I bought a bike
Using that instead of the car has saved me at least £600 purely on petrol money in the last couple of years. Unfortunately, most of those savings have now gone on a new, better, bike. This may be a false economy.
( MatJ LOOK, Fri 11 Nov 2011, 13:04, 7 replies)

It has probably
also caused you to wear spandex.

There are no winners here.
(username failed moderation, Fri 11 Nov 2011, 13:10, closed)

No
No, it has not. I do not have the figure for spandex.
( MatJ LOOK, Fri 11 Nov 2011, 15:24, closed)

Just done the same
I bought a bike to save on travel costs. My annual travelcard for train, tube and buses for six zones costs about £2000. A season ticket for the trains costs about £1600 so I save £400 per year by switching.

I spent twice that on a Brompton.
(BearWithLittleBrain, Fri 11 Nov 2011, 13:48, closed)

A bit tricky
To get the wife, 2 kids and a weeks groceries on it though eh?
(Greencloud Wanted to go fishing on, Fri 11 Nov 2011, 13:48, closed)

I refused for years to have a driving license, preferring my bike.
Even went on holiday on my bike. Sadly all good things must come to an end and was recently told by my Doctor that I am now no longer well enough to ride a bike. How to turn that frown upside down?

Buy another Bike! This one has an engine, costs less than a car to run. Goes way to fast to be safe, but is super duper fun. I miss being able to turn a pedal, crank it hard to the top of a steep hill or just spin like fuck back down hill again. Riding bicycles is a gift from the Gods, I love them. I am envious of you and your new bicycle good sir. May you have many fabulous miles together.
( Rev. Jayneflakes Buy my book, I need the cash for drugs and hookers, Fri 11 Nov 2011, 14:31, closed)

I used to cycle everywhere
Now my work hours and commute distance aren't really all that conducive to cycling anymore, but boy do I miss it. Its a hell of a relaxing way to get to work in the morning (or at least my commute was as it meant I could avoid most of the traffic heavy routes and instead cycle through the countryside on quiet country lanes).

But most importantly to this QOTW driving is Really Fucking Expensive both in terms of money and time. £60 to fill a tank of petrol, minimum of £3 for a park and ride ticket every day (and an extra 20 minutes on the bus to get to the city centre) or £8 upwards for an all day city centre parking space. Not to mention VED, insurance, time or money spent valeting the thing and then when something goes wrong you either need to fix it yourself (cheaper) or get someone else to do it (usually ridiculously expensive) and every few years someone will try to pressurise you into feeling bad for having an "old" car and encourage you to spend a near fortune on a "new" one.

The bike is relatively cheap to buy and maintain, you don't need to spend a fortune and a decent one will cost a fraction of a car, no VED, insurance is negligible (CTC do annual cover for about £30), and most repairs are easy to do at home - if not getting the shop to do them is almost as cheap. There is always the N+1 desire however. Oh, and shopping? A bike can carry more than you think. If you're posh Waitrose loan out Bike trailers for free or you can buy your own for about the cost of a month of petrol, or a decent set of panniers will fit most everything in.

On my old commute I could get door to door in the same time on my bike as I could in the car, didn't arrive sweaty and I didn't wear spandex. I arrived refreshed and perky, saved a shit ton of money and didn't get all stressed sitting in traffic jams.

Now I get to work feeling lethargic, still not sweaty or wearing spandex but pissed off from sitting in nose to tail traffic caused by all the other motorists as fed up with the situation as I am.

Why do we do this to ourselves?
(Captain Skippy pooed in a bag and left it on your doorstep, Fri 11 Nov 2011, 18:41, closed)

I live in Edinburgh
I have said before on here that I will bet any amount of money that I can get from the outskirts to the centre during rush hour faster than any other form of transport. Unfortunately, I have a very competitive mindset, and I don't really have any slower speeds than maximum.

As for panniers, I don't have any on the new bike at the moment (I do have some, but they recently suffered an accident that left the fastenings bent, and they wouldn't fit on anyway) but you can get an awful lot into them.

I'm hoping to get some fairly serious training done over winter, and go over the alps next summer - the only catch is that I think I'll need to spend a fair while on the exercise bike in the gym, which I swore I would never do. The icy roads just make it too dodgy though.
( MatJ LOOK, Sat 12 Nov 2011, 0:24, closed)