atombob

Yeah the math has kind of thrown me off a tad too so I caculated out my vehicle expense if I only had driven 35000 miles in 8 years.

vehicle purchase with all finance charges $40,000.00 paid off.
fuel 35000 @ 30mpg with $1.85 average wold be around $2157.00
Oil changes every 3K miles @ $35.00 each around $385.00
15k service $150.00
30K sevice $375.00
Insurance over 8 years $900.00 year $7200.00

Total so far $50267.00

Hmmmm.... I'm really starting to not like my car right now.

angel

Year Amount Spent on my bikes Notes
1992 $12.95 New Breaks
1993 $22.35
1994 0
1995 0
1996 $50.76
1997 $42.67
1998 $70.97
1999 $50.01
2000 $150.82
2001 $256.37
2002 $700.50
2003 $161.32
2004 $1,339.78
Please note that I bike everyday and always have even before 1992. That is just when I left high school.

chrisd372

If my bike ride for the day is a commute to work, then the commuting aspect is 100% free.

I already own a bike and I'm already going to ride it practically every day anyway whether or not I cage to work. The bike expenses are incurred whether I commute on the bike or not.

So, I bought a rack and bag a couple years ago specifically for commuting, and that's it for my bike commuting expenses. The commute is free.

I-Like-To-Bike

I agree, a real bargain if bike commuting allows getting rid of an extra car; but not that big a bargain. Unless one pays Wa-aa-ay too much for a car that is to be driven only for commuting a known distance of less than 5,000 miles/year for the next 8 years or so.

It is no problem or sin to spend $40,000 (or more) for a short distance commuter motorized vehicle but it is hardly necessary for commuting purposes at a comfort/safety level at least equal to that of a bicyclist.

My point? It is not really credible to attribute to bicycle commuting, the elimination of the extra costs incurred as a result of the selection of an overly expensive (if economy/saving money is the top priority) motorized vehicle used only for 5,000 miles/year commuting.

phillybill

I buy a new commuting bike each year and an extra set of wheels as I normally put on about 3000 miles on the bike .

gibbain

Obviously, this is thread about bike costs and not car gosts, but here is a thumbnail of how I figured it

COST PER MONTH
Gas $160.00
Parking $170.00
Deprec. $ 30.00
Car $300.00
Insurance$ 60.00
TOTAL $720.00
8 =96 months . . . 96*$720= $69120

The parking cost is the average over the last 8 years. If I wanted a spot in our garage today, it would cost a lot more then that.

PALux

I have been commuting daily since 1999, putting about 5,000 miles a year on 3 bikes. I average very close to $1,000 a year, sometimes more. My biggest cost is lights. I am a sucker for more and brighter lighting. I spend in excess of $500 there alone. When you get past 200 charge cycles on your expensive battery pack they could fail at any time and have to be replaced. Not a big amount but I go through 50+ AA batteries a year. I have some NiCad’s but their cycle life is short and power curve drops off suddenly so I don’t trust them in the winter.

Winter commuting in Tacoma WA is very hard on bikes, parts and clothes. I need a new set of tires, a new chain, new gloves, and 4 to 6 new tubes each year. I get a new rear cassette and new pedals every other year and a cable set every 2 to 3 years. Clothing once bought doesn’t last forever. About once a year I get a couple of pair of shorts and a new jersey or two. The GorTex rain gear is going on its 3rd year and is showing its age. Shoes are needed at about 12 to 15k miles. Though my tune-ups are free I usually end up spending $100+ each time I put the bike in the lbs for service. Don’t overlook tools, spokes, pumps, cleaning supplies, bags and racks.

When buying commuter gear, cheap is bad and will require replacing more often. Cheap tires get lots of flats and need replacing more often. Expensive road tires may roll smooth but fail even more often. Get good strong and wider tires for your commute. Why do 2 new bicycle tires that will get only 5,000 miles cost the same as 4 car tires that will get 30,000 miles? You commuters that get by on older and cheaper bikes and components come ride a winter with me and you too will be looking to upgrade quickly or get out of commuting altogether.

