Is it true that you tend to think less about how much gas your truck isn't burning when you don't have one?:)

I'm always surprised that these gas threads get so many posts.

You almost never see any posts complaining about the price of tubes.

+1. Drive an older Accord, I work from home and I ride everywhere in town, which is pretty much everywhere. I MIGHT drive 200 miles a month if I am traveling to see my family.

Tubes have went from an average of $3 to $5 over the last few years. I use a lot fewer tubes than gallons of gasoline that I used to.

Yep. My humble Accord gets 28 in the suburbs and 33 hwy, but it still hurts to the tune of $60 to fill it up now.

I suspect we'll see more scooterists and cyclists as gas prices continue to climb.

I currently and doing a multi-modal commute; bike-train-walk, so I'm still affected by gas prices in the form of the train tickets. I just did the math, and now that gas has topped $4.20 a gallon by me, I'm just saving about $40 a month on gas compared to driving.

Cheapest gas I can remember was 17.7 cents a litre after we went metric. If I recall there was a gas war on between major oil companies. Today I thought I was doing all right with $1.28 a litre when I topped up the fuel bunkers in my wife's Sentra after getting it serviced and the summer tires thrown on. The good news is that she rode got on a bike this past weekend for the first time in 20 years. Now if I can get her to ride to work.....

In a fit of curiosity I did a Google image search on "weekend gateway" and the first link led me here

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/tt/7c94e/

Go figure...

It's interesting to look at gas prices adjusted for inflation. Through much of the 20th century, they hovered around $2.50 in todays dollars. In 1962, when MacDonald hamburgers were 90 cents (adjusted for inflation), gasoline cost about $2.40 a gallon. The highest prices were in 1981--$3.81. The lowest prices were less than $1.50, in 1999.

http://inflationdata.com/inflation/i...tion_chart.htm

Everyone posting in this thread has had a car or cars and many have or have had trucks. We klnow the math. First thing I do when I get a new folding bike or garage sale classic is replace the pedals (that's how its spelled) with $14/pr. Forte M1's. I've seen similar cage pedals for $9.99. What on a car costs $9.99? You're right, cars are not as evil as some make them out to be. Cars are far worse than most make them out to be. A 10 year old bike is a lot more rideable than a 10 year old car. You didn't ask, but I am going to tell you. You are in a teaching moment right now. This year of monitored car access. Treasure it. If your trajectory is like most in your situation you are facing a carless future. It can either be a hellish non-existence or it can be rather pleasant and beneficial to mind and body as you gain fitness and net worth because you have no car draining your bank account and you rely on your muscles to get you around town like God intended. Good luck to you.

H

Yes, it is definitely a cost consideration if you have someone do all of the work for you. That is a significant expense.
Yes, bike tires and maintenance parts cost money, but this pales in comparison to the cost of owning and maintaning a vehicle.
Based on the parts list you mentioned, you either have a low quality bike or are somehow abusing it (or perhaps had an accident). Those parts should be among the most durable. Typical maintenance items SHOULD be tires, chain, brake pads, basic cleaning and lubrication, and that's about it. Cogs/chain rings typically need attention after 10k miles or so, depending on the quality and materials. Cables last a very long time if installed correctly (and of good quality).

Using reasonable quality items, your annual bike maintenance should cost no more than $50-$175 in parts (depending on the quality of tires you choose) plus labor (which is free if you do it yourself). That's pretty damn cheap, if you ask me.

Ways to help make bicycling as cost effective as some of us "claim" it can be:
- Learn to wrench on your own bike. It's easy and rewarding
- patch tubes. Unless I get a tear or valve stem failure I patch my tubes many times before throwing them out
- water is the best hydration you can get for your money (many places, good water is still free)
- put a little extra money into good quality tires with adequate puncture protection

I build and maintain my own bicycles (well, except the frame itself) and, while not free, it is certainly not expensive IMO.

Hondas are among the best cars to own from the maintenance and cost per mile, so well done, there.

As with any new endeavor, the cost to get properly "set up" for bicycle commuting is paid up front, but very quickly moderates after the first year.

Ride on!

I think for most of us, getting rid of the car is not an option (divorced with kids and the bike and bus won't cut it for transportation back/forth and to school). So, commuting by bike only saves me gas and slightly less maintenance costs. Add the cost of the bike and all the related stuff I need with it and it can go either way.

Yes, there's a major difference between car light and car free. Further there are varying degrees of "car light".

