[Closed] How much does your cycling actually cost?

Cycling for me isn't a mode of transport at all, it's a lifestyle choice/pass-time. So the cost compared to car doesn't come into it as i never use the bike for something car related. I'd never cycle to somewhere for shopping for example, or take my son to Footie training on the bike. They're completely un-related in every way.

I generally ignore the purchase cost in that context, don't know why but because it's an asset, the purchase cost doesn't come into play for me. The rest, some months it's a £0, some months it's £300, depends what upgrades i've bought or not that month, generally i spend more on cafe/pub stops when cycling than on the actual components per month 🙂

As per weeksy. All I can say is too much.

Excluding bike purchasing, I'd say it averages at approx £100 per month, excluding trip expenses.

Well, I cycle to work. If I didn't, I'd need to pay for fuel and parking. That comes to £180/month.

Pre-separation it meant I could have one car between me and the mrs, meaning I saved all the cost of purchasing, insuring and maintaining an additional car as well, I was definitely quids in with my habit. Now she's moved out, I still have a car, which just sits there all week costing me money...

So these days I might have tipped the balance slightly into the red for my cycling habit, particularly as I bought a second hand bike in November for £1k and just had a pretty expensive month with things wearing out including a frame... But it's totally worth it.

1. one set of new tyres @ ~£60

2. a water bottle cage @ ~£7

3. parts for some extra wheels I was kindly given @ ~ £30

4. a Garmin Edge 25 @ ~ £100

5. 3 inner tubes @ ~ £21

6. pedals @ ~ £40

7. commuter lights @ ~ £100

8. mudguards @ ~ £40

9. brake pads @ ~ £10

For a total of ~ £1100 + £408 = £1508

Over 16 months, that’s just shy of £100/month,

Out of those items, in the next year you'd only possibly need to replace £70 worth... so it's not £100 per month continuously, unless, like the 2 previous posters, you [i]like[/i] buying stuff for your bike/cycling.

I'm in the 'it doesn't cost' camp. Cycling can be as cheap as you make it - virtually free at the bottom end of the scale. Any money I spend on bikes is money I want to spend and money I can comfortable spend at that time.

Something much of my money goes on though, and what I find more important than the bike itself, is clothing. Staying comfortable in the winter is difficult without spending something.

Purchases are quite random so I wonder like to calculate what I spend. Probably at least £100 per month.

Same as weeksy for me, solely a leisure thing.  I probably spend an average of £100 per month just buying things, swapping things around etc,. but hard to know as the parts that are being replaced typically get sold on eBay

I worked out that in pence per mile cycled I could rent and run a small car and run it for 10,000 miles per year for the same cost per mile.

However when I could cycle commute a couple of times a week the bike paid for itself at least in consumables and kit like tyres and shorts etc.

It's a cost. Everything costs, just some things cost more than others.

If I don't bike to work then it's the train at £6.70 return per day. With my commuter costing £800 it didn't take long to recoup that cost but I've replaced the whole drivetrain and it's needed a new set of dynamo lights and there will have been a few sets of brake pads. I've swapped parts from other bikes or that I've had lying around (like the dynamo hub and wheel). I'm still "in pocket" but probably not to the extent that I might like to think. Overall I've probably spent £1200 - £1300 including the purchase cost, I've had the bike roughly 32 months so £40/month or thereabouts, let's call it £10/week rather than the £33.50 the train would cost me.

Cycling certainly isn't zero or even low cost but it doesn't have to be high cost.

In the past far too much as I now have an abundance of bicycle paraphernalia. It's still only a fraction though of what I used to smoke and imbibe of which I do neither (maybe a holiday pint or two) now.  I am trying to 'make do' with what I have mind you and use up all the spares I have.

I'd also say OP you could probably cover your needs above for half that with a trip to Decathlon.

My bike pays for its replacement parts in fuel saved, but I very much doubt that it actually pays for iteself over 3 years.

Too much, probably for the proportion of time I spend doing it and have certainly wasted money on rash purchases. If I added it up it would look excessive so that's not going to happen.

I could almost certainly have the same amount of pleasure from less expensive stuff - but saying that, I don't spend much on anything else and compared to some of the stories from the 'how many bikes have you got' threads I'm a comparative skinflint.

Don't forget fuel.

