Cycle versus car - false economy?
- Thread starter wafter
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Jenkins
Legendary Member
- Location
- Felixstowe
I can also fuel my bike rides with beer. It tastes nicer than diesel
Diesel's cheaper though.
Jameshow
Veteran
Well, assuming one's energy intake is balanced with their expenditure under normal circumstances, any additional energy outlay is either going to result in weight loss or increased energy intake to maintain a constant mass. That's just how it is..
The effects might be more pronounced for me mind, as the butcher's a 25 mile trip away, the supermarket 20 miles.. the least of which is around 2/3rds of a typical calorific intake so it's bound to be noticed!
Yeah, that's what I get for buying higher-end gluten-free stuff. Significantly more expensive than / not as nice as a quality sourdough, but then it doesn't make me utterly hopeless either - so there is that
Sure I completely understand!
I wonder how much I spend on food Vs fuel.
On a typical 100mile / day ride I'd have a cooked breakfast £5, lunch of meal deal+ 2 Belgian buns. So I reckon an extra 1000 calories.
Costs me £10 extra from being away from home. Compared to £20 on diesel. (camper van)
EltonFrog
Legendary Member
Unless I have missed something no one has factored in the cost of the bike in the calculation, I bought a Brompton that stands me in a at 840 Sovs, I’ve ridden it 431.23 miles. The cost per mile of ownership thus far is £1.94791p. So two quid a mile is more expensive than taking the train from Didcot to Reading.
Don't get me wrong - I'm all over the bike as a primary means of transport.. having just filled out a cost assessment to confirm how laughably little our corporate overlords will lend me against somewhere to live has highlighted that I'm down around £50/month just in sunk car-related-costs (tax, MOT, insurance, servicing).
If you can live without that you're definitely winning. I couldn't do without the car, but if I ever get to move to the city, a half-hour commute on the bike as opposed to (typically) 45 mins in the car will save me a ton a month in fuel alone..
If you can live without that you're definitely winning. I couldn't do without the car, but if I ever get to move to the city, a half-hour commute on the bike as opposed to (typically) 45 mins in the car will save me a ton a month in fuel alone..
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I can also fuel my bike rides with beer. It tastes nicer than diesel
Presumbly you're not drinking Carling, then...
Sound like you're still up; and of course it's not all about financial outlay
A fair point, however my OP was more concerned with immediate running costs rather than sunk costs.
By way of comparison, viewed from this perspective the car owes me about 7.5p/mile, the Genesis about 40p/mile (new/faultless bike and a lot of miles), the Fuji about £1/mile (needed a bit of work, now getting stuck in) and the Raleigh about 8p/mile (cheap, fair few utility miles).
I think bikes work out well from this perspective if you look after them and pile on the miles
I was trying to work out the regular running costs for my bikes, and I came to the conclusion it's about 10p per mile. Given that I tend to do lots of utility riding (as with @ColinJ) I dont' have a personal vehicle, but Mrs C does, but I'll do most of the shopping for day to day stuff, cutting out unnecessary trips, this can work out as a significant, albeit slow to realise saving.
That factors in wear and tear on all the drive train and tyres as well but not capital investment costs for example. That being said given the miles on all my bikes (~2500 on the Trek and ~5000 on the Kinesis to date) the per mile costs are coming down.
Looking through my spreadsheets, historically I tend to replace cassettes around the 3000km mark and chains around the 2000km mark, and Tyres between 2000 and 8000km (rear/front). I'm much harder on tyres, because frankly, I'm fatter than most of you. I've done a fair bit of rounding in my head for convenience, but that works out to about 3p per mile, per tyre. For drivetrain I estimated high at about 2p per mile each for cassettes and chains.
That factors in wear and tear on all the drive train and tyres as well but not capital investment costs for example. That being said given the miles on all my bikes (~2500 on the Trek and ~5000 on the Kinesis to date) the per mile costs are coming down.
Looking through my spreadsheets, historically I tend to replace cassettes around the 3000km mark and chains around the 2000km mark, and Tyres between 2000 and 8000km (rear/front). I'm much harder on tyres, because frankly, I'm fatter than most of you. I've done a fair bit of rounding in my head for convenience, but that works out to about 3p per mile, per tyre. For drivetrain I estimated high at about 2p per mile each for cassettes and chains.
I own a 21 year old BMW.
Unless the repair or maintenance is way beyond my scope, I do it myself with the help of the many amazing mechanics on YouTube, in particular, the 50s Kid.
In the last three years, I've changed the entire cooling system, replaced the power steering pump, front bumper, rocker cover gasket, all pulley wheels and tensioners and a few other bits and pieces.
