Commuting by motorbike

darich

Just picked up my first bike today for commuting.

Costs were/are as follows.
CBT - £115 - not a "test" as such but you do still require to reach a competent standard.
Boots - Nitro proper motorcycle boots - £40
trousers - armour in knee and hips. Cordura - £55
Jacket - armour in elbows, shoulders, back. Cordura - £55.
Gloves - Buffalo motorcycle gloves - £30
Helmet - Aldi special deal - £30.

Bought bike last week and picked it up today.
Honda CBF 125 from Honda dealer in Glasgow. 59 plate, 1 owner, 4000miles. £1795 (bought on a 0% credit card ).

Bike has used hardly any fuel on the 25mile journey home.
Motorcycle news tested the bike and got 87mpg.
Daily Telegraph journalist got 117mpg but stated that most riders could clear 120mpg.
Honda claim 134mpg.

Tax is £15 per year.
Insurance for me (CBT in January 2011, no previous bike experience but 20years claim free in car) - £130, Fully comp.

I fully expect that using the bike 4days a week will reduce my fuel bill by something like £80 permonth, and effectively the bike will pay for itself.

Derivative

Forgot to mention - make sure you have a budget for maintenance, i.e keep at least a few hundred quid safe in case something does go wrong.

Little 125's, especially a new / hardly used one, are cheap and easy to maintain (can be mostly done yourself with a Haynes and a night spent playing), but they do need it. The bike MOT isn't really up to scratch IMO - remember if something goes wrong on a bike you're probably going down the road.

malnik

Have a look at yamaha new bikes and scooters...at the moment they are doing free insurance for a year. The ones i saw were all around £1500 to £1600 for a new bike style 125. May even be able to do a deal?
I'm not buying one...just lamenting the past....... But be careful. I did what you did. But only wanted to go 4 miles to the station so got a Chinese 50cc. Had it deristricted and it went fine for a year...but i got the bike bug. Wanted to go faster. 100cc 2 stroke, went like a rocket. So i started going to a further away station as it was fun. 6 months later......faster please!!!! 125 Peugeot fuel injected....wow. Now capable of 70mph! 6 months later......i'm riding all the way to work due to the fun factor, want a bigger one!!! 250 Piaggio X9...... And on it went.....
Its very addictive..... My becareful reffered not to your health....but to your wallet!!!

Lizling

malnik wrote: »

Have a look at yamaha new bikes and scooters...at the moment they are doing free insurance for a year. The ones i saw were all around £1500 to £1600 for a new bike style 125.

That sounds perfect.:j I've look into that.

malnik wrote: »

6 months later......i'm riding all the way to work due to the fun factor, want a bigger one!!! 250 Piaggio X9...... And on it went.....
Its very addictive..... My becareful reffered not to your health....but to your wallet!!!

I'm expecting that. :rotfl:I've already got a big bike in mind for one day, when I've got a full licence and more money in the bank! One thing at a time though - wouldn't want to shell out for the DAS course and then decide I don't like it after all.

darich wrote:

Boots - Nitro proper motorcycle boots - £40

Where did you find boots at that price? I've only seen them that cheap on eBay and I'd rather not buy online because for boots I want to try them on first.

Derivative

Lizling wrote: »

Where did you find boots at that price? I've only seen them that cheap on eBay and I'd rather not buy online because for boots I want to try them on first.

What you could do is go down Hein Gericke or similar, try some boots on, and then buy them off eBay in the same size.

Perhaps a bit cheeky, but they charge enough to justify it.

Otherwise, keep in mind with boots it's less important to get a specific 'motorcycle' boot - anything that holds your feet together well and isn't dangerous (no steel toe caps) is generally good enough. Proper army surplus boots can do the job and often match kit anyway if you're worried about fashion.

http://armyshop.co.nz/images/stories/british_boots_used.jpg
http://shop.tacticalthings.com/images/Patrol-Boots.jpg

It's unlikely you end up dragging along the floor abrading the boots, the main aim is to keep your foot from flexing too much on impact.

darich

Lizling wrote: »

Where did you find boots at that price? I've only seen them that cheap on eBay and I'd rather not buy online because for boots I want to try them on first.

I got them from Ebay
Check out seller mtw.dirct on ebay for boots...it's where I got mine.
Boot fitting is very similar to shoes - no need for adjustment because they're bike boots. Easy enough to return for another pair if they don't fit.

Lizling

So, so far, we’ve got

£1500 for the bike still seems about right. Could get one for less but I’d end up paying more for maintenance.

£15 tax

Between about £130 and about £400ish for insurance :rotfl:

£90 CBT (£140 is I don’t pass 1st time)

£270 fuel (Assuming 90mpg, 3700 miles of commuting per year, and average prices of £1.45/litre)

£40-100 for boots. Going to try a few on in the shops, then hit eBay. Army surplus ones, DMs etc don’t fit me at all so probably not going to have much choice.

£200-£300 set aside for repairs and possibly MOT

Total is around the £2500 mark. Not bad!

no_more_cards_for_me

Lizling wrote: »

and average prices of £1.45/litre

Do you know something we don't ?

Can't be long til £1.40 per litre I know.

darich

Lizling wrote: »

£40-100 for boots. Going to try a few on in the shops, then hit eBay. Army surplus ones, DMs etc don’t fit me at all so probably not going to have much choice.

Just in case you didn't know......
Steel toe caps are not allowed on a bike for CBT. If you show up with them on the day you'll probably be told to change your shoes.

liam8282

I thought you could only ride a 50cc if you only have your CBT?