Unless you have no car at all riding a bike is no massive savings. If you still have a car somewhere that you drive with any regularity you are still going in the hole...in fact faster.

I spend way more on bike swag then I will ever save in gas. One of bike needs tires and its my nice bike so its getting $60+ conti's that will last 3k. My truck has 33x12.50's that I bought used for $350 and still have another 30k on them before I need to replace them and I already have drove 15k. crunch those numbers and see what savings of that? There is none, it will cost a LOT more to keep tires on that bike then the truck. It will cost me $2100 in tires on the bike to go as far as the $350 set of tires on the truck are good for.

If you are thrifty you can set up to commute waaaaay cheaper that the first few posts if you shop around and don't mind riding something older.
My commute ride and gear?
70's Miyata Street Runner Frankenbike picked up at a recycle center for $10
Refurbished for another $100
Tactical flashlight w homemade mount for headlight, $25
Flashing LED taillight from wally world, $10
Helmet, yard sale, $5
Other misc and total of about $350

When I ride my bike, I make every mile count, and in doing so I reduced the number of miles traveled considerably than when I solely traveled by motor vehicle. I don't so much as look at the cost of tires in miles, but in cost per year. Even if one reduces their mileage on their motor vehicle, tires will eventually weather check and become unsafe after several years.

When it comes to bike swag versus gasoline, the bike swag last longer and is better looking than a tank of gas and a stack of gasoline receipts.

Goodwill and Craigslist keep the prices down
1981 Miyata Ridge Runner, set up SS with road tires $75
Cateye headlight, REI sale table $35
Madden panniers, Transit rack and bag on CL $75
Super Blinky $25

Total: $210
Gas savings in six months since purchase: $430?
Getting fit and happy: Priceless

I put 8k on a set of Walmart tires, $14.95 each, and they looked great when I sold the bike! Had another 8k in them I think!
Innova road tread, 26", Kevlar belted.

I've never done the analysis of whether or not I'm saving money by commuting on a bicycle. I doubt that I am. I don't really commute by bike for that reason. I mostly commute by bicycle because I enjoy it. I have an excellent route that is 90 percent on a beautiful MUP that seems sparsely used.

I do know one thing... each of my bicycles is worth more than my vehicle (I don't drive a nice vehicle, but I do have fairly nice bicycles.)

If I were ever to do the cost analysis, I think I would find that my food costs to fuel my ride are still more expensive than the fuel costs for my vehicle. I know we all complain about gas prices, but going to the grocery store is just as outrageous.

OK, if you didn't commute, you won't eat? Then you don't need to work at all?

A bicycle that sits in your garage costs you essentially nothing. It depreciates a little but the percentage of loss over time is rather low. A car sitting in your garage loses money constantly. You have to have insurance which is a constant drain. Depreciation as a percentage of value is much higher. Even maintenance costs cost aren't zero if the vehicle sits unused.

Food cost and requirements for riding a bike are rather low because of a bicycle's overall efficiency. Calorically, a 10 mile ride costs you the equivalent of a few slices of bread...a few cents per day...over what you would eat anyway.

My '91 toyota pick-up has hit rock bottom. I'm not sure that it can depreciate anymore. I need the vehicle and it doesn't sit in the garage - it is well used. It's used on commutes also, I'm not a 100 percent dedicated bicycle commuter. Many of the costs of my vehicle are fixed costs whether I use it or not.

I'm a diabetic. It's not wise for me to fuel my body with low quality carbohydrates.

I can't justify my bicycle addiction, by saying that it saves me money. I'm sure that if it were necessary, I would try to save more money on my bicycle related purchases. However, I've been quite happy with what I have purchased... it's not always the cheapest stuff.

Actual cost cannot be determined for me as I buy stuff I want not need and happiness and well being is priceless

I eat more when I ride than when I don't ride. I probably shouldn't eat more, 'cuz I have some excess "fuel" that I'm carrying around. As far as "needing to work?" I know plenty of people that have made the choice not to work... they aren't starving to death. It seems like the taxes that I pay ensure that (a whole other discussion.) I don't believe there is a "free ride"... even if it's on a bike.

I hope you know, I was yanking your chain a bit!!

What I see in this thread is, people choose to make it cost more than it needs to.

I worked with a fellow that bought things just because they cost more. He would go
to a high end store and pay twice what it cost down the street. His reason, "I don't
buy cheap crap!". He wore designer jeans to work as a janitor in a Jr high school.
And $400 shoes. And $140 hair cuts. He parked a six month old Harley because the
pipes turned blue and he was ashamed to ride it.

We all make chooses and some cost more than others. I choose to keep my money.

Very true, indeed. I know that between the spare parts I've accrued and inherited over the years along with the local bike co-ops I could build a solid commuter for two or three hundred bucks, tops, but I choose not to.

I'm obsessive enough. I don't want to become the hyper-miler equivalent of a bike commuter. It's tempting, as a challenge, but my wife already suspects I'm a little OCD as it is.

It's true that bike commuting is much cheaper then driving. For me the biggest expense is food/nutrition. I not only commute but I also do long distance rides on the weekends, and that means I need to eat more then an average person who is not as physically active as I am. If I don't eat enough nutritious food then my body would never be able to keep up. So food is the biggest expense, and I would much rather spend my money on good food then on gas.

