How many ride 6 or 7 days a week?

[PeterW]

7 day rider here, all year as well, we really don't have 'winter' or at least weather that's too cold to ride in.

The bike is cheaper than my wife's car - roughly the same purchase costs, she pays more for maintenance and fuel, I pay more for tyres. Not an expensive bike though and notoriously low maintenance (DL 650).

When I compare it with a car or public transport , even better - no parking costs for the bike and public transport here is both expensive and inconvenient. If I factored in how much a couple of hours a day are worth to me, public transport isn't even in the contest :). Break even on the bike worked out at ~3years when I calculated it a few years ago, it's probably less now. (Bike cost is roughly the same, but fuel, transport and parking costs have increased).

My wife has a 6km each way commute, now that our kids have left home we picked up a scoot for her, even with the extra registration and insurance that looks like it'll pay off as well. (The main reason for the scoot wasn't cost, but the relative lack of parking hassles for her if she goes shopping over lunch or on the way home for work).

Pete

[GrendelMk1]

I didn't read the entire thread (ducks), but 7-day rider signing in.

I don't own a car/truck/unicycle/Unimog. I've got 1 (one) bike, an F650GS with Heidenau K60s on it. For giggles, I'm Canadian. Ok, I cheat, I live in Vancouver, so the snow isn't obscene. I missed 5 commuting days due to bad melt/refreeze conditions after snowfalls this year.

I've never mathed the comparison to, say, a late '90s Jeep (fuck no I don't want a car, I bought a GS because I go off pavement!) but I did figure out that my fuel+insurance+basic consumables (tires, oil/filter, chains, etc) is cheaper than using a bus pass. And there's never been a bus pass that makes me grin so hard it hurts ;)

I just did the 10k service today, and I bought the thing on sept 02 last year. Considering that my round trip commute is 16 km/day, I guess I did some recreational riding :P I got some real looks at work when I mentioned a Squamish run in December for, oh, 450 km on a fine, 3 degrees C saturday :P

Clothes and tires. Get those right, and hot damn!

[DAKEZ]

Originally Posted by 390beretta

My question is really: How do you who ride your bikes daily, perhaps not just commuting, but as a primary means of transportation feel about that?

I ride every day. How do I feel bout it? RIDE RIDE RIDE!!!

[Cowgirl]

I ride most days April through November, less in winter. Having said that I did manage to put almost 6000km on the 2 bikes this winter.

[damurph]

I don't own a car and ride year round but i use a KLR as my winter bike. Milk crate size and Wolfman tankbag keeps the grocery bill down but never have to worry about meat spoilage. It is a little easier with the milder climate here in Newfoundland.

[Benjava]

I've done a heck of a lot of driving. Used to average about 50k a year. Always enjoyed it. But I havn't owned a four wheel vehicle in ten years now. I drove my wifes car everyday for a week a few years ago when she was out of town. It sucked. I couldn't believe how glad I was to get back on two wheels after just a week.

[dbuzz]

I have 2 bikes and a car ... whenever possible I take the bikes. The car does get used for extra big grocery runs or trips to the hardware store etc for bulky things.
I work 7 shifts per fortnight and it's an 80k trip each way. I almost always take one of the bikes unless the weather is particularly foul eg heavy rain that aint gunna clear up anytime soon. I am not a wuss about the weather but sometimes I figure discretion is the better part of valor I do have to arrive and appear reasonably professional at my workplace but I don't like the car and spend the whole trip wishing I was on the bike.
I ride most days but sometimes I do have to do the housework

[Dave2]

Ride/communte every day. Run errands on the KLR after work and on weekends.
New job in D.C. so I've spent more days in the car until I can adjust to commuter traffic on I95 into and out of D.C.

[markk9]

I'm a 365 day rider, unless there is snow or ice on the road.

