Steely Dan

so i was having a conversation with a friend of a friend and we discovered that we're both daily bike commuters, so of course the flood gates of bike geekery opened. when i told him about my titanium road bike that i commute with, he was a bit surprised because he thought it was too expensive to use as a daily commuter. he prefers to commute on less expensive bikes that he can beat up, saving his nice cervelo for proper training rides and amateur races. as a non-racer i responded that because my commuting is how i do most of my riding, i figured why not ride the nicest bike i have? he agreed that made some sense too.

so in the interest of general information (and not at all to get into some stupid pissing contest about who commutes on the nicest bike), i thought i'd throw together a quick little poll to find out what price range of bikes most BF commuters commute with.

so, how much money did the bike you most often commute with originally cost you to procure? do not add upgrades or on-going maintenance costs, just original procurement costs. if you found an old frame or had a friend give you an old broken down bike, include the money you spent to get the bike into working condition.

i know many of us have multiple bikes that we commute with on different days for different purposes (rain bike, winter bike, heavy-hauling bike, etc), but for the purposes of the poll pick the bike that is your regular go-to commuter.

jdswitters

By the time I added lights, real tires and next month panniers, I will have spent as much on accessories as on the bike. According to my mileage and current cost of gas at 2.65 I need to ride everyday to work for the next two years to realize a cost benefit.

But it's not really about the cost savings for me. It is about my soul.

monsterpile

I am more like your friend, but partly because I am paranoid about getting my bike stolen even if its a silly fear. Plus I hate worrying about it getting scratched up etc. I do most of my riding as a commuter though so I ride something I actually like.

I feel liek a got a great deal and paid $20 for my current commuter bike at a garage sale. All it needed was a different more friendly commuter style front tire which I had laying around and fixing the cyclocomputer mounting bracket and it was ready to go. It had a rear blinky light, rear rack and cyclocomputer already on it. Its a 10 year old Trek mountain bike which isn't crappy IMO with pretty much all Shimano STX-RC components and ZX Alpha aluminum frame. It just looks a little rough, but for me thats a plus and its been a great bike.

hubcap

Holy Moley - talk about having some pressure to ride in on the cold and rainy days. YOUR SOUL IS AT STAKE!

exile

Crime is relative. Some areas I am sure have thieves that know what they are looking for. However most thefts are simply crimes of opportunity.

billdsd

Current commuter is a used touring bike from the late 80's/early 90's that I bought 3 years ago for $275. I added fenders. I already had lights (I commuted on a racing bike before that) but I've since replaced most of them.

My GPS bike computer cost more than my bike, but I am a gadget nut.

tjspiel

My Spring through Fall road bike cost $350. My Winter bike was $125. I've stuck significant amounts of time and money into each though.

JeffSG

$599 for my Gary Fisher Wahoo regular commuter and recently purchased a rain bike (Schwinn World Street Commuter) for $340. I have much invested in the Gary Fisher and probably won't do much with the Schwinn as it has fenders and rack standard equipment.

Ride safe,

Jeff

jdswitters

I threw that in there for SD's signature line. It is raining this afternoon, 50F and dropping, we will see if my soul was worth it when I get home in my office clothes.

zacster

I bought my commuter 15 years ago for my 40th birthday. It was an $800 Trek 8000, a lot of money at the time. Over the years it didn't get nearly as much use as I thought it would as I was always happier on my road bike. I put slicks on it last spring and other than the occasional chain lube haven't done any maintenance on it. It is still dead quiet and smooth. I took it on one beach ride this summer but other than that I only use it for my 10 each way commute.

nashcommguy

After moving to a rural existance and a rt increase of 20 miles my old mtb wouldn't cut it anymore. Too slow. My other bike was an old Fuji I was planning on converting to a single-speed. So, I looked around and found a Motobecane Fantom CX on Bikes Direct for 499.00 delivered. Jumped all over it and w/the addition of SMPs it was set to go. I already had all the necessary gear in terms of lighting, hauling, etc. Also, swapped out the pedals for dual-sided clipless. It's been a great commuter. Minimal maintenence and only one minor truing of the rear wheel in two years. Can feel the middle cogs starting to go, so I'll be replacing the chain and cassette soon. Will probably do the brake pads, too. Would highly recommend it for anyone who's got a rt commute of 20-30 miles or further. Might want to swap out the stock seat if you've got an old favorite, but I've had no probs w/it.

The only thing wrong is that now that I've started to ride fg I've got my eye on the Mercier WT5...

MacCruiskeen

I was commuting on an old MTB but I recently spent $1400 on a new Jamis Aurora Elite. I wanted a bike that would get me through anything, and would still be nice to ride. I only have room for one bike.

wunderkind

One of my premise to commute by bicycle is to reduce cost (though it is naive of me to think that), therefore I ride my cheapest bike. Not having to worry about jumping over curbs, put it on a shared bike rack or bus rack nor subjecting it to rain, mud and other crud.

Sixty Fiver

I don't have a bike that had an initial cost of more than $120.00... many were just frames and forks that I built up into working bikes.

