Here’s my damage in 14 months, 13k miles of riding:
Bike costs (4 of them, all used): $12,500 total, plus tax, license and registration. If I were to sell them all today, I’d get about $10,000 back. Used bikes are real bargains. It would have been much, much worse if I bought new.
Insurance: about $1,200/year for all 4 bikes.
Maintenance/repair/upgrade: $2,500. This includes a pair of new tires and some suspension component upgrades. I change oil myself, the rest go to the shops.
Gear: $3,300. (1 helmet, 2 leather jackets, 1 textile winter jacket, 1 mesh summer jacket, 2 pairs of overpants, 4 pairs of gloves, 2 pairs of boots, etc.)
Time: countless hours riding in the hills on Saturdays to physical exhaustion (too tired to ride on Sundays, plus my wife would kill me if I’m out all weekend), plus countless hours on Craigslist and daydreaming until my head hurts.
Right now I ride 6 days a week. I keep a turn-by-turn, street-by-street ride log on Excel, and if I took the time I could figure out exactly what % of that 13k miles was commute to work, and how much was weekend rides. Without actually adding them up I’d guess 40-50% of the 13k miles were “unnecessary” fun rides. Some times I feel guilty burning a full tank of gas just to ride in the hills for no reason other the fun of it.
When I’m on a bike, I feel that sense of freedom, and see the world differently. Driving now does feel like being in a cage.