I eat a lot more food when I ride my bike to work than when I drive

If I added it up it would look excessive so that’s not going to happen.

It adds up to quite a lot I'm sure as I have a few bikes to keep running (commuting, road riding, MTBs) so you have normal consumables plus added costs (last Wales trip cost me a new mech, chain & hanger!). It's my main hobby & gets me out/keeps me fit so I don't try to justify the spend to myself/anyone else, If I need it & can afford it I spend the money otherwise I wait.

My commuter bike was free and it gets very little spent on it.  It's had a new set of tyres and some new brake pads in the past six months, all of which I got very cheaply.

The benefit of working for a cycle distributor.  I'm not sure I'd ride if I had to pay for stuff.

It all depends on whether you have upgradeitis or a 'replace when worn' mentality.

My Commuter is 12 years old. In that time it's had

1 x crankset,

2 x BB (square Taper)

1 new rear wheel,

1 x saddle,

2 x freehweels (it's an SS)

2 x chainrings

2 x chains

bar tape ( a few times),

rim brake pads,

(EDIT) 1 x front Rim

1 set of tyres every 18 or so months.

Totting that up roughly it's cost me maybe £1200 quid so £100 per year. A quick distance tot up shows it's done over 60000km.

Cost centre: Hobbys (unbudgeted)

(In short, I try not to think about it too hard, but cycling is my major hobby and I'm happy to spend (let's be honest, it's not an investment!) as much money as I can / need to on it. I don't expect a financial return on it.

This is a roundabout way of saying that I spend way too much on the bikes and workshop gear!

This month:

- XC bike service (bearings, fork and shock seal kits, one tyre, re-cable, BB): £130-ish (plus 10 hours labour!)
- Tyres for gravel bike: £60
- insulated water bottles - £25
- New road helmet for the boy - £90
- Chain for boy's XC bike - £20
- CO2 restock - £10
- Road bike service (bearings, two tyres, chainring bolts, jockey wheels) - £90
- Boy CX bike routine maintenance (rear mech, freehub, wheel bearings) - £50
- Garage restock (grease cartridges, chain lube, helitape, other bits) - £50
- Tools (New chain whip, Park chain retainer, new cone spanners) - £90

So there you go - £600+ in a month for routine maintenance, albeit big annual services, on two bikes, routine maintenance on others and a few new tools.

I wish I hadn't added this lot up now :-/

Bike expenditure is very near the bottom of our household budget.  I cycle all of the time, including grocery shopping. This means being creative. Disregarding older impulse purchases/unused/un-fixed bike/s which will be sold:

MTB - singlespeed hardtail purchase price (used) £120.  £9 train ticket to collect.  New pedals £26:

£155 total

Projected cost of running over the year ahead - brake pads and tyres, maybe:

£50-£60

Luckily have plenty of grease, lube and tools in the tool/parts bin.

Utility/transport bike - (26er dutch,Nexus 3spd, roller brakes).  Purchase price (used) £100

Actual costs of running utility bike over the last 5-6 years: £14 for brake oil, £45 for a new combination lock (lost the **** key). £13 for a proper (used) saddle.  £22 for a smaller Nexus chainset and bigger cog at the rear because hills.  Still running on shop-tyres, not one puncture!

Offset: Car-fuel costs saved over the 6 years? (for most grocery/local etc trips under 16 miles) anyone's guess.

PS just bought a track pump from Lidl for £6.  Top purchase. 3 yr guarantee too.

With my commuter costing £800...

Cycling certainly isn’t zero or even low cost but it doesn’t have to be high cost.

I would argue that spending £800 on a commuter is at the high end of the scale and a completely unnecessary luxury. It's the equivalent to spending 25k on a brand new car, when in reality, if you wanted to be frugal, you can have yourself a reliable motor for a tiny fraction of that.

Back up a tick, £7 for an inner tube?

Otherwise, no, I don't count, as I fear I may come to a similar conclusion.  Splitting capital and revenue would help make the running costs seem more palatable though!

I would argue that spending £800 on a commuter is at the high end of the scale and a completely unnecessary luxury.

except it's un unnecessary luxury that costs you a mere £800, not £25k, so it really isn't the same thing at all (unless money is very tight). Never got the attitude that a bike that's "only" a commuter should be a beater (unless you can't park it somewhere safe). Mine is the bike I spend the most time on & do the most miles on, why wouldn't I want a nice one?! Life's too short to ride shit bikes!

