Why does it cost so much to keep riding???

NorwegianBlue

My brand new family car cost almost exactly £5,500 to run for a year, that includes absolutely everything from finance costs to windscreen washer. However the work car cost under £2,000 a year to run, including the full purchase price.

Conversely I can't see how any normal bike would cost that much to run. Even if chain rings cost £50 each and you were running thousands and thousands of miles a year. OK so if you bought some overpriced superbike and sold it after a year and took a big hit on depreciation then it would probably amount to that sort of money, but to suggest that running a normal bike costs that sort of money is pushing it somewhat.

The biggest cost of running a bike is usually the transmission. Rings, mechs, chains and cassettes do wear out quickly. When I went back to single speed on my MTB's many years ago I was stunned by how long a cheap BMX chain lasted, simply because it wasn't being twisted this way and that by the mechs. Single speed, fixed or hub gears do seem to be the answer in this respect.

richardjallen

Did you factor into this the cost of buying a new bike every year because some chav nicked the last one?

NorwegianBlue

richardjallen wrote:

Did you factor into this the cost of buying a new bike every year because some chav nicked the last one?

The solution to that particular problem appears to be fairly simple. Don't live anywhere near London. [TOUCH WOOD]Not only have I never had a bike stolen[/TOUCH WOOD] but none of my friends have had a bike stolen.

Hudster

I think your logic is very very flawed here.
For a start, comparing km per km isn't quite as simple as it seems. For a start, cars have service periods so you have to replace fluids etc over a certain amount of time no matter how many miles you are doing.

Taking my own experience of car ownership into account - tyres alone have recently cost me over 400pounds. I'll get over 35k miles out of these, which is above average of what most people will get. Ignoring costs of repairs, brakes (which have cost a fortune!) etc.

I've done 6k miles on my commuter bike and have just had to replace the tyres at 20quid for the pair. Chain and cassette, 20quid. I'm about just over half way through my brake blocks - 5 quid for the pair (F&R).

You can get cheap bike parts just that they're not in as high demand. You can buy a complete bike at my local supermarket for 50quid.

Another way of looking at it, is the car costs 100pounds a year to service just the fluids etc. That doesn't include brake pads, tyres broken parts. The expensive race bike exactly the same. The race bike may do less miles, but it gets ridden hard and is made out of top of the range materials. The car is made to be as cheap as possible as a mass market item. Try running a carbon fibre race car and seeing how cheap it is!