Det är 429 SEK, men det är bara 2,4 Watt.

So you can't also use it with a rear lamp, but one with a battery is fine for now.

How, I don't have anything against that. I just seem slightly starved for time now. Actually, I can as well, but my commute is quite short (7 miles), so if I get a flat I'm never more than 3 miles from work/home. Which is only a 35min walk with bike. So I don't carry the tools.

I'd be running instead of riding for fun these days.

Bra pris!

That's a pretty fast walk - I'd be more like an hour at 3 miles, especially pushing a bike.

I understand the perspective. I've gleaned from your other posts that you don't care about a couple of minutes per ride, and your type of work does not prioritize punctuality to the degree that the rare tardiness from a flat is a problem. But then you wrote that you're starved for time to a degree which has me curious. You have enough data now for a real rough estimate of the probability distribution function of flats on your route. Have you calculated the (time) expected value per ride of walking the bike as opposed to changing the tube?

My job (and commute distance) is similar in that it wouldn't objectively matter if I had a flat and walked in. But such is my psyche that I'm not going to be late unscheduled, ever, so I carry the tools. I'll also save the couple of minutes per ride, probabilistically speaking, and a couple more by riding harder. It adds up.

To be honest, I got a flat last Friday evening and it was quite nice to end up in front of a pub would have never went into otherwise. I usually like things under control and planned well.

But, some forced spontaneity, is a good thing sometimes.

looking good, if I do say so myself

stats:

2139km/1329mi
£539/$857 total
£0.25/km
€0.31/km
$0.64/mi

photos:

Who quoted 1991 prices in DM? I did ask/"quote" your weird reference to a "Römer Jockey on a nice German bike." Is that some cutesy reference to another EuroTrash song or what?

No. You always refer to your excellent bike as a 200 EUR (400 DM) bike from Real, which is quite irrelevant these days.

I like your bike, personally. I think it's a great purchase, however, I think referring to a purchase price in DM is pretty lame (especially when you make the 2:1 conversion which didn't hold true in the end).

It's would be like me quoting $2:£1 ratio.

My reference isn't weird at all ... maybe you had a knock-off brand but you did post pictures of your bike with a sweet (seriously!) child seat ...

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=R%...w=1567&bih=788

maybe you left Europe before the Römer Jockey became the de facto standard in rear child seats?

like I said, I like your bike, I love the rear child seat ... I hate how you dump on my bike and refer to DM and a 2:1 conversion to EUR when discussing bikes.

The only bike pic with a child seat I ever posted was taken 1983 (before I ever set foot in Germany) of me and my twins on my 1972 Raleigh Sports, which was purchased new for $82 in Philadelphia. My older daughter left the Raleigh on a parking rack in Freiburg in 2002 when she finished her classes at the University and left Germany.

My regular German commuters were/are a 1999 Vaterland 3speed purchased at my local Opel dealer for 400DM (equivalent at the time to about $210), and a 2000 7speed IGH Ragazzi purchased at Real for 268DM (equivalent at the time to about $135). I did buy one bike for a daughter in Euro at about €550 from the same Opel dealer, and at the time a dollar was worth slightly more than a Euro

I can go out today and buy an equivalent to your so called BSO for about $100 at Walmart, and I would expect less problems than you have encountered over such a relatively short time and distance. That is why I described your bike as you do, though I think you paid waaay too much if you were looking to set a cost standard for inexpensive short distance bicycling transportation.

Whether anyone else interested in commuting and saving money concurrently would buy the type of bike you chose at the price you paid is a question I cannot answer.

sigh ... this is the problem with Americans ... no value in their purchases.

Do you really think that your experience with the "BSO" you purchased for the price you paid and for all the additional time and money spent trying to keep it upright on the road for your "test", demonstrates your worldly wisdom about bicycling value?

No, but it keeps British people employed painting and assembling it to a high degree of quality (and writing a hand written note).

I agree that some of the components aren't the best, but at least the people got paid a "living wage" to paint, assemble and test ride it included in the price.

So, yeah, I'll pay more, I actually paid £50 ($85) just in tax alone, which provides medical care, reduced tuition, pension, etc ... which is almost as much as that walmart bike alone ... so you may think I overpaid ...

but, I think I hit the sweet spot of keeping people employable where I'm living (living wage to paint, assemble, test-ride, write a note while in the UK) , provide social services (VAT or 20% tax) and adhere to my personal style (see the colours) within the BSO framework.

also to be fair, how much money post-purchase have I really put into it?

In total it is around 700 euros for the first year of use, right?

For that amount of money I'd go for a bicycle like this:

City : Kross Seto

(that is around 450 euros)

Or even a cheaper, v-brake bicycle. Put some fenders, rack...



Having said this, my BSO - the MTB I got for free and fiexed tyres, seat, pedals - has cost me around 115 e for the first few months of riding. And I should have gone for a bit better front brake - so it will probably be another 30 euros for a decent Shimano Acera brake and lever. But I hope this will be OK for the next few months.


400 km - 115 euros.

I lost track on actual costs as it was buried amongst all the affected "worldly hip" dreck posted on this thread. Was that 700 Euros in addition to the £300 purchase price?

