Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Shawn C. on June 17, 2010 at 5:48am

When I read the article, it seemed that she was making the point that there are not many benefits when you ONLY bike during a short period (Bike to Work Week).

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Permalink Reply by Davo on June 17, 2010 at 6:46am

not having to join a gym because of bicycling would save a bunch of money. But Im guessing the readers of that blog might not exercise that much

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Permalink Reply by Chris B on June 17, 2010 at 6:48am

I spent a bunch of money once winter hit and i got sick of my backpack. but before that i just grabbed my old bike was was riding for free for several months. For someone starting out they don't need to spend that much.

I got my girlfriend to start biking to work, I bought her a $70 3speed off craigslist and $40 ulock and $30 for new brakes. She got a helmet, and throws her clothes in a backpack. She is a lawyer as well so she has to wear nice clothes at work, but she makes it happen.

That's $220 (including helmet and lights since she works late often) and she is biking to work. She's saving $80 a month in CTA fees. It will pay for itself in 3 months.

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Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on June 17, 2010 at 7:22am

That is for a brand new bike.

There really is not to keeping a bike running if you stay on top of it and establish a good relationship with your LBS.

Michael A said:

You have the skills ( however cavemanish) to keep a $300 used bike running. The average person is much more limited. If saving money is your only reason to bike commute, maybe public transportation is a better option.

notoriousDUG said:

I just cannot agree that 800 is a reasonable number for a simple commuter bike... 30 seconds on Google got me this hybrid that with a rack could be a totally viable commuter bike and its only 270 bucks.

Is it a great bike? No. But it would be a viable commuter bike.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 17, 2010 at 7:43am

My rock solid commute bike is a mountain bike I bought for $300 new, and upgraded some components over time. At the time I bought it, it was probably around $400 total, with a rear rack and grocery pannier. Between service and replacing components or accessories, I probably spend $200-300 a year on that bike - a lot less than most people spend on their cars in one month just for gas, parking, insurance, license plates, city stickers and maintenance - and that doesn't include a car payment.

T.C. O'Rourke said:

Yeah, this is pretty shoddy.
However, the basic premise is that bike commuting isn't a whole lot cheaper than commuting via car. In many cases, like mine, I would agree.
YES, you can buy a $50 bike and ride it for years. But it sucks. $800 is a pretty accurate for a decent bike if your not capable of scoring a deal or building one up yourself from scavenged quality parts.

And much love to Working Bikes, but their mission seems to be getting people on bikes on the cheap, not getting people on trouble-free quality bikes. They get them rolling; it is easy to spend 3 times the purchase price on parts and repairs.

She also makes a good point that the cost of good cold weather gear is daunting. AGAIN: YES you can wrap yourself in old tarps for free and sprinkle Cayenne pepper on your ass, but the best way to stay warm is to drop some $.

If you own your car outright, have maintained it in a reasonable way, park legally and have a good driving record, it is pretty cheap. And this is the problem.

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Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on June 17, 2010 at 8:01am

OK let me qualify what I am about to say here first as to not offend:

I have no problem with expensive bikes or people spending a ton of money on sweet bike stuff. It's not for me but if you dig, can afford it and it makes you happy more power to you if you want a $12,000 bike.

Here are my two big problems with that blog and why it is sticking in my mind and I can't let it go:

1) I strongly disagree with the numbers she has up there and feel that big numbers like that put up with no explanation are the sort of thing that scares people off when it comes to commuting.

2) Inline with the above she pushes the concept that you need to have all this expensive and special stuff to bike commute and that is just not true.

I do not bike commute, it is not practical for me when it comes to my job. However I do not drive at all outside of to/from work and while working. I do everything by bike and I am committed to doing it as cheaply as possible with as little special equipment as possible. I have spent pretty much zero dollars on specialized biking gear and managed to ride year round for pretty much the last two years. Granted I have a job where I work outside a lot so I already own good cold weather gear but even with purchasing a little bit better cold weather gear then the average person owns you are still no where near the kind of financial numbers she is quoting. I am not even going to justify the food bill thing because I eat the same now as I did before I started riding.

