Will a motorcycle save me money.

zebidee1

OH's is also an '03. It does nowhere near that, will check figures with him when he gets in. A neighbour of ours used to have a 600F and always got good mileage out of a tank too.

Mmmm, we might have a problem.

Altarf

mjr600 wrote: »

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.

Almost every day on the route I use to and from work, which is a dual carriageway A road and dual carriageway motorway, I see at least two or three bikers trying to commit suicide by the way they are riding.

On this road the traffic is busy with two lanes of traffic doing 60 -70. I don't mean an empty inside lane and a full outside line, but two full lanes. Of course that is not quick enough for the bikers who 'filter' down the middle between cars doing 70mph+.

Last week was a cracker though. On one day the car overtaking me, had a bike overtake him in the narrow gap between the edge of lane 2 and the armco. On the following day as I was overtaking a car, a 'filtering' bike decided that it couldn't make the gap between us, so decided to undertake both of us (and there is no hard shoulder). Again all at 70 mph.

Earlier in the summer I was not surprised when all the traffic came to a halt as this fat bloke on a customised Harley Davidson with extended high handlebars, who had been 'filtering' through the 70mph+ traffic was picking what was left of his bike out of the middle of the road. I am sure it was a car drivers fault though.

Keith

zebidee1 wrote: »

OH's is also an '03. It does nowhere near that, will check figures with him when he gets in. A neighbour of ours used to have a 600F and always got good mileage out of a tank too.

Mmmm, we might have a problem.

It may just be the type of riding he does, is it all stop start? Lots of acceleration? Since I've been slowed down by the m1 roadworks over the last week, I've had my speed heavily reduced over 5 miles and this is meaning I'm getting home with 2 parts of the reserve left instead of none.

HelzBelz wrote: »

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

Hi, it's probably down to my postcode and claims history, also I've included the interest for paying monthly in the £550.

flybynight

go for it u will save a fortune

thing is you get crap bikers just the same as you get crap drivers........ just on the whole, i've met more inconsiderate car drivers than bikers. so long as you stick to the rules, and treat everybody else on tyhe road like and idiot who is out to kill you, you should be ok, and then occasionally you meet people who aren't and thats a nice surprise

suffolkb

It really depends on the bike you choose. Get a Honda 90 and you`ll save a fortune. Or, get a zzr1400 and it`ll cost you a fortune. Either way, you will have a lot more enjoyment than the others who are just stuck in traffic jams. I ride a MZ301. It cost £700 3 years ago and I expect it to last years. Approx 60 mpg + 2-stroke oil and easily manages 60-70 mph on the A14.
It`s a pity that it`s complicated to get a license now, but you won`t regret it.

no_debts_no_more

Wont save u anymoney

I've been commuting by bike for a 50-60 mile round trip about 50% of the time for ten years. I wouldn't say it was easy for it to be more economical than a car. It mainly made my car ownership cheaper by meaning that I could live with an older and less reliable car, and hence suffer less annual depreciation. (last car was 12yo/140K miles when sold on, current one is 10yo)

The big expenses with running a bike as everyday transport are consumables (esp. tyres) and servicing. Intervals are about every 4K miles for bikes. Sports bikes go through rear tyres every 3000 miles and cost £100 a go, so it soon adds up. Bike servicing is far more intensive than for cars, and they need certain jobs done which don't exist on cars (e.g. valve clearances. Fuel consumption isn't as good as you might think - a small diesel car can beat all but very small bikes.

To do it cheaply I had an old air-cooled retro bike for some years. Servicing was simple so was mostly DIY. I also used non-sporty tyres, which gave more mileage. Insurance was < £100 TPFT, tax £60 and an MOT £20-odd. Sportsbike insurance for a new rider (especially in a poor postcode and no garage is £LOTS)

The cheapest option is one of Honda C90, Honda CG125 or CB250, but on all but the 250 you'll be taking your life in your hands anywhere the NSL applies, and any long journey out of town will be purgatory.

To commute cheaply in your situation, buy a used 500cc twin (the kind of thing you do DAS on, like Honda CB500 or Kawasaki ER-5), which gives 50mpg, uses cheap, long-lasting tyres, and is cheap and easy to service. They're cheap to buy second-hand, reliable and long-lived. £2k should get a decent one. They also can have crash bars and hard luggage fitted to aid practicality. Single-cylinder 650cc trail-style bikes have similar characteristics.

Pushing the boat out a bit more, a 600cc Suzuki Bandit, Honda Hornet or Yamaha Fazer or Suzuki SV650 will cost a bit more to buy and service, but has an extra 20bhp or so, and will feel a lot happier dicing with traffic on a busy motorway. They seem to be popular with couriers now, which is a good seal of approval for a commuter bikes low running costs. Again, they can have practical commuting accessories attached, which will make life easier.

