About 4 years ago, I wasn’t fully convinced whether I should buy a good but more expensive bike. Now, I can back that decision with data on why it was a good investment and how it beats the stock market. I will break it down in parts: how I use it, how much it costs, and collateral benefits. I may follow up this post with some basic maintenance tips.

You can skip the background story, if you only care about the essence of this post. I have listed the important “lessons learnt” in following sections . The background story only mentions my path towards buying a good bike. The reasons why someone else may do it, will differ. The only reason I list them here, is that this is a personal blog and I would like to have my story written so I can read it again after some years, before I forget the details.

How I use the bike

I go almost everywhere by bike (unless I walk). Specifically:

Commuting . Going to work is ~5 km. I make it in about 15 – 18 minutes each way. Going by public transport is about 30 minutes each way. That means that, each month, I cover about 200 km and save about 8 – 10 hours of commuting.

. Going to work is ~5 km. I make it in about 15 – 18 minutes each way. Going by public transport is about 30 minutes each way. That means that, each month, I cover about 200 km and save about 8 – 10 hours of commuting. Excursions . This was applicable in spring/summer which adds about 1000 km per year due to a couple of trips.

. This was applicable in spring/summer which adds about 1000 km per year due to a couple of trips. Other. I may have to run some errands, go somewhere due to a hobby (mostly chess)/visit friends/go out/etc. They usually add up to another 100 km per month.

I use a bike no matter the weather. I always wear helmet and always have a backpack with waterproof clothes in case it rains. Then:

Warm weather without rain. Fingerless gloves.

Fingerless gloves. Rain . I am covered everywhere by something waterpoof: jacket, pants, overshoes, helmet cap, gloves, cover for the backpack. In the backpack, I also put a spare set of clothes in case I somehow get wet (almost never happens) or too sweaty (more frequent). I also keep a second set of clothes in the office in case I forget to renew my clothes supply.

It important to note here that all surfaces have to be covered, otherwise they get wet. That does not only apply to our body, but also to our shoes or head.

. I am covered everywhere by something waterpoof: jacket, pants, overshoes, helmet cap, gloves, cover for the backpack. In the backpack, I also put a spare set of clothes in case I somehow get wet (almost never happens) or too sweaty (more frequent). I also keep a second set of clothes in the office in case I forget to renew my clothes supply. It important to note here that all surfaces have to be covered, otherwise they get wet. That does not only apply to our body, but also to our shoes or head. Cold weather . Winter gloves. A long piece of cloth that covers my neck, ears and part of my face.

. Winter gloves. A long piece of cloth that covers my neck, ears and part of my face. Snow . See cold weather + rain. I also wear ski goggles. It looks funny but it is very effective. Otherwise because the snow falls slowly, it goes in my eyes and I cannot see very clearly. Plus, it covers another part of my face, so I don’t feel cold.

. See cold weather + rain. I also wear ski goggles. It looks funny but it is very effective. Otherwise because the snow falls slowly, it goes in my eyes and I cannot see very clearly. Plus, it covers another part of my face, so I don’t feel cold. Haze. Same as snow.

How much I saved

This is going to be a direct comparison with the money saved by not taking the public transportation. I calculate the yearly ticket for public transportation as 782 francs per year. After 4 years, I have saved about 3000 francs.

How much I earned

Someone could argue there are also benefits that cannot be quantified. Some of them also result in cost savings, but that’s not what is important. At the end of the day, those benefits make you happier.

It is also proven through research, that exercise boosts our happiness levels. My experience agrees with that. When I had to take the bus/train/tram I was feeling that something is wrong and was missing from my everyday life. I remember vividly that when I had a dislocated shoulder and I couldn’t use my bike for about 1 month, I wasn’t feeling that happy (and it wasn’t just because of the dislocated shoulder).

Biking also has given me the opportunity to participate to some social activities (well, bike with friends) or meet new people that I wouldn’t have otherwise.

How much it cost

I keep a spreadsheet with all the costs since I bought the bike. There, I include everything related to the bike, including:

accessories (example: bike lights, batteries)

clothes (example: waterproof clothes, bike shoes)

spare or upgraded parts (example: chains, tires, cogs, brakes, lube, grease, cranksets)

tools (example: bike stand, bike toolset, chain wear indicator, pump)

service (2 times before I start doing it myself)

The bike cost 1500 francs. The cost of accessories/clothes/spare parts/tools (including a bike stand)/service (2 times before I start doing it myself) amounts so far to another 1500 francs.

