[Closed] Cycle commuters - why do you do it?

prawny

Member

tjagain

Member
How can cycling cost more than the train?

Not every month, but over a 20 mile each way commute the maintenance and worn clothing costs mount up quickly. A set of wheels every couple of years, tyres every six months, I’d get 3 months to a chain of I’m lucky, 5 pairs of shorts per year or two plus the bike.

Also, my train is very cheap, direct debit pass into Birmingham is just over £70.

Ok so my commute was a 1/3 of yours but I simply never wore kit out like that. Weird.
Never had to replace a wheel on the commuter. Years out of tyres about 5 out of the last rear IIRC. Never worn a front out Years out of a chain its the old putoline. 5 pairs of shorts a year?

@tjagain - those were my thoughts. Something like five years for the tyres on my commuter (Genesis Croix de Fer 10), if they'd been Schwalbe Marathons I'd expect the sun to expire before they do! Just checked the stats for that bike - 10,000km. The drive train (Sora) had worn so I've replaced that with a 1x setup. I might have replace the brake pads a couple of times and it needs a new BB. But that's it.

the lifespan of a chain is dependant on how many gears it attaches to - KMC Z510 for a fixed gear are flippin indestructible, the ones I had on my last commuter bike just stayed on there until everything wore out and just slob some lube on every so often

The 11sp sram and cassette for the new one I'm not sure how long will last but I'm going to take more care of it.

wheels need replacing if they are rim brake wheels, as the brake track gets worn through they get weaker and then the potholes inflict more damage. Not applicable to discs or fixed rears
Tyres depend on how heavy duty, marathon+ last aaaages but GP4000 don't especially on the back

I broke 2 sets of wheels through cracked rims around the spoke holes, one worn out brake track before switching to disks. 2 worn out disks, god knows how many pads, they don't last long in the winter. Tyres were schwalbe durano plus, rears worn through to the blue strip.

1 BB per year minimum. 1 seized rear mech, one cracked frame. The only thing that didn't get replaced on my last commuter was the shifters handle bars and stem. Everything else was replaced including the frame.

I was doing 8000+ miles per year, and the winter is really hard on gear. 40 miles per day 5 days per week.

Shorts were just rubbing through on the saddle until the stitching burst.