Bicycle Running Costs: How Much Does Your Bike Cost To Run Per Kilometre?

2010 March 8

I have 2 bikes: a road bike that I used for triathlons in 2008/2009, and a mountain bike for commuting (with road slicks).

Road Bike Costs (3 years)

  • Initial purchase (second hand): $600
  • Initial upgrades: $600
  • Servicing, tyres, cables, brakes, innertubes, puncture kits: $460
  • Residual cost: -$400
  • Total Costs: $1200

Kilometres travelled:

  • 9 months x 100km/week = 4,000 km

Cost per kilometre:

  • $1200/4000 = 30.0c/km

Mountain Bike Costs (6 years)

  • Initial purchase (new): $500
  • Lights, night gear: $300
  • Tyres: $80 x 6 = $480
  • Innertubes, puncture kits: $10 x 16 = $160
  • Servicing, cables, brakes: $400
  • Residual cost: -$100
  • Total: $1440

Kilometres travelled:

  • 3 years commuting = 50 weeks x 4 days/week x 15km/day = 3000km
  • 3 years casual = 150 weeks x 5 days/week x 6km/day = 4000km
  • Total: 7000km

Cost per kilometre:

  • $1440/7000 = 20.6c/km

Conclusion

  • The bicycle running costs overall are $2640/11,000 = 24c per kilometre

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2 Responses leave one →
  1. Furious permalink
    March 28, 2010

    Hey great summation of bike commuting costs!!!

    I travel by bicycle too. In fact, I travel by bike so often and so habitually that the few times I must ride in an automobile, I’m annoyed by it.

    See, the costs of your bikes isn’t complete though. Vehicles need tires, rotations, oil changes, insurance, gasoline, maintenance, etc…

    If you keep your bikes another 3 years, the costs will be fractions of cents.

    Sometimes I wish the cost of fuel would double, so that more people would have to go by bike, therefore there’d be more bicyclists on the road, meaning it’s safer for the rest of us.

    Cheers! Thanks for posting.

  2. sheltron permalink*
    March 29, 2010

    Yes, with more cyclist, the more drivers are aware of them.

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