Buying a bike is a good investment

After four years, I have replaced almost all moving parts with new ones (everything that touches the chain has been replaced), and upgraded some of them (rear brake, chainrings). I have also collected tools, clothes and accessories. I believe all of those together are at least worth the initial price of the bike. I could even argue it is worth even more since just today I replaced the chain and the jokey wheels and it feels like new. Nevertheless, this is beyond the point.

I have broken even on the cost of bike and its extras. To simplify things, let’s cross out a few terms. We assume that the expenses on the bike (see above) negate the expenses on public transportation. They also cover the cost of the bike. So let’s also cross that out. Let’s assume that the value of the bike when I bought it is the same as now (due to replacement/upgrade of parts + all the tools/clothes/accessories I have collected).

In short, 4 years ago, I put a amount of money into something, spent another a, and got back 3a (the money I saved from the transportation tickets = 2a + bike itself is another a).

Solving the equation:

2 * a * (1 + x)**4 = 3a

We find that this corresponds to a compound interest rate of about 10% per year during these four years. That beats by a great margin the stock market (7%) or bond market (5%) and it is a much safer investment (depending on your home location).

Unfortunately, this extrapolation is kind of misleading since the cost savings of a bike are of linear nature in reality. That should not, though, retract from the point of this section, that from a purely financial point of view, it makes sense to invest money in buying a good bike.

Appendix

Background story

Buying cheap bikes

When I moved to Switzerland, after a few months, I bought my first second hand bike. It cost around 100 francs. It survived for a few months. When something broke down, I learnt that asking for repair would cost about 50 francs. I decided to buy a second second-hand bike instead, and use the first one as spare parts. That didn’t really happen, since the second bike was quite different and the parts didn’t match. Neither did I have the tools or knowledge to do that. So I bought a third, and eventually a fourth one after the third one was stolen. Despite having bought 4 bikes within 2 years, it was still cheaper than a yearly pass for the public transport (around 500 – 600 francs per year for people under 25 years old). Biking for two years daily was with no signs of slow down was enough to convince myself that this is something I really like.

Buying a good bike

A couple of months after graduation, I started working. There, I met a co-worker who was interested in buying a good bike. He started asking around what kind of bike would fit his needs. His needs were very close to mine. Some of those were:

Convenient for commuting.

Fast on a road.

Can go off road (mountains, gravel, etc).

Can cover large distances.

Not very heavy.

Good brakes.

That’s how I learnt about cyclocross bikes. There are in-between road and mountain bikes.

Back then, I knew nothing about bikes and I was too lazy to research it. Reading without trying it through experience was not feeling very compelling to me. So, to bootstrap my entrance to the higher-end world of bikes, I decided to trust my co-worker and buy exactly the same bike.

The decision was not easy. The cost was a multiple of the cost of the yearly pass for public transport. I remember when I was a kid, I could not understand why someone would buy an expensive bicycle when with the same amount of money they could buy a motorbike.

On the other hand, I knew that I would not have to buy a new bike for a long time, I would enjoy the better bike more, and also, buying a better bike gives you a good excuse of buying good replacement parts. Later on, I also learnt how to maintain the bike myself.

On servicing the bike

I knew almost nothing about how to service a bike. I learnt most of the things through youtube. I highly recommend the gcn youtube channel. Usually, I search for gcn + bike part I want to service.

The other important aspect of servicing a bike yourself is having the necessary parts and tools at hand. Usually, I am able to work on the bike on weekends only and ordering some parts may take a week for their delivery. It is useful to have some tools already at hand (I find useful to have a bike tool set), emergency supplies (inner tube), and anticipate needs before the next time you need to service your bike. This is not as hard as it sounds since most things on a bike can wait for a week (tires, chain, cogs, brakes, etc). For some things, I know I am going to use them regularly, so I just keep a stock of them (lube, screws, ferrules, grease, kitchen roll, …).

There are also great communities online that help people who work on their bikes. My personal favourite is r/bikewrench.

If you are not into fixing things manually, give it a try. It is fun, and makes you appreciate the elegance and simplicity of the design of a bike. With so few moving parts, it achieves great flexibility. I wish one day I will be able to design my code as elegantly, as a bike is designed.