Cost per km - ultimate Man Maths

[Ares]

Gravel Bike discussions got me thinking.

n+1 is a mantra we all follow, but cost per km is a great metric of real value.

My bikes/distances from Strava

Dogma F10 (Bought in 2019 - £8,000). Covered 15,512km = 52p/km
Dogma 65.1 (Bought in 2014 - £4,200). Covered 53,747km = 8p/km
Ti Gravel Bike (Bought in 2020 - £1,700). Covered 1,937km = 88p/km
Trek SLR (Bought in 2006 - £1,200). Covered 1,803km* = 67p/km
Pinarello Fixie (Bought in 2017 - £800). Covered 703km = £1.13/km
Wahoo KICKR Bike (Bought in 2020 - £3,000). Covered 4,853km = 62p/km

(*pre 2014 distance not recorded)



So proof.....cheap bikes are worse value

[ukbabz]

Haha interesting one with the bike stats, my two newer bikes don't look so good (and the TCR would have been worse if hadn't got it at a very low price!)

Mine:
Current Bikes:
Giant TCR Advance Pro 1- £1800 - 5707km = 31.54p/km
Canyon Grand Canyon = £1400 = 754km = 185.68p/km

Old bikes / turbo bike (turbo mileage not included)

Specialized Allez Sport ~£700 - 6223km = 11.25p/km
Cube Attention MTB = £550 = 5567km = 9.88p/km

[snobetter]

Cube attain, since 03/17 £1000 - 19,434km - 5ppkm

[CubanPete]

So 85% of cases, a car is actually cheaper to run than a pushbike.

[Dnlm]

That's a lot of miles ! if you didnt have Dogmas ride maybe the cheaper ones would have looked more cost effective though .

Never strava my 'pub/commute bike' rides so harder to compare the real cheap ones (which also have lock up and leave benefits), but definitely found that moving from budget to nice road bikes and spending on upgrades increases my mileage significantly.

Suspect the people getting real enjoyment out of doing 1-200 miles a week on budget bikes for multiple years are few and far between. A fair amount of committed / cheap people seem to rack that up commuting, but without the fun part...

Always surprised the amount of comments spending a few grand on a bike gets vs significantly more expensive, lower time spend hobbies.

[gangzoom]

Ares said:

So proof.....cheap bikes are worse value

Forget man maths on cost per km, £13K+ spend on bikes since 2019...…..You need to write up a thesis on the man maths used to justify that kind of spending on pedal bikes, especially when you already had so many .

I dropped £2K on my eBike in Feb, prior to that bought a pre-owned £1K Trek back in 2013 and I still feel guilty about the eBike purchase. Would love to get a new road bike for £3-4K, but spending £5K+ on pedals bike in less than 12 months is beyond my man maths .

[Ares]

gangzoom said:

Ares said:

So proof.....cheap bikes are worse value

Forget man maths on cost per km, £13K+ spend on bikes since 2019...…..You need to write up a thesis on the man maths used to justify that kind of spending on pedal bikes, especially when you already had so many .

I dropped £2K on my eBike in Feb, prior to that bought a pre-owned £1K Trek back in 2013 and I still feel guilty about the eBike purchase. Would love to get a new road bike for £3-4K, but spending £5K+ on pedals bike in less than 12 months is beyond my man maths .

Yes, but Mrs Ares thinks they cost significantly less.

My biggest fear is that if I die, my wife will well my bikes for what I told her they cost.

[gangzoom]

Ares said:

Yes, but Mrs Ares thinks they cost significantly less.

I know what you mean, the NUMBER ONE criteria on my hunt for a replacement/new bike is it must look as similar to my current Trek as possible....I've even thought about sourcing white TREK decals to cover up the name of any other brand to reduce the chance of marital breakdown .

[Ares]

gangzoom said:

Ares said:

Yes, but Mrs Ares thinks they cost significantly less.

I know what you mean, the NUMBER ONE criteria on my hunt for a replacement/new bike is it must look as similar to my current Trek as possible....I've even thought about sourcing white TREK decals to cover up the name of any other brand to reduce the chance of marital breakdown .

It's not an accident that both my Dogmas are black

[PulsatingStar]

Ive not done too bad on cost per KM but I know if I counted all the tyres, chains and general maintenance as well as kit it would be horrific. And Di2 batteries. Boy have I gone though those.

Planet X Pro Carbon £800 14180 km = 0.05 per km. Sold for £300.

Argon18 E118 £2000 (used) 1561 km = £1.28 per km. But sold for 1750 after 2 seasons.

BMC TMR01 £4000 (used) 15960 km = 25p per km. Wrote off by car, insurance payout more than covered.

Giant Propel Pro £3600 24209 km = 14p per km. Sold for 1600.

Giant TCR Pro £800 (used) 8222 km = 10p per km. Sold 1000 (but had DI2 added from written off BMC, but then I also sold on its original 105 groupset)

Tarmac Approx 6k (frameset build up) 23609 km = 25p per km. Still riding.

Crux 1k 547km = £1.83 per km. But not had it long and still using it.

[keith2.2]

Road bike = £1.93 per km
TT bike £1.32 per km (Most of this on Zwift
Gravel bike 0 km = should probably ride it someday
Cipollini’s Team bike 0km - maybe I’ll ride it, maybe I

Can someone come along with a top end DH bike please, to make us all feel better.

