Robin Clarke – Life and Tech

This post should have come out in September 2011 because that’s when the odometer on my bike wrapped from 9999km to 0km.

The stats

• New price: 450€ (city bike, aluminium frame, solid carrier, hub dynamo, …)
• At the 10000km my bike was about 4 years old (but one year in storage)
• I cycled an average of 3300km per year that I used it
• Never cycled outside of Munich city
• No recreational cycling – all commuting
• Average speed with winter tyres: 15km/h
• Average speed with summer tyres: 18km/h

How much wear and tear on the bike?

• Replaced break blocks 3 times
• Replaced 3 tyres
• Replaced 2 tubes
• Replaced break and gear cables
• One broken crank shaft bearing
• One new saddle
• Replaced rear sprocket
• Replaced crank set and pedals
• Purchased studded winter tyres
• Replaced front halogen lamp with powerful LED lamp
• Lots of oil…

Total cost of ownership

Assuming a linear depreciation to 100€ over 5 years, the cost of the bicycle, plus maintenance (my work time not included): 127€/year

Given that at least 2/3 of the distance travelled was work related I can write off 5ct/km (flat-rate in German taxes): 110€ per year, so it only costs me ~17€ per year to cycle.

Had I driven that distance by car (assuming a car which I would own: a 7 year old compact) it would have cost me about 200€ taxes, 500€ insurance, 400€ maintenance, and 700€ depreciation, plus 188€ for petrol: 2000€, minus the tax deduction of 660€ leaves 1340€ for a small car.  Granted I wouldn’t have only driven the car in the city, so it’s not exactly comparable…

Had I got a year round ticked for the local municipal transport system (MVV), it would have cost me 438€ for public transport. This could be written off 100% by using the flat rate.

Other effects

• Depending on the distance between home and work over the years, I had anything up to 1.5 hours of fresh air and light exercise per day.  At my last general medical check-up the doctor did a stress ECG on me and found all parameters well above “healthy”.  I’m sure that has something to do with cycling.
• I haven’t had a single sick day in the last 10 years of work.  That’s not to say I was never sick, but nothing bad enough to keep me home.  Maybe not sitting in public transport (confined metal tubes full of coughing and sneezing people) helped too…
• I hate sitting in traffic… I hardly ever sit in traffic… 🙂
• Taking into account the time for walking to a car, driving through traffic, finding a parking spot, and walking from there to the destination, I’m always faster by bike than you will be by car in the city.
• I’m always faster than public transport over short distances, and in the spring/summer/autumn faster over all distances (without breaking a sweat!).

Enough already?

Get on your bike! 🙂

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