End of year review thread

[willswitchengage]

 

1990 Corolla 1.3

 

'Daily' but mainly used on motorway trips and tinder dates where it would be it would be impractical to cycle, walk or get the train. 'Rainy day' car, owned now for two years problem free. Just ticked over 28k. £650 bargain.

 

Mileage: 3500

Average mpg: 45

Cost of fuel: £372

Servicing costs: £75 (MOT and oil service)

Carbon dioxides produced: 841 Kg

 

 

2003 Kawasaki ER5

 

Sold. Bought as a LOL and used to go on holiday across the alps this year, very good at breaking down and being expensive to service. Likes depositing iron oxide on the driveway.

 

Mileage: 3000

Average mpg: 65

Cost of fuel: £191

Servicing costs: £420 (MOT, front tyre, battery, rear wheel, oil service)

Carbon dioxides produced: 499 Kg

 

 

1988 2CV

 

Also bought as a LOL. Rust free and immaculate bodywork, tatty interior. Required a bit of engine work but it became winter when I'd finished so narely been used.

 

Mileage: about 200, probably the same on a recovery truck

Average mpg: 12

Cost of fuel: £No idea

Servicing costs: £LOL

Carbon dioxides produced: 'work in progress'

 

 

2005? Dawes Horizon Tour

 

Winter/pub bike. Mileage probably a lot higher, as that figure is from Strava and it doesn't include the numerous little rides I do on it daily to the shops, ladies' houses and stuff.

 

Mileage: 1300

Average mpg: 900

Cost of fuel: 0 but lots of food

Servicing costs: About £100 in second hand parts

Carbon dioxides produced: 15 Kg

 

 

2006 Litespeed Vortex

 

Racing bike / summer commuter. Pretty flawless right now. Been using Schwalbe Duranos so haven't even had to get new tyres for it.

 

Mileage: 4950

Average mpg: 1100

Cost of fuel: 0

Servicing costs: About £1500 in new/second hand parts (I built this bike from a new frame but an old groupset and wheels, and other random parts. It has obviously used a lot of consumables this year too!)

Carbon dioxides produced: 49 Kg

 

 

2003 Cannondale T800

 

Barely used. Just bought. Plan on doing a big tour next year so got this for a steal on ebay for £380.

 

Basically we have to take leave over Christmas and I'm REALLY bored so fancied some maths.

 

Balancing equations, 1Kg of C8H18 (petrol average molecular size) created 3.09 Kg of CO2 when combusted with oxygen.

The density of petrol is ~0.74 Kg/l, so 1 l of petrol burnt equates to 2.286 Kg of CO2 produced. That's how I calculated my CO2 figures as there is a linear relationship between the two.

 

For cycling, I basically went on Strava which 'estimates' the calorific burn of a bike ride. This estimates that 1 mile of travel requires 32 KJ of energy is consumed on my fast bike and slightly more on the slower bike. I then compared this with the calorific content of petrol to get an estimate of how much I'd have consumed were I a little engine instead. Obviously the burn of petrol and carbohydrate is different so the CO2 figures are wrong, but are the right order of magnitude anyway. And all of this is less than a return flight to New York.

 

Feel free to obvs post your own

[stripped fred]

Enjoyed reading about your varied fleet. I like maths too. Makes me feel like I should get my bike out the shed and put some miles on it though!

[John F]

You'd probably get better mpg from the bike if you moved the cat.