The (Low) Cost of Bike Ownership
In 2011 I got a bright green Strida bike for my birthday from my parents. The Strida is a folding bike, designed in the UK. My friend Dan Thompson suggested it. In the picture, it's the one on the right. I've been riding this bike, year-round, since then (I live in Ottawa, so I cycle in the snow). I named her Stacey Pilgrim, and she's finally died, so I got a new strida (the yellow one on the left, named Knives Chau). I had Stacey Pilgrim for six and a half years. But now she's totaled, and I'll save her to harvest parts from when Knives Chau needs them. I've been collecting receipts for bike supplies and repairs since, so I can roughly calculate how much it costs to own a bike. Over this period, including the cost of the bike, I spent about $4066. Divided by 6.5, that means that bike ownership, for me, costs about $625 per year. I started biking seriously at about the same time as we got rid of our car. So what I'm interested in, primarily, is
