Non financial factors aside, how much do you reckon it costs? Aside from the initial investment - chain/cassette, tyres, pads, clothes, additional calorific intake, lost working hours, life insurance, etc.
i dont understand the question,
running maintenance etc. about £50 a year?
Cycling to work often saves time and/or money - that's usually the point!
Depends on distance traveling and cost of gear. Bike parts, clothes and protection for me £40 per month.
I reckon £200/yr might be a decent estimate for me.
I have a low-maintenance bike (hub gear, roller brakes, dynamo).
My current bike cost £400 to set up and will probably last 8-10 years. I've just spent £120 on waterproof trousers (my first for a dozen years) and tyres need replacing every couple of years, not forgetting ice-spikers for the winter. Oh - and I've just treated myself to a new waterproof baseball cap at £10 in the sales.
Walking the same distance would probably cost just as much, and driving would come in at least £3000/yr.
I'm not sure I save money on diesel purely on the shear amount of food I have to consume to get me through the 45 mile round trip (once or twice a week).
Also I have to buy this food myself at work where as I get a packed lunch from the Mrs if I drive (and this is essentially free as the amount I pay her for shopping each month is a fixed amount)
I'm getting screwed!
buttons.
On my second cassette and chain in 7500+ miles. Second set of pads too.
I lost my knee warmers the other day, and spent £25 on new ones. I wear the same pair of endura singletrack shorts I've had for years, and normal clothes otherwise.
I bought a few sets of tyres for different purposes at the beginning, and they've all got life left.
Really don't think I eat more than I would otherwise - only do 6 miles each way) I got the tube in this morning and I've already had 3 more chocolate hobnobs than I'd had at this time yesterday. Plus if I get the tube, I'm more likely to nip into Pret on the way past and get one of those filthy bacon and cheese croisants.
Saved £4,400 in 3 years not travelling on the tube, and journey time is 30 mins rather than 45 mins. I'm less likely to go for drinks after work if I'm cycling, so money saved there too.
Also I reckon I spend way more on tyres, drive train components, clothing than I would do on the car for a similar millage.
Also I have to buy this food myself at work where as I get a packed lunch from the Mrs if I drive (and this is essentially free as the amount I pay her for shopping each month is a fixed amount)
They invented these things called 'bags' many years ago!
They invented these things called 'bags' many years ago!
really!
I would have to fill the bag myself though as I get up an hour earlier when I ride 🙁
Also bag + 22 mile = 🙁
Do we factor in what we *need* to spend on the bike? or what we *have* spent? I bought some new bar tape as i liked the colour for instance. And a new rear light because it was slightly brighter....
OK, having thought about it, there are a few otehr things I probably wouldn't have bought if I wasn't commuting:
2 new rear lights when they've fallen off. £25?
flouro tabard thing £9
full guards £30
Carradice bag £55
Gloves £20
Bike ~1200
Lights/clothing 485
Annual service 70x5 (350)
Wheel rebuild 120
Tyres 75
Total = 2110
Annual mileage = ~2600x5 (conservative) = 0.16c per mile.
However it would cost me ~2080 euros in diesel alone for the equivalent distance so in 5 years it has cost me about 30 euros to cycle to work. Interesting, that’s the first time I’ve done that. Obviously that will start to swing into a positive this year as I'm upping my distance and the capital cost is spread over a longer period.
A negligible amount.
For my half-mile commute I use a singlespeed 'pub bike' I cobbled together out of bits-and-bobs I had lying around.
Don't think I spent anything on it.
[Edit] Think I bought some £2.99 lights from Wilkinsons.
Making the biggest, most expensive assumptions and thinking of the last five years:
Two bikes bought especially for commuting on cycle to work: 2x£700 = £1400
200 calories per day = 200*200 per year = 5*200*200 = 200000 calories = 200000/200 mince pies = 1000 pies = 1000*£0.15 = £150 in food
Three new tyres = £40
Six chains = £90
Sundry parts = £100?
2*Waterproof trousers = £50
3 jackets = £150
Helmet = £60
Gloves = £20
1400 + 150 + 40 + 90 + 100 + 50 + 150 + 60 + 20 = £2600
So,
£412 per year
£2.06 per day
41p per mile
But, commuting is about half my riding per year so about £1 per day or 20p per mile?
in 12months of offroad commuting on a singlespeed cx bike I got through 5 tyres (3 worn out 2 ripped), a few tubes, 1 bottom bracket, 3 pairs of disc pads, 4 chains, one chain ring (shite oem) and halfway through a second (flipped it) reckon the transmission should last till end of winter then the whole lot will need replacing (including a WI freewheel) stainless steel chainring next time I think. So rough guess £140, add another £100 for a new hopefully longer lasting transmission at end of winter. Still significantly cheaper than catching the train, doesn't save me time per se but does save me gym time (and money). Try not to eat any extra when I commute, I am after all trying to keep the weight down.
