Well I can Spend 30 min driving each way to work in my truck and ride 90 minutes in the evening for exercise or I can ride to work 55 minutes each way. I find myself to be more relaxed. Although I have to eat an extra 1200 - 1500 calories a day which bumps the Costco bill up a bit but I was doing that before anyways.

of course. buying/leasing/maintaining a nice car is one way to make sure you stay poor.

I love the myopic view of people, as not everyone has a cheap alternative to commute to work.

If I were to take the subway/metro roundtrip and park at the metro station my cost structure would look like:

Cost Day 50 Weeks
Metro $7.50 $1,875.00
Parking $3.75 $937.50

Cost $11.25 $2,812.50

I bought a new Lemond Propad and accessories which cost approximately $1,500. Therefore to recoup the costs of my new bike is 133 days. I usually ride 4 days a week, therefore I will break even after 33 weeks. Not to mention that I have lost a considerable amount of weight, lowered my blood pressure and bad cholesterol.

Let's look at the time and motion aspect:

Time to drive to the metro station, take the metro to downtown DC and walk to work is between 1 hour and 1:20.

Time to ride to work 1:15, with Nokian tires add 20 minutes.

There is a tremendous economic benefit and a piece of mind benefit. Additionally, I do not have to take time away from the wife and kids to train. The value of this is priceless!!!!

Well, you should also account for the cost of bike maintenance and accessories and clothing. Your point still stands, but those probably add a significant percentage to the cost.

I was waiting for someone to mention that. Everyone so far seems to have bikes that are maintenance-free. I commute every day of the year, and my bike eats parts. The bike is a 1998 model, but everything but the frame and the handlebars have been replaced in the past two years. I just replaced a $50 pair of SPD pedals with about 5,000 miles on them, so that's a penny a mile. The tires I like cost about $80 a set and last about 4,000 miles, so that's $.02 per mile. Chains and cassettes are probably another penny a mile each, brakes are about 2 cents. I'm sure I spend at least a dime a mile on parts all told.

I'm sure I would spend a lot less if I only rode in fair weather. Rain, snow, and sub-freezing temperatures do a number on parts. Ice builds up on the chain and acts like an abrasive. Lubricants solidify in the cold and bearings seize up. I once did $300 worth of damage to my bike in 70 miles of winter riding. However, the fact of the matter is I do ride in all weather, so I have to count all costs.

I'm not counting labor, as I essentially do all my own work. Of course, I probably spend an hour a week tinkering with the bike, cleaning stuff, oiling stuff, truing the wheels, adjusting the brakes. If I put even a modest value on my time the cost per mile goes way up.

Also, I have many hundreds of dollars worth of specialized clothes that I use for commuting -- three jackets, four pants, seven pairs of shorts, two pairs of gloves, three pairs of shoes, and I'm probably forgetting stuff. These wear out pretty quickly when they're used every day and in foul weather, and have to be replaced periodically. The same goes for accessories like lights and panniers. I'd estimate another dime a mile for clothes and accessories.

The thing about these costs are that they are entirely incremental -- each mile travelled by bike incurs costs in worn parts. This makes it hard to compare the cost of cycling with the cost of driving, because typically cars have high fixed costs but low incremental costs. In fact, that's the seductive power of cars -- once you take the plunge, it's cheap to drive the extra mile. I have a car that sits in the driveway most of the time, and I probably drive it fewer miles per year than my bike. It costs me a fortune in depreciation and insurance every year. However, since I drive it so little the incremental cost of driving an extra mile is really just the gas -- about $.10 per mile at current prices.

So for a quick trip to the corner market it is probably cheaper, in economic terms, for me to drive my car than to take my bike. Of course, life is too short to let the cost of things make your decisions for you, so I bike when I can. Commuting is a slightly different story as parking would be $250/month where I work, but still the decision is driven more by quality of life than by economics, and any money saved is just a nice side benefit.

Nope, I don't buy your argument. Bike maintenance is quite low, especially if you learn a few basics of mechanics and buy a few tools--allen wrenches and a couple of regular wrenches 10-12mm or so. Tubes cost about $3-5, and if you keep your tire pressure up you're less likely to get a flat. I dare not say how long I've gone without a flat for fear of jinx, but it's been a while.

You can cycle in any clothes. Helmet costs $35-$100 depending on style, but they all have to meet the same crash standards. If you want to spend $100 on shorts, you can, but you don't have to. I have 3 pairs of cycling shorts and 2 longsleeve jerseys and 2 shortsleeve jerseys. I have one pair of tights and one pair of wind pants for winter. I get them on sale only. You don't need a whole new wardrobe every year.

gloves you can get for $20 or less. Shoes depends on what you like. I have a pair of Shimano shoes that I've had for 10 years. The were $40 when I bought them 10 years ago. That's not much.

The previous poster compared his costs for commuting by Metro/car and by bike. He did not add the cost of actually buying his car, insurance, gas, depreciation, etc. to the car equation but he did add the cost of buying the bike to the bike side of the equation.

The difference is huge no matter how you look at it. You can choose to spend alot on a bike and accroutrements. You have no choice on how much you pay to operate a car, even an old car. A gallon of gas is the same no matter what you drive. It's $0 if you ride a bike.

True, but some of use don't wear cycling clothes..I ride in street clothes, even when riding with others for fun on the weekends...so no cost there other than accelrated wear ont eh groin of my pants....but that's not more than maybe $50-100 a year in new pants/jeans/shorts as a result.

Maintenance...a few rolls of paper towels, a few shop rags, a bucket, dish soap, and lube...not much at all for a year. Add in a few tubes and a pair of tires and it's about $100-150.

