The Borigin

Let's begin with the boring origin story - the borigin, if you will.

My name is Lukas and I have a problem: I'm a worrier.

I worry that we're not leaving our kids a sustainable world.  I worry that my dollar isn't going as far as it should (or used to).  I worry I won't be able to buy a house and will be forced to continue to pay rent to landlords who continue to increase the rent because they know renters can't afford to buy property and get out from under their thumbs.  I worry that I won't have enough money to keep me out of one of those retirement homes you see on TV that abuse the elderly.

I just... worry.

I'm also planning a pretty big move in a couple years.  The plan is to go to university and then start working somewhere (a unique story if there ever was one) and I have been poring over the financial requirements and budgeting that will hopefully get me to a place where Top Ramen isn't the ONLY option for food.

One of the ways I figured I would save money is to commute to school/work on a bike.

Bikes have a low buy-in, they're cheap to insure, cheap to maintain, and cheap to repair.

The problem with them is that I hate the idea of showing up to school/work a sweaty mess. Especially since so many places don't have showers handy.

"So get a cheap car," you might suggest.

And it's a decent suggestion at first.  Cheap cars have a cheap buy-in.  But they also have upkeep costs - oil changes, tire rotations, wiper fluid, car washes, etc.  And they have repair costs that can vary wildly in amounts that make budgeting for them TOUGH.  Not to mention the price of fuel.  And insurance.

Finances aside, you also have the hassle of actually driving them.  I don't particularly enjoy driving.  It feels like I can't see what's around me because I'm focused so much on the act of driving, watching the road, keeping an eye on the mirrors of the cars around me to catch when drivers are going to turn or change lanes, etc.  

Being a responsible driver is a pain.

So I figured I would get an e-bike and call it good.

I've spent enough time on motorcycles to not freak out too badly if I'm riding in the rain and I found out through riding Hondas that maintenance and repair on vehicles smaller and simpler than cars can be done by a guy like me who is unskilled in most things and definitely not what one would call "handy."

The issues I have with e-bikes are:

1) They're expensive and include most of the same costs that would be associated with cars - insurance, maintenance, repair, "fuel" by way of electricity, etc.  The associated costs are pretty low - certainly lower than a car's - but the buy-in feels pretty damn high, especially when you start comparing it to something more economical like a Honda Rebel or especially a Honda Grom.

The reason I don't go with something like the Grom - which is a fantastic motorcycle, by the way - is that I would be limited in where I could go and there would be no escaping the cars.  Places might have bike lanes - maybe even PROTECTED bike lanes, but if you're on a motorcycle, you stay on the road and I can tell you from personal experience that you can practice all you want, take all the courses, wear all the gear, and ride as safely as possible but when someone else decides to break the law on the road and hit you, you will lose that fight.  I was in a very close call when some ass decided to do the Forza outside-inside-outside method of taking a turn. A BLIND turn.  If I had left work for lunch two SECONDS earlier, I wouldn't be writing this right now.

So no, I don't trust cars and won't be returning to the world of motorcycles.

2) Data is tough to find.

On the surface, this feels like a safe decision.  Surely the cost of upkeep - even with a high buy-in - would quickly eclipse what a car would cost, right?  But the people you would think would be there to provide you data - namely YouTubers - seem to fall into two categories: a) people trying to sell you a bike or b) *shudder* influencers.  People who have multiple bikes and who are trying to become YouTube famous.

Since they have multiple bikes, their "data" is suspect.  It's certainly inconsistent.  

What data they provide, anyway.  In my brief time researching e-bikes, it always seems like the numbers they're interested in are mainly to do with the bike; braking distances, battery range, etc.  And it all changes based on the bike.  It's very good information to have, but I want more.  SO much more.  

So I thought I'd make this and document the thing that REALLY matters:

The MONEY.

And I'm just one guy who is looking to buy one bike and really milk all of the value out of it that I can.  I'm not looking to be internet famous but I really subscribe to the idea that if what you want isn't out there, you should make it because there's probably someone else looking for that same thing.

So here you go, presumably number-obsessed and almost certainly good-looking stranger.  I hope you enjoy all the data.

And, for funsies, I'll probably add comparisons of some sort to a car and a motorcycle.  I'll work on how to make the comparisons fair.

Because I have time.

So much time.

I wanted to get a head start on this in case I wanted to write posts about how I figured out which bike to buy because I haven't bought one yet.

I'm leaning toward a Canyon but I'm the kind of guy who gets lured in with words like "reliable," "durable," and "long-lasting" and there's a very expensive e-bike from Riese & Muller that looks pretty rad.

Not that it matters right now because I'm also in the process of saving up for the kids' departures to university as well as my own university adventure and that shit, as you probably know, is not cheap.  Certainly not cheap enough to be able to tell the family that, in an effort to save money over the LONG TERM, I'm going to go ahead and spend thousands on a BICYCLE.

Besides, I don't need one right now.  My commute to work is laughably long in a car but it would be IMPOSSIBLE on a bike so I have until this contract expires, the kids are off to college, and I make the move to university.

I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

In the meantime, if you have experience with e-bikes, if you have recommendations for a reliable, durable city/commuting e-bike, and especially if you've been keeping up with costs and data, I would love to know.

Also, I'll freely admit that I really like this Web 1.0-style blog, but recognize that there's some (SOME) benefit to social media so if you want to follow and talk about this nerdy stuff with me on Bluesky, you can find me at @ebikeeconomics.