When asked just the other day, I told my co-worker that my bike had paid for itself just in the cost of bus passes I did not buy during the year I bike commuted. I let her do the math - around here a bus pass is about $70/month, so a year's worth is just over $800. (That's actually more than I paid, but I didn't see fit to mention that.) She looked totally shocked, until I reminded her that she had just proudly announced that she had bought a designer handbag on sale for $400! So what's a better use of the money.... a purse that will be out of fashion in six months, or a bike that I've gotten a thousand commuter miles on and years of use out of?

I also have gotten "you paid that much for a TOY?" to which I respond, "It's no more a toy to me than your car is to you."