The trade-off is I used to put 12 to 15k on the cars each year but since starting commuting I am down to 4 to 5k. Regular gas was $2.33 at a Shell station this morning. Health benefits are unbelievable. When I have a bad day at the office I take it out on the bike on the way home and not the wife after I get home.
Phil

gibbain

Even taking the actual cost of the car out of it, its still a lot of money. If I assume I got a free car with really excellent gas mileage that isnt affected by the horrible traffic around here. . .

Insurance $60
Parking $170
Gasoline $40
Depreciation repairs maint: $30
Cost per month = $300 *96 months=$28800 without actually paing for the car.

I-Like-To-Bike

I am having a hard time figuring out your auto costs which seem unusual. I have no issue with the gain in pleasure, health, etc, just the claimed $$ savings attributable to bicycle commuting


1. Your post an hour earlier said your monthly gas cost was $160/month for commuting 369 miles/month. What kind of car did you drive? The new gas cost figure of $40/month seems closer to being in the ball park of MPG/fuel cost reality (assuming you are paying US prices for fuel and are not driving a bus.)

2. Depreciation cost IS accounting for the cost of the car, but $30/month seems low. I assume you mean $30/month just for repairs/maintenance.
3. As I suspected your exceptionally high cost for parking is skewing the figure and may only apply to those who commute to high cost center city worksites. Is that cost for parking at home or work or both?

Paying for a car that is only to be used for less than 4,000 miles a year hardly has to cost an arm and leg and if bought new the modern car probably has had no need for repairs, could still be on the original tires and probably hasn't even needed a tune up yet. The last car I bought strictly for commuting (60 miles/day R/T) was a new 1991 Ford Festiva for $5,500, used it for six years sold it for $2,500 with over 70,000 miles on it and the only repair/maintenance in the six years were infrequent oil changes, a $25 distributor cap and one set of inexpensive tires. Gasoline mileage averaged close to 40 mpg. This bulletproof commuter car lacked ameneties like air conditioning, but then so do bicycles. I don't think a reliable used car, bought to be used for less than 4,000 miles a year, would cost much more than this.

Anyhow I believe $28,800 is a large and significant figure but a long way from $69,000+

steel_is_real

Hi there. I'm from Seattle but have yet to commute there, and am curious what is it about Tacoma that makes it hard on your gear? Is it the dirt and grit that is flung up from the wet roads?

gibbain

That is just the cost to park at work. In fact, the current rate where I work for monthly parking is $235. I never said that this was what other people would have saved, just what I think I would have saved. I did not start bike commuting to save money, I did it because it was actually quicker than driving (30 minutes by bike, 45 minutes by car, 90 minutes by public transportation) and I like it. Its a slow, annoying, aggravating commute, and if I had to drive it every day, I would probably buy a fairly nice car in the $20-25k range.

I-Like-To-Bike

Where (city) do you work? I assume free parking is nowhere close.

Two excellent, if not priceless, reasons!!

DogBoy

Well, I didn't sell my car and ended up buying multiple bikes, so commuting has definately cost me money. However, excluding the cost of the bikes, I have paid probably $1500 in lights($600 just here)/locks/jerseys/jackets/gloves/shoes etc. I do not anticipate having to buy this much stuff every year, so I'm guessing an ongoing annual cost of $500 or less after the initial spending spree.

Dutchy

Around 3K the last 12 months. New groupset, wheels, tyres, stem, bars, grips, tubes, lights, arm warmers, camelback the list goes on. That is just for the commuter bike which gets ridden 120km per week.

If I chose to get a lift to work from my wife I'd save a heap. She has a company car with free parking. I still prefer to ride even if it was 0ºC this morning.

CHEERS.

Mark

gibbain

Downtown Washington DC.

