last days as a bike rider.

[slow_dave]

after many years I'm selling out to santa and switching to car. Its been fun being a bike rider, and I'll miss the community feeling. Reasons for my defection;

- incorrect license for my 400cc bike. After I read one of the other riders on a 400 with her learners got $500 fine for some infringement plus wrong license I got a little worried. Getting my license is cool if I could find/hire a 250cc but then I'd still be on wrong license for over half a year. Also I've outgrown the 400, I want something bigger.

- The cost of switching to a 250cc with same performance burns [$3k minimum]. 

- no insurance. I've just got life insurance and they're not going to pay out if I crash on bike with wrong license. Wife + 3 kids means I need insurance.

- rego costs. It went from wrong to burn.

- I'm an idiot on a bike. Who can help it though... line of cars and queueing or 'creative riding'. I hate waiting so wind up doing stuff sometimes that I think 'perhaps I shouldn't have done that' or 'lucky there no cops around'. I have received only 1 fine which is a minor miracle [failing to drive in a lane they called it]

Don't know why I'm blurbing this out, I guess I just feel like a wussy-heel and thought a bit of abuse might help. ps. If anyone wants to buy my 400cc bike its on trader section.

dave -once-were-riders.

[bluninja]

Dave, why not keep your bike in the garage and go racing or do trackdays? All the buzz of riding the nuts off your bike and no cars, no insurance, no rego....just the MNZ License and track fees.

Anyways, why not go get your license? Yes it's 6 months (I don't think you actually need to ride during that period) but once it's done it's done. Get it sorted ready for winter and be all ready to go for it the next summer.

As for life insurance. Mine doesn't have an exclusion on it for bike riding with or without insurance. Does yours? You can still die in a car or crossing the road and no money will bring you back for your wife and 3 kids however it happens. Whatever happens just make sure you are living your life and not just surviving it.

Lastly your decision doesn't have to be final and binding. You can always return to bikes at anytime.

 

TTFN

[MikeL]

I agree. I don't know your personal circumstances, and I understand your reasons esp. to do with licence, but I'd recommend you explore the alternatives. You'll regret giving up the bike just as I did - had a bike for a year as a student then bought a car, didn't ride for yonks and have come back to it in middle age, and realize what a lot of fun I missed out on - now I'm trying to make up for lost time before i get too old!!
Thin about it.

[What?]

Listen to these guys, Dave. I had a three month bikeless stint last year due to a tendon problem in my clutch hand. It was hell.

[bikerboy]

Dave, Dave, Dave, where are you going to get a car that will be as much fun as the bike for $3k. I can't believe you can't find a 250 for the same value as the 400 you got now. There are guy's out there who can ride a 250 well enough to leave bigger bikes behind.

It's not the size of bike so much as your skill level. Use the six months on the 250 to hone your skills so after that you'll be even better equiped to enjoy the bigger bike.

I stopped riding for a while because it was too wet here, too dangerous, too impractical too blah, blah, blah. Every time I saw a bike I felt a pang deep inside, until one day, I'd had enough. No more excuses, I just got another bike and have never once regretted it.

Remember, cars need insurance, a license, registration, everything a bike needs, and it is generally more expensive, and not NEARLY as fun!

[SPman]

Don't do it man! Store your bike, get a license, do nothing at all - just DONT SELL YOUR BIKE! It will haunt you for years! It did me.

After 15 years with bikes, I had to sell my last Ducati to get a car (Kids etc) telling myself I would get a Pantah ASAP.  13 years later

  (they were tight years) - I got hold of an AX100 Suzuki - hey this is great......marriage collapsed......sold house,,,gave money to Mrs X - except for enough to get a bike. Man, I didnt realise how bad it had been without a bike - it was like coming home again. I would NEVER be bikeless again. Sell my cage - yes. Sell my bike - except to replace it - No!

If you must sell it - get a chook chaser and go off road.

[slow_dave]

cheers all for the moral support.

Re-thinking, if I can find a 250cc bike cheap enough I'll keep riding. I love to ride and you're all right, I went without for a while once too and used to mope around frequently, grizzling about the shite performance and lack of feeling about driving my car.

I've got many love stories about a man and his bike [all G-rated] it would be a shame to call it quits now.

we'll see how it goes anyway, and I'll keep an open mind.