By her estimate you are looking at $1,300 to start cycling to work and I can not see that, even for a novice and somebody unable to work on their own bike. If they do research and/or buy used from a reputable source they are going to do well. Here is my idea of a realistic price to commute for a person living in the city, working downtown and able to take P/T or a car to work if the weather is horrid.

I already found a new bike at $270 and have at Ciclo Urbano seen bikes with fenders and a rack already installed go for $300-350, and this is for a bike that has been refurbished so lets just call that $320 for the bike.

Now you need panniers which can range from $24-225 a pair with the $225 being for Ortlieb bags. figure $125 for a good middle of the road set. The rack for them is up at $170 if you get the fancy one from Rivendell but you can find front or rear racks that accept panniers for as low as 25 bucks! But Iu like nice stuff that lasts so lets call it $40.

This brings the total for a ready to commute bike with more bag space then needed by the average person for a total of $485, this is quite a bit less then the $800 from the article. Helmet and lock should run you under a hundred for the pair unless you really want to get fancy so your looking at $550-585 at the top for your mode of transportation.

Now, we need to equip the rider... Well lets skip the fancy shoes because where are not looking to win races or be the fastest or ride all day, we just want to make it 5 miles to the office and back. Flat peddles are just fine for this. Most of the year you are looking at being able to ride in regular clothes with the exception of some rainy days. Maybe you have a rain coat, maybe you don't but it's a good idea to own one even if you don't ride a bike... yeah, you can spend $100 plus on a nice one but I've been making do with cheapies or plastic ponchos (or even a garbage bag with holes for my head and arms, I have no shame!) and it's way under that but not everyone is as white trash as me so lets budget $125 for a nice rain coat (which will double as a shell for winter layering) and some light weight rain pants. Well that covers 75% of the year, if not more. Winter time buy a pair of decent water proof boots which will serve you well in other walks (see what I did there) of life, use your rain stuff as a shell when it is CRAZY cold and lets budget another $125 for nice warm long undies and some hats and gloves from the surplus store. With the waterproof insulated boots which can be had for a hundo or so at a good camping store you are looking at a total of $350 to equip yourself to ride all year round, a little less if you just hop the train when it's really, really shitty out so it's right around $935 to equip yourself to ride year round, $365 less then her estimate and, if you choose not to commute when it is supper shitty out you can do away with a lot of the inclement weather gear and get a less watertight pannier system or possibly even only one pannier and come out really ahead.

Even at the big number if you commute half of the workable days in a year (52x5=260/2=130) you have a cost of $7.19 for the first year and the bike is paid off as is all of your gear, most of which will last for years to come. Stretch it out over the minimum 3 years you should be able to get out of the bike and most of the gear you are at $2.39, about the cost of a gallon of gas and there is no way you are getting in and out of downtown from 5 miles out on a single gallon of gas, never mind the parking. Of course this does not take into account the fact that most of the gear you are going to buy to wear is going to be useful in other parts of your life. Not only that but the more you bike the more the cost is spread out...

Maybe there is a cost savings to it, especially when you consider the cost to upkeep, insure and store an automobile compared to that of a bike.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 17, 2010 at 9:55am

Those numbers work. Much more realistic for many people than the high #s in that blog post.

notoriousDUG said:

OK let me qualify what I am about to say here first as to not offend:

I have no problem with expensive bikes or people spending a ton of money on sweet bike stuff. It's not for me but if you dig, can afford it and it makes you happy more power to you if you want a $12,000 bike.

Here are my two big problems with that blog and why it is sticking in my mind and I can't let it go:

1) I strongly disagree with the numbers she has up there and feel that big numbers like that put up with no explanation are the sort of thing that scares people off when it comes to commuting.

2) Inline with the above she pushes the concept that you need to have all this expensive and special stuff to bike commute and that is just not true.

I do not bike commute, it is not practical for me when it comes to my job. However I do not drive at all outside of to/from work and while working. I do everything by bike and I am committed to doing it as cheaply as possible with as little special equipment as possible. I have spent pretty much zero dollars on specialized biking gear and managed to ride year round for pretty much the last two years. Granted I have a job where I work outside a lot so I already own good cold weather gear but even with purchasing a little bit better cold weather gear then the average person owns you are still no where near the kind of financial numbers she is quoting. I am not even going to justify the food bill thing because I eat the same now as I did before I started riding.

