To Bike Or Not?

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Story Published: May 12, 2008 at 5:50 PM MST

Story Updated: Nov 20, 2008 at 7:44 PM MST

By Kris Keach

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If you've been to the pump recently you've seen the prices.
Nearly four dollars a gallon won't get you very far .

Richard Napier: "There's a lot of people and they fill up and it's anywhere from 40 to 80 dollars for a fill up."

At bike shops they're seeing an increased demand for commuter bikes.

Brandon Fell: "One to go back and forth to work they just want a bicycle. That isn't very fancy to go of road. But something that's gonna help them save on gas."

But how many weeks worth of gas does it cost pay for a one?

Ron Boldue: "Four weeks will get you a 200 dollar bike that'd make a great commuter bike and that's...yeah that's four weeks worth of gas."

Richard Napier: "You might be able to pay it off in one to two months that way."

Brandon Fell: "If you think of gas right now at almost four dollars a gallon it should pay for itself pretty quickly."

Bike repair shops say they've also seen as much as a 10 percent increase in repair work over last year.

Ron Boldue: "I think we've been about two weeks out on our repairs. So a lot more repairs than we've seen before."

Brandon Fell: "They're taking their old bicycles riding back and forth to work to help out with the high gas prices."

A figure experts say will only rise with the cost of gas.
And one local thrift store says they see 10 people a week looking for a commuter bike.

Lauri Page: "They're raising the gas prices and if they're close enough to ride a bike to work that's what they're gonna choose to do."

So if you want to save your money and your health, then biking to work may be for you.

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