[RxZ]

We bought my wife a new car about 2 months ago, and in preparation of that I sold my car because we did not want to have two car payments. Theory was I would find a cheap used car for me to drive. Well, it has been almost 3 months now since I sold my car, and I have not bought a replacement yet. My wife is getting antsy though, so I will have to find something pretty soon. That said, for the past 3 months I have ridden to work every day except for one week when it was raining hard everyday, and one day when I had a weird allergic reaction in my eye My wife took me to work that day since I could hardly keep my eye open. It is about 36 miles round trip.

Having three kids though, I almost never ride on weekends, so pretty much the only riding I to is the commute, and that is fine with me! Family is much more important that a couple of hours of joy riding I have been looking at my local craigslist for a used car though. Just haven't seen anything that I want to buy yet. I better hurry though, around here it is easier to ride in the winter than the summer, and summer is knocking on our door! So long as the temp is around 80 in the morning I will ride. Last summer it was around 85 every morning at 7:30, and I was drenched in sweat when I got to work. Co-workers didn't appreciate that, so I took the car most of the time.

[westerlywinds]

I ride my KLR 250 to work nearly every day . in El paso it seldom snows. I have about 18 miles one way to work. I dont get out for fun enough.Damn Responsibilities.Most of my life I rode BMW R bikes and for years my permanant address was BMW motorcycle.I"ve ridden all year In colorado except when I had a Kawasaki H1 triple it would spin out before moving. One trip was leaving Divide Colo.( 9000 ft.) DEC 22 heading for Christmas in Media PA. near Philadelphia.I could stay comfortable to about 30degrees.and ride without frostbite below that.I first got on a motorcycle at 14 in1962.

[shaddix]

I ride at least 6 days out of the week. I try not to ride in the rain because I don't have ABS, I have no aversion to bad weather though myself.

I don't find it very convenient at all, it's pretty bad. I went to grocery store just a few minutes ago to get some milk.
Cage:
1)get in car (20 seconds)
2)drive to store (5 mins)
3)buy milk (5 mins)
4)get in car (20 seconds)
5)drive home (5 mins)
15 minutes and 40 seconds

bike
1)put on ATGATT (5 minutes, gloves boots overpants helmet earplugs jacket backpack)
2)check tire pressure and oil (2 minutes)
3)get on bike (20 seconds)
4)ride to store (6 mins)
5)take off helmet, gloves, earplugs(1 minute)
6)buy milk (5 minutes)
7)put on helmet, gloves, earplugs(1 minute)
8)get on bike (20 seconds)
9)ride home(6 minutes)
10)take off gear (4 minutes)
30 minutes and 40 seconds

takes twice as long for short trips. sucks, in fact I am going to stop using the bike for short trips after looking at these numbers. I actually had no idea it was taking so much extra time, ugh.....

[Thanantos]

I ride about 6 days a week. We have a busy 3 driver family and only 2 cars so some of this is out of necessity, but I am happy to suffer through by taking the bike everywhere I go

[DAKEZ]

Originally Posted by shaddix

bike
1)put on ATGATT (5 minutes, gloves boots overpants helmet earplugs jacket backpack)
2)check tire pressure and oil (2 minutes)
3)get on bike (20 seconds)
4)ride to store (6 mins)
5)take off helmet, gloves, earplugs(1 minute)
6)buy milk (5 minutes)
7)put on helmet, gloves, earplugs(1 minute)
8)get on bike (20 seconds)
9)ride home(6 minutes)
10)take off gear (4 minutes)
30 minutes and 40 seconds
.....

Do your friends call you "Slug" perhaps?

Could you move any slower?

[shaddix]

Originally Posted by DAKEZ

Do your friends call you "Slug" perhaps?

Could you move any slower?

I don't know man lol. I would love to find somewhere to save time... I was looking at some of those tire pressure monitoring caps but they apparently aren't very accurate. If I had some of those molded earplugs that would work better, but I think the yellow foam are just as good and I can afford to lose them. I see no possible way to decrease time equipping pants jacket gloves and helmet. I could get some different boots, I wear mx boots everywhere, I would hate to lose some protection going to some zip up touring type boots.....

The ride itself can't be made any faster. So it comes down to less gear or buy gadgets to check tire pressure for me which aren't too accurate..... hmmm