By her estimate you are looking at $1,300 to start cycling to work and I can not see that, even for a novice and somebody unable to work on their own bike. If they do research and/or buy used from a reputable source they are going to do well. Here is my idea of a realistic price to commute for a person living in the city, working downtown and able to take P/T or a car to work if the weather is horrid.

I already found a new bike at $270 and have at Ciclo Urbano seen bikes with fenders and a rack already installed go for $300-350, and this is for a bike that has been refurbished so lets just call that $320 for the bike.

Now you need panniers which can range from $24-225 a pair with the $225 being for Ortlieb bags. figure $125 for a good middle of the road set. The rack for them is up at $170 if you get the fancy one from Rivendell but you can find front or rear racks that accept panniers for as low as 25 bucks! But Iu like nice stuff that lasts so lets call it $40.

This brings the total for a ready to commute bike with more bag space then needed by the average person for a total of $485, this is quite a bit less then the $800 from the article. Helmet and lock should run you under a hundred for the pair unless you really want to get fancy so your looking at $550-585 at the top for your mode of transportation.

Now, we need to equip the rider... Well lets skip the fancy shoes because where are not looking to win races or be the fastest or ride all day, we just want to make it 5 miles to the office and back. Flat peddles are just fine for this. Most of the year you are looking at being able to ride in regular clothes with the exception of some rainy days. Maybe you have a rain coat, maybe you don't but it's a good idea to own one even if you don't ride a bike... yeah, you can spend $100 plus on a nice one but I've been making do with cheapies or plastic ponchos (or even a garbage bag with holes for my head and arms, I have no shame!) and it's way under that but not everyone is as white trash as me so lets budget $125 for a nice rain coat (which will double as a shell for winter layering) and some light weight rain pants. Well that covers 75% of the year, if not more. Winter time buy a pair of decent water proof boots which will serve you well in other walks (see what I did there) of life, use your rain stuff as a shell when it is CRAZY cold and lets budget another $125 for nice warm long undies and some hats and gloves from the surplus store. With the waterproof insulated boots which can be had for a hundo or so at a good camping store you are looking at a total of $350 to equip yourself to ride all year round, a little less if you just hop the train when it's really, really shitty out so it's right around $935 to equip yourself to ride year round, $365 less then her estimate and, if you choose not to commute when it is supper shitty out you can do away with a lot of the inclement weather gear and get a less watertight pannier system or possibly even only one pannier and come out really ahead.

Even at the big number if you commute half of the workable days in a year (52x5=260/2=130) you have a cost of $7.19 for the first year and the bike is paid off as is all of your gear, most of which will last for years to come. Stretch it out over the minimum 3 years you should be able to get out of the bike and most of the gear you are at $2.39, about the cost of a gallon of gas and there is no way you are getting in and out of downtown from 5 miles out on a single gallon of gas, never mind the parking. Of course this does not take into account the fact that most of the gear you are going to buy to wear is going to be useful in other parts of your life. Not only that but the more you bike the more the cost is spread out...

Maybe there is a cost savings to it, especially when you consider the cost to upkeep, insure and store an automobile compared to that of a bike.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Michael A on June 17, 2010 at 12:28pm

Thank you for pre qualifying your comment... Anyone who would spend 12-15k on a bike is nuts....... so commit me already... the bike snob that I am. For my commuter bike I picked up an estate sale (craigslist) 25 yr old lugged steel frame bike and refurbed it, bike was $150, I put at about that into the refurb (sans my fizik saddle from another project) So for about 300-350 I have a solid commuter bike that will still get me to and from with the occasional blast of performance. As far as technical wear you can spend as much or as little as you care. I prefer wearing cycling specific clothing when I bike but carrying a complete change of clothes and arriving to a jobsite in spandex tends to get old. The bottom line for me is I still would rather drive my car to and from work, get home and THEN go for a bike ride.


notoriousDUG said:

OK let me qualify what I am about to say here first as to not offend:

I have no problem with expensive bikes or people spending a ton of money on sweet bike stuff. It's not for me but if you dig, can afford it and it makes you happy more power to you if you want a $12,000 bike.