Too much "math" will ruin the fun.

except it’s un unnecessary luxury that costs you a mere £800, not £25k, so it really isn’t the same thing at all (unless money is very tight). Never got the attitude that a bike that’s “only” a commuter should be a beater (unless you can’t park it somewhere safe). Mine is the bike I spend the most time on & do the most miles on, why wouldn’t I want a nice one?! Life’s too short to ride shit bikes!

Buy a nice bike if you like, I don't disagree with that at all. When you consider the savings that can be made on alternative forms of transport, the bike pretty much pays for itself anyway.

But that is still at the high end of the scale, and it is a luxury. If we're talking how much it costs to cycle...it doesn't need to cost anywhere near that much - even for a new bike.

If every time I went out on my bike I went to the pub instead I would spend way more money , have nothing to show for it , be fatter , more obnoxious and be in worse health . Also every time I cycle to and from work , about 3 times a week I save Probably £5- £10 . Cycling has a net benefit to me both financially and physically .

But if we all stay healthier we'll live longer, and that's probably more expensive than dying young

That's what Phillip Morris said

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Finance_Balance_of_Smoking_in_the_Czech_Republic

@butcher - if it was just my commuter then I'd agree but I also use it as my winter road bike so ...

I've done just short of 9,000km on it. Without going through every ride I'll guess that 2/3rds is commuting so 6,000km (I've used other bikes for the commute if I've wanted to do something different on the way home like ride over the moors). That's just over 140 days of riding to work, that's 140 days of one less car on the road. £6.70 per day for the train for 140 days is £940, if my guess of £1300 overall cost is about right then 2/3rds of that is £866 so I'm about £80 to the good - and I've still got the bike. (all rough calcs given the initial total sum was a guess).

So yes, £800 is a lot for a commuter and I could have got something from a charity shop (there's one in town now) but it's business for the LBS and helps keep them going.

I have five bikes that need looking after. So each has a new drive train yearly, new tyres, replacing broken parts (often), servicing (as I would rather spend the time riding), replacing broken frames, buying a new bike. It probably runs into several hundreds per month. TBH I’m a little scared to do the calculations. 😳 My bikes are amainly used as a pastime/lifestyle choice but I do also commute on them but it’s only ten minutes from house to work so I incorporate it into training rides.

I'm on 8 speed, not v much I think.

What people seem prepared to pay for 10/11/12 consumables horrifies me!

I have been a cycle commuter for 35 years.

I spend a hell of a lot on bikes and bike stuff, but I reckon that is a fraction of what it would have cost me if I had been a car commuter.

and I just love bikes, and don't really care how much it costs me.

My cycling is free as I don't count any of the money I spend on it.

Not worrying about whether it's used for commuting or just riding my road bike that has done a bit of everything costs the following to run with stuff worn out and wheels replaced just because form 4 1/2 years of use.

30p per km ridden

£6.13 per hour use

£6.05 per ride

If I ride to work it saves me about £4.50 per day petrol costs plus some, probably minimal, wear and tear.

I tried to tot it all up, but really it was pointless - do you add £4.50 for a post ride pint? Would I have bought that bit last month if I didn't have the spare cash or did I 'need' it?

The only honest answer is "whatever I can spare" I don't 'need' my bike at all per-se, it's a hobby, I don't commute on it, I just lose what's left of my mind if I don't.

At 1000-1500Kms a year I don't get through many consumables so much as break stuff. Brake pads cost £15 for 2 pairs and last me a year, I've started to look at my rear tyre with increasing suspicion, but it's probably okay for winter and I think nearly 2 years old.

I'm going to 'make do' with my 2 and a bit year old bike until next Spring. It's perfectly serviceable, and whilst it's not boosted anywhere, it's fairly long and slack so I don't get sand kicked in my face in the TC carpark. I don't need a new one next year, but I want one.

It's priceless.

Don't know what the Banshee cost to build, never added it all up.

Not the first time I've built a bike that way & won't be the last.

Depends how far you take the accounting too.

My road bike is cost negative because I use it for enough commuting tha the petrol more than offsets it's capital and running costs.