£140 for 3904 miles, not as cheap per mile than Mike but doesn't sound too bad.
OTOH my old road ss used about 2 pairs of tyres, a BB or two and around 4 pairs of brake pads in 12months. My fair weather road bike used 1 pair of tyres and 1 set of brake blocks in 5years. Riding road isn't hard on your bike, riding in the rain causes more wear, riding in the rain in mud kills your bike.
last year, bits that got replaced
c8000miles of road bike riding,
1 cassette, 1 chain,
6 tyres
4 pairs of brake blocks
2 new wheels
1 cable change
1 set of pedals
2 sets of cleats
I don't remember how many inner tubes. not that many but more than 4 I think.
Total cost. No idea,
Should point out that the wheels were 4-5 years old so is fair to say they cost me £200 as hit or should the cost be factored over time?
All I do know if I drove it would be about £4 a day in petrol. So about £800 at a guess per year, I am sure the above is less than that.
in 5 years it has cost me about 30 euros to cycle to work
but your not taking into account the cost of fueling your body - which can cost 3 times as much as a car.....
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/09/is-a-bicycle-really-more-efficient-than-a-car/
energy efficient yes
cost efficient no
essentially although a single occupancy car is much less efficient than a bike. The cost of petrol is actually many times cheaper in terms of energy per £ than food. overwhelmingly so
Peanuts, upgrades are largely driven by tartiness rather than worn out. New chain, bearings, tyres and brakepads on the SS once a year, about £2 a week.
Thats about 10% of the cost of running the car over the same miles, but about 60% of the car costs are fixed so the actual saving is only arround 30%.
But comparing the full costs of a bike vs just fuel of a car is wrong too.
Insurance is cheaper if you do fewer miles, servicing may be done less often, tyres, brakes etc wear out less, the car is worth more with fewer miles when you come to sell it.
I don't do it to save money though, so I don't really care!
energy efficient yes
cost efficient, specifically regarding fuel costs [b]only[/b] and ignoring a bazillion other factors, no
should probably point out if I'd properly cleaned and lubed the chain after each journey then transmission would probably last a lot longer but it's a commuter so no chance, a wipe down and a relube once or twice a week at most.
Insurance is cheaper if you do fewer miles, servicing may be done less often, tyres, brakes etc wear out less, the car is worth more with fewer miles when you come to sell it.
Insurance is pretty negligible if your planning on running a car anyhow. My maintenance costs for the bike are greater than my car on a per mile basis (and I only run tiagra)
But you are right - I ride for pleasure, fitness and environmental reasons
dont do it to save cos you wont (if you run a car as well)
Your after a cost benefit analysis for cycling to works eh?
First of all I guess it has to be offset against the alternatives:
Car is obvious: Fuel wear and tear - the round trip to work is ~£5 in fuel and my estimate for daily wear and tear plus insurance costs is about £2.35 so the trip to/from work costs me £7.35 approx in a car... monthly cost approx £147.
Train: The trainline say £8.40 return is the best price I can get without any sort of rail card, if I were to do that every day it would come out about £168 a month
Bus: Return journey by bus appears to be £7.50 (the fare charts are bit confusing) Monthly cost £150
So the Car comes out marginally cheaper and much more convenient than the public transport alternatives, hence I'm a motorist when I'm not a cyclist... Not an environmentally ideal choice though is it...
I did make a conscious decision to make my commuting bike as cheap as practicable, hence my commuter bike is a rather basic fixie which, once I bunged on a few extras (Mudguards, lights, spare tubes replacing worn tyres) and a set a proportion of my spend on riding kit (most gets used for non commuting miles too), I would estimate I've spent ~£250 in the last six months on cycling to/from work twice a week most weeks that breaks down to about £41.66 a month, or £2.09 per round trip, of course that offsets approx 2/5ths of the car costs ~£58.80 each month. My total getting to work spend comes out at around £129.86 based on the last 6 months, but I expect that to drop to around £120 per month if I assume a cycling spend of ~£350 across a full 12 months, and if I can maintain the same routine across 2 years I'll be getting down to around £100/month the longer you keep the same bike going the better the VFM works out...