PALux

I commute on a north south main street 4 lanes half the way and 2 lanes with enough room between parked cars and traffic to clear on the other half. After any rain lots of small gravel is deposited where I must travel. Some days it looks like I have been biking in a sand pit. When the streets are sanded this is much worse. Brake pads are eaten up and the sound of grinding on the rims hurts. Half the year the morning ride is done in the dark. I don't always completely clear glass or trash on the road. When wet, the small glass will find any slit in the tire and eventually work its way through and cause a flat. Also the street is concrete most of the way and the expansion joints are no longer level. Like jumping off hundreds of small cliffs. Until I got very heavy spokes I broke a lot.

I am not complaining though. The benefits to my health have been so significant that I would never go back to driving except in the worst ice or snow and even then I would porbably take a day of leave. If it is not safe to bike it is not safe to drive.

You have a lot of trails and designated bicycle lanes in Seattle. Stay on the trails as much as possible and the sand and gravel is not so bad. The bicycle lanes are different as neither city does an adaquate job of sweeping them.
Phil

caloso

This is an interesting idea. What do you do with your old bikes? Are these X-Mart bikes? I'm assuming they're not titanium and Dura Ace bikes, right?

jakemoffatt

This is a great thread. You guys are talking about spending less than 500 or 1000 dollars a year on your bike/commute and my car eats that up in less than 2 months.

$111 car payment
$121 gasoline ($28/wk @ 4.33 weeks per month)
$200 insurance
$50 maintenance ($600 budget per 12 months and thats low)
$25 depreciation (low because my car is older, a 97)
$10 carwash (once per month is good, plus vacuuming)
$517 monthly total


$6204 yearly total JEE WIZ I'm selling my car now!


My car was $5800 dollars. With the payment that won't end til 4 years from now I'm spending more than that $5800 on my car and I didn't even know it! Jee... I think I'll start using my financial software more often...

Then my bike:

$1200 - Upfront cost for the bike, clothes, helmet, etc...
< $150 - cost of food per day to fuel my ride (I'll actually eat bfast so thats good for me, too)

$250 monthly cost if I ditch my bike at the end of the year. Much less than that if I keep my bike a few years.

Good health... Future medical bills related to a sedentary lifestyle drive up the future cost of commuting by car every day. Who knows by how much?!

caloso

Yeah, you know it occurred to me while I was ringing up $42 worth of gas in the minivan that I spend a lot of time and energy worrying about whether I can afford the next bike doodad. When I saw that $42 on the pump, I was thinking, "Hey, that's a brand new Michelin Pro Race tire!"

Screw it! I'm getting that $368 carbon fiber kickstand after all. I deserve it!

PaulH

Washington, DC parking may seem expensive, but it can also be scarce. It is not unusual to pay $12 to park and then drive around the garage for five or ten minutes hoping to find a space. Given this scarcity, I suspect that it is underpriced.

Paul

OldShacker

I have been commuting for quite sometime now and I am always looking for deals. I keep my bike for years. I just purchased a Trek 1000c this year ($600.00), however, I transferred my gear over to the new bike.

I normally spend money each year on gloves around $15.00,
Rechargeable batteries $14.00,
1 or 2 tubes a year at $4.00 a set.
Then some times eye wear at $10.00.
Water bottle at $1.50.
I do all my tune-ups, wheel truing
Lubricants and the like at about ($3.00)
I wash my stuff every day at home so there must be a price in water and drying.
When I get to work I shower so body soap at $2.00-ish about 4 bottles a year.

Then occasionally (about every other year) a mirror for my glasses, shirts, tires, handlebar tape, chain ring, lights at $11.00 to $23.00 and then a helmet at $35.00
I am good on chains but have replaced one or two after a few years.
Packs are good for a really log time.
Some things I get free like Chain links and nuts and bolts from my LBS.
Because of my commuting I am able to enjoy some organized bike rids at about 3 good rides a year for a total of $60.00
So it looks like around $100.00 a year not counting organized rides. Sometimes no money is spent that I can recall.

pgoat

I keep pretty insane records on my cycle-spending (buying/selling), and I dunno how much I've spent per year, but I can tell you that by commuting regularly for years I have saved enough money on gas and train fare to the point where my bikes have more than paid for themselves. I am down to one and a half bikes right now (One refuses to work right so I count it as half) and they were both 'free' as far as I am concerned. A nice feeling!

