Cycling more expensive per mile than driving?

[scotsbikester]

I am interested but where to have the waxing machine and chains while doing all this could be a problem. Especially if I’m using “ a slow cooker” is something you use on kitchen stove?

I guess it would be easier to do it if you had a little corner of your house/utility room/shed/laundry, or whatever. As it was my very first time I did it on the patio.

A slow cooker is a plug-in thing, it doesn't go on the stove. I used a second hand Russell Hobbs.

 

[scotsbikester]

People were waxing 50 years ago. Been there & done it. Silca secret lube gives the waxed feel with no hassle.

Good for you. Thanks for letting us all know.

 

[Webbo2]

So you'll probably be better off buying the kit and doing it yourself, if you don't want to pay somebody else to do it for you.

I paid £11 for my slow cooker and £24 for the wax. I did pay £12 above the price of a new chain to get the seller to de-grease it for me. The next chain I think I'll degrease myelf. From now on each re-wax will cost about 30pence in wax.

This is assuming that you are actually interested in waxing your own chains. You are, aren't you?

How much was your reusable quick link.

 

[scotsbikester]

How much was your reusable quick link.

They include one with the chain. They (the chain manufacturers) say reusable 5 times. I daresay I could push it past that, but I won't. They sell a pack of 6, which would equate to 30 changes. So 60 pence per change. Rewaxing every 300 miles comes out at a quicklink cost of 0.2p a mile.

But I plan to run 3 chains. So if I buy another two chains, plus the 6-pack of quicklinks that equates to, er, 45 changes. So actually the cost per change is a bit less, as 15 of them are "free".

This is the chain I bought:
https://inaspin.co.uk/collections/ybn-8-9-speed-chains/products/ybn-9sp-ti-nitride-gold-chain-sla901

This is the 6 pack of quicklinks:
https://inaspin.co.uk/collections/ybn-8-9-speed-chains/products/ybn-9-speed-master-link-qrs-9

 

[Brandane]

To comment on the thread title (rather than the "to wax a chain or not" debate that the thread has become).... .
If anyone's cycling costs are more per mile than driving, then there can only be one reason for that. You're not doing enough miles on your bike. If you buy a new bike for £3k then ride it for 10 miles before leaving it to gather dust, then I'm guessing that £300 per mile is going to be a higher cost per mile than driving. Unless of course you have bought a £30k car and done the same!

 

[scotsbikester]

To comment on the thread title (rather than the "to wax a chain or not" debate that the thread has become).... .

It is a truth universally acknowledged that every thread that contains the word "wax" will inevitably become a thread about whether to wax or not. Surely somebody will soon suggest that lard is the perfect chain lubricant.

 

[scotsbikester]

If anyone's cycling costs are more per mile than driving, then there can only be one reason for that. You're not doing enough miles on your bike. If you buy a new bike for £3k then ride it for 10 miles before leaving it to gather dust, then I'm guessing that £300 per mile is going to be a higher cost per mile than driving. Unless of course you have bought a £30k car and done the same!

Yes, my thread title was horribly misleading, wasn't it? I most humbly beg the forgiveness of the cyclechat cognoscenti.

Reading the actual post, and I obviously failed to make this clear, the point I was making was that comparing two specific "marginal costs", 3rd party chain waxing and fueling a motor vehicle, the marginal cost of the bike per mile, was more than the marginal cost of some vehicles.

Certainly, if I paid somebody £30 every 300 miles to wax my chain, that specific marginal cost would be a great deal more than the marginal cost of fueling my car, which is less than 2p a mile.

 

[SuperGalactian]

Yes, my thread title was horribly misleading, wasn't it? I most humbly beg the forgiveness of the cyclechat cognoscenti.

Reading the actual post, and I obviously failed to make this clear, the point I was making was that comparing two specific "marginal costs", 3rd party chain waxing and fueling a motor vehicle, the marginal cost of the bike per mile, was more than the marginal cost of some vehicles.

Certainly, if I paid somebody £30 every 300 miles to wax my chain, that specific marginal cost would be a great deal more than the marginal cost of fueling my car, which is less than 2p a mile.

To make a fair comparison, you should really compare fuel cost with fuel cost, as someone did up-thread, or mechanism with mechanism. The mechanism of a bike is very exposed compared with the oil-bathed inner workings of a car, and suffers as a result. So yes, chain lubrication is a significant cost in a bicycle, but you should compare it with the cost of changing engine and gearbox oil and brake fluid, plus disposal of the old. I get my car serviced once a year. The last ‘oil-change’ service was £267.

 

[Brandane]

The last ‘oil-change’ service was £267.

The cost of my last oil change service, including filter, was about £60. Using a proper Suzuki filter and quality semi synthetic oil.
Mind you, I invested in ramps many years ago so it was easy enough to drain oil (later disposed of at council recycling centre free of charge).
It's a 2015 Suzuki S-Cross so out of warranty long ago, and worth not a lot. I change oil and filter every 5k miles or so, twice as often as Suzuki recommend. To my mind, it's the most important thing to do if you plan to keep the car long-term, as I do. It could well be my last car as I have recently retired (5 days ago) and no longer have any real need for a car and it's associated expense. At least the massive depreciation has probably bottomed out now, so just normal running costs to be concerned with.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

So yes, chain lubrication is a significant cost in a bicycle

Not really. I bought a litre of oil for my chain for £7. So far I am 19,000 miles in and not even used a third of the oil. Cost per mile for lubrication is under 1 pence.

 

[scotsbikester]

...but you should compare it with the cost of ...

Well I didn't. I compared the cost, per mile, of paying someone else to wax a bicycle chain with the cost of fueling a motor vehicle. Two discrete "marginal costs". Like it says in the actual post.

My point being that paying somebody else to wax a chain carries a relatively high cost per mile. Relative to what? Relative to the cost of fueling a motor vehicle. Whether paying that cost is "worth it" is something only the person paying can decide.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Yes, my thread title was horribly misleading, wasn't it? I most humbly beg the forgiveness of the cyclechat cognoscenti.

Reading the actual post, and I obviously failed to make this clear, the point I was making was that comparing two specific "marginal costs", 3rd party chain waxing and fueling a motor vehicle, the marginal cost of the bike per mile, was more than the marginal cost of some vehicles.

Certainly, if I paid somebody £30 every 300 miles to wax my chain, that specific marginal cost would be a great deal more than the marginal cost of fueling my car, which is less than 2p a mile.

If I paid someone every day to clean my bike professionally, with full wax and complete cleaning of the chain, plus a respray once a month and full replacement of the drivechain, and only rode it 3km to work and back it would cost more per mile than a car.

I on the other hand don't own a car, and because I learned to repair bikes and now work in a bike workshop, I'm technically making a profit from cycling.

 

[Punkawallah]

If I paid someone every day to clean my bike professionally, with full wax and complete cleaning of the chain, plus a respray once a month and full replacement of the drivechain, and only rode it to work and back it would cost more per mile than a car.

I on the other hand don't own a car, and because I learned to repair bikes and now work in a bike workshop, I'm technically making a profit from cycling.

And cue the Tax Man in 3, 2, 1 . . . .

 

[All uphill]

I had to buy a bell for my bike - £1.99

If I had bought a car instead I wouldn't have had to make that purchase. Cost £0

Therefore on that measure, which I have decided is the important one, the car would have been the cheaper option.

 

[Milzy]

Cycling is more expensive per mile than my lovely EV.