I'm choosing to treat cycling as "cost neutral" for food, simply because I eat like a bloater whether I exercise or not, there are of course the Health benefits of burning off some of my excess consumption through exercise, these are trickier to equate to money saved...
The more I cycle the more I save, the outlay on bikes and kit is easily offset against the financial cost of driving, I'd have to be spending twice as much a year on cycling to work those two days a week before it became a poor investment, of course that's only based on the last 6 months of riding my fixie, the longer I keep the same bike running for the commute the better VFM it all becomes overall...
I think you'd be hard pushed to make cycling to work more expensive in pence per mile terms than most other forms of transport...
I'm choosing to treat cycling as "cost neutral" for food
an odd assumption to make since this is the biggest cost
One thing a lot of people forget with the cost of riding to workis the extra food you put away. If I did my 75 mile round commute on the bike more than I do it'd cost almost as much as the car in sustenance.
an odd assumption to make since this is the biggest cost
I did actually justify that the grounds that my diet doesn't vary just because of cycling, I eat too much to start with, if I ate even more just because I'd ridden a bike then I'd be too fat to get on the bastard thing in the first place...
My commute is 15 miles each way not enough of an excuse to pack an extra 500 calories into an already excessive diet, if anything I should be cutting back, so I choose to treat it as "Cost neutral" for me, YMMV...
I replace tyres, chain and cassette twice a year. Wheels, bar tape, cables, and jockey wheels maybe once. Brake pads every so often.
So maybe £250 a year for a 40 mile round trip commute 3 times a week. If I was driving it would cost at least £20 in fuel per week.
[i]I'm not sure I save money on diesel purely on the shear amount of food I have to consume to get me through the 45 mile round trip (once or twice a week).[/i]
This always crops up on commuter threads. I don't get it, why do you need a huge amount of food to ride 20 odd miles each way. I just eat a regular amount and done so for years with no issues.
A lot of people eat too much, quite a few people cycle to offset that (me certainly) so unless you scoff a lot more when cycling than a normal day (which most people probably don't need) I think cost neutral is reasonable especially if you're allowed to ignore costs of owning a car.an odd assumption to make since this is the biggest cost
Cookeaa not bad comparison but if you were going to catch the train or bus full time you'd definitely get a saver card/ticket which should probably be used for comparison, wouldn't be surprised if it was still close to the total cost of the car tho 🙄 To actually get people to consider public transport it should be less than the fuel cost of a car journey, seeing as how that is the benchmark everyone seems to compare things to.
One thing a lot of people forget with the cost of riding to workis the extra food you put away. If I did my 75 mile round commute on the bike more than I do it'd cost almost as much as the car in sustenance.
There are break points in distance, time etc. We used to use 'quicker, cheaper, easier - pick two' as our mantra for getting people out of cars and on to bikes or public transport. If it isn't at least two of those they won't.
For cyclists, this is not the case. Cyclists would do it anyway, hence the answers some of you are giving ref money, distance, time etc.
My London fixie commuter cost me about a set of brakes pads every 9 months and a tyre every year. New chain/sprocket/ring every 2 or 3?
There were some upgrades, but largely unneccessary, and always second hand parts, so can probably discount those, and I tended to sell on the old bits too.
Fuel? Well, none extra for the basic commute (eat less/move more!). If I was doing a lot of business miles, I got paid mileage, and that generally covered a coffee and a pastry per journey!
Doing about 6k miles /year.
I eat too much to start with
But that extra fuel wouldn't be lost - its being used later or stored up. Its not going to disappear unless you have surgically removed. Your using gluttony to trump science.
[i]Also bag + 22 mile = 8O[/i]
I carry a small camelbak in winter as I usually carry things like a buff, extra base layer, gloves, etc which I also put my lunch in. Although my lunch is either sandwiches or a rice/bean/tuna in a tuperware. So not huge.
noooo, just as you already own a car so can choose to ignore the costs of depreciation, insurance and other expenses some of us are pointing we we already purchase and consume more energy than we need so following the same train of thought we can consider the fuel costs neutral.Your using gluttony to trump science.
We aren't arguing that we don't need to buy the energy in the first place, merely that we would have paid and eaten it whether we had to ride to work in the morning or not, greedy pigs that we are.
TBH what financial value to you put on say 1000 calories?
I mean you might be getting yours from foie gras and caviar, while I scoff down a 9p pack of noodles and a pound of value butter for the same energy...
Good ol' Strava estimated my ride home last night at 361kJ which equates to 86.2 Calories or slightly more than 11% of the energy in the Veg' lasagne My missus had made me for tea when I got in, I didn't eat any extra food just because I'd ridden home...