My main MTB probably costs almost nothing to run as I've given up trying to keep up with the jonses and just ride it for fun (so it's a singlespeed fat bike!).  But each evening ride ride means I have to drive to work that day which is a 70 mile round trip (inc the diversion to the ride on the way home) which cost's ~£10 in petrol. Which means on a slow and muddy winter ride it costs almost £1/mile! But equally I couldn't physically commute 50miles every day so some of that's offset by necessity.

And there's the house, if I wasn't interested in cycling would I need a garage, if I didn't need a garage would I probably live in a flat rather than a house etc.  Add all that up and 'storage' alone probably becomes the single biggest cycling expense!

I do try and commute at least some distance on all my bikes at some point though, makes me feel better if ever I sell them if I can think of the money as 'profit' as the original cost was repaid in petrol! Only really works for cheap bikes though!

To pick up on an earlier point, is £800 excessive for a commuter? Depends. I used to do a 56 mile round trip, wouldn't fancy that on a pub bike  so proper road road bike required. £700ish on  a Ridgeback Advance, cheap bits so the wheels fell apart and it ate drivetrains doing that mileage in all weathers. Spent same again on Di2 Alfine, Ultegra hydro discs and Hope front wheel, not spent a penny since apart from tyres and tubes (15 months ago although new job is 30mile round trip) Spend to save worked for me but agree up-front can seem a lot.

Back to the OP, I have no idea and hate to count! Bikes not horrifically expensive (compared to some stuff we see on here) but vast amounts on travel to races and associated costs, but biggest cost is going to be unquantifiable, crap jobs to allow time for riding rather than working harder and earning more, but I don't care, its been fun.  I'm not far off 40, almost completely unqualified and earning well below average wage but have had priceless experiences from racing bikes.

I usually build my own bikes and sell old parts, typically at around 2 year intervals.  I typically spend in the range of £500-£1k per year (net).  Considering that gives me all of my commuting and leisure cycling, I think that's good value compared to lots of other things.

However, there are three things that will make 2018 much more expensive for me:

a) buying a complete factory bike (first MTB since 2004);

b) having it stolen 2 weeks later, with a gap between insurance and replacement cost and;

c) having added two bikes to the collection in the last year (a Brompton, which sort of doesn't count - and not by selling what has now become my wet weather commuter when its replacement arrived a gew months ago).

Depends on the bike. My hardtail is a fun bike only and is my most expensive bike, that's going to work out very expensive. Only fun miles on that, no commuting

2 of my bikes are used for commuting, my brompton and my arkose commuter. It would cost me over £7 a day to commute on the tube so after three years of commuting by bike I'm now well into the money and they're paid off enough for me not to worry about them

There’s a big difference between hobby spending and “what it costs to cycle” spending. The former is whatever you want, the latter is around 10p per mile.

The depreciation in one year on a new family sized car will keep you in the bike of your choice for years....

Like costing driving it's all about what you include and what you forget about to get the number you want...

Commuter/Road/Gravel bike

£2250 total with extras

Saves me £6/day every time I ride to work so only 375 days commuting to pay it off which is probably 4-5 years but it's also 75/50/25% fun bike so that comes down to a couple of years easy. Plus the fitness boost it gives me.

There’s a big difference between hobby spending and “what it costs to cycle” spending. The former is whatever you want, the latter is around 10p per mile.

I always though the HMRC guidance was a bit misguided.

45p/mile is enough to run quite a nice new car over 10,000miles a year (£1200 in fuel, £400 insurance, so that leaves about £2,900 to lease/HP/buy whatever you like and cover servicing and tyres.

Yet the cost of the most basic motorbike isn't that far off a small car, it will consume tyres quicker, drink about the same amount of petrol but only get 25p/mile.

And bikes only get 20p.  Assume an average utility cyclists did 1500miles in a year that's a £300 budget, which isn't a lot really.

I think it should be 45p/mile whether you walked it or drove a Humvee to encourage employees to be more environmentally responsible. I'm as bad as anyone at this, I did 430miles last week for a meeting, I could have got a train/taxi and claimed the receipt on expenses but it would have taken longer, but realistically the car paid me a £100 bonus for fairly pointlessly burning 45l of fuel!

The depreciation in one year on a new family sized car will keep you in the bike of your choice for years….

