How Much Has Your "Best" Bike Cost You in Pounds per Hour of Usage?

2

Comments

  • step83
    step83 Posts: 4,170
    £16.94 per hour :lol: in my defence I'm going on my ridden distance this year so far, going on last years distance it would be about £6, had a lot going on.

    If I did this year on my turbo bike it would be like 80p an hour.

    Either way, bike makes me happy an helps with my stress, something you cant put a price on in my opinion.
    Titanium Px Spitfire
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  • cowboyjon
    cowboyjon Posts: 89
    Almost nothing I can do regarding the cost of my bikes and gear (within reason) can come close to touching the amount of money I have thrown away over the years on motorcycles.

    The way I see it I'm winning regardless and I'm lucky in that the wife sees it that way too
  • surfercyclist
    surfercyclist Posts: 894
    cowboyjon wrote:
    Almost nothing I can do regarding the cost of my bikes and gear (within reason) can come close to touching the amount of money I have thrown away over the years on motorcycles.

    The way I see it I'm winning regardless and I'm lucky in that the wife sees it that way too

    Yep - you want to try scuba diving. Now that is a way to spend money on a hobby!
  • haydenm
    haydenm Posts: 2,997
    My best bike is an MTB, it arrived on Friday so it works out at about £600/hr at the moment...
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,166
    About £3/hr. Less than £2 if you forget about the replacement wheels, power meter, consumables etc. Pretty happy with that, as it saves me £8/hr when I commute on it.
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    Hmm - £/hr - or £/mile - because if you go for £/hr then the faster you go the more expensive it becomes ...

    anyway - can't really give a true figure because I've upgraded the groupset, replaced replacables and bought spares - for which I have no tally - and couldn't really because the groupset trickled down to the winter bike - so what value to put on there? Wheels have been swapped around & replaced.

    It's a bike, I like riding it - £/hr - not enough, I'd like to spend more on it - in both money and time
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,166
    Slowbike wrote:
    Hmm - £/hr - or £/mile - because if you go for £/hr then the faster you go the more expensive it becomes ...

    As a leisure activity, £/hr makes an easier comparison with other ways you might choose to spend the short time we have on this planet.
  • haydenm
    haydenm Posts: 2,997
    I love riding my bike so much I couldn't care less (within reason). My justification for owning them is how much I can afford to blow at any one time without crying, or the OH leaving me
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    Slowbike wrote:
    Hmm - £/hr - or £/mile - because if you go for £/hr then the faster you go the more expensive it becomes ...

    As a leisure activity, £/hr makes an easier comparison with other ways you might choose to spend the short time we have on this planet.

    I sail as well - it doesn't compare! :lol:
  • meursault
    meursault Posts: 1,433
    £1.87 per kilometer. So far. £3k bike 2.5 years

    Also not sure how to work out hours.

    The way I see it, I don't smoke, take drugs, drink to excess or have other expensive hobbies, so why not?
    Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them.

    Voltaire
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    When you're calculating the hours - do you include stoppage time at Cafe's - what about times when you just have to fettle it - even when nothing is wrong - all "fun" stuff ...
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,166
    Slowbike wrote:
    what about times when you just have to fettle it - even when nothing is wrong - all "fun" stuff ...

    You should add your hourly labour price onto the bike cost for that.
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    Slowbike wrote:
    what about times when you just have to fettle it - even when nothing is wrong - all "fun" stuff ...

    You should add your hourly labour price onto the bike cost for that.
    er ... would be ok now - but when I started it would've been negative ;)
  • N0bodyOfTheGoat
    N0bodyOfTheGoat Posts: 6,057
    Slowbike wrote:
    When you're calculating the hours - do you include stoppage time at Cafe's - what about times when you just have to fettle it - even when nothing is wrong - all "fun" stuff ...

    This is important, just like how Strava massages egos by giving the average speed off moving time, rather than how much time elapsed during the whole ride... All that fake time from traffic lights, junctions, cafe stops etc. :shock: :lol:
    ================
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    2017 Cube Attain GTC Pro Disc 2016
    2016 Voodoo Wazoo
  • awavey
    awavey Posts: 2,368
    £1-2 though my best bike wasnt that much in the grand scheme of things, just over £750 brand new, but any cost efficiency I might have had on the bike has been blown away by the amount I spend on cycling kit :lol:
  • 964cup
    964cup Posts: 1,362
    How on earth do you work out what your "best bike" cost? If by best you mean most expensive, mine's on its fourth wheelset, third chainset, second groupset, third rear derailleur, fourth saddle, fourth or fifth cassette, umpty-zillionth chain and set of tyres, second pair of brakes, third recable, second frame repair and so on and so forth.