Here are my two big problems with that blog and why it is sticking in my mind and I can't let it go:

1) I strongly disagree with the numbers she has up there and feel that big numbers like that put up with no explanation are the sort of thing that scares people off when it comes to commuting.

2) Inline with the above she pushes the concept that you need to have all this expensive and special stuff to bike commute and that is just not true.

I do not bike commute, it is not practical for me when it comes to my job. However I do not drive at all outside of to/from work and while working. I do everything by bike and I am committed to doing it as cheaply as possible with as little special equipment as possible. I have spent pretty much zero dollars on specialized biking gear and managed to ride year round for pretty much the last two years. Granted I have a job where I work outside a lot so I already own good cold weather gear but even with purchasing a little bit better cold weather gear then the average person owns you are still no where near the kind of financial numbers she is quoting. I am not even going to justify the food bill thing because I eat the same now as I did before I started riding.

By her estimate you are looking at $1,300 to start cycling to work and I can not see that, even for a novice and somebody unable to work on their own bike. If they do research and/or buy used from a reputable source they are going to do well. Here is my idea of a realistic price to commute for a person living in the city, working downtown and able to take P/T or a car to work if the weather is horrid.

I already found a new bike at $270 and have at Ciclo Urbano seen bikes with fenders and a rack already installed go for $300-350, and this is for a bike that has been refurbished so lets just call that $320 for the bike.

Now you need panniers which can range from $24-225 a pair with the $225 being for Ortlieb bags. figure $125 for a good middle of the road set. The rack for them is up at $170 if you get the fancy one from Rivendell but you can find front or rear racks that accept panniers for as low as 25 bucks! But Iu like nice stuff that lasts so lets call it $40.

This brings the total for a ready to commute bike with more bag space then needed by the average person for a total of $485, this is quite a bit less then the $800 from the article. Helmet and lock should run you under a hundred for the pair unless you really want to get fancy so your looking at $550-585 at the top for your mode of transportation.

Now, we need to equip the rider... Well lets skip the fancy shoes because where are not looking to win races or be the fastest or ride all day, we just want to make it 5 miles to the office and back. Flat peddles are just fine for this. Most of the year you are looking at being able to ride in regular clothes with the exception of some rainy days. Maybe you have a rain coat, maybe you don't but it's a good idea to own one even if you don't ride a bike... yeah, you can spend $100 plus on a nice one but I've been making do with cheapies or plastic ponchos (or even a garbage bag with holes for my head and arms, I have no shame!) and it's way under that but not everyone is as white trash as me so lets budget $125 for a nice rain coat (which will double as a shell for winter layering) and some light weight rain pants. Well that covers 75% of the year, if not more. Winter time buy a pair of decent water proof boots which will serve you well in other walks (see what I did there) of life, use your rain stuff as a shell when it is CRAZY cold and lets budget another $125 for nice warm long undies and some hats and gloves from the surplus store. With the waterproof insulated boots which can be had for a hundo or so at a good camping store you are looking at a total of $350 to equip yourself to ride all year round, a little less if you just hop the train when it's really, really shitty out so it's right around $935 to equip yourself to ride year round, $365 less then her estimate and, if you choose not to commute when it is supper shitty out you can do away with a lot of the inclement weather gear and get a less watertight pannier system or possibly even only one pannier and come out really ahead.

Even at the big number if you commute half of the workable days in a year (52x5=260/2=130) you have a cost of $7.19 for the first year and the bike is paid off as is all of your gear, most of which will last for years to come. Stretch it out over the minimum 3 years you should be able to get out of the bike and most of the gear you are at $2.39, about the cost of a gallon of gas and there is no way you are getting in and out of downtown from 5 miles out on a single gallon of gas, never mind the parking. Of course this does not take into account the fact that most of the gear you are going to buy to wear is going to be useful in other parts of your life. Not only that but the more you bike the more the cost is spread out...

Maybe there is a cost savings to it, especially when you consider the cost to upkeep, insure and store an automobile compared to that of a bike.

