Your bikes Cost per Mile

[oncemore]

No idea. It's a hobby. If I have to ask how much a hobby costs, then I can't afford it!

Varies enormously from bike to bike. The very few times when I've been stupid enough to buy new, then depreciation (on one at least) probably in the region of a fiver a mile. The Kili on which I did over a third of my miles last year and which I have kept for over 18 months maybe 5p per mile.

But then bikes - riding and tinkering - are my alternative addiction to very heavy drinking and seeing as in 6 and 1/2 years I've "saved" approx £35000 on gin and brandy and beer I guess I'm in front. OTOH, had I not stopped I'd have been dead 4-5 years ago - so the net saving is not all that great!!

[CommuteTooFar]

I believe the commuting bike is well under 5p but the cost of tyres etc will stop me getting much below 2p.

Audax bike is around 10p per mile.

Dawes 101 is probably around 20p despite its lower cost.

[Greenbank]

I believe the commuting bike is well under 5p but the cost of tyres etc will stop me getting much below 2p.

That's a good point, I wonder what my absolute minimum could be, assuming an ideal 5000km in a year and ignoring the original bike cost for a moment...

£45 for tyres (one rear and half a front, GP 4 Seasons last about 5000km)
£20 towards replacing carbon forks every 3 years (Deda Black Rain are £60 in the sales)
£5 towards half a chain (usually get at least 10k from one)
£5 for tubes
£10 towards replacement chainring and sprocket wear (a bit of a guess given that I haven't worn out a single EAI sprocket yet).
£10 brake blocks (one set every 10,000km)
£20 for rim wear (again, guesswork assuming 15000km per rim and £30 to replace each so £60 every 3 years, rebuild wheel with old spokes and hubs)

That comes to £115 for 5000km, or 2.3pence per km (3.7pence per mile) as an absolute minimum.

Of course I could make it considerably cheaper if I went for cheaper tyres, steel forks and invested in ceramic rims. I probably would if I ever made a dedicated commuting bike.

[Gaseous Clay]

Being too tired to pursue anything constructive and wanting something mindless / pointless to do, i decided to construct another table / list of numbers to enjoy while slurping tea and munching bisquits...

My Thorn RT is currently running at 15.16 pence per mile.

This is taking absolutely everything into account.  The initial outlay was high but the annual running costs are very low, so it's getting cheaper quite quickly (i know that's not strictly true - but who gives a toss?).

The audax bike is at about £2 per mile.... It's only done part of one season so will be much lower this time next year after an R1000 and brevet 1000!

And the leave-anywhere-shop-hack is at a pleasing 2.5 pence per mile.

The costs are what they are - it's my hobby and that's that, it keeps me fit (mentally and physically) and gets me out.

[TheLurker]

My cranky old grid (Ribble Winter/Audax fitted with Tiagra) came in at a little under eightpence ha'penny the statute mile for cycling year 2010/11.  Same as 2009/10.

But that represents total cycling cost (cycling clobber, tools ect. ect) per mile.

[oncemore]

The first new (and only full list price) bike I bought depreciated at at least a £1 per mile - and probably nearer double that amount.

That taught me!

[PH]

I recently parted with my Thorn Raven after six years and over 37,000 miles.
Total costs £2,280 including initial purchase price of £1,475 with upgrades.
Sold frame and bits for £240.
I kept Rohloff and Schmidt hubs which I value at £500.
So net cost £1540 or 4.2p a mile.
I'm happy with that, looks like value to me. 

[Alouicious]

The real sad bastards stop to pick up coins out of the gutter to offset their £/mile figure.

[TheLurker]

The real sad bastards stop to pick up coins out of the gutter to offset their £/mile figure.

Of course we do.

[Alouicious]

A cyclist's greatest dilemma.

Continue the chase and scalp the young chap on the race bike, or stop and pick up the One Pound coin.

[Polar Bear]

Should the figure also include savings from other forms of transport?   Our quality functional bikes negate the need for a car.   That means that we don't spend thousands per year on VED, insurance, fuel, etc.   There are further savings.

