Will a motorcycle save me money.

Bravo470

Looking for some advice -At the moment I cycle to work and only own the one car.(Which the wife uses to get to work)I have the chance to furthur the old careear but this means moving to a place of work 15 miles away(too far to cycle daily) I am considering doing a DAS course and buying a motorcycle as a means to commute.i do not want another car as they are just cash cows I would hope that a bike should prove cheaper and have the option of getting to work quicker(no standing in traffic and be easyer to park-
Problem is I have a mental hangup about geting a bike due to my mother (who is a casualty nurse) scaring me to death with motorcycle accident stories which all revolve around death and wheelchairs.
I am not wanting to jump onto a sportsbike and I am in the 35 + bracket.
Any thoughts -oh and could anyone suggest a suatable bike if I do make the leap.

Keith

I do a longer commute, 35 miles each way. So my costs would be a little different to yours, however, I keep track of the cost of running my bike, this is everything that has been fixed/replaced covering 11,000 miles since last October. Fuel & Insurance and final cost savings are estimates to up to October 07.

Cost of Bike. £3,800
Charger & Battery £58
New Chain & Sprockets £210
Insurance £550
Fuel £1,410
Rear tyre £172
New Tyres £250
Max Servicing £500
Cost of Running = £3,150
Est Value of bike in Oct 2007 £2,500
Cost of bike + Cost of running - Residual £4,450
Season Ticket + Parking + drink/paper £5,051
Saving over train £601.

For a 15 mile commute you have a lot of choice, my first bike I picked up an R6 off eBay for £1800 and rode it for 20,000 miles, fantastic fun and cheap to insure too!

Jamz

go for it u will save a fortune

Bravo, don;t go for the das yet, if you want to keep it cheap as possible do your CBT which will let you ride a 125cc motorbike, so keeping things very cheap

Markyt

go for it u will save a fortune

As above - for a 15 mile commute you don't need anything big or expensive. Do your CBT, learn to ride on something cheap, then get something thats a bit of fun.

rdwarr

go for it u will save a fortune

I used to do 25 miles each way on a Honda 90! Easy to ride, cheap to insure and 150mpg. Even though the bike was knackered after a couple of years I saved thousands over a car.

HelzBelz

go for it u will save a fortune

Keith wrote: »

I do a longer commute, 35 miles each way. So my costs would be a little different to yours, however, I keep track of the cost of running my bike, this is everything that has been fixed/replaced covering 11,000 miles since last October. Fuel & Insurance and final cost savings are estimates to up to October 07.

Cost of Bike. £3,800
Charger & Battery £58
New Chain & Sprockets £210
Insurance £550
Fuel £1,410
Rear tyre £172
New Tyres £250
Max Servicing £500
Cost of Running = £3,150
Est Value of bike in Oct 2007 £2,500
Cost of bike + Cost of running - Residual £4,450
Season Ticket + Parking + drink/paper £5,051
Saving over train £601.

For a 15 mile commute you have a lot of choice, my first bike I picked up an R6 off eBay for £1800 and rode it for 20,000 miles, fantastic fun and cheap to insure too!

How old are you and what are you riding? that insurance seems high, hubby just got insurance for a 750cc Ducati with legal cover and breakdown for £300

mjr600

dont be daft its not safe

I commuted daily on large and small cc bikes for years, I was a little younger and had only just started a family. I often arrived at work and then later at home with a massive dump of adrenaline in my system, the close shaves and heart in the mouth moments came more often than regular high speed weekend blasts in the Dales thanks to inconsiderate car drivers.

During the last ten years almost all my friends have had collisions on bikes, only one occasion was the riders fault the rest were other motorists, most were whilst commuting or riding in traffic.

Buy a bike to enjoy yourself on your days off, stick to a cheap car to commute, it's safer.

flybynight

go for it u will save a fortune

i use my mz skorpion to commute to work and have biked to and from work for about 8 years, before that i did a bit of motorbike couriering, for 15 miles each way i would only go for a 125 and CBT then after a yr or so of getting experience book yourself a 1 hr lesson ( to polish up a bit) and then take your bike test on your own bike. if you are not going to use it to play on at weekends it only needs to be a reliable 125, and you can pikc up elderly honda cg125s that will run forever very cheap.

zebidee1

My OH passed all his driving tests in the Army years ago (car/bike/HGV etc etc) and hasn't ridden since (10+ years).

He's in the 35+ age bracket too and recently decided to buy a motorbike to commute to work - 25 miles each way as he felt it would be more economical than using the car.

Obviously bikes have moved on a lot over the years and he was pretty much as green as they come now so he got a lot of advice from as many people as possible before buying. Both from dealers and riders.

The most recommended bike was the Honda CBR600F. He was told from many sources that this was a good all rounder, good for commuting and also for taking a pillion passenger (me!) on the odd day out etc.

He bought one a few weeks ago and did a Police one day safety awareness course which helped bring him back up to speed. The course covered things like road positioning, i.e. where he should actually be on the road (he was too far over to the left and was told he should be nearer the centre line for example), actual use of the bike, gears/brakes etc and also safety things and what to do in the event of an accident etc.

He felt the course was very good and helped him with a few tips which in turn will help make him a safer rider. The course was free and well worth considering if you go ahead and get a bike. You don't actually have to have passed your test to access this course, you just need a suitable bike so you could do it if you go for a 125cc.

As for the financial side....insurance £300 (new rider - no no-claims discount, bike ungaraged with no use of security chain etc - so no discounts for anything), 12 months road tax £47 (for 401cc - 600cc bike).

One thing we have noticed that we didn't expect, is that the bike is a thirsty beast. He checked out the specs before he bought and expected to get x amount of miles to the gallon (can't remember exact figure). He's not getting that and is putting in a fair amount of petrol in each week. We are in the middle of monitoring it to get exact figure just now.

Also you have to factor in the cost of the safety gear which isn't cheap although obviously once you've got it, there's no extra expenditure.

OH doesn't feel the parking is necessarily any easier as bikes are big and best chained to something (lampost or the like) so it's not like you just need a slither of a space in a corner somewhere like you would for a push bike. Where he works, parking is always a problem as there just isn't enough spaces, he thought a bike would help this but it hasn't at all.

On the whole, he doesn't feel the bike makes a huge difference to his commute to work, but being male and very fond of his new 'boys toy', he says it makes enough of a difference to make him glad he got it. :rolleyes:

Don't know if any of that helped or not, lol.

shazrobo

i love my bike, just bought a brand new yamaha ybr 125cc, was 3,000 whish included first years insurance free, tax is only £15 a year, cost £8 to fill tank, which will then do 200 miles, easy to park, being a small bike, and best of all i love it, love the freedom of not been stuck behind traffic

Keith

One thing we have noticed that we didn't expect, is that the bike is a thirsty beast. He checked out the specs before he bought and expected to get x amount of miles to the gallon (can't remember exact figure). He's not getting that and is putting in a fair amount of petrol in each week. We are in the middle of monitoring it to get exact figure just now.

Just to compare, my 03 600F will cover 140 miles to £14 of petrol.