John S. wrote:
An interesting but very incomplete analysis of the true costs of
commuting by bike.

Take the average commuter that lives 20 miles from work. To make an
8-4 work schedule that commuter will have to get up at 4:00 to begin
riding at 5:00 to arrive at work by 8:00. The commuter then does the
same in reverse and arrives home at 7:00 The times assume he is able
to find a lot of flat and downhill both ways with few traffic and
stoplights.

3 hours to go 20 miles??

I could go faster than that riding a single speed steel city-bike with
balloon tires when I lived on the North China Plain. That was coming
at a time when I still walked with a cane.

I have managed a 20 mile hour but there wasn't much uphill and I did
have a paceline helping me for the first 8 miles.

Incremental cost: New bike every year plus repairs $2,000; Medical
expenses from road injuries $2,000

Why would you need to get a new bike every year?

A perfectly acceptable race bike (not commuter bike) doesn't run $2000
a year in repairs and replacements.

And if you are riding to work that much why would you possibly be
falling off enough to hurt yourself that much? $50 in repairs and
medical bills is usually considered to be a major bicycle accident and
most bicyclists don't have major accidents very often (barring mountain
bikers who go out of their way to have major accidents and who are
generally very proud of how they managed to do it).

When it snows, or rains the commuter is either off work and not paid
because he cant make it in, or he is forced to get a hotel room close
to work because he can't ride home in inclement weather.

Incremental cost: Lost wages $5,000; Hotel rooms $1,000

I guess you haven't heard of a poncho, a jacket, boots, or other
articles of winter clothing. I guess you also haven't heard of
carpooling, mass transit, or using the car that most of us still have
but aren't using for ordinary short trips.

Tiring of those exceedingly long riding days and days missed with no
snip

I guess I should have read the rest of this before starting to respond.
You really have no idea of the reality of bike riding do you?

-M