Motorcycle couriers ??

[swanman]

Has anyone done this in NZ/Auckland? I know in London you can make a decent living out of this.

I am imbetween jobs right now, so am considering this as a short term fix. Any companies that can be recommended or blacklisted? What is the min/best size of bike to have etc.

[NC]

I had a couple of mates that used to be motorbike couriers..

Saw a fucked up crash right outside work oneday..

I was sitting outside enjoying my Latte (when they cost $3 and it came in a good size bowl). And I said to a dude that I worked with “I think there is going to be a motorbike accident today” He asked where about and I pointed to “the spot”
. About 30 minutes later a motorcycle courier came booting down the road ( as they did on Normanby RD) A car pulled out in front of him and he T-boned the car.
He broke his back, legs, shoulder, arms…
I’ve been warned off by 3 ex couriers not to do it… I took that advice

[bugjuice]

400cc bikes are cheap and shit. No one cares too much if you ding 'em up, and they're small enough to get round the traffic etc.. or a beat up 6 may be.. just don't spend too much on one, cos you don't want to loose a shed load if a courier takes you out in his van...

[Quasievil]

400cc bikes are cheap and shit.

As an owner of a 400 I defend that position !!

[Marknz]

I'd have thought a 600 Hornet or Fazer would be the ideal bike for that sort of riding?

[bugