episode 245

4012km/2492mi
£571.75/$732.10 total
£0.1425/km
€0.1616/km
$0.2937/mi
£2.333/commute
€2.647/commute
$2.988/commute

steel beams have arrived for installation

installed and finishing work being completed soon. will leave the beams exposed and paint with intumescent paint to provide 30-min burn resistance to meet code and get install signed off on.

will repair floor joists as and they're not so good in one corner ... will install a sleeper wall

fun project so far, does seem to be taking most of our income now through :/

episode 246

4023km/2499mi
£571.75/$732.10 total
£0.1425/km
€0.1612/km
$0.2929/mi
£2.324/commute
€2.630/commute
$2.976/commute

bike and beams

While I would not consider the bike you purchased to be anywhere near a BSO, this experiment also completely lacks a control group, making it not really an experiment at all.

sure, it does, you guys are the control.

That's a really sorry control because you don't have any way to account for variables such as lack of or incorrect maintenance practices, wear and tear due to different local climates, rider weight, etc.

A better way to perform this experiment would be to purchase two bikes at once, one "real" bike, and one BSO with similar drive trains (i.e. both single speed, derailleur, igh, etc.) and trade off commutes, that way most variables would be accounted for easily.

If you wanted to use our group experiences as a control you'd need some way to statistically quantify them to make any measurement against them meaningful.

As it is, this thread is simply a blog of how many miles you've put on a decent-quality low end bike, and you've made the revolutionary discovery that cycling is a cheap way to commute.

To dismiss some of the negative commentary, that's the role of the forum. There have been time when others have participated. There was one point where someone else bought the same bike.

All I can do as a single person is start as see who participates.

You're free to join or criticise as you wish.

edit: also, I could easily do that stats with SPSS or Prism, but the sample pool would have to be large enough. Why don't you join?

episode 247/248

4033km/2505mi
£571.75/$732.10 total
£0.1417/km
€0.1578/km
$0.2922/mi
£2.305/commute
€2.581/commute
$2.952/commute

$2.95 per commute, I assume that includes the cost of the bike? My old car uses about $3 worth of fuel for each round trip car commute to the office and back. My bikes require a few pennies per commute, I would guess, just looking at maintenance costs. And my e-bike likely takes a nickel's worth of electricity to recharge the battery, for a round trip commute. I don't figure the bike cost into my calculations because I would have built the bike anyway, whether I was commuting or not.

Good point.

That includes the bike, lights, lock, fender cycloputer, tubes, tyres, etc... that have been used. I think the total rolling cost of those items is about 440 GBP which leaves about 131 GBP for the other bits of using the bikes (tubes / tyres / new bars / tapes / etc...)

So, total usage cost would be 131 GBP / 248 commutes or 0.52 GBP / commute or 0.68 USD / commute

Even though he included all the purchase costs, $3 per trip does show a very economical way to get around. It makes me think I could be a lot more economical with my bike costs, but I have a spending addiction on bikes. I've had it since I was 14 years old. But I do get a lot for all that money spent, a lot of pleasure riding and tinkering and planning and so on. It's not that expensive compared with other things even though part of the spending is a luxury. Every time I ride to work, I save a little money off my subway debit card. My wife owns a car, and I don't need one for myself, so there's a big savings.

Those maintenance costs (52p/68c per commute) include:

1406 km / 873 mi / 28 GBP / 46 USD

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

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
1 10min tube swap service

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

1789 km / 1112 mi / 30 GBP / 50 USD

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

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

2177 km / 1352 mi / 1 GBP

Tape for bars

3132 km / 1946 mi

Slightly ruptured Gatorskin on road surface and lost a tube

3511 km / 2181 mi

Fully ruptured Gatorskin
Replaced with a Schwalbe Marathon and 3 extra tubes

18 JUN 2017

Rear brake rusted ... cut cable ... pulled cable and lever off ... kept caliper on to hold fender
Swapped bars and tape as above
£0.13 for a new cycloputer battery

Recently another cycloputer battery (25p total)

Summary: Those costs seem reasonable to me as the road condition in northern England are really tough on tyres (bikes and cars).

episode 249

4042km/2511mi
£571.75/$732.10 total
£0.1414/km
€0.1585/km
$0.29215/mi
£2.296/commute
€2.574/commute
$2.940/commute

episode 250

4052km/2517mi
£571.75/$732.10 total
£0.1411/km
€0.1578/km
$0.2908/mi
£2.287/commute
€2.557/commute
$2.928/commute

I haven't posted in here in a while, but I'm digging the updates and the surreptitious renovation pics.

