After commenting in another thread that by going to SRAM 1×11 gearing I thought it would push my bike running costs up to more than what a decent sports car would cost to service, I thought I’d tot up what my bikes costs per year – I was a bit shocked, see below. This is on around 750 entirely off road miles per year.

Rear shock service – £75
Fork service £75 – although now I have a marzocchi 55 rc3, which I can do myself, so this saves a bit.
Brake pads x 4 sets – £60 – genuine shimano here, hate superstar/copy pads
Frame bearings – £40 – for a Mojo HD, so 8 x bearings from a generic bearing supplier.
Cassette – £35 – shimano XT
Chain – £20
Gear cable – £10
Tyres x 2 – £75

Total £380 assuming I dont break anything.

Is this a typical amount, or am I doing it wrong?

you do seem a bit ‘keen’…

i know we’re told that an annual shock service is absolutely vital, but i don’t know anyone that does it. nor do i know anyone that’s been horrifically injured by a rear shock (or fork) that’s been ridden a while sounding a bit noisy.

frame bearings every year? – f*** that, make sure they’re well greased when they go in, and stop jet-washing.

cassette every year? – you could probably get that down to 2years, without noticing any problems.

as Mr Gwyn recently demonstrated, you don’t need the ‘best’ tyres to get by just fine thanks.

imho most of the wear and tear on our bikes comes from riding when it’s shitty, get a cheap hardtail for the worst conditions – what our roadies chums would call a ‘winter bike’…

Why not ride it less?

My injuries have saved me a small fortune in maintenance 🙂

hmm santa cruz superlight

18 months
1 x brake pads (shimano)
1 x 10 sp chain

thats it, done around 2k miles

cheap as chips so far & bearings have a life time warranty

You’re looking at it all wrong.

Eg. Say you ride on average 3.5 hours a week, that’s 182 hours a year. So you’re spending £2/hour on enjoying yourself. That’s cheap!

Probably:

New tyres, £60
Shock and fork service £200 (yes, every year on a bike that gets hammered and must always run smoothly. I’ll actually do a lowers service on the forks between this as well).
Cassette and chain £35
Replacing stuff that’s gubbed/broken, be it a hanger, rear mech, rim, headset, ripped tyre, etc. £100, could be very easily a lot more.

So at least 400 yes.

i know we’re told that an annual shock service is absolutely vital, but i don’t know anyone that does it. nor do i know anyone that’s been horrifically injured by a rear shock (or fork) that’s been ridden a while sounding a bit noisy.

frame bearings every year? – f*** that, make sure they’re well greased when they go in, and stop jet-washing.

Hmmm, shock is usually leaking air by the time I send it in for a service, and it always feels better when it comes back (CCDB air).

Some of the frame bearings are very notchy/siezed after 1 year, so again I dont think I could scrimp there. And it never gets jet washed (never actually gets washed), it just gets used in all conditions in the peak district.

Cassette, I could probably get away with not changing that.

Oh well , I like the man maths being applied , sounds a bargain at 2 quid per hour.

I worked out the last two years have cost me about £350 a year for my main bike.

my rear shock and bearings lasted 6 years before servicing (Giant Trance), just a bushing change. It was ridden in all weathers. £300 for 6 years isn’t bad. Front shock I can do myself. Toying with replacing chainrings. cassette and chain, but new jockey wheels sorted out the shifting for a while.

Its a pretty cheap sport if you don’t go overboard.

i know we’re told that an annual shock service is absolutely vital, but i don’t know anyone that does it

It’s a usage thing. I get mine done probably every 2 years but I’ve got several other bikes and the FS really only gets intensive use in the summer.

If you’re using it all the time then once a year is probably about right.

I buy my bearings from the bulk bearing houses, meaning you get a whole frame set for about £8, and i buy “4 for £20” brake pads too. Biggest cost is probably tyres (not including the occasional attack of “upgraditus”…..)

I’ve put two sets of bearings in the Pitch in the last 5 years. One rear shock service, air sleeve done diy.

2 cassettes, a few chains.

Depends where you ride too, mostly in the lakes so not overly gritty round here.

around 750 entirely off road miles per year.

It surely doesn’t need a full set of new bearings on that kind of mileage?

Wow, I’m doing this wrong.

Mechs x 2 probably 120ish
Maybe a wheel/rebuild (180 last time, destroyed a wheel on a practice run and had to get to the nearest bike shop)
60 on tyres
15 for shock bushings that the mega eats
Fork seal kit ~25
Rear shock kit 40 quid
15 Quids worth of whisky for my mate to service them 😀
Usual chain/cassette wear
10 sets of pads, probably 8 of them over the winter.

On the plus side, I quite like getting parcels

Not sure how you’ve managed that much wear in only 750miles, I’m surprised you’ve worn anything out.

It surely doesn’t need a full set of new bearings on that kind of mileage?

Not sure how you’ve managed that much wear in only 750miles, I’m surprised you’ve worn anything out.

There might be a couple of bearings out of the 8 that will last another year, but the majority will be notchy and/or seized.

Maybe it varies based on riding location, it can be very grindy here (peak district) over winter. That 750 miles will also include a week in the alps on the chairlifts, a long weekend in southern spain being guided, and the odd uplift day at Antur stiniog, not that it makes that much difference.

For balance, in the same period, what has everyone spent on:

1) Fuel to get to your riding
2) Accomidation for those long weekend rides
3) Food / beer and snacks during the ride etc
4) Car parking fees, uplift fees, trail centre entrance etc

I bet, unless you’re lucky enough to have amazing natural riding on your doorstep, these outweigh the direct costs to maintain the bike!

You only do 750 miles a year and you go through all that stuff, Crikey!!