My bikes have totally differing costs per mile.   The bent is still hugely expensive in the tens of pounds per mile whereas the audax and tourer machines are sub £1 per mile.

The bent may have to go...   

[alexb]

I've not done the maths yet, but so far:
Purchase price, including upgrades about £700
Replacement brake pads, about £8
Winter tyres about £70
One new rear tyre £17
New sprocket, chain and chainring £50 - lesson learnt check sprocket and chain wear!

So ~£850 from new and 15 months old at about 120 miles per week for 48 weeks of the year
So total no of weeks commuting =~ 60
7200 miles for £850

12p per mile and from now on it it gets cheaper!

[zigzag]

just calculated roughly, commuter bike is 7p/mile and getting cheaper; faster long distance bike about 23p/mile and getting cheaper.

[Alouicious]

I paid nowt for the BSA shopper.

So far I've bought two new tyres ( £7 each ), a 20T Sturmey Sprocket ( £3 ), A halflink for the chain ( £1.50 ) and a bulb for the front lamp ( £1 ).

My sister gave me a twenty quid note for my birthday so that bike's still running a profit.

[arabella]

I used to have one like that (£2.50 on a pair of cotter pins).
Then I needed a new tyre (rather than finishing wearing out the audax bike tyres)
then a new wheel
and another new wheel
plus more inners
and a chain
and a sprocket
and a chainring
and some new cranks
lets say the lot came to £350

I've never calculated how far I've ridden it, say around 7000 miles (50 miles/week over 3 years)

So that makes 5p/mile

well I never

[arabella]

Thread resurrection.  I've started composing a letter to my employer about their 6p/mile policy (in spite of HMRC allowing up to 20p/mile).  Jolly good thing given the above post of mine, esp since it refers to a cheap bike.
Does anyone have any thoughts/improvements?

=========================================

Hi,
I have been looking for confirmation of the current mileage rate for pedal cycles. 
I understand that HMRC will pay up to 20p/mile, https://www.gov.uk/expenses-and-benefits-business-travel-mileage/rules-for-tax but $employer has not yet implemented this so far as I can gather.  The current  rate of 6p/mile is, tbh, inadequate as regards (i) fuel ie food* and (ii) wear and tear, as described below.
Please forward to the appropriate person to discuss.

Arabella

______________________________________________________
example:
62 miles over 5 hours uses approx. 2352 calories according to this site: http://caloriesburnedhq.com/calories-burned-biking/ Feel free to point me at alternative calorie-burning sites. 
62 miles at 6p/hour will pay £3.72 in expenses.  62 miles is well within that quoted 225 mile limit, besides which the below will scale down pro rate.
So I need to buy 2352 calories with the £3.72, and have something left over for a smidgeon of oil and a contribution towards the next set of tyres, cables, inners etc.

So let’s assume that I’m not in a $employer building, since I’m travelling.   So I stop at a garage and buy a pastie for £1 (if I’m lucky, prices vary a lot - https://www.britishcornershop.co.uk/ginsters-cornish-pasty).  That’s 324 calories.  I’d need over 7 to replace the calories used., which even at the low price will cost well over the mileage allowance.

(Other examples also available, I chose ginsters pastie as it is a common last resort food item in the long distance cycling world.  I assume reasonable is anything for which reimbursement as Personal Incidental Expenses when away from the office is appropriate). 

*the underlying assumption is that the cycling is in my own time as it’s unreasonable to expect to be paid for the time to complete a much-slower-than-available-through-other-options journey – therefore no incidental expenses for the food.  Feel free to point me at a policy which indicates otherwise.  The equivalent journey on public transport will have a variable cost depending on when the ticket was bought, whether London is involved and so on, say approx. £15 or 24p/mile – so it’s of benefit to $employer if I do decide to cycle, even at HMRC’s 20p/mile.

[velosam]

My figures don't bear thinking about as I only started a few years ago and am still in the capital investment phase.  To make this model work for me I would have to add lots of caveats and be happy with a rubbish figure.