Accessories....depends on the person...I just have a large Timbuk2 bag, and a nice light assortment....my helmet and lights were covered on my price to begin post in this thread.

It is true though that it adds about 50% to the cost of a beginner's commuter setup. But as you go to bigger and cooler bikes, the cost is still about the same unless you go weight weenie...but that is the total opposite of a daily driver...that would be like driving a McLaren F1 to work everyday.

You all are right that I should have included bike maintenance in my calculations. I felt that the cost of gas driving to and from the metro station would offset the amount of money spent on bike maintenance. 700 miles commuting since January 1, the only maintenance items that I have performed were changing the seat ($70, the Bonranger seat hurt my sit bones) on my new Propad and a bottle of Rock and Roll Gold ($17.00).

I usually burned about 5 gallons of premium gas per week to commute to the metro station. Average price $2.20 a gallon. Since I ride four days a week to work, I still burn about 1 gallon of gas per week driving to the metro station. Save 4 gallons of gas per week, or $2.20 * 4 * 12weeks = $105.60.

Therefore, over 12 weeks I saved an additional $18.60.

I recently did a detailed estimate of the operating costs for a typical bike, when well maintained, and serviced by the owner, not a bike shop. Did it using Swedish prices, of course, so it would be slightly less in the US. Cost is in US$ for convenience.
Initial cost of a mid-priced commuter bike is also figured into this.

Per km = 0.08 - 0.09
Per mile = 0.12 - 0.15

Since most of my bikes cost sub 35$ and I do all my own maintanence, my maintanence costs on my bikes runs to about 200$ a year (I have multiple bikes and I keep them up). Cycle specific clothing is cheap, I bought all mine at local thrifts. I can buy a decent bike for the price of a tank of gas for my little Subaru wagon and get the bike running for about the cost of another tank. That means about 400 miles and the bike is paid for.

I hardly ever think about the relative cost of cycling to car ownership, but everytime I do, I smile.

CdCf:

Your calculations got me thinking about my bikes and how much was the cost per mile. I have approximately 135,000 miles on my late 80s Spectrum Ti. Total cost of bike and upgrades through the years is approximately $9K or 6.67 cents per mile. I can say that Ti does last a long time and is worth every penny or other local currency. Additionally, this bike will be used when I do my next PacTour in 2006.

For anyone who does not know what PacTour is:

www.pactour.com

My Propad is currently at $2.12 per mile, but will rapidly drop to about 22 cents per mile by the end of 2005.

My estimates were for a daily commute of maybe 10-20 km (one way), in all weather and road conditions (salt, sand, rain, ice and snow). I used rather frequent (by some standards) chain and tyre replacement rates.
I also limited frame "life" to 6-7 years and factored in cleaning costs, and tool costs.

poor people are lousy money managers and can't figure out basic economics

that's why they're poor

so don't take cues from them

You mean I shouldn't spend 50% of my income on name brand clothes?

When evaluating the savings from biking I feel the most compelling case is going from a 2 car family to 1 car family. I did this a few years ago and have enjoyed the benefits of cycle commuting and car ownership while saving a substantial amount on car expenses.

The main savings I realized were the fixed costs like insurance, repairs, registration, and safety check. Not to mention the depreciation costs on a second car. I figure I save about $200 to $250 per month, plus I rent out my residential parking stall to a neighbor for $50/mo. I already had a bike for my personal enjoyment; I just had to buy a set of fenders for commuting. I guess there is some additional wear and tear on the bike, but it is minimal compared to the other, “pleasure” use of the bike for training and touring.

Hmm, I'm near $0.27 per mile. I ride a Trek 520 as a commuter, and it is very reliable, and maintenance costs are near nil (other than tires and a couple tubes). Currently has about 5,500 miles on it.

This is likely the stupidest statement I have ever read on this forum. And that includes the pepper spray threads!

Peter:

You are quite myopic. What you are saying is that if a hypothetical person dropped out of high school to support younger family members, that this person would be a lousy money manager. This person would probably be only to get a job that paid close to minimum wage, unless it was a high risk job. If this hypothetical person was able to support their younger siblings and support them through high school, then this person would be a lousy money manager?

Let's look at another person, but in real life. A new teacher in Fairfax County Virginia would make $38K per year. The average salary in Fairfax County is in excess of $80K. This person would be considered poor, as the person would be hard pressed to live in Fairfax County. Would this person be necessarily a lousy money manager.

Guess all of the people in this world do not have the insight of a true Texan.

i don't see how you go through a detailed analysis of how many pennies per mile various bike stuff costs, then completely disregard the "fortune in depreciation and insurance every year" as part of the comparision.
pennies < fortune
glad you choose not to base your decisions on economics.

Good troll! I'm to assume that rich economists like yourself are forced to make the ultimate sacrifice for your largesseUNCTUATION.

Well, so do I, but even as quickly as I go through bike parts it is absolutely nothing compared to car maintenance. I could probably rebuild my bike from scratch every year, with full ultegra components, and still be well ahead.

EBay is your friend, too. The number one consumable bike item for me is brake pads. I just scored a lot of old kool stop pads for $10 shipped. 8 pair.

You live three miles from work and you drive??? Sorry... but lame! I ride my bike 12 miles each way every day that I can. Why start up that gas burner and spew pollution into the air every day when you could hop on your bike and be at work in minutes?

Even walking 3 miles takes fairly little time.
40-45 minutes at a reasonable walking pace.

I agree. I was thinking of that too. Three miles is within walking distance.