Also, you commented on my Sigma bike computer in another thread. They're great at taking licks and continuing to work. The LCD on mine has some dead segments due to dropping the computer a few times, but the important ones still work.

Thanks man.

Just had some windows put in. Should be finished tomorrow.

Tilt and Turns on the rear of the house (3 of them).

Sigma is the best!

I love tilt and turns! Wish they were more of a thing here in the States.

We had them custom made in Germany (wait time 8 weeks) and shipped over for installation this week. Next up is getting that beam approved by the council (needs to be coated with intumescent paint allowing 30 mins burn resistance.)

Your tire life appears to be rubbish. Barely 1,000 miles to wear down a FRONT tire?? My Continental GP 4 Seasons typically last well over 5,000 miles when used on the front end. The Schwalbe Big Apple 2.15" tires on my e-bike have over 2,000 miles on both tires and they're both still doing great, despite the rear tire being under quite a heavy load.

You've never ridden in the UK, the road surface is horrible. It's not smooth like blacktop in the US. It's much more stoney or made of stones unless what I remember in the US. Perhaps someone else can comment.

A little more info:

https://road.cc/content/news/127430-p...000-signatures

Just a couple photos of the tilt and turn (we usually call them German or continental) windows that we really like for the ventilation options.

In Bedroom 2, it's a huge window (about 1.5m tall). And we'll going to restore the Victorian fireplace and might keep the floorboards exposed after we get the walls replastered ... which is a different issue (should we go with sheetrock over the brick, hardwall, sand/cement or lime plaster). We're leaning more toward lime plaster as the walls will breath better. I need to rebuild the wall to the left of the window and underneath it as most of the original mortar is worn away.

We went with white on the inside of the window and anthracite grey on the outside.

Also had one installed in the bath and one in Bedroom 3. Will not restore the Victorian fireplace in Bedroom 3 as it will protrude quite a bit and reduces the usefulness of the room.

A hair over £2K total.

Finally, they're rolling out smart meters over here to 20M households in the UK. There's no initial upfront cost, some privacy concerns, but I can see how much electricity and gas I'm using on demand (8 sec and 30 sec refresh rates). Also, a total is always displayed when the meter is in sleep mode.

Allows me to live inexpensively and save for the renovations

I haven't been following all the renovation stuff, but how are you insulating those masonry exterior walls?

Have you heard about this device that attach to the inside of an electrical panel and can show you on a mobile device exactly how much power each and every item in your house is using? It works by detecting every device's unique electrical signature, so when you turn on the oven for example, a big circle will pop up on the mobile monitoring app that shows you much power that oven is using. It's a pretty neat looking device, and works on an amazingly simple principle.

Most houses of that period (early 1900s) are masonry cavity brick with no insulation like this:

https://www.carsondunlop.com/wp-cont...avity-Wall.jpg

Most don't have insulation and I'll probably skip it as it bring damp from the outside wall to the inside wall as we're low-lying land next to the sea (I'm probably at or below sea level and about 1km from the sea.

The ground floor is usually suspended floorboards with the joists going directly into the inner brick wall without insulation and with the ground and debris immediately below like here:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=vi...t6VxkegxSvUkM:

which we'll probably ply over (6mm), level, add insulation, under floor heating and engineered wood over it ... we might keep the boards upstairs.

loft insulation does exist in the house.

it doesn't often get below 0C (32F) where we are (click on averages table).

data here: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/...mate/gcp0zn6wn

I liked watching the current draw and the total usage (£/day) and it's free from the electricity company.