Sure, but we're mixing two groups of riders here - commuters and leisure. I don't commute (regularity) by bike, but if I did, it wouldn't be on any of the bikes I own as, frankly, they're all a bit too nice to be treated to commute miles and would end up costing a bit too much to run.

On the other side, the bikes I do own get very well looked after. I don't mean "wrapped in cotton wool" - I ride them properly - but they are maintained with little regard for expense as, for me, the loss of a day's riding, or a bike that lets me down when leading a ride, would be unacceptable. I need to be 100% sure that my bike will work faultlessly every single time it's used and, honestly, this comes with a cost in both £££ and time.

£60 for a set of commuter tyres? why spend so much on tyres?? whatever is cheapest would suit me on a commuter ... as long as they are the right width and cheap they`ll do.

and 3 inner-tubes for £21!!!

I don't know, so it's obviously cheap enough for us not to notice the cost 😆

I have zero disposable income so spend almost nothing these days, my commuter still has 2007 XT. Usually change main mtbs about every 4-5 years, got another couple to get out the current Smuggler I reckon. Brake pads and tyres are about my only spend, the odd chain etc. I know I really shouldn't be a member of this forum!

£60 for commuter tyres? Yes, hardcase Gatorskins.

Commutes tend to be done in all weathers, unlike fun rides which tend to be warm and sunny, and I like the reliability of them, late for work -3, pissing it down and hissssss... No thanks. Commuter bikes don't have to be rubbish, at least for those of us who can leave them inside the office, especially if it's a long commute.

I'd say the one way to make a mediocre commuter bike better is with decent tyres. I had Specialized Armadillo something or others,sucked the life out of the journey and occasionally scared the shite out of me. A switch to GP 4Seasons had me enjoying myself again.

The depreciation in one year on a new family sized car will keep you in the bike of your choice for years….

Nobody needs a new family sized car for commuting only. A plastic asian supermini can be yours for under £150/month + fuel. My old banger cost me around 1250 a year including tax and maintenance, and drank more in fuel than said supermini would cost me.

I would suggest that the extra over to get yourself a family sized car (which is what? Golf, S-Max, Discovery?) because at the weekends you need to transport half a kids footy team, take your bike to trails and make yourself feel rich needs chalking up onto the child/bike/vanity budget, and not the car budget, to make it comparable to having a bike that is what most of the country calls high end.

If £60 on a set of tyres gives you confidence of not getting a puncture - then good luck with that!

I pretty confident of not puncturing as long as the tyres are quite new, and I avoid riding over glass/gravel.

I pretty confident of not puncturing as long as the tyres are quite new, and I avoid riding over glass/gravel.

If you can wear a new tyre out in a month I imagine it would be cheaper to get the train because you must be doing some serious mileage. And if you only riding cycle paths - then I`m wasting my time talking to a know it all Rapha wearing newbie cyclist.

My 2006 Allez cost £275 new, its done 10yrs fair weaher commuting, a few events  and winter riding and turbo sessions  probably amounting to 2000k per year on average so 24000 kilometres.

Its had few sets of tyres and one set if wheels and a bottom brackets, cassettes etc so say another £400 in bits.

So thats about 3p per kilometre and a hell of a lot utility over 12 yrs.

It is also now as functional if not more so than the latest 1k model.

I doubt you will find any better value item.

This month

Two new tyres £80

Bottle of Stans £10

3 trips to the Lakes £90

Service to Hardtail  £13 for bb

Service to full bounce inc forks oil ,reverb bleed ,new bb bearings  £60

New boots for riding £130

And to be fair that's all its cost since December  and some 900 miles

My commuting bike is a steel 1980's Raleigh Racer which I bought for £70... but then promptly spend about £150 sorting out. Cost me nowt more so far after the 12 months where I actually commuted on it (10k/day round trip).

Mountain biking, for fun - i'm a cheapskate but I once set myself a £50/month budget (with rollover option). Nowhere near enough, and that was just maintenance, not upgrades...

I try not to think about it! For me its either go out and ride and have a blast or stay at home and be bored. Rather spend money on fun things and/or fixing toys than sit at home going mad!

The commuter about £200 a year in tyres chain cassette and pads for 4000km. The play bike I’m not adding up 🙂