saving money............commuting ?

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by weisan

I commute by train and bike.

The biggest benefit I get out of commuting is by not being sucked into the daily traffic grind and thus arriving at my destinations at a better mental / physical state and how that affects the rest of my day and my relationships.

[Bostic]

Starting in April my commute is 30 miles each way. Company got bought by a larger one and we are moving into their nice new big building. I've had a 10 minute 2.6 mile commute for the last 5 years.

I don't know how often I can do a 60 mile ride every day even if it is broken up by several hours of work. It's a lot of time on the bike but I am ready for a change. I could also bike 11 miles to the train station and take the Caltrain up to the office. I don't have any beater bikes though and from taking the train before for a year I see how many commuters stack and shove bikes around. Steel and Aluminum can get dented, is cheap Carbon bike the way to go?

No kids so it's not a loss of time spent there. There is simply no way I am going to drive a mini-van and sit and rot in South Bay Area commute traffic every day. It's a big company with new opportunities so worth sticking it out for a while.

The one expense I plan on soon is an Osprey Radial backpack.

[Nooch]

I'm aching to get back to commuting again. My standard, quick route is 10 miles on the way in, and about 15 on the way back, with a better 15 mile in route option. New baby here, working at my second job less, I should be able to get back into the swing of things shortly as we try to find "balance" with our new arrangements.

But, I'd say I never saved anything commuting. *I* was better for it, but financially, didn't really matter.

[General69]

Mr. Money Mustache did an interesting article on this. https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011...-of-commuting/

[benb]

50 miles is a really long bike commute. I've done that at one job I had... never did it more than 2 days a week though, it's a huge huge time sink as there is prep time on top of the actual bike time. Think about if you used a power meter what kind of weekly TSS you are generating if you did that 50 mile commute 5 days a week continuously. It's a lot, even if you ride it all slow.

The "15-20 miles by car, 3 hours by bike" thing is mostly nonsense around where I live. If it was 50 miles you'd probably be looking at 3 hours in the car too, maybe more.

Here in the Boston area there is almost no time savings with the car at all. You can't really average 20mph in the car in terms of average speed. "Average Moving Speed" is higher in the car but in terms of "Average Speed" (includes stopped time), the car is not faster on most days unless you work oddball hours. I am lucky enough to live just under 5 miles from work, there is absolutely 0 time savings with the car compared to the bike. Really the only reason I use the car for it at all has to do with childcare logistics. This fall my son will go to kindergarten and take the bus and I may very well be doing a lot of bike commuting.

In terms of saving money on the bike commuting it's exactly the same thing as keeping your car costs low, with the exception of the fuel thing. Ideal commuter cars are cheap, don't use much fuel, aren't very fast, so they don't have expensive parts, they take smaller tires that have less grip and so last longer and cost less than more expensive cars. The most popular car choices for commuting tend to be the most reliable cars on the market too, with cheap maintenance costs.

No different for a bike.. keep the bike cheap, just at the quality level where stuff lasts a long time and isn't junk. Put durable rubber on it, the $20 tires that last 3X longer than the $50 tires that most of us like to ride. I'd argue skip anything like disk brakes since they're expensive and more $$ to fix when they break. Skip anything to do with suspension. Skip anything to do with bar tape/drop bars since bar tape wears out way faster than MTB style plastic grips. (That's the most debatable thing in this list... not sure I could put up with flat bars if I was commuting a lot and bar tape can be as cheap as $20/yr.) Cheaper components, less cogs in the back if possible so things like chains last longer. Select everything you can that will let you fix/service it yourself in your garage so you don't waste time or money having the LBS do anything.

[Kirk007]

As to the saving money part, I'm with Bradford. If you are really commuting a couple hours a day 5 days a week that will soon become the majority of your riding time, and it isn't much fun to spend that much time on a junker. Your regular road bike you soon find wanting - fenders, maybe wider tires, light systems, baggage systems - and a mountain bike isn't very efficient so you start looking at touring or rando style bikes then you think about the hassle of plugging in your multiple lights all the time and your then on to a new wheelset with a dynamo hub etc, etc.

Now if you are avoiding paying hundreds of dollars a month on parking and wear and tear on a car and gas, well then maybe the dollars pencil out. But if you have a mass transit option, chances are that will be more cost effective. I could buy a monthly regional bus pass and spend less per year than I would on the commuting bike. This of course doesn't account for all the other benefits of commuting by bike.

