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Old 11-05-12 | 06:01 PM
  #162  
treadtread
Senior Member
 
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 1,261
Likes: 1
From: SF Bay Area

Bikes: 2012 Specialized Sirrus

Originally Posted by ckaspar
What are you using to calculate your vehicle expenses per month?
Just miles logged. But there are two aspects to miles logged in my case:
1. Fuel cost. I average just 20 mpg if I drive - and though my bike commute is just 3 miles each way, my car commute is 5 miles each way.
2. Lease cost. This one is cheating a bit - but I add it in for a better feel-good factor. Cycling lets me keep the car mileage under the lease limit - if I exceed it, the charges are pretty steep. Because I cycle, we can use the car without worrying about the lease mileage. I cannot factor in maintenance on the car because its free in the three year lease plan.

There is a third factor that will soon appear once my wife passes her drive test - we will be able to stay a one-car family I'm planning to sell my Magna and buy a nice Topeak bike seat for my son from craigslist - if I manage to do that, I'll drop him to school on the bike and push costs even lower.

Mind you, as multiple people said above - I'm mainly cycling because its fun - the money saved is a bonus
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