I have 2 bikes: a road bike that I used for triathlons in 2008/2009, and a mountain bike for commuting (with road slicks).
Road Bike Costs (3 years)
- Initial purchase (second hand): $600
- Initial upgrades: $600
- Servicing, tyres, cables, brakes, innertubes, puncture kits: $460
- Value if sold: -$400
- Total Costs: $1200
Kilometres travelled:
- 9 months x 100km/week = 4,000 km
Cost per kilometre:
- $1200/4000 = 30c/km
Mountain Bike Costs (6 years)
- Initial purchase (new): $500
- Lights, night gear: $300
- Tyres: $80 x 6 = $480
- Innertubes, puncture kits: $10 x 16 = $160
- Servicing, cables, brakes: $400
- Value if sold: -$100
- Total: $1440
Kilometres travelled:
- 3 years commuting = 50 weeks x 4 days/week x 15km/day = 3000km
- 3 years casual = 150 weeks x 5 days/week x 6km/day = 4000km
- Total: 7000km
Cost per kilometre:
- $1440/7000 = 20.6c/km
Conclusion
- The bicycle running costs overall are $2640/11,000 = 24c per kilometre
Hey great summation of bike commuting costs!!!
I travel by bicycle too. In fact, I travel by bike so often and so habitually that the few times I must ride in an automobile, I’m annoyed by it.
See, the costs of your bikes isn’t complete though. Vehicles need tires, rotations, oil changes, insurance, gasoline, maintenance, etc…
If you keep your bikes another 3 years, the costs will be fractions of cents.
Sometimes I wish the cost of fuel would double, so that more people would have to go by bike, therefore there’d be more bicyclists on the road, meaning it’s safer for the rest of us.
Cheers! Thanks for posting.
Yes, with more cyclist, the more drivers are aware of them.
You forgot fuel costs at 50 kcal per mile ( in the uk this equates to 11pence per mile)
Are you talking about energy output and therefore the cost of food to input those calories into your body?
Yes , treating food as fuel, the cost of the food to provide the energy for cycling say, 30 miles a day should be factored in shouldn’t it? I reckon cycling takes around 50 cals per mile , so what’s a calorie of food cost in a healthy diet?
haha, you have gone beyond my skill in computation. But if you crunched the numbers and posted them, that would be cool 🙂
Well.. forgive my use of miles and uk currency….average per capita energy consumption=2289kcals. Average expenditure=£84.
Cost per kcal=0.0022*50kcals=£0.11/mile.
Source : office for national statistics
=0.068/km. With exchange rates turns out at 0.11 usd per km!
Forgot to include some working re: energy cost. £84 is per week per 2.4 people. So per person it is 84/2.4/7=£5 per day
5/2289=£0.0022