Invest in a decent error code reader, worth the world.
I actually found all these things easier than dialling in the gears on my hybrid!
I had the same with my Peugeot 205. I put about 170,000 miles on it over many years without any real expense as it was cheap to buy parts for an DIY friendly.
I was forced to retire it due to rust and the fact that I was walking on two crutches at the time following an accident and was unable to work on it. The Skoda just seems to be a bottomless money pit in comparison. I hope to return the pug to the road next year or else replace it with another classic.
slowmotion
Quite dreadful
- Location
- lost somewhere
Ten years ago I calculated that the cost per mile for my bike was about 8p. That didn't include the initial cost of the bike and it's depreciating value, or any food for me....just replacing tyres, clothes, cassettes, etc etc. I was riding about 3500 miles a year at the time.
This isn't a cheap activity.
This isn't a cheap activity.
That tallies well with my estimate. In terms of transportation costs, I did about 12 miles today of utility cycling, at the cost of about £1. The petrol cost of that would be between £3 and £4 alone, so it's significantly cheaper than running a car. And that's before you account for the other costs of driving.
When you look at a leisure activity cost, I think it compares well there too, a 30 mile 2 hour ride would cost about £2.40, where can you entertain yourself for that cost? That's before you account for health and wellbeing benefits and the avoidance of the need to join a gym if you wish to stay fit.
vickster
Legendary Member
But the bike still has value, the train ticket once used doesn’t
I‘ve little idea how much cyc,ing costs me, it’s mostly recreation. If I do cycle around 5 miles to the tube station to go to the office rather than getting the train from up the road, followed by the tube, I think I save about a fiver in fares. Not so good if the bike gets stolen while parked but it’s not happened yet (I use the least valuable bike bought specifically for this purpose)!
Not sure how much the car costs me annually either (£1000 a year plus fuel?), do about 3k miles. I need it mostly for elderly parent care duties and going to the gym/pool these days.
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It's interesting to read some of the costs / component lifespans being mentioned here. Rightly or wrongly I tend to view bikes as a significant sunk cost with minimal running costs. Since I didn't keep great records for my old Giant and have had limited time / mileage to assess those I currently have, I can't really draw any meaningful conclusions..
I will say that my Genesis appears to be lasting very well; 4.5k miles in and it's had one tyre. The original (waxed) chain is on about 4k miles and shows barely any signs of elongation; I assume the other drivetrain components are similar unworn. Neither brake disc shows any significant wear; the front pads likewise and the rear is about 25% through its life IIRC.
Granted I'm a not-particularly-strong, fair-weather rider, but I'm liking those numbers. I think the chain waxing helps enormously and really drivetrain components have to be where you'll get hit hardest for replacement costs.. unless you're into really tarty tyres I guess. Raises an interesting point about brakes too; pads probably cost more than rim brake blocks, but discs less than wheel rims (especially if you're factoring the labour cost of replacement). Rims are potentially likely to wear faster due to being a softer material with a higher chance of contamination.. although they do have to react less force and have a much greater braking area.
I've got good records of distance covered and costs incurred so it'll be interesting to see how everything pans out moving forward - I suspect I might be in for a bit of a shock if / when I start commuting in all weathers...
I will say that my Genesis appears to be lasting very well; 4.5k miles in and it's had one tyre. The original (waxed) chain is on about 4k miles and shows barely any signs of elongation; I assume the other drivetrain components are similar unworn. Neither brake disc shows any significant wear; the front pads likewise and the rear is about 25% through its life IIRC.
Granted I'm a not-particularly-strong, fair-weather rider, but I'm liking those numbers. I think the chain waxing helps enormously and really drivetrain components have to be where you'll get hit hardest for replacement costs.. unless you're into really tarty tyres I guess. Raises an interesting point about brakes too; pads probably cost more than rim brake blocks, but discs less than wheel rims (especially if you're factoring the labour cost of replacement). Rims are potentially likely to wear faster due to being a softer material with a higher chance of contamination.. although they do have to react less force and have a much greater braking area.
I've got good records of distance covered and costs incurred so it'll be interesting to see how everything pans out moving forward - I suspect I might be in for a bit of a shock if / when I start commuting in all weathers...
Alex321
Veteran
- Location
- South Wales
But that cost will reduce as you keep using the bike. How long are you likely to keep it for? Another 500 miles? 5000 miles?
I've done over 5000 miles so far on my £2100 bike, so less than 0.5p per mile on bike cost., though most of those haven't been commuting miles.