    Based on inspired guess work, for the most expensive bike I'd say £48.41 per hour of moving time; about £1.87 per kilometre.
    But my favourite bike (on the same basis) owes me £13.50 per hour, or £0.54 per kilometre.
    The best value is apparently my old fixie, at £6.38 per hour and £0.30 per klick.

    Of course the faster you go, the worse your number looks. And you can end up with some weird outlier numbers if you have a serial bike-buying habit. I've got several not actually expensive bikes that "cost" hundreds of pounds per hour, and tens of pounds per kilometre, but it's only because I've barely ridden them. I think the current winner is probably either a Vitus 979 I bought because it was pretty, on which I've done 110 total km, or the Sonnet Mark II I bought because I saw it on here (it's the actual demo frame: https://www.bikeradar.com/features/11sp ... -gear-113/) and which I blinged up with shiny Japanese kit but have only used for 200km.

    If we're talking elapsed time, or including fettling time, thinking-about-bikes time and talking-about-bikes time, then all of my bikes collectively owe me about 2p an hour. So that's a win.

    Oh god - while I was writing this someone mentioned kit. Let's not talk about kit. Suffice it to say that eventually I gave in and bought a bike shop. No, really.
  • turbotommy
    turbotommy Posts: 493
    964Cup wrote:
    How on earth do you work out what your "best bike" cost? If by best you mean most expensive, mine's on its fourth wheelset, third chainset, second groupset, third rear derailleur, fourth saddle, fourth or fifth cassette, umpty-zillionth chain and set of tyres, second pair of brakes, third recable, second frame repair and so on and so forth.

    Based on inspired guess work, for the most expensive bike I'd say £48.41 per hour of moving time; about £1.87 per kilometre.
    But my favourite bike (on the same basis) owes me £13.50 per hour, or £0.54 per kilometre.
    The best value is apparently my old fixie, at £6.38 per hour and £0.30 per klick.

    Of course the faster you go, the worse your number looks. And you can end up with some weird outlier numbers if you have a serial bike-buying habit. I've got several not actually expensive bikes that "cost" hundreds of pounds per hour, and tens of pounds per kilometre, but it's only because I've barely ridden them. I think the current winner is probably either a Vitus 979 I bought because it was pretty, on which I've done 110 total km, or the Sonnet Mark II I bought because I saw it on here (it's the actual demo frame: https://www.bikeradar.com/features/11sp ... -gear-113/) and which I blinged up with shiny Japanese kit but have only used for 200km.

    If we're talking elapsed time, or including fettling time, thinking-about-bikes time and talking-about-bikes time, then all of my bikes collectively owe me about 2p an hour. So that's a win.

    Oh god - while I was writing this someone mentioned kit. Let's not talk about kit. Suffice it to say that eventually I gave in and bought a bike shop. No, really.

    After reading the list of parts you’ve gone through on your best bike including four saddles (really?). I’m not sure if you actually ride it, or just occasionally throw it down a flight of stairs!
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  • term1te
    term1te Posts: 1,462
    I don't know about the hours of use, but over the last three years it works out at around 20p/km. As I intend to be riding it for at least the next 20 years (bespoke titanitum) I guess it will be at around 5p/km when I finally stop. Thats not far off the cost of a long-haul flight/km
    The Master
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  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,166
    964Cup wrote:
    Of course the faster you go, the worse your number looks.

    Only if you are seeing a larger number as worse. If it's worth it, it just is.
  • cgfw201
    cgfw201 Posts: 680
    £1500 Canyon Ultimate
    2312 hours, 59,500km

    If you add parts, maintenance etc it's probably about £3k I'd guess.

    Still plenty of miles in the tank to go.
  • 964cup
    964cup Posts: 1,362
    TurboTommy wrote:
    After reading the list of parts you’ve gone through on your best bike including four saddles (really?). I’m not sure if you actually ride it, or just occasionally throw it down a flight of stairs!

    It's been "upgraded" quite often, usually in pursuit of specious weight reduction. It did get as low as 5.3kg all-up (with Di2, pedals, cages etc), but that was with the first of two ultra-light carbon saddles that were not compatible with my backside, a 780g tubular wheelset whose braking didn't inspire confidence and an aluminium cassette with about the same Mohs hardness as a ripe brie.