I don't own a car, so I can only compare cycle commuting to my other method of commuting, which is the subway plus my electric scooter to get to the subway station.

- Startup costs relatively similar (3600 yuan for the electric scooter, about the same for my Giant FCR3500 hybrid plus lights, speedometer, fenders, and backpack)
-Daily cost for subway/scooter - 10 yuan for round-trip subway fare, plus 1 yuan for scooter parking at the subway station
-Daily cost for cycling - 2.6 yuan for round-trip ferry fare across the river.
So every day that I cycle, I basically save 8.4 yuan. If I commute 3 times a week, I save 25 yuan, or 100 yuan a month. Not a huge amount, but certainly a quantifiable amount.

People who say that "bike commuting doesn't cost less because I buy all this stuff" are forgetting that, for the most part, most of that "stuff" is personal preference and not necessarily needed for commuting specifically. In the winter when I only rarely commute by bike, gasoline costs run about $50 a week. That's not just for the commute, admittedly, my husband drives the van everywhere. If I did have a separate vehicle to drive in with, I'd pay $40 a month for parking in addition to the gas, insurance, and maintenance costs.
I can't even remember what I paid for a lot of my commute stuff, I bought it so long ago. Panniers - at least 22 years old.

Having a car that gets good mileage and is completely paid for makes a big difference. If you're still paying a note and are paying through the nose for gas, then yeah, switching to a bike is a great idea.

I think your list is pretty good, but...

If you like to bike, then you'll have a bike anyway. Few would buy a bike to commute full time without already owing a bike and most any bike can be used to commute.

That said, to commute you need to change a few things out on that bike. Here's my list of bike commuting specific things:

Rack--$40
Fenders--$50
Trunk bag--$75 (I think a good commuter needs a couple of options, depending on what he's bringing in)
Panniers--$120
Rain gear--$40 (I use a rain cape for bikes)
Lights/blinkies--$100 ( I ride in areas with street lights and don't need the 250 lumen lights)

This depends on the length and type of commute, my current commuter bike is far lighter and more durable than my first commuter, and I would say that a considerable number of bikes in the average US garage won't withstand the rigors of a daily commute for any length of time.

Like a lot of people, I think you are inflating the costs with things you view as 'necessities', but that to a lot of us are just luxuries.

Carbohydrates are cheap. Probably the cheapest things you can buy in any grocery store. The higher quality, less refined carbohydrates like beans, rice, potatoes, legumes, flour, etc. are by far cheaper on a price per pound basis than meat, dairy and processed carbohydrates. And, as I said earlier, riding a bike doesn't bump up your caloric requirements all that much. Certainly not enough to put much of a dent in a budget. Certainly not the equivalent of what an increase in gasoline costs can do.

I have done the analysis of what it cost me to drive and how much I save by riding a bicycle to work. Riding a bike to work on a regular basis cost me between -$2 and -$3 per mile over vehicle travel. That is somewhat inflated because my vehicle isn't a fuel efficient vehicle. Most people with vehicles that get better mileage will see cost on the order of -$0.50 to -$2 per mile. Over the course of a year, that adds up to $6000 to $9000 that doesn't go out of my pocket.

Tires to tires is a poor comparison. Think of tires for the bike the way you do gas for the truck. Those nice Contis will end up costing you about 4 cents per mile. Being generous and estimating that the truck gets around 20 mpg gas for the truck is currently costing you around 20 cents per mile.

What's being underestimated is the mental toll of spending the money on a car vs. on a bike. If your tires are worn on your car and have to be replaced, you feel like you have to spend the money. If your tires are worn on your bike and need to be replaced, you feel like you get to buy sweet new tires. Same with food: being able to buy more food and maybe having a less restrictive diet because you're more active is pleasureable to most people, while buying gas is painful. Obviously if something breaks, that's painful whether it's a car or a bike.

Which means when you see these thousands of dollars in startup or maintainence costs, a lot of times it might seem like a necessity and it can get expensive, but you enjoy spending that money a lot more than spending it on a car.

I am new to the commuting thing, but it seems way overcomplicated, and so much stuff?

here is my breakdown

Bike: $80
Helmet: $19
Panniers: $0
Seat Pack: $0
Patch kit + tube: $0 (if i get a flat i will just hop on the bus with the bike)
Clothes : $0 (i already own clothes)
Winter Gloves: $0
Jacket: $0 (do i really need a "special" bike jacket? i already have enough)
Headlights: $0 (i dont ride at night, will need to revisit this in fall)
Blinkies : $0 (see headlights)
Repair/Maintanence: $? (this will depend on how much tires will be for my bike, the rest is just simple wrench work)
Front basket $20 (its to hold my wrench and my lunch)

I only ride 4 miles one way, and any breakdown its a urban city commute so i usually one-three blocks to a bus stop and our buses have racks for bikes, i dont ride in the rain, i wont ride in snow.

I think for me i need to keep it simple adding so much stuff and variables might take the joy out of just hopping on a bike and rolling with a smile. But i can see where others find the fun in the all the gear and can geek out with the variations.

Doesn't have to. My 2004 Aveo hasn't been insured except for 1 week in the last 12 month period (our primary vehicle was in the shop, one call to the insurance agent reactivated it for the duration of the repair) AND the kelly bluebook value of the vehicle appreciated by $500!

philip