[72gmc]

Originally Posted by Kirk007

you start looking at touring or rando style bikes then you think about the hassle of plugging in your multiple lights all the time and your then on to a new wheelset with a dynamo hub etc, etc.

You guys are saying this like it's a problem ...

What are you saving money for is what I ask myself.

And then I answer myself, "This cool bike thing!"

And then people back away from me.

[drewski]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

i doubt you will save any meaningful $. As mentioned, are you actually going to get rid of the car if you commute by bike?

you will eat more if you're burning a lot more calories. you will do more laundry with commuting every day. you will wear out more kit commuting every day. it's also the time thing. i just dont have the hours/day to commute. time is money, after all.

Since we Americans do not pay the true cost of owning car I agree.
However at some point we all have to take responsibility for the footprint we create. I commute 8 miles a day 4 miles each way because its fun but also I get to be a self-righteous jerk.

[azrider]

Originally Posted by likebikes

just out of curiosity, what is the car?

1984 Mercedes 300D Turbo Diesel

It's been in our family since my dad drove it off showroom floor. Way too much sentimental value in car to even consider selling it. Aside from tiny crack in dash and some wear on the front rims (next on my to do list) I'd rate the car at 9 out of 10 and is as rock solid today as it was in 80's. It's a tank 0-60 but 60-100+ it's pretty 'sporty'.

Part of the appeal of commuting is keeping this thing off the roads (even though I plan on this car giving me 500K+ miles)

[p nut]

Originally Posted by azrider

1984 Mercedes 300D Turbo Diesel

It's been in our family since my dad drove it off showroom floor. Way too much sentimental value in car to even consider selling it. Aside from tiny crack in dash and some wear on the front rims (next on my to do list) I'd rate the car at 9 out of 10 and is as rock solid today as it was in 80's. It's a tank 0-60 but 60-100+ it's pretty 'sporty'.

Part of the appeal of commuting is keeping this thing off the roads (even though I plan on this car giving me 500K+ miles)

Yeah, that sucker will never die. Those were built to last for sure.

Of course, this show always pops into my head every time I see that model MB.

[mattnes17]

I lost my drivers license in February of 2017. I'm a big moto head and an even bigger block head, and my luck ran out one morning as I was speeding into work..

I started biking to work every day onward. A commute that couldn't get more simple: 5 miles, 2 turns. I was enjoying every minute of it! Wake up, gear up, pedal, 20 min later I'm at work, wide awake and not needing a drop of coffee.

In August work moved 5 miles further from home. Still a simple commute, but 20 miles a day. What a treat! And shortly after a letter in the mail: my license could be reinstated!! But I was so hooked on pedaling, I threw it in the trash and continued thru the winter. I pedaled every day from Feb 19th 2017, to March 1st 2018. I learned a ton about cycling, my body/brain, my bikes, and how to avoid cars/guns/crashes/stitches (all of which were issues throughout the year..)

In summary: the benefits to my physical and mental health far outweighed the cost of gas, insurance, repairs, whatever. And I definitely sent as much or more $ on bikes and parts and tinkering over that year than I would have dumped into my car.. But I enjoyed every second and I feel richer from the experience.

[tuscanyswe]

Originally Posted by mattnes17

I lost my drivers license in February of 2017. I'm a big moto head and an even bigger block head, and my luck ran out one morning as I was speeding into work..

I started biking to work every day onward. A commute that couldn't get more simple: 5 miles, 2 turns. I was enjoying every minute of it! Wake up, gear up, pedal, 20 min later I'm at work, wide awake and not needing a drop of coffee.

In August work moved 5 miles further from home. Still a simple commute, but 20 miles a day. What a treat! And shortly after a letter in the mail: my license could be reinstated!! But I was so hooked on pedaling, I threw it in the trash and continued thru the winter. I pedaled every day from Feb 19th 2017, to March 1st 2018. I learned a ton about cycling, my body/brain, my bikes, and how to avoid cars/guns/crashes/stitches (all of which were issues throughout the year..)

In summary: the benefits to my physical and mental health far outweighed the cost of gas, insurance, repairs, whatever. And I definitely sent as much or more $ on bikes and parts and tinkering over that year than I would have dumped into my car.. But I enjoyed every second and I feel richer from the experience.

Sounds awesome. Well not the part about guns but otherwise .) good for you!

[semdoug]

AZ car insurance is only $400/year. Geez, we get ripped off here in FL!