green Guard (that's after the original set on the bike). So at 5000 km (3000 mi), I've used up two Kenda K191 tyres, one Lugano (cost-neutral), one Gatorskin and have a Gatorskin on the front and one half-used Marathon on the back. I'll assume that I'll use the Schwalbe up by 5000 miles (8000 km).

Are far as maintenance goes. I ditched the rear brake as it rusted through after 5 years. I use the front brake only and am going to need a second set of pads soon (£10 total).

I did swap the bars and grips (£25 or so).

As far as tubes go, I'm probably through 8 or so (two with the Kenda, one flat, one with the Lugano, one with the Gatorskin, one recently with the Schwalbe and two when I was run over by a van). Assuming £3 decent tube (that's £25 or so).

So, riding 5000 km or 3000 miles, I've used £20 (two Kendas), £25 (Gatorskin), £10 (pads), £25 (tubes), £25 (bars and grips) or £105 or about $130.

Maybe the roads are just **** over here but I don't see anywhere that costs could be saved except slightly on the initial bike purchase.

Here's another test of what we deal with in the UK (abruptly stopped at 8k miles or so):

https://singlespeedcomponents.co.uk/...mile-challenge

Running costs have been £75 for 8000 miles (or £100 for 10000 miles), which seems about right and consistent with my experience on I found the right tyres (Schwalbe Marathons ... no more Gatorskins ever).

I would predict that for me to get up to 10000 miles (7000 more miles) ... I'd need:

4 more Schwalbe Marathon Tyres (using up the Gatorskin and Marathon tyre I have on the rear) £80/$104
2 more sets of brake pads £10/$13
8 more tubes for £25/$32

I would assume one random breakage over that time for £20/$26

Resulting in a total of £135 or around $160 in addition to the £105 or $130 already leaving a total of £250 or $325 or so for consumables for 10000mi.

That would be added to the initial cost £300/$400 resulting in a total of around £550 / $725 if I keep it tight (but I'm already up to this in my real world example).

I could probably keep it to a dime/mile with some luck, but I wouldn't call it easy.

I would wager that I'll have a complete accident (like before but having a frame totaled), component failure or theft before I get to 10000 miles (that's how most bikes die over here).

kingston 

You’re not choosing low-cost/high mileage equipment. A single-speed coaster brake beach cruiser is going to have the lowest operating costs. Everything is serviceable but the tires and chain which are both cheap and last a very long time, and big balloon knobby cruiser tires almost never flat. I commuted for years with no helmet or lights so those are luxury items too. You do need a lock but it doesn’t have to be expensive since nobody will want to steal your crappy beach cruiser.

DrIsotope

I ride 10,000 miles a year. I have absolutely zero desire to do any of those miles on a crappy beach cruiser. If it gets to the point where you're restricting the spending on a hobby to that extreme of a degree, it might be time to look into something else.

The quality of a ride is seldom determined by whether it cost 10¢ a mile or 75¢ a mile. Cycling is almost 100% want > need. We don't need any of it.

acidfast7

This isn't rational.

A light isn't a luxury item. It's essential when one rides in the dark (which is after 3pm here in the UK). It's usually dark at 2.30-3p now and this requires lights to cycle home.

A lock isn't a luxury item. Every bike gets stolen and shipped to Africa/Middle East as we're a port-city, cargo containers get filled with them and they get shipped off. Even locked bikes get stripped (even the Wal-Mart level ones). I'm cycling from work to dinner tonight, should I not have a lock and take my chances?

A helmet can be a luxury item, which is why I haven't included it in my costs.

A Schwalbe beach cruiser tyre has less mileage than a Schwalbe marathon for the same cost, so it's MORE expensive rather than less expensive.

You don't sound like a person who commutes in an urban area (which more than have of human civilisation now lives within and this will only increase over time.)

noglider 

Really, students let air out of tires?

kingston 

That's really my point. Nobody cares about minimizing cost/mile.