    I have, in fact, dropped it down the stairs once. That made an expensive noise. I've also had one of those typical scenarios where combining the lightest possible components from everywhere results in a drivetrain that's, shall we say, sub-optimal in shifting performance. Result: RD passing through the seatstay and three spokes on its way to the chainstay. That also made an expensive noise.

    On the other hand, it's been up (and down) 20-odd HC climbs and however many lesser cols and I'm still alive, so it's not all bad. In its current evolution it's gained about 700g but appears to work properly and doesn't turn my cheeks into hamburger. Which is nice.
  • paul64
    paul64 Posts: 278
    You could get really complicated with this. Price over longer-term ownership taking into account consumables, upgrades, equipment changes, accessories, clothing, workshop tools, amortise across different bikes. I can understand why Imposter replied the way he did!
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    964Cup wrote:
    TurboTommy wrote:
    After reading the list of parts you’ve gone through on your best bike including four saddles (really?). I’m not sure if you actually ride it, or just occasionally throw it down a flight of stairs!

    It's been "upgraded" quite often, usually in pursuit of specious weight reduction.<snip>

    I have, in fact, dropped it down the stairs once. That made an expensive noise.
    <snip>Which is nice.

    Did you need a step ladder to retrieve it from the ceiling?
  • 964cup
    964cup Posts: 1,362
    Slowbike wrote:
    964Cup wrote:
    TurboTommy wrote:
    After reading the list of parts you’ve gone through on your best bike including four saddles (really?). I’m not sure if you actually ride it, or just occasionally throw it down a flight of stairs!

    It's been "upgraded" quite often, usually in pursuit of specious weight reduction.<snip>

    I have, in fact, dropped it down the stairs once. That made an expensive noise.
    <snip>Which is nice.

    Did you need a step ladder to retrieve it from the ceiling?
    No - I launched myself using the jet blast from my spontaneous outburst of truly creative swearing. Even I didn't know I knew some of those words.
  • mouth
    mouth Posts: 1,195
    I'm starting to think I use my bike in the wrong way. I've had my (only bike) £375 Boardman two years this week, use it for commuting on average twice per week - sometimes more, sometimes less, for 10 miles round trip. so call it 1000miles per year. That's something like 19p a mile, plus the expenses of getting the wheels trued seemingly on a monthly basis. That being said I don't have fancy riding gear or supplements or energy gels and such like.

    Sadly, and I've only just realised this, in those two years I've never been on a 'leisure' ride.
    The only disability in life is a poor attitude.
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,344
    Buying a set of cheap but decent wheels will work out cheaper in the long run than getting wonky ones tried on a monthly basis. Surely.
    PS - £1.14 per hour and diminishing. More spent on clothing, accessories and holidays though. By a long, long way.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
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  • philbar72
    philbar72 Posts: 2,229
    the answer is of course, I don't care. it really doesn't worry me.
  • joey54321
    joey54321 Posts: 1,297
    PBlakeney wrote:
    Buying a set of cheap but decent wheels will work out cheaper in the long run than getting wonky ones tried on a monthly basis. Surely.
    PS - £1.14 per hour and diminishing. More spent on clothing, accessories and holidays though. By a long, long way.

    Or take them to someone who knows what they are doing. Unless the wheels are just unsuitable for the riders weight there is no reason why they should require regular truing like that
  • Flâneur
    Flâneur Posts: 3,081
    I've at times used the km/hour to justify spending X amount on a bike, makes it reasonable rather than overly indulgent at times. Ignoring the running costs

    My first top bike before being written off and an insurance pay out (so effectively cost me 0) was around the £2-3. Current one is above that, at the £3 mark but then again I've forgotten how to cycle this summer it seems.


    But in the end as long as I can afford the bills and I enjoy riding my bike for a few minutes it all becomes irrelevant
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  • bompington
    bompington Posts: 7,674
    Commuting is integral to my cycling - accounts for something like 70% of my miles on the bike, and it's mostly done at full gas on my "best" bike.

    So I will certainly include it, and we're currently somewhere around £1 / hour, I suspect less but really cba to work it out.

    What I can work out is that my main family car (£24K) has so far done 64k miles, which works out at roughly 1500 hours: include fuel - roughly gallon/hour - and you've got well over £10/hour without even considering servicing, insurance, tax & other consumables.

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