-dave

[Kwaka-Kid]

i gotta 1985 Honda CB250RS im selling . done 7,000k's scince engine reco. PEREFECT engine wise... dont smoke or nothing, ohh i ran her in soooo perfectly, still never touched redline. pereformance (for a 250 single) exhaust, 2into 1 into a streight out oldskool megafone muffler, K&N air filter out of a GSXR750 (altho ill prolly take this out when i sell) jetted perfectly. pumper carb. ohh i miss it, and its on the hardest most plastic tyres you can ever ever imagine! and they have full tread, always have had, always will have, im dead serious, these tyres i will garantee for 30,000k's+! so what if they dont grip as well as new ones, its all about economy :P  and the bike returns an easy 25km/litre. dead serious. like around 11L from reserve, will get me an EASY 250km even if i do try and open her up alot.

so yeah, even if not mine (dunno, im still thinking of selling her) oh and she had only done 14,000'ks when i got her, had been parked up 10 years so seized piston in bore, so the bloody bikes done not even 20,000k's all up! but i put replacement speedo in which i beleive is reading around 33,000? i dunno. but yeah, consider the old honda singles for economy and PERFECT reliability.  and i might buy your 400? :P i was trying to get hold of one of them when i had my learners, then i thought, bah nah, keep it legal, wait till full then get 750cc+

anyways, whatever you do, DONT GET OUT OF BIKES! im only 17 and i honestly cant go a week without my bike! i get extreme TWW - two wheel withdrawals

oh, and what that dude said about the 250 being fun + its skill, its so true, it (i wouldnt know, im a shit rider :P) apparently can be the most fun ever having a bike that can/know you can ride the wheels off, especially in the corners etc, without the bikes capabilities being beyond yours.    Well, just dont leave bikes

[SPman]

Hey I had a CB250RS - had mainly XR250 bits in the motor so it vibrated a bit - like all the screws out of the speedo! But it looked good.

[Kwaka-Kid]

haha! yeah yeah i know the way it is, cept mines mechanically MINT! i put a XR200 6 speed box in my old XR250, well, it was a X between XL250/XR250, sus/frame, all over the place, but nice bike matey! mines like that, but std blue colour, and a black tank, btw those indicators arnt std! :P nor are mine anymore, put some round kwaka ones on.. gotta have a bit of kwaka in every bike

[gruesome]

I can only repeat what everyone else has said - DON'T DO IT!  I sold my 400 when I had access to many bikes but when that turned pear-shaped, not having the bike was one of the few things I've ever really regretted.    It's also a situation I plan to remedy before too long. 

[Kwaka-Kid]

Originally posted by gruesome
It's also a situation I plan to remedy before too long. 

spoken like a true rider... well, ill let you off for being lazy and saying "before TOO long"  top of the priority list mate!

[wari]

Mate ... just plaster a whole lotta 250 stickers all over the bike and plead ignorance if you ever get questioned about it.

[Hoon]

I use to ride around on big bikes with my learners license.  In fact I've never had a 250cc or less bike during 8 years on my learners and have been pulled over numerous times (even doing wheelies!!) and only got warnings for having the wrong license.

I took the plunge last year and made the effort to get my full license as I had just bought my TL and wanted to insure it.  Suprisingly this only took me 3.5 months.

To get my Restricted I had to do a practical test.  Forked out the cash for the license fees (forget how much) and rented a SR250 from http://www.nzbike.com for half a day ($50).

Then I sat a Defensive Driving course ($90) to lower the Restricted period down to 3 months (I'm 31 yo).

Then after 3 months I went back and sat my full license which is another practical (forked out more cash) so rented the SR250 again.  Now I'm fully licensed and didn't even have to study up the road code!!

Unfortunately I wrote my bike off last month so just as well I had insurance otherwise I would be a very sad puppy.  I've been without a bike for 7 weeks now and its driving me crazy - especially since I have the cash to replace it but just can't find the right bike!!!!

[Kwaka-Kid]

! thats sad dude! find somthing, and fast!

nah, its best to do what you are doing, look around, find somthing you really want, this little wait will pay off when ur riding it

and wari - i was going to drop a tweaked XR500 engine into my 250, i mean, i doubt even 90% of the riders out there would have even known/noticed the diff -lettalone some nobody car-cop  but the only problem was it runs on methanol, and is a proper race engine, didnt wanna run it on street.