Though my wife and I have debated whether or not to get rid of one of our vehicles we've decided not to for a few reasons. The first being that we'd most likely end up keeping the larger most fuel inefficient one since that can meet all of our family needs. The small car can't though it's plenty sufficient for a good number of them. Having two allows us to use the "cheaper" one unless we need more cargo room.

Still if I were to stick with the basics in terms of cycling costs and forego a lot of the extras I spend money on, we'd probably still save money in the long run even keeping both cars. Our vehicles are pretty old but have low miles thanks in part to my commuting and using the bike for other trips. I don't have to fill up often enough that I worry much about gas prices.

I sure hope my tubes never only go 12 miles before I have to replace them. If they did then I would complain about tube prices too. lol

Actually, I remember paying $4 for the same Continental tubes not so long ago, now the cheapest is $6 :(

This is what I have to replace the past two years on my hybrid bike: bottom bracket $60, replace spokes on rear wheel multiple times $75, rear wheel $50, pedals (twice) $30, tires $30, bike lube $8, inner tubes $20, chain $20,sprocket? $35. Granted my bike is about 10 yrs old so maybe thats why? My car insurance & alcohol machine monitor (a legal requirement) is less than $80 a month. I get around 30-32mpg in my Civic. The novelty of driving again after 10 yrs has worn off & I must say I'm beginning to commute by bike more. I was just trying to point out that bike commuting cost money as well.

Wipers! :D Are they any good? Probably not.

https://www.google.com/webhp?rlz=1C1...w=1265&bih=713

Light bulbs (tail and head), spark plugs (though you typically replace all of them at a time), various caps, several different types of fuses....I don't think you know much about cars, but that is ok.

The old adage of losing a race because a 5 cent piece failing is quite accurate when it comes to automobiles.

I think I'm up to about 15000 miles on my current pair of tubes. One has 3 patches, the other has 7. I get a couple of flats a year typically.

So I count you spending, in the last two years, a tad over $300. $150 a year. How many miles do you travel in a year?

While you do have to spend money on a bike, $300 sounds like a deal to me.

My commuter bike is 40 years old. As far as what I had to invest in it this last year to keep it serviceable, ..air in the tires. This is not meant to be a put-down, but a crap bike will always be a problem. A quality bike is pretty close to being cost free on a usage basis other than some routine maintenance. I actually wore out a pair of tires some time ago, a very exciting event.

If you travel 90% of the time by yourself, a bike will always be a much better choice to put in your garage than a car.

Carrying 3000 extra pounds of metal to work with you every day simply isn't efficient unless you've got 4 other people in your car. If you want to reliably cut $2000-$8000 off your budget a year, learn how to fix your own bikes and sell a car or two.

The only thing I put into my bike last year was oil for the chain and air in the tires. I have a variety of tires with less than a full season left on them and I decided a couple of years ago to use them up before I buy any more.

This spring I bought a new crankset (eBay, $26 shipped) and a new cassette (REI, $18) because I've been running the same chain for about 7000 miles now and it's badly stretched, and the sprockets are worn with them. At some point I WILL have to put a new chain on and I'll need to put those new crankset and cassette on then too.

I think it'll be 2013, maybe even 2014 before I need to buy new tires.

I only keep one spare tube because if I buy more than that, they tend to dry rot before I use them. I have moved to keeping all my rubber in the basement instead of the garage, it lasts longer there.

My car has an 18gal tank and only runs on premium - I've been over $4/gal for a while. Luckily, I've only had to fill it 3 times this year. The rainy weather and my wife's changing schedule resulting in me having to get the kids to school has made it harder to bike commute every day recently.

Bike commuting wasnt cheap at first, but the cost has dropped drastically this year. I have 6-8 tubes I patch and rotate. I have all the winter gear I need, lights, etc. My main expense is a new chain and tires every 3000 or so miles. I guess I could go to a single speed commuter and could probably go a few years on a chain. Car tires are way more expensive than bike tires - plus, I only need 2!

I took this photo during a recent trip to Death Valley. I think of it as a glimpse into the near future elsewhere.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7191/6...d13eba12_z.jpg

^^ And people are actually buying there?!

Paid $6.50 for a Bontrager tube the other day. Walmart still has Bell tubes for $5. Interestingly, those Bell tubes sold at Walmart are Presta but are labeled as being 'universal'.

Has anyone used a presta tube on a schrader rim before?

They make little round washers to take up the extra space. I don't know if that's really necessary.