We're not talking about superhuman athletic efforts here...
I'm with Cookeaa on this one - I don't eat any extra as I eat/drink too much anyways.
I'd only be eating more when I'm out for 3+ hours on a spin.
Only extra cycling cost related to commuting last year over the usual maintenance was a light at £20 and another at £6, oh and a set of sks longboards. Didn't buy any new clothes. So it was a cheap year.
I have two commuting bikes - winter/wet weather and summer/dry days bikes so one bike isn't getting hammered constantly.
Still don't get the 'cost of fueling your body' thing. Doesn't cost me any more in food if I'm eating or driving. Some people eat way too much.
Your using gluttony to trump science.
No I'm not, I'm admitting to my extant gluttony, and using Science to prevent myself justifying yet more Gluttony on the basis of a pretty meagre physical effort...
Just out of academic interest I went and dug out an estimate of ~259 calories for a ham sandwich (I have a fair few of those in any given week)...
That sandwich is easily enough energy to get me to and from work and have some "change" so I'd say one ham sandwich = ~40 miles, Hence fourth I shall measure all my riding in Ham sandwiches*.
*won't really...
outgoings:
batteries for rear light - 12 quid
brake pads - about 25 quid
a new tyre once a year - 15 quid
an inner tube maybe -5 quid
incomings:
health and fitness and a good frame of mind from a bike ride most days and frankly thats somethings money cant buy.
calories come and go. I dont eat any more just cos i ride. I do 30 miles a day.
[i]a new tyre once a year - 15 quid
an inner tube maybe -5 quid[/i]
I'm impressed, 30 miles on a unicycle 🙂
The commuter bike cost me £450 last year to buy. Apart from a tube and a set of mudguards at £30 all in I reckon that's under £500 for nearly a year of use. Only does 9 miles a day so not using much energy and saves me time on the commute compared to the car. I just use my regular biking kit so no expense there. I can't put a value on the way riding lifts my mood so can only compare it to the car as a cost.
Used the car for a week back in November as I was feeling run down and it cost me £20 in fuel plus all the wear stop-start driving does to it. That's a grand easily so am better off financially and physically (fitness-wise anyway!!) riding to work. Plus I enjoy it!!!
And back OT.....;-)
My firm pay 20p per mile for cycling mileage (that will be the HMRC approved rate I guess).
I've been cycling the 25 miles each way once or twice a week for over 3 years, and I reckon that just about covers it.
That compares to the 45p per mile car mileage allowance.
So I make the assertion that some clever person in HMRC (sic!) has done some complex calculation, and it costs [i]about[/i] half as much by bike as it does by car.
Incidentally, my wife travels to the same location by train. If we leave the house at the same time in the morning, I get there 20 minutes before she does 🙂
And it saves time in the week as I don't need to go out training in my spare time.
I'm impressed, 30 miles on a unicycle
fnarr, only one needs replacing a year on average.
I cant ride a unicycle, tried it, fell off lots, not doing that again in a hurry. 😉
... um ...
That 'mileage allowance' is for business use and *not* commuting... If you visit clients or site via personal transport in work time you can claim it - from your workplace, not your home.
Bear in mind also that this 'mileage allowance' is to reimburse you for using your own vehicle for work purposes and therefore covers wear and tear, operating costs etc also - it's not simply about fuel although as it's paid per mile it is very easy to make that mistake.
I bought a nice bike on c2w which probably cost me about £50 a month and I've bought it a pair of new tyres (£22 pair) and three tubes (£10). I use old cycle clothing and don't need to eat extra for around 20 miles a day on a preexisting healthy diet. I had lights around and don't have a special 'road' helmet - I just don't use the full face, is all. So that's about £635 in the last year. That barely compares to insurance and servicing never mind wear and tear, fuel and actually buying a car - and includes a shiny new* cross bike which is still in fine condition.
If your commute is monster miles and across challenging terrain likely to eat bikes then maybe cars work out in front, but unless you need the load capacity or the speed/distance coverage then there's no way you can justify cycling costing more than driving without some seriously selective data.
* Bike is clearly no longer new... 😉
Mary Hinge - Member
And back OT.....;-)And it saves time in the week as I don't need to go out training in my spare time.
this for me is the real saver- get a bit "biked out sometimes" but still nice n fit for no time lost!
oh dear... don't introduce 'gym membership' into the list of expenses that need to be accounted as pros and cons... 😉
Bus/car: £3.50/return/day x 5 (days)= £17.50/week
x 48 (weeks)= £840/yr
Bike: £135/yr (consumable/service) + £150/yr (extra food) + £100/yr (clothing/other)= £335/yr (Or £6.98/week, £1.39/day, £0.14/mile).