Edited by keith2.2 on Tuesday 22 September 11:56

[PomBstard]

2016 Norco Search, purchase approx1.5k, 11,000km - 14p/km

2019 Yeti SB5.5, purchase approx 4k, 1,500km - 267p/km

As with any Man Maths thread, extraneous costs relating to maintenance or replacing or upgrading parts have been appropriately ignored...

[yellowjack]

Can't get into Strava for the accurate mileages just now, but...

Trek Emonda. £2300 and nearly 24,000 km = 9.6p per km, approx
Giant Anthem. £899 and about 10,460 km = 8.6p per km, approx
Cannondale Backroads. £53 and about 3850 km =1.4p per km, approx

Purchase prices are accurate, miles were "last known estimates" then converted to kms, and rounded. I hope I've done the maths right because I'm quite pleased with the value I've had from these bikes if the numbers are anywhere near right.

ETA:

I should bump up the purchase cost of the 'Dale because when I got it from the eBay seller it was "just about rideable" but had at least £200 spent to "get it nice again". Although much of that was on consumables, and no self respecting cyclist factors consumables into their bikes' costs. Do they?

Edited by yellowjack on Sunday 20th September 15:19

[flight147z]

I've had two bikes since I started cycling seriously in 2014

Planet X RT58 Alloy
Bought for £499, 5,900 miles covered and sold for £100 (should have asked for more!)
8.5p per mile (5.3p per Km) excluding sales proceeds or 6.8p per mile (4.3p per km) including

Canyon Ultimate CF SL
Bought for £1,259 and added new wheels for £550, total cost of £1,809. 10,200 miles covered
17.7p per mile (11.1p per km) so far based on that

For comparative purposes I reckon I've lost about £6k on my Z4 since I bought that 26,000 miles ago so that would work out at 23p per mile

Edited by flight147z on Monday 21st September 12:14

[Daveyraveygravey]

I only really have two bikes, a road and an MTB.

Giant Propel £1600 in 2015, 29000 km 5.5p per km.
Boardman Comp mtb £500 secondhand maybe 2012 10200 km 4.9p per km.

Might have to show the missus this thread, she'll see what a conscientious budget obsessed cyclist I am!

[jesusbuiltmycar]

Fixie
Cost : £300
Distance: 6067 KM
Cost / KM: £0.05
Age : 8 Years
Last Ridden: 2019

Old Road Bike
Cost : £2300
Distance: 33713 KM
Cost / KM: £0.07
Age: 7 Years
Last Ridden: 11/09/2020

Gravel Bike
Cost : £1500
Distance: 18357 KM
Cost / KM: £0.08
Age: 4 Years
Last Ridden: 18/09/2020


Summer Road Bike
Cost : £5000
Distance: 4309 Km
Cost / KM: £1.16
Age: 1 year, 3 months
Last Ridden 20/09/2020

[loudlashadjuster]

Interesting way to think about things

Road bike: Genesis Volare 10
Bought: 2015
Distance: 8,800
Cost: £500 (bike purchase cost)
Cost/km: 5.7p

Cost: £1,100 (including wheels, tyres and drivetrain upgrades)
Cost/km: 12.5p

Cost: £1,300 (TCO including maintenance, repairs)
Cost/km: 14.8p

MTB: Specialized Hardrock
Bought: 2012
Distance: 2,630 km
Cost: £550
Cost/km: 20.9p/km

I have cheap bikes compared to some on here!

Edited by loudlashadjuster on Tuesday 22 September 11:22

[louiebaby]

Ares said:

gangzoom said:

Ares said:

Yes, but Mrs Ares thinks they cost significantly less.

I know what you mean, the NUMBER ONE criteria on my hunt for a replacement/new bike is it must look as similar to my current Trek as possible....I've even thought about sourcing white TREK decals to cover up the name of any other brand to reduce the chance of marital breakdown .

It's not an accident that both my Dogmas are black

I did hear a story about a chap who would buy the latest Elise / Exige in the same bright orange colour as his old one, and have his plate swapped over every few years. No real need to have a difficult conversation with the missus then.

Before I broke my Trek, I did think about getting a new Carbon version in a very similar paint scheme, and having one hidden in the loft, swapping them over twice a year to have a winter and summer bike. I didn't in the end.

[Ares]

keith2.2 said:

2019 Bianchi XR4 - £8700 / 4795km = £1.93 per km
2020 Cube Aerium - £10,000 / 7547km £1.32 per km (Most of this on Zwift)
2005 Cipollini Bianchi FG Lite - £**** / 0 km = yikes
2017 Cannondale Slate - £1220 / 0 km = should probably ride it someday

Well that’s ruined my day

Can someone come along with a top end DH bike please, to make us all feel better.

Edited by keith2.2 on Saturday 19th September 03:35

Just ride them more

[Ares]

louiebaby said:

Ares said:

gangzoom said:

Ares said:

Yes, but Mrs Ares thinks they cost significantly less.

I know what you mean, the NUMBER ONE criteria on my hunt for a replacement/new bike is it must look as similar to my current Trek as possible....I've even thought about sourcing white TREK decals to cover up the name of any other brand to reduce the chance of marital breakdown .

It's not an accident that both my Dogmas are black

I did hear a story about a chap who would buy the latest Elise / Exige in the same bright orange colour as his old one, and have his plate swapped over every few years. No real need to have a difficult conversation with the missus then.

Before I broke my Trek, I did think about getting a new Carbon version in a very similar paint scheme, and having one hidden in the loft, swapping them over twice a year to have a winter and summer bike. I didn't in the end.

We've all got that 'friend' who stores his bike in our garage....