Unless you are buy TI bikes and keep locking them up at the same place on the street with a $20 lock, neccessitating a new bike every couple of weeks, commuting will pay off so much you don't need to worry what you'll spend - it will always be less $ than cars or mass transit. That's in addition to what it will do for your mental and emotional well being, to say nothing of the physical benefits.

DCCommuter

I probably spend a couple hundred a month, but a lot of that is due to the fact that I commute every single day. There really seems to be a 90-10 rule, that 90 percent of the cost comes from 10 percent of the riding. It costs virtually nothing to operate a bike during daylight when it's not raining and above freezing. On the other hand, winter is brutal on my bike, with the cost of lights, snow tires, clothes and the extra wear from snow and ice. Riding in the rain also takes a toll.

genec

Well as I have been riding the same bikes for about 20 years (1984 was the last time I bought a new bike), my only costs have been an occasional patch kit, tires and clothing. I rebuilt wheels back in '95... so that was a big expense... and I need new panniers... but that is a future expense. Oh and I popped for a lighting system back in about '99... $300... expensive, considering the battery did not last 5 years. Sheesh.

Other than that... shorts were my biggest expense, for shirts I tended to use long sleeve cotton T shirts... easy to aquire from events, chain stores and the like. Most everything would last a couple years, so costs were usually amortized over a long period.

Recently I finally decided to overhaul and upgrade... dropped $300 on one bike... and expect to do a couple hundred on the other. Been an expensive year so far... new jersey, lots of new parts... I bet I spend close to $1000 this year... but that should be my biggest expense for the next several years... so over time, it will still work out to still being darn cheap.

HiYoSilver

I can't answer the poll. I don't think the answers will be meaningful because some will include new bike and others won't.

I started in Oct last year. Think I thought I lived in aussie villa and it was spring.

This is not accurate, but here's a rough idea:
Cost - item - lifespan

$1,050 bike -- 10 years
$ 350 bike rack -- 10 years
$ 200 bike hitch -- 2 years [ car has over 100K on it ]
$ 100 windbreaker -- 8 years
$ 150 headlights, dual-- 4 years [ probably will upgrade to brighter lights ]
$ 50 taillight-- 8 years
$ 20 front side lights-- 3 years [ one fell off already, but recovered it ]
$ 10 flash back handlebar lights-- 3 years
$ 40 helmet-- 5 years
$ 100 reflective tape-- 10 years
$ 100 winter pant slip ons-- 10 years
$ 50 cyclometer-- 2 years [probably will upgrade ]
$ 10 bell-- 10 years
$ 10 tube-- 1 year
$ 15 tools-- 5 years
$ 40 fleece for layering-- 2 years [wearing for non biking also]
$ 10 handlebar extension-- 10 years
$ 10 bottle holder-- 10 years
$ 40 bike pumps-- 8 years
$ 15 tire pressure guage-- 10 years
$ 30 bike rack bag-- 5 years
$ 30 bike rack-- 5 years
$ 10 bike rack bungee- 6 months
$ 10 pants cuff holders [ waste of money ] -- 0 months
$ 30 mini garage remote-- 3 years [probably move]
$ 25 lock-- 8 years
$ 35 lock cables-- 10 years
$ 10 tire tubes- 1 year
$ 5 tire irons-- 3 years
$ 110 windbreaker-- 5 years
$ 45 fenders-- 10 years

will add before month's end
-- shoes
-- lower GI cassette
-- jerseys
-- summer gloves
-- bike rack bungee [ they wear out too fast ]

So there you go. Not scientific as in able to give you a per year cost, but does give you an idea of spending.

Actual spending was bit higher as wife got a new bike at the same time.

Don't know if this helps. Oh, one negative spending. Reduced auto insurance as there's a lower rate when put fewer than expected miles on the car yearly.