Older 600cc sportsbikes like the popular Honda CBR600F are the next step up. Unless you intend to have biking as a hobby, then they're probably a step too far. The 1998-99 CBR600 FX & FY models were one of the best all-round practical but fun bikes ever IMO though.

Single-cylinder dirt bikes are slow, vibey and hard-work on the road, so I wouldn't get one, even though they're cheap.

It is however possible to do it in some style. An old Honda Fireblade can be had for £2K (early R1 for £3K), and should still be robust & reliable if in good nick. They do 45mpg at legal-ish speeds and if you can manage to DIY the servicing, only the tyre bill will trouble you. They also do 160mph, and are depreciation proof for the right year/colour.

If you have a chain-driven machine, and will ride in all-weathers, a Scottoiler effectively doubles the life of the chain, by dripping a small amount of oil onto the chain as you ride. It costs £65, which is less than a set of chain & sprockets for a commuter bike.

For anything a bit flash, be prepared for mileage much above 3000pa to render it virtaully worthless into your calculations. There are so many low-mileage high performance bikes on the used market that high mileage examples are almost unsellable.

As an aside, modern fuel-injected Hondas seem to have particularly poor fuel consumption. Also, 600cc sports machines seem to have suffered adversely as they have moved to EFI for some reason. I have an old carb'ed GSXR-600 (sporty 600cc machine) and can get 47mpg on a long steady run (it's more like 40 in normal use). New sports 600's seem to struggle to get 35mpg.


Overall, unless you go for something older, with modest performance, and have some spannering skills, it's likely that a used diesel Fiesta or similar will be cheaper to run. Seriously. I mainly commute by bike to avoid traffic congestion. The secondary benefit is that we can get by with one decent car (for my wife to use with the children), plus a 10yo banger.

FakeIrish

Wont save u anymoney

Just be careful - I did the same as what you're planning. I did the CBT and DAS and used the bike to commute from Kent into London. Paid a huge amount on leathers, water proofs etc. Thought the bike would be fun and cheaper than rail. It was fun but it def wasn't cheaper. But this was me getting caught up in all the excitement. Went to regular bike meets, track days and riding with groups at weekends. It got me heavily into debts and the servicing costs are not cheap and are too frequent. Kept getting punctures and having hassle with the AA!

But I don't regret it for a moment. Those years were the best of my life and I just had to stop due to my debts. I could have been sensible and bought a sensible 'commuter' bike but I don't do sensible. I was doing 30k a year, and rode for 3 years and in London, you do pick up the riding habits of the couriers and yet, I was fortunate in never having an 'off'! But I was riding my luck and knew it was time to stop.

Essentially, it boils down to your attitude. As mentioned above, you can ride bikes and keep the costs down if you're sensible! Good luck and have fun.

Johnocyprus

Wont save u anymoney

I've just been knocked off my motorbike so am a bit biased ( see previous post to Feanor ) but would not a cheaper and a safer option be a Nissan Micra K11 ( the bubble shape made 1993-2002 ). You can get a good one for £1200 we used to run one for 5 years as a second car and it was ridiculously cheap to run and great fun to drive.. ..I've had bikes for 35 years and they've always cost me a fortune relative to the cars I've owned!

oldtoolie

I've been biking for over 30 years and I have fallen off a few times but I'm not about to stop.

Daily commuting to work requires a degree of courage, stamina and determination that I don't have. It's great in the summer daylight but cold dark, rainy winter evenings ....

Small 125cc bikes and scooters are fine in cities under 40 mph. So if you are doing fifteen miles across London, great, go for it. But on open roads, it ceases to be fun when you have an impatient cardriver on your tailpipe.

You save less time than you would think. It takes 10 - 15 minutes to get kitted on in you motorcycle gear and nearly the same to take it off.

It would be hard to find a good set of protective gear (jacket, trousers, boots, gloves, helmet) for less than £200, so factor that in.

Try it -- you might like it. If a small bike is suitable, the CBT isn't expensive and it's fun to learn a new skill. You could hire a 125cc for a week and see if you like it.

But on pure practical moneysaving terms, cars are so cheap now. See the previous post. You can find plenty of good cars for way less than £1000 while it is hard to find a good bike for less than £1000. (Which can work out in your favour when comes time to sell you bike you bought for £1000 a few years before)

HenryWeston

go for it u will save a fortune

Maybe you should buy one of these

Royal enfield diesel, 200MPG !! :-)


http://www.realclassic.co.uk/diesel05112800.html