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Permalink Reply by Joel on June 17, 2010 at 12:36pm

I wish she would have left out the money issue and just mentioned the health benefits at the end. Regular exercise is good for you. Biking 10 miles a day is better than driving 10 miles a day.

My bike commute is short, but it got me hooked on cycling in general. I've dumped a bunch of money into it, but I don't care. I feel better. I have more energy during the day, sleep better at night, my blood pressure is lower, my resting heart rate is lower, I'm losing body fat, and I'm just happier in general.

I doubt it is costing me less than the CTA, and I already live a pretty "green" life; so at this point the real benefit of bike commuting is health.

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Permalink Reply by T.C. O'Rourke on June 17, 2010 at 7:32pm

Two years ago, I bought a $100 hybridized mountain bike off of eBay, a Specialized Expedition. My intent was to sell it to a newbie commuter at cost... I used to buy up reasonably priced bikes, tune them (to the best of my ability) and pass them on to coworkers, non-biking friends(!), etc.

When I picked it up, the headset was loose. No biggie right? Wrong. Turns out the steerer tube is stripped. I can possibly fix this at my beloved LBS or find a replacement fork, but I haven't-- and I know precisely what is wrong and what needs doing.

Do you think some clueless (endearing, honestly) newbie cyclist knows what the hell a steerer tube is? They just spent $100 on a bike that immediately needs $50-$75 worth of work.

Point: it is easy to get burned buying a used bike, even if you think you know what your doing.

Furthermore, a $300 new bike is going to ride crappy and go out of adjustment quickly and wear out rapidly with any real use. Suffering such a machine is going to turn off a lot of people towards cycling. I wouldn't ride a crappy bike every day, so I wouldn't expect a new cyclist to do so.

Finally: after 10 years of winter riding, I had a frost bitten epiphany and immediately dropped $500 on winter gear. It was the best $ I ever spent.

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Permalink Reply by Tank-Ridin' Ryan on June 18, 2010 at 4:26am

Wait - what? I'm totally confused as to why you took Doug's post as a personal attack. He really was just saying that the blog post is wrong about having to spend a lot of money to commute via bike.

Michael A said:

Thank you for pre qualifying your comment... Anyone who would spend 12-15k on a bike is nuts....... so commit me already... the bike snob that I am. For my commuter bike I picked up an estate sale (craigslist) 25 yr old lugged steel frame bike and refurbed it, bike was $150, I put at about that into the refurb (sans my fizik saddle from another project) So for about 300-350 I have a solid commuter bike that will still get me to and from with the occasional blast of performance. As far as technical wear you can spend as much or as little as you care. I prefer wearing cycling specific clothing when I bike but carrying a complete change of clothes and arriving to a jobsite in spandex tends to get old. The bottom line for me is I still would rather drive my car to and from work, get home and THEN go for a bike ride.


notoriousDUG said:

OK let me qualify what I am about to say here first as to not offend:

I have no problem with expensive bikes or people spending a ton of money on sweet bike stuff. It's not for me but if you dig, can afford it and it makes you happy more power to you if you want a $12,000 bike.

Here are my two big problems with that blog and why it is sticking in my mind and I can't let it go:

1) I strongly disagree with the numbers she has up there and feel that big numbers like that put up with no explanation are the sort of thing that scares people off when it comes to commuting.

2) Inline with the above she pushes the concept that you need to have all this expensive and special stuff to bike commute and that is just not true.

I do not bike commute, it is not practical for me when it comes to my job. However I do not drive at all outside of to/from work and while working. I do everything by bike and I am committed to doing it as cheaply as possible with as little special equipment as possible. I have spent pretty much zero dollars on specialized biking gear and managed to ride year round for pretty much the last two years. Granted I have a job where I work outside a lot so I already own good cold weather gear but even with purchasing a little bit better cold weather gear then the average person owns you are still no where near the kind of financial numbers she is quoting. I am not even going to justify the food bill thing because I eat the same now as I did before I started riding.

By her estimate you are looking at $1,300 to start cycling to work and I can not see that, even for a novice and somebody unable to work on their own bike. If they do research and/or buy used from a reputable source they are going to do well. Here is my idea of a realistic price to commute for a person living in the city, working downtown and able to take P/T or a car to work if the weather is horrid.

