Does Cycling To Work Save You Money?

[geocycle]

Depreciation of bikes is also relevant, my thorn rohloff in 2006 for an eye watering £1100, never spent so much on a bike. But, if I sold it now I’d want most of that back. Yes, I have spent lots on cycling over the years but far less than my Ford has depreciated in the last 4 years.

 

[AndreaJ]

I’ve been cycling to work for about 3 years now and when I started some of our regular customers and my boss were guessing how long I would stick it for, it ranged from a couple of weeks to the first winter- they have all had to admit that they were wrong although some still think It’s crazy to cycle in the rain when you have a car. It’s only between 4-7 miles depending on which way I go but has saved me quite a bit of money in diesel costs with the only extras I have bought being decent lights, rucksack and pro vis jacket.

 

[bikingdad90]

Agreed. My student houses were £17 and £10 a week for a nice house by a beach in N. Ireland. Son no. 1 pays £400 a month for similar at the moment in Lincoln. And no, I'm not that old.



Well done. You'll find it makes you fitter without realising. Even when wet and cold. Colleagues will have a new-found respect for their nutty co-worker.

My colleagues did the same, with one saying he'd not timetabled me for September's teaching because I'd be dead by the end of the summer having started on May 31st.

Several others now ride into work by bike . It does help that we've secure and dry underground bike storage - now doubled from 10 years ago - and a workshop we can use a few days a week, plus showers and lockers. Or we did have before Covid made them shut it all.

Which university are you at? My brother teaches at Leeds College and until lockdown happened I used to frequent Kaplan professional college in Leeds City centre every few months for my studies. I miss popping into the Evan cycles and ChainReaction cycles with a 99p filter coffee from Pret on a lunchtime waiting for the hour to pass (normally got 30mins at work).

 

[DCLane]

Which university are you at? My brother teaches at Leeds College and until lockdown happened I used to frequent Kaplan professional college in Leeds City centre every few months for my studies. I miss popping into the Evan cycles and ChainReaction cycles with a 99p filter coffee from Pret on a lunchtime waiting for the hour to pass (normally got 30mins at work).

I'm at Leeds Beckett (used to be Leeds Metropolitan / Leeds Poly) and have been there fore almost 20 years.

 

[mjr]

You must live in a posh area, the majority of bikes being used daily are nothing like that, just that they may be the only one's that come to your attention. I wager 90% of the people on this forum do not own a bike anywhere near as costly as that.

Mine are priceless. To me.

 

[classic33]

But once you've got the bus pass, you are sorted. Meanwhile, us cyclists are forking out daily for GoreTex jackets and padded underpants.

Nay lad
I was doing an 181/2 mile commute into Leeds, 11 out of every 14 days, wearing pretty much the same as what I'm wearing now, footwear aside.

Later doing 250 miles over a four day weekend, split shifts, with the same setup. If I'd wanted to do this on public transport, it would when available have taken close on two hours each way. I was the "nutter" cycling into work, whatever the weather. And like you, they ran a book on how long I'd last doing it.

I can't drive, so my own transport was two legs or two wheels.

 

[Jenkins]

Saved me money? Not by a large amount given what I've spent on bikes and spares over the years, but the health benifits (physical & mental) far outweigh any monetary values.

 

[lazybloke]

Depreciation of bikes is also relevant, my thorn rohloff in 2006 for an eye watering £1100, never spent so much on a bike. But, if I sold it now I’d want most of that back. Yes, I have spent lots on cycling over the years but far less than my Ford has depreciated in the last 4 years.

Two of bikes were 2nd hand freebies, the other was a gift, so I don't worry about depreciation.
I will spent money on occasional upgrades, although I tend to scour ebay for bargain prices, or wait for clearance sales.

 

[slowmotion]

A long time ago I used to drive five and a half miles to work each way across vaguely central west London. Then I discovered two wheels. It didn't save me a bean but it was a lot faster and a shed more fun.

 

[RoubaixCube]

Used to cost me about £8.50 a day or whatever the cap is

Bus to the station (£1.50)
Underground to work (2.80)

and same again in reverse when going home.

In hindsight, I could have just gotten up a few hours earlier and rocked the bus all the way to work but the journey by bus is quite long winded and takes an hour at the least and is even longer depending on traffic and i dont like public transport very much but theres no way im paying congestion charge fees and £3p/h for parking in central london and I hate spending hours on the bus unless im stuck on it riding it to Timbuktu.

I worked 4 days a week so it didnt make sense for me to get a weekly pass where i could have saved more money.

Total journey times about 40-50mins on public transport - Cycling = 27mins on a really good day.

So yeah. Getting a bike did save me a tonne of money but most of that probably went on buying more useless loot for the bike

 

[swee'pea99]

To answer the OP, not now. Coming downstairs is really cheap. But the thing that got me back into cycling, after a gap of what must now I think about it have been something like 15 years (I'd been keen as a teen, then got into motorbikes, then gave them up on account of kids) was when my monthly travelcard went up to £120. For the next 15 years or so I saved £120+ a month, every month. I had to buy new tyres every now & again, the odd brake block, chain, cable. I did all my own maintenance. I bought new bikes (well, new old bikes, off ebay) but always sold the old one, generally for what I'd paid for it, or more.

All in all, I'd say commuting by bike must have saved me somewhere a good way north of £20,000.

And I loved it. I really did. I miss it.

 

[slowmotion]

And I loved it. I really did. I miss it.

So do I. Rain or shine, summer or winter. You got to work with a well oxygenated brain, and back home at night with a system full of endorphins. It was blooming good fun.

 

[flake99please]

Short answer..... Yes, and by some considerable amount.

 

[screenman]

Only if you cycle to work, I have 6 bikes hanging up here all going down in value, I have never owned a business that suited cycling to work on a regular basis, last time that I had a job and did so was 1974.

 

[Lovacott]

To answer the OP, not now. Coming downstairs is really cheap. But the thing that got me back into cycling, after a gap of what must now I think about it have been something like 15 years (I'd been keen as a teen, then got into motorbikes, then gave them up on account of kids) was when my monthly travelcard went up to £120. For the next 15 years or so I saved £120+ a month, every month. I had to buy new tyres every now & again, the odd brake block, chain, cable. I did all my own maintenance. I bought new bikes (well, new old bikes, off ebay) but always sold the old one, generally for what I'd paid for it, or more.

All in all, I'd say commuting by bike must have saved me somewhere a good way north of £20,000.

And I loved it. I really did. I miss it.

I used to cycle commute in London to save on fares but I also saved on time as well.

My nearest station for the line I needed was a 20 minute walk with a 15 minute walk at the other end.

I could cycle the route about ten minutes quicker door to door.

Like you, I stopped once kids came along and I'd got a new job with a vehicle thrown in.

Then I did a stint from 2000 to 2007 down here in Devon and I've just started again earlier this year.

I cycle commute now 4 days per week. I'm planning on keeping it up until retirement in about 8 years time.