Convincing myself the cycle commute is worth it

macman

What range do you get on your e-bike? Presumably you are able to charge it at work for the return journey?

gzoom

Am not sure which eBike the OP has, but mine will do about 3000ft of climbing which usually equates to about 60 miles of riding around where we live. Headwind and the cold will reduce that range alot though, 50 miles a day will need a big battery or recharging at work, or not using the battery for parts of the trip. 

[Deleted User]

gzoom said:

MrGorsky said:

 I guess I need the correct lights and clothing , I’ll see how that goes. 

Things are much better now with lights and clothing compared to 2010 when I was last commuting on my bike. I bought some 'cheap' LED lights off Amazon. Rated at 3000 lumens and even though it was only £20 its so much brighter than £80+ lights from 10 years ago.

As one cycle commuter to another, PLEASE PLEASE ensure that light is pointed down at the ground in front of your wheels no straight forward and maybe even add a taper to it. Those ludicrous Chinese specials dazzle other cyclists and also oncoming cars - both of which can cause accidents. Aside from the fact (and it is a fact) that it won't produce 3000 lumen, lumen is a terrible measure of light output (lux is a far better number for cyclists) and it's a shame it was adopted by the industry as it's lead to an "arms race" from manufacturers to make increasingly bright lights that serve no purpose even on unlit country lanes. I ride with a 1200 lumen and rarely have it on anything but the half setting - even when I was riding country roads in winter I only had it on max for the lanes.

MrGorsky

macman said:

What range do you get on your e-bike? Presumably you are able to charge it at work for the return journey?

I can charge it at work. I’ll get about 35 miles using the generous amount of assistance I use, 45 if I turn it down to bare minimum. 10 miles if I whack it up to max

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Ballard

I've decided to move from the train to the cycle for my commute (when I'm back in the office) and I'm really looking forward to it (as long as it's not in heavy rain). for me it's 14 miles each way which in traffic I expect to be about an hour and a quarter against maybe a 50-60 minute train journey. I'll also need to factor in the shower upon arrival so an hour and a half. On the plus point I'll get two workouts a day for free. The downside is traffic and evening entertainment. I go to the theatre a fair amount and wouldn't cycle home afterwards, partly because I don't want to leave my bike locked up in the street.

I've been building up my stamina over the past few weeks and can do 30 miles in one go on consecutive days fairly easy so I'm confident that I'm fit enough. I've had my bike 8 years now and will replace it with a newer, lighter model shortly (I'd have done so already but am due to move later this month and only currently have storage space for one bike).

MrGorsky

I’ve done around 5 days commuting in the bike over the last 2 weeks. Thoroughly enjoyable, got rained on once but ahead that was on the way home. Love the bike, and the commute. How can I work out how much I save per commute at 24 miles each way?

Johnmcl7

MrGorsky said:

I’ve done around 5 days commuting in the bike over the last 2 weeks. Thoroughly enjoyable, got rained on once but ahead that was on the way home. Love the bike, and the commute. How can I work out how much I save per commute at 24 miles each way?

In the short term I'd look at your fuel saving which you should have a good idea of how much you normally use and for me 250 miles would likely be over half a tank of petrol since that's not all going to be cruising at motorway speeds.

Longer term the bigger savings are likely to be with saving wear and tear on your car since maintaining parts on the bike is going to be far cheaper, if you manage regular trips on the bike you're going to save money from not having to replace tyres and brakes as often which are not cheap.  Also saving engine wear and tear is good especially if it's a diesel with many of the emissions systems not being cheap to clean out or replace.

It's great to hear you're already enjoying it which is the most important part and I think in this time of restrictions and lockdowns, I find it all the more necessary to get out on the bike and not think of it.

When talking about having suitable clothing and equipment for the conditions I was thinking back to this photo taken a few years ago:
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-Rk45WxM/0/O/i-Rk45WxM-O.jpg

This was taken at around half 11 at night in January in the middle of a dark and freezing forest but I was well equipped particularly with the monster fat bike and not just making it round but enjoying it as well.  I only started cycling to avoid shorter trips on the car as I had a diesel at the time and didn't take long to learn many of the emissions acronyms but now it's so much more than that and there's no way I'd ever think I'd be doing some of the stuff I ended up taking part in.

The same bike in the picture above is still on the go and spent the last couple of days getting it ready for use with the weather being very wet.  I've popped the new tyre on, replaced the front brake pads, tweaked the derailleurs, cleaned up and oiled the chain and now it's waiting on some new pedals and rear mudguard all of which I've been able to do myself since it's all generally quite easy to do with a lot of help online for it.  

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-dchbpnQ/0/X2/i-dchbpnQ-X2.jpg

[Deleted User]

MrGorsky said:

I’ve done around 5 days commuting in the bike over the last 2 weeks. Thoroughly enjoyable, got rained on once but ahead that was on the way home. Love the bike, and the commute. How can I work out how much I save per commute at 24 miles each way?

Simplest way is mileage, government allows 45p per mile for fuel/wear and tear etc for use of a personal vehicle. For me £5.40 a day saved, £1269 a year (5 days a week cycling, 47 weeks a year allowing for holiday). 3 1/2 years so far, all adds up!

For a 48 mile commute (that's a fair amount of cycling to be fair), £21.6 a day.

MrGorsky

For a 48 mile commute (that's a fair amount of cycling to be fair), £21.6 a day.

I am cheating slightly on an electrically assisted bike, but it really has been a life changer.

Herzlos

It's not really cheating, you're still doing a lot of work (and a 24-mile each way commute is a pretty serious trip on a non-assisted bike).

You're still easily saving enough in motoring costs to buy a pretty nice e-bike every year!