Budget and Finances

Organizing bike trips takes a dash of magic, a little bit of hard work, and at least some money.  Whether you’re planning to stay in hotels and eat in restaurants and be a credit card tourer or you’re a freegan who tries not to engage in monetary transactions, you will probably need to think about what kinds of financial resources you need for your tour.  If you’re organizing a hub for the Road to Detroit, we’ve created a sample budget for this tour that you can view here.

Additionally, the Spoke N’ Heart Collective has created a list of some of the costs that are often involved in bike tours, and what those costs cover.

• Bikes: $50.00-$500.00 – You could obviously spend MUCH more than $500 on a bike, but you can get a bike that is perfectly fine for bike touring for around $500. Choosing a bike for touring can be difficult – if you need support you can check out some resources online (click here to read a helpful article) or google “how to choose a touring bicycle”.
  
• Bike equipment- $50.00-$400.00- This includes buying a rack, panniers, biking clothes, etc.

• Maintenance and Repair: $20- $50 – This includes before leaving and on the road repairs and parts – we’ve found that there are almost always last minute repairs and new parts that need to be made, so we usually budget for each person to need to make some purchases or pay for complicated repairs on the road.
  

• Medical – First aid kit-$100.00
• Food on the road – $10-20/person/day
• Equipment
  • Kitchen supplies 0- $400.00

  • GPS unit $0.00-$150.00

  • Propane or stove gas $50.00-$100.00
• Liabilityl Insurance $130.00

• Campsites- $40-60/day
• Emergency Hotels- $150.00-$250.00
• Emergency Vehicle (taxis, u-hauls, bus fare, etc… )- $150.00-$200.00
• Support Vehicle gas and maintenance – $10 per day