Total Saving= £505/yr
-Plus I save 1hr/day cycling vs car/bus.
- Plus I save money on water/electric by showering at work.
- Only 10 miles/day trip so probably don't eat any more anyway.
vincienup - Member
... um ...That 'mileage allowance' is for business use and *not* commuting... If you visit clients or site via personal transport in work time you can claim it - from your workplace, not your home.
Not claiming for the commute, but giving an example of "official" costings that compare bike mileage allowance to car mileage allowance, thus gives a fairly reliable comparison.
My commute is on "challenging terrain" and so my commute bike gets a fair bit of abuse. Still on my 2nd pair of tyres in 3 odd years, got through maybe 6 tubes (4 in one day due to split tyre). Still on same drivetrain (new BB bearings) which gets lubed each ride. 1 set of brake pads. Full mudguards help keep the mud off so clothing lasts longer.
@ Rockhopperbike - yep, and it means I don't get moaned at for going out on the bike all the time 🙂
I commute 20 off road/canal path miles a day, every day.
Leave home on a cup of coffee with a couple of biscuits and have a flapjack when I get to work, sandwich and some fruit for lunch and maybe a banana, some dried fruit or nuts mid afternoon.
Then cycle home for a standard meat based meal - no extra refuelling needed.
Consumables: set of pads, a chain/cassette, a tyre or two per year - say £200 tops, so 20 miles x 220 working days / £200 = 4.5ish pence a mile
With regards to commuting it all depends on what you want to get from it as to how pricey it gets. Personally i keep bike / clothing / fuel in fairly good order since a commute can be good winter training along with adding in group rides after work you can make the most out of an otherwise mundane task. If you already cycle and have kit / bikes then the cost need not really be taken into account.
tyres - £120 😳
one set of brake blocks (fixed gear) - £10
chain - £10
lights - £20 (keep losing them)
clothes - £50
cleats - £15
other bits and bobs - £50
so that's £250. and half of that is tyres.
which is about 5p a mile.
my sort of agreement with myself is that £10 a month to maintain the commuter. in reality this normally gets spent as a lump sum every so often. at the beginning of autumn i had new tyres (old ones were punturing too much rather than run out) new cranks (pedal threads stripped), brake pads, and a new set of guards. Chainring is probably 4 years and 8000 km in. i keep thinking about replacing it 'next spring'.
£10 a month is much better than my £120 fuel bill if i drove every day.
My old 40 mile round trip commute ended up closeting my no less than a monthly train pass and a cheap gym membership. I also have less aggro and near misses and can watch futurama on my ipad. Tricky to do that on the bike.
Edit- riding is loads cheaper than driving though, if that was the only alternative I'd be right on the bike.
I don't ride in to work that much in the winter(35 mile round trip almost exclusively through suburbia and built up areas) but in the summer I try and do a trip or two a week barely enough to guess a cost but on a cheap road bike not to hideous I would wager. I don't eat much more and it compares to a combined diesel and parking cost of £10 or more a day or a much less stressful £8 on the train. The traffic is regularly murder round here so it's train or bike for the win and neither involve leaving the house earlier than the car.
My car hasn't been driven in ten days and I think I drove about ten miles in my wife's car last week. I am happier, less tired and less stressed for less driving. Now that's worth more than a few quid in my book!
I cycle to work. 5 miles each way. Ride home is 1000ft climb.
I used to drive. I'd rush home, eat, change and try and get a ride in 2 or 3 times a week.
Now I cycle to work I don't need to ride in an evening so in effect it saves me time.
As I bought a bike to train on its not cost me anything as I would have bought it anyway.
I have spent more money on clothes and waterproofs but I use these on weekends on my mtb.
I do my own servicing/wheel truing etc.
Fuel, parking, wear and tear etc I worked out as 50 per week.
If you didn't cycle you would probably join a gym which costs 40 quid a month.
What I don't think anyone has mentioned yet is that with commuting you can palm off extra bike purchases/kit purchases as "I need it for commuting... followed by its still way cheaper than you using the car"... no just me then?
Also unless you get a mechanical (5years of commuting 2 punctures) you get to work in exactly the same time each day as traffic doesn't effect you as much as it does in a car/bus/train.
All I'd say about £40 a month but that's not just for commuting thats contributes to normal hobby too....
For years my bike commuting allowed us to be a one car family rather than a two car family. Public transport wasn't an option. If it lets you run one less car the savings are huge.