I already found a new bike at $270 and have at Ciclo Urbano seen bikes with fenders and a rack already installed go for $300-350, and this is for a bike that has been refurbished so lets just call that $320 for the bike.

Now you need panniers which can range from $24-225 a pair with the $225 being for Ortlieb bags. figure $125 for a good middle of the road set. The rack for them is up at $170 if you get the fancy one from Rivendell but you can find front or rear racks that accept panniers for as low as 25 bucks! But Iu like nice stuff that lasts so lets call it $40.

This brings the total for a ready to commute bike with more bag space then needed by the average person for a total of $485, this is quite a bit less then the $800 from the article. Helmet and lock should run you under a hundred for the pair unless you really want to get fancy so your looking at $550-585 at the top for your mode of transportation.

Now, we need to equip the rider... Well lets skip the fancy shoes because where are not looking to win races or be the fastest or ride all day, we just want to make it 5 miles to the office and back. Flat peddles are just fine for this. Most of the year you are looking at being able to ride in regular clothes with the exception of some rainy days. Maybe you have a rain coat, maybe you don't but it's a good idea to own one even if you don't ride a bike... yeah, you can spend $100 plus on a nice one but I've been making do with cheapies or plastic ponchos (or even a garbage bag with holes for my head and arms, I have no shame!) and it's way under that but not everyone is as white trash as me so lets budget $125 for a nice rain coat (which will double as a shell for winter layering) and some light weight rain pants. Well that covers 75% of the year, if not more. Winter time buy a pair of decent water proof boots which will serve you well in other walks (see what I did there) of life, use your rain stuff as a shell when it is CRAZY cold and lets budget another $125 for nice warm long undies and some hats and gloves from the surplus store. With the waterproof insulated boots which can be had for a hundo or so at a good camping store you are looking at a total of $350 to equip yourself to ride all year round, a little less if you just hop the train when it's really, really shitty out so it's right around $935 to equip yourself to ride year round, $365 less then her estimate and, if you choose not to commute when it is supper shitty out you can do away with a lot of the inclement weather gear and get a less watertight pannier system or possibly even only one pannier and come out really ahead.

Even at the big number if you commute half of the workable days in a year (52x5=260/2=130) you have a cost of $7.19 for the first year and the bike is paid off as is all of your gear, most of which will last for years to come. Stretch it out over the minimum 3 years you should be able to get out of the bike and most of the gear you are at $2.39, about the cost of a gallon of gas and there is no way you are getting in and out of downtown from 5 miles out on a single gallon of gas, never mind the parking. Of course this does not take into account the fact that most of the gear you are going to buy to wear is going to be useful in other parts of your life. Not only that but the more you bike the more the cost is spread out...

Maybe there is a cost savings to it, especially when you consider the cost to upkeep, insure and store an automobile compared to that of a bike.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Joel on June 18, 2010 at 4:39am

I don't think he took it as an attack so much as acknowledging that spending that much on a bike is nuts. Which really, it is. That doesn't mean it is bad -- hell, I'd spend that much if I could. I'd buy several $10,000 custom built bikes for commuting, racing, touring, etc. It is totally unrealistic at this point, but more power to the people that can do it.

Tank-Ridin' Ryan said:

Wait - what? I'm totally confused as to why you took Doug's post as a personal attack. He really was just saying that the blog post is wrong about having to spend a lot of money to commute via bike.

Michael A said:

Thank you for pre qualifying your comment... Anyone who would spend 12-15k on a bike is nuts....... so commit me already... the bike snob that I am. For my commuter bike I picked up an estate sale (craigslist) 25 yr old lugged steel frame bike and refurbed it, bike was $150, I put at about that into the refurb (sans my fizik saddle from another project) So for about 300-350 I have a solid commuter bike that will still get me to and from with the occasional blast of performance. As far as technical wear you can spend as much or as little as you care. I prefer wearing cycling specific clothing when I bike but carrying a complete change of clothes and arriving to a jobsite in spandex tends to get old. The bottom line for me is I still would rather drive my car to and from work, get home and THEN go for a bike ride.


notoriousDUG said:

OK let me qualify what I am about to say here first as to not offend:

I have no problem with expensive bikes or people spending a ton of money on sweet bike stuff. It's not for me but if you dig, can afford it and it makes you happy more power to you if you want a $12,000 bike.