My current winter bike cost me $40.00 and have built it up with a 3 speed internal hub w/ generator and only purchased the bars and fenders... everything else was re-claimed or salvaged.

I build my own wheels and work as a mechanic / frame builder so there isn't much I can't do.

Seattle Forrest

I think I paid $600 ( plus local tax ) for mine, used, with a free tune up thrown in. It's a CX bike, a Novara Element. This was my only bike for a year and a half; now it's my commuter, utility, and rain bike.

I'm with your friend, although I don't think many commuters actually abuse or beat up their bikes. But I don't commute on my Cervelo; I've never even locked it up. I don't race much, though, I just enjoy long weekend or evening rides. Since I got it, though, my aluminum bike seems a lot less comfortable, and a lot more sluggish, so I wish I had a second carbon bike to use as a commuter. If I had a longer commute, I might sell the Novara and buy a used one, but I like having disc brakes in the rain.

hubcap

Maybe a more telling poll question would be: "How much would your commuter bike cost if you had to buy everything, new or used, that you have on it currently?"

The answer to that question might get scary.

I'm just looking at my bike next to my desk now and thinking, "damned the frame...the brooks saddle, old man mountain rack, arkel panniers, eggbeaters, on and on and on...those are the things I would hate to have to purchase all over again."

Steely Dan

i imagine those are pretty legitimate reasons for not riding a really nice bike as your everyday commuter. i guess i'm just lucky that i am allowed to bring my bike into my office so i have no concerns of theft, vandalism, or having it nicked up on a bike rack. if i were looking at a street parking situation, there's no way in hell i'd commute on the bike that i use now.

it's interesting to see the nice bell shape of the graph curve right now. from the results so far it looks like i am on the really high end. oh well, i enjoy what i ride and that's all that really matters.

wolfchild

I have three different bikes that I use for commuting, transportation and recreational riding.My Surly 1x1 singlespeed was the most expensive because it was built from the frame with high quality components, price was $1900 CND. My KHS UNO fixed gear is worth about $900 CND with extra accessories. And then I have a Rocky Mountain Vertex which I converted to rigid fork and singlespeed, originally it was $1700 CND. All my bikes have racks and fenders which adds to the cost. Oh and I also have a bunch of tools and components at home worth some $$$$. My bikes are well used , scratched and I keep them a little dirty so they don't really look as expensive as they really are. I don't like to go cheap on gear. My bikes have to be able to handle commuting, offroad, longdistance rides all year round. The way I look at it is... if somebody can spend $ 20 000 on a car...then what's wrong with spending $ 1500-2000 on a bike. Some people will spend thousand of $$$$ on big screen TV's and stereo systems, I prefer to spend $$$$ on quality outdoor clothing and gear.

HardyWeinberg

Yeah if I couldn't park it in my office I'd park it outside my window but if I couldn't do that, I don't know how different my approach might be. I definitely appreciate the situation I have.

robtown

I commute on 7 of my 10 bikes (one is not built yet). I don't commute on the MTB or stingray/muscle bike. The bikes include the higher cost titanium frame, and old school carbon, and a modern steel cross bike. Since I build / restore and constantly upgrade my fleet the cost averages less than $1k per bike (some $300, some $1500). I also commute on any bike my size that I buy / restore and flip. That would probably bring the average cost down below $500.

Sixty Fiver

The wheel set on my $119.00 1999 Trek Multitrack (bought gently used) is worth $400.00 and the brakes and levers are worth $200.00... the only stock bits that are left are the frame and fork as everything was replaced / upgraded shortly after I acquired it.

At one time I figured it was a 1000.00 bike and if I amortize that over the 20,000 plus km I have ridden it the cost per mile is pretty low... I wanted a touring capable bike so used really decent parts.

FunkyStickman

My original commuter was $180. When the frame cracked on it, I replaced the frame with one from a Nishiki MTB I found in the trash. Frugal doesn't even begin to describe what I do.

himespau 

My bike cost me $100 on craigslist. I have easily way more than that in saddle, seatpost, bar, stem, levers, cables, pads, etc. Don't get me started on all the extras (computer, rack, panniers, etc) I put on it. Way more than the bike cost.

caloso

I race, and like a lot of workingman racers, I combine training and commuting. So mile for mile, I've probably ridden to the office on my Cervelo more than any other of my bikes this year. But the bike I consider my commuter was cheap.

I bought the frame for $50 on eBay, bought a wheelset for $150, and built it up with spare parts.

ews

I am proud to say I spent about $1,800 on a kickass, custom-designed (by me), LBS-built commuter bike. I took ownership in late August 2008. Given that I would have to take the CTA if I didn't commute, I would be paying aobu $4.50 per work day (or $86/month depending on how you want to calculate). I conservatively estimate that I commute between 175-200 days per year (out of a possible 250 if you give 2 weeks vacation).

Based on those numbers, I think I have paid off my bike and view it as a profit center.

That said, I probably need another six to twelve months to amortize various accessories that I paid for myself and didn't get as birthday/Christmas gifts, as well as tuneups, a new chain, tires, and tubes.