Petrol prices..........would you now consider a motorbike?
Discussion
Ive got an 08 ZX10R that with a pillon and luggage will return 47mpg cruising at an indicated 95....or thats what I managed on my way up the A1 to an airfield day. Filled up at home, straight onto the A1, then filled up right near RAF Wittering.
I would sometimes do a 65mile each way commute and not hang about and mid 40s was very easy to achieve.
If you start to have a play with the throttle a little and a few(say 20-30 in a tank) 130+ moments then it will return very high 30s low 40s out of a tank.
If you go bats
t crazy then the lowest Ive seen is 26mpg and that was maxxing it out all the time on an airfield day, that includes an indicated 189 in 5th down the main straight everytime.
This is all from a bike that will do the quarter in 10sec and crack a ton in under 6.
I would sometimes do a 65mile each way commute and not hang about and mid 40s was very easy to achieve.
If you start to have a play with the throttle a little and a few(say 20-30 in a tank) 130+ moments then it will return very high 30s low 40s out of a tank.
If you go bats
t crazy then the lowest Ive seen is 26mpg and that was maxxing it out all the time on an airfield day, that includes an indicated 189 in 5th down the main straight everytime.This is all from a bike that will do the quarter in 10sec and crack a ton in under 6.
EDLT said:
No. Bikes that are worth owning just aren't efficient enough, and I'd still need a car anyway so anything I save on fuel would be spent on the running costs of a bike (and then some).
Bikes don't have to be expensive and fast to be fun. I've had some fun and memorable rides on the back of a Honda Cub. 
Same goes for cars.
At 65mpg it's costing somewhere in the region of £5.68 to cover 65 miles (assuming £1.25/litre)I think it would be good fun to ride and own a bike, but the thousands of pounds it would cost to get my licence, get my leathers, boots, gloves, helmet, buy a bike and then tax and insure it would end up being more expense than running a Lancer Evolution for me. I don't think a bike could ever replace cars for me in terms of thrills, cars are where my passion lies, but at that kind of price I just don't consider it anymore.
Did Das is September, getting bike when weather improves, mid Feb probably to commute on. At bit if a loss of what to get though, only riden 2 bikes, a cb-1 400-4 which I loved and a Gs500 which I hated. Annoyingly all the bikes I have sat in shops the most comfortable one that just seemed right was an sv650 which will display the feature I hated in the gs500 - loads of engine braking. Street triple also seems comfortable and apparently is more like a straight 4 so I should like it. Trouble is they hold value so well I may as well buy new and I didn't really want to spend that much.
Herman Toothrot said:
Did Das is September, getting bike when weather improves, mid Feb probably to commute on. At bit if a loss of what to get though, only riden 2 bikes, a cb-1 400-4 which I loved and a Gs500 which I hated. Annoyingly all the bikes I have sat in shops the most comfortable one that just seemed right was an sv650 which will display the feature I hated in the gs500 - loads of engine braking. Street triple also seems comfortable and apparently is more like a straight 4 so I should like it. Trouble is they hold value so well I may as well buy new and I didn't really want to spend that much.
Having sat on many bikes, the two I found most comfortable were the 2010 Fireblade (unsuitable for beginners to say the least) and the Kawasaki ZZR1400, which is like the grim reaper in bike form for noobs! The ZZR is a big bike and I found myself able to stretch out and get comfy on it pretty easily. It's also warp-speed fast and not really a "starter" bike!
I passed my test first time, i done the DAS course and then bought a CBR600 F Sport which was a sportsbike (not supersports). Fantastic first bike which basically out performed most cars on the road.Test cost me in the region of £500-600 full training inc loan bike and test?CBT. Leathers and decent gear can be bought at a reasonable cost via ebay etc, so not too bad.I can honestly garantee once you pass you'll love it!
Remember it's not all about speeding, handling and acceleration can happen at legal speeds too.
Remember it's not all about speeding, handling and acceleration can happen at legal speeds too.
David87 said:
Not a chance. The money it'd cost to get through the test and buy the gear and bike would buy an awful lot of fuel. I can't fall off my car either.
This.Whilst I do have a bike, the gear, test and bike will put you close to £2000, now to put that in perspective, that is around 11,000 miles in a car that averages around 20-25mpg.
Weigh up whether you do more than 11,000 miles a year in a car that does around 25mpg, if that is bang on the money then it will cost you, but if your car is doing like 16mpg then selling the car and getting a bike would be an option.
used to have a bike, vividly recall the time when my waterproofs failed to be waterproof and there was this slow trickle of cold water down my bum crack and into my pants, soaking the bum and balls
then there was a time I almost went under a truck's wheels, that was so much fun
or maybe the lack of ability to carry much more than a backbox to hold the helmet in, so no camping
now I have a car, so I can't fall over, get soaked in heavy rain, got a nice air con for when it is really hot and when I go camping, can fill the car upto the ceiling
then there was a time I almost went under a truck's wheels, that was so much fun
or maybe the lack of ability to carry much more than a backbox to hold the helmet in, so no camping
now I have a car, so I can't fall over, get soaked in heavy rain, got a nice air con for when it is really hot and when I go camping, can fill the car upto the ceiling
Maybe a bike would make a fun extra toy. But there's no way I'd give up heated leather, silence, comfort, load lugging, safety for an additional tiny mpg advantage! Buy a bike if that's your thing, but those mpg seem pretty poor for all the sacrafices. I'd assumed bikes would be 100 mpg or something.
If you've never ridden a bike before I would advocate doing the CBT then going for the licence. That way you'll know if you even like riding or not before outlaying a fiendish amount of cash.
However, all right thinking people will love it and riding a bike gives you something most cars just can't deliver. Fuel economy doesn't matter. A lot of cars deliver better fuel economy than my bike but would I change it for a bluemotion Polo? Would I fk.
However, all right thinking people will love it and riding a bike gives you something most cars just can't deliver. Fuel economy doesn't matter. A lot of cars deliver better fuel economy than my bike but would I change it for a bluemotion Polo? Would I f
k.A 125cc bike does make sense - they're cheap to buy, insure, tax and fuel and since most of them don't hit stellar speeds, safety gear can-if you chose to do so-be reduced to save extra cash.
600cc bike costs:
DAS Test=£800 2 years ago
Insurance=£600 so far
MOT's=£70ish
Gear=£700
Current Bike=£1000
Random bits for it= ~£200
At the current mileage I do it's not likely to break even very soon and will take a while to recoup fully. That said, insurance is £100 a year now, tax is £50, chuck in the MOT and it's less than £200 which means it generally does pay for itself in reduced fuel costs if you write off the start up costs. I get about 46mpg when riding the Monster, a lot more than the Mazda manages.
Running a bike as my only vehicle would be a lot cheaper than a car but I'm happy to keep it as a fun toy that doesn't really cost me anything allongside the car - It's a great experience and it always makes me happy when I go out on it. :-)
600cc bike costs:
DAS Test=£800 2 years ago
Insurance=£600 so far
MOT's=£70ish
Gear=£700
Current Bike=£1000
Random bits for it= ~£200
At the current mileage I do it's not likely to break even very soon and will take a while to recoup fully. That said, insurance is £100 a year now, tax is £50, chuck in the MOT and it's less than £200 which means it generally does pay for itself in reduced fuel costs if you write off the start up costs. I get about 46mpg when riding the Monster, a lot more than the Mazda manages.
Running a bike as my only vehicle would be a lot cheaper than a car but I'm happy to keep it as a fun toy that doesn't really cost me anything allongside the car - It's a great experience and it always makes me happy when I go out on it. :-)
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