Here are my two big problems with that blog and why it is sticking in my mind and I can't let it go:

1) I strongly disagree with the numbers she has up there and feel that big numbers like that put up with no explanation are the sort of thing that scares people off when it comes to commuting.

2) Inline with the above she pushes the concept that you need to have all this expensive and special stuff to bike commute and that is just not true.

I do not bike commute, it is not practical for me when it comes to my job. However I do not drive at all outside of to/from work and while working. I do everything by bike and I am committed to doing it as cheaply as possible with as little special equipment as possible. I have spent pretty much zero dollars on specialized biking gear and managed to ride year round for pretty much the last two years. Granted I have a job where I work outside a lot so I already own good cold weather gear but even with purchasing a little bit better cold weather gear then the average person owns you are still no where near the kind of financial numbers she is quoting. I am not even going to justify the food bill thing because I eat the same now as I did before I started riding.

By her estimate you are looking at $1,300 to start cycling to work and I can not see that, even for a novice and somebody unable to work on their own bike. If they do research and/or buy used from a reputable source they are going to do well. Here is my idea of a realistic price to commute for a person living in the city, working downtown and able to take P/T or a car to work if the weather is horrid.

I already found a new bike at $270 and have at Ciclo Urbano seen bikes with fenders and a rack already installed go for $300-350, and this is for a bike that has been refurbished so lets just call that $320 for the bike.

Now you need panniers which can range from $24-225 a pair with the $225 being for Ortlieb bags. figure $125 for a good middle of the road set. The rack for them is up at $170 if you get the fancy one from Rivendell but you can find front or rear racks that accept panniers for as low as 25 bucks! But Iu like nice stuff that lasts so lets call it $40.

This brings the total for a ready to commute bike with more bag space then needed by the average person for a total of $485, this is quite a bit less then the $800 from the article. Helmet and lock should run you under a hundred for the pair unless you really want to get fancy so your looking at $550-585 at the top for your mode of transportation.

Now, we need to equip the rider... Well lets skip the fancy shoes because where are not looking to win races or be the fastest or ride all day, we just want to make it 5 miles to the office and back. Flat peddles are just fine for this. Most of the year you are looking at being able to ride in regular clothes with the exception of some rainy days. Maybe you have a rain coat, maybe you don't but it's a good idea to own one even if you don't ride a bike... yeah, you can spend $100 plus on a nice one but I've been making do with cheapies or plastic ponchos (or even a garbage bag with holes for my head and arms, I have no shame!) and it's way under that but not everyone is as white trash as me so lets budget $125 for a nice rain coat (which will double as a shell for winter layering) and some light weight rain pants. Well that covers 75% of the year, if not more. Winter time buy a pair of decent water proof boots which will serve you well in other walks (see what I did there) of life, use your rain stuff as a shell when it is CRAZY cold and lets budget another $125 for nice warm long undies and some hats and gloves from the surplus store. With the waterproof insulated boots which can be had for a hundo or so at a good camping store you are looking at a total of $350 to equip yourself to ride all year round, a little less if you just hop the train when it's really, really shitty out so it's right around $935 to equip yourself to ride year round, $365 less then her estimate and, if you choose not to commute when it is supper shitty out you can do away with a lot of the inclement weather gear and get a less watertight pannier system or possibly even only one pannier and come out really ahead.

Even at the big number if you commute half of the workable days in a year (52x5=260/2=130) you have a cost of $7.19 for the first year and the bike is paid off as is all of your gear, most of which will last for years to come. Stretch it out over the minimum 3 years you should be able to get out of the bike and most of the gear you are at $2.39, about the cost of a gallon of gas and there is no way you are getting in and out of downtown from 5 miles out on a single gallon of gas, never mind the parking. Of course this does not take into account the fact that most of the gear you are going to buy to wear is going to be useful in other parts of your life. Not only that but the more you bike the more the cost is spread out...

Maybe there is a cost savings to it, especially when you consider the cost to upkeep, insure and store an automobile compared to that of a bike.

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