Also cars require maintenance too, and a hell of a lot more of it and it’s a lot more difficult and expensive.
Going by kilometer driven/ridden my first car for sure cost me way less to maintain than the bicycle I had at the same time. Of course it was an old bike (10 years old at that point). But then the car was also nearly 30 years old.
Fuel costs put it back in the bike’s favour of course. But in terms of maintenance and repair, over one summer I rode maybe 500-1000 km at most and must’ve put like 200 EUR into the bicycle, and drove maybe 5000-6000 km and put like 100 EUR into car maintenance and repairs.
Bikes tend to be cheaper to maintain because the mileages are significantly less.
Yeah if you discount insurance, oil changes, and gas money; then over a 6th month period you might spend more money on parts for a bike than a car. Maybe.
I literally said the math will change to favour the bike if you include fuel?
Oil change was included in that figure and insurance costs next to nothing if you’re getting liability only (and you can’t really get full coverage on a 30 year old car).
Think over the 4 years I owned that car, I spent a total of 200 euros or less on maintenance and repairs since it sat for the better part of the last 3 years I owned it.
Most of the rest of my cars haven’t been this cheap to maintain, but then again they’ve also done a lot of mileage for me.
My point is that bikes are so much cheaper to maintain in the long run that even if you were doing the same miles, it would come out far cheaper. Just because you have a car that has been cheap to maintain, doesn’t change the simple math of that problem. The average price of bringing your car to the shop once could buy you multiple used bikes from garage sales.
I’ve only ever taken any of my cars to the shop twice or thrice over the years I believe. All the rest of my repairs have been done at home.
If I did 15000 km a year on a bicycle, that would be literally hell for that bicycle. I need new pedals every 500-1000 km because I exert too much force and I can’t be arsed to downshift every time I accelerate. Plastics break, metal ones bend. The crank bearing or whatever it’s called in English doesn’t tend to last too long either. I’m not much easier on my cars either, but they’re built to take it.
I have a 20 year old car. This January I had to replace the control arms (bushings were shot), CV axels, and steering knuckle assembly. I did this all myself, to save a few thousand in labor (not joking, thats what one of my friends is paying a shop right now for just the brakes.) Still the price of those parts added up to just under 600. For that budget I could go out and buy a veritable fleet of used bikes from garage sales. Tune them up with tools on hand and a few spray cans of Degreasers and Teflon lubricants they wont even sell you in Europe, and never run out of bikes to ride again in my life. The thing is, I still own a damned car. I resent that I own a car. I won’t try to argue that a bike has more utility than a car because it would be impossible. However, I will argue to the end of a time that a bike is more utilitarian. We all just don’t live the kind of lives that are compatible with the slower speeds, more difficult travel that a bike requires outside of inner city travel.
Going by kilometer driven/ridden my first car for sure cost me way less to maintain than the bicycle I had at the same time. Of course it was an old bike (10 years old at that point). But then the car was also nearly 30 years old.
Fuel costs put it back in the bike’s favour of course. But in terms of maintenance and repair, over one summer I rode maybe 500-1000 km at most and must’ve put like 200 EUR into the bicycle, and drove maybe 5000-6000 km and put like 100 EUR into car maintenance and repairs.
Bikes tend to be cheaper to maintain because the mileages are significantly less.
Yeah if you discount insurance, oil changes, and gas money; then over a 6th month period you might spend more money on parts for a bike than a car. Maybe.
I literally said the math will change to favour the bike if you include fuel?
Oil change was included in that figure and insurance costs next to nothing if you’re getting liability only (and you can’t really get full coverage on a 30 year old car).
Think over the 4 years I owned that car, I spent a total of 200 euros or less on maintenance and repairs since it sat for the better part of the last 3 years I owned it.
Most of the rest of my cars haven’t been this cheap to maintain, but then again they’ve also done a lot of mileage for me.
My point is that bikes are so much cheaper to maintain in the long run that even if you were doing the same miles, it would come out far cheaper. Just because you have a car that has been cheap to maintain, doesn’t change the simple math of that problem. The average price of bringing your car to the shop once could buy you multiple used bikes from garage sales.
I’ve only ever taken any of my cars to the shop twice or thrice over the years I believe. All the rest of my repairs have been done at home.
If I did 15000 km a year on a bicycle, that would be literally hell for that bicycle. I need new pedals every 500-1000 km because I exert too much force and I can’t be arsed to downshift every time I accelerate. Plastics break, metal ones bend. The crank bearing or whatever it’s called in English doesn’t tend to last too long either. I’m not much easier on my cars either, but they’re built to take it.
I have a 20 year old car. This January I had to replace the control arms (bushings were shot), CV axels, and steering knuckle assembly. I did this all myself, to save a few thousand in labor (not joking, thats what one of my friends is paying a shop right now for just the brakes.) Still the price of those parts added up to just under 600. For that budget I could go out and buy a veritable fleet of used bikes from garage sales. Tune them up with tools on hand and a few spray cans of Degreasers and Teflon lubricants they wont even sell you in Europe, and never run out of bikes to ride again in my life. The thing is, I still own a damned car. I resent that I own a car. I won’t try to argue that a bike has more utility than a car because it would be impossible. However, I will argue to the end of a time that a bike is more utilitarian. We all just don’t live the kind of lives that are compatible with the slower speeds, more difficult travel that a bike requires outside of inner city travel.