Last year I managed 2000 miles on my Anthem alone, and it cost me:
1 chain – £20
1 cassette – £30
2 rings – £30
2 sets of pads – £10
1 top bush in the shock – £10

The drive train could’ve cost less if I’d changed the chain sooner, so 5p per mile ain’t bad really.

I can’t be the only one that does a couple of mechs a year?!

Yes scaled I think you are alone in that one have a 6year old xt on the hard tail and it’s only had one set of jockey wheels still plenary of life left in it

Add a grand for a decent hardtail for the days that the FS is out of action for suspension servicing, or when you can’t face a thorough post ride clean of the FS when the weather is really, really grim.

Depends where you live and how you ride, plus the obvious mileage.

Wet, sandy miles, where you’re hitting big jumps to flat, and riding super fast over rocky terrain is going to be a lot easier for your bike on flat riding on groomed trails.

Keeping up with service intervals can save you £££s on a new CSU or shock body when you destroy it with grit.

I’ll easily do 3000 miles a year on my mtb, and likely that again on my roadie and cross bikes combined. I find a I put couple of chains and a cassette on the mtb each year, about 2-4 sets of pads (dicobrakes specials), and maybe a rear mech (or at least the jockey wheels) ever 18 months, which I think is entirely reasonable for the countless hours of entertainment and exercise I get from it. I also do all my own servicing on forks and shocks which saves a few £££s (yes fox rear shocks are user serviceable with a few mods).

As for rings and other parts like that I seem to change ratios at about the same rate they wear out!

I’m also planning to do a trip across europe this year which will be another 1200 miles, so will likely be a new chain, cassette and mech to be safe.

According to strava I cycle around 2000 miles a year. 60% roadbike (cycle to work) 40% mtb. Yes its expensive but it saves me. …..

A decent gym membership is 30 quid a month

Petrol and Parking 100 a month.

Cycling is also my hobby. If i didnt cycle i would climb more and that can be expensive.

So I don’t worry how much cycling costs, I just try to think how much it saves me.

I also love getting parcels too!

Maybe someone could do some numbers on this but I think the HT for the winter idea might be a false economy, e.g another set of forks to service, unless you dismantle your full suss and use the forks

Plus bike tech is moving quickly these days, so you need to get your money’s worth out of the full suss by riding it all the time before it’s obsolete 😀

Lets face it; the guys doing big mtb miles probably spend a lot of time on flat groomed paths, bridleways etc. There are guys here thrashing bikes on steep rocky fast downhill, smashing mechs as they go, plus hardened trail boys grinding thekr machines through the gloop in search of big natural gap jumps and drifting any dry corners they find.

The bridleway brigade, with their semi lycra attire, aren’t going to spend much other than replacing gears, much as roadies do!

Not sure how you’ve managed that much wear in only 750miles, I’m surprised you’ve worn anything out.

Totally agree. I would expect chain and pads to be replaced perhaps but nothing more really.

Not all miles are equal but… 750 miles is roughly 2 months of riding for me at the moment and just one month or less of riding for the guys taking thing pretty seriously doing 20 hour weeks.

To be honest my biggest expense with bike stuff is due to wanting to try out something new and shiny after pay day 😀

My most used bike is my singlespeed commuter. I think the current tyres have probably don over 5,000 miles, the drivetrain about the same, I’ve maybe used about 2 sets of brake pads in that time, and haven’t changed the bake cables. I have no idea how many miles the headset and BB have done. possibly over 10,000 miles. And they’re perfect.

I’m dreading the ca.£60 overhaul the bike will soon need. 😆

If you ran a HT in the winter it would be 50% less on your FS. Great excuse to buy another bike 😉

I’ve spent an eye watering amount of money on my full suss over the past 18 months, but only a tiny part of that was on running costs. I reckon I’ve spent less than £100 on essentials for keeping the bike going. Brake pads, brake fluid, a new bleed kit, 1 x chain and fork oil, but I also had my previous shock serviced and tuned by Loco, so that brings the total closer to £200. Not too bad.
I’m too scared to tot up what I’ve spent on new stuff though 😯

I hope to get a lot more than 750 miles out of my cassette!

Frame Bearings – Free under lifetime warranty, also with a grease port fort the main pivots it should prolong the life of them.
Fork Service – same as HT, Home service for lowers shof service for seals and bushings as they have tools and space.
Rear Shock as above
Rest normal stuff same as any other bike.

Cost who cares

Full rigid, SS, & ride from the doorstep FTW 😉

I reckon on doing about 1300 off road miles a year, possibly a few more.

I also expect to get through a set of pads each end, and despite going beyond the ( recommended lol) .75% wear on a chain change cassette and chain once a year too! which is coincidentally about when things begin not to mesh properly.

Rock shox dual air fork, now 3 years old , gets a lowers home spun service maybe twice a year.

Air can on the shock has been cleaned out once.

I’ve only ever wrecked one mech.

My Frame is now 6 years old and I ve changed all the pivot bearings once and the top shock bush twice.

Probably down to running chain and cassette til they are screwed means jockey wheels get changed very other year.

I ride year round and our local patch is very wet and muddy in winter.

I think a lot will depend on local soils and grit and what style of riding you do. I think our local trails are varied and we have a good mix of Singletrack and fire road climbs, with some fast loose descents to where suspension etc has yo work for it’s living.

I have just returned from a week in Scotland though and was surprised that pad wear seemed to have increased , again down to local terrain being more grit based perhaps ?

qwerty – Member
Full rigid, SS, & ride from the doorstep FTW

What do you win? Full Suss ride where ever I want over a continent have suspension and gears. Really enjoy it.