Yes shame on all those people who shirk paying sales or VAT taxes by purchasing bikes on Craigslist or garage sales, or buy inexpensive bikes and don't pay enough for the social services that self declared Real Humanitarians do when they happily pay for overpriced merchandise.

An overall synopsis, at the behest of Like-a-Bike:

Bicycle specifications:

Date of bicycle arrival/assembly: 2013 OCT 08
Total number of round trip commutes on the bike: 110.5
Total commuting km: 2099 km
Total commuting miles: 1304 mi
Total fun km: 40 km
Total commuting miles: 25 mi
Overall km: 2139 km
Overall miles: 1329 mi

Modal transport since acquiring BSO

Bike commutes: 110.5 (86%)
Car commutes: 12.5 (10%)
Bus commutes: 4.5 (4%)
Overall commutes: 127.5

Note: Some of these could not have been avoided as I need the bus to the airport or needed the car to pick a colleague from the airport. In addition, sometimes the car needed to be serviced.

Costs/location of purchase (standard MSRP in UK converted to USD/EUR on day of purchase)

Bike (SS Mangobike from mangobikes.com): 299 GBP / 466 USD
Front/Rear Knog lights, Kryptonite U-lock (amazon.co.uk): 92 GBP / 148 USD
Sigma 1009 cycloputer (amazon.co.uk): 26 GBP / 41 USD
Crud Roadracer MkII (amazon.co.uk): 23 GBP / 37 USD
Total initial rolling cost: 440 GBP / 691 USD


Failure modes and outcomes (i.e. running costs):

02 APR 2014 (1406 km / 873 mi / 28 GBP / 46 USD)

Rear tire worn through canvas - replacement needed
1 Schwalbe Lugano
1 Tube
1 10min service

08 MAY 2014 (1559 km / 968 mi / 13 GBP / 22 USD)

banged rear rim on kerb cutting a corner short
1 new tube
1 bend rear brake track with adjustable spanner

12 MAY 2014 (1597km / 992 mi / 28 GBP / 47 USD)

Split Schwalbe Lugano in half with only 191km on it
1 Gatorskin tire (cost of Lugano refunded)
3 new tubes (one used)
1 10min service

04 JUN 2014 (1789 km / 1112 mi / 30 GBP / 50 USD)

Front tire worn through canvas
1 new gatorskin tire
1 tube used (second of three)

06 JUL 2014 (2119 km / 1315 mi / 4 GBP / 6.8 USD)

Flat rear tire and front bake pad replacement
1 pinch flat after leaving bike in locker and riding without inflation (last tube used)
1 set of new front brake pads

Experience gained since acquiring BSO

Good tube/tires changing practice ... Gatorskins on/off like butter and finding lodged debris
Haven't changed adjusted/rim brakes in about 20 years ... so this is getting updated

This has been covered several times in this thread broseph.

Thanks, certainly beats finding the nuggets of on topic data about the test amongst umpteen pages of stream of consciousness posts illustrating your world wide travels, language proficiencies, and musical preferences.

Weren't there also some modifications costs involved (fenders, pedals, etc.) to make the bike less of a so-called BSO?

Fair enough ... not everyone wants to read a stream of consciousness. I will tone that down.

The fenders are included in the initial rolling costs ... the Crud Roadracer MK IIs ... I did buy an additional pair of fenders that I gave away to colleague because I thought the install would be crappy. Same with the pedals ... I order an extra set and gave away the originals to a different colleague riding a beater.

I could add the cost of the pedals if you'd think it would be more accurate ... £26 ... in the end, I'm not sure it was the best to give them away as larger platforms would be quite nice.

I think your test data is close enough as is for anyone to draw a conclusion about how much your choice in BSO commuting is costing you. If you find that the original pedals are unsuitable for commuting and replace them the replacement cost should be added, it hardly makes much difference.

I think the bottom line on bike commuting costs/savings is that big $/€/£ savings come to an individual if bicycling for transportation purposes allows the individual to reduce the number of cars owned without suffering a significant loss in transportation mobility or quality of life. The savings can be magnified if bike use allows the cyclist to eliminate very high daily car parking fees associated with parking in expensive cities like NYC, London or SF.

The costs of any bike (if reasonable) and upkeep are relative peanuts compared to the fixed/variable costs of car ownership and use.

It's true (obviously).
I will need new rotors and brake pads on my Hyundai soon - that'll cost probably over $1000. New brake pads and wheels for my bike will cost, what, $200 - if I get decent wheels.

stats:

2158km/1340mi
£539/$857 total
£0.24/km
€0.31/km
$0.63/mi

photos:

You'd be surprised. I did all four rotors and new sets of pads and some other misc stuff like TÜV (inspection), oil change, etc... and it was only €500 on my Audi A4.

[MENTION=200073]acidfast7[/MENTION], I looked back at some randomly sampled posts in this thread, and not surprisingly, I see the cost/mile dropping, since the bike is so new. Mr. Money Mustache claims that the cost of owning a car is $0.50/mile. You're still above that. Any guesses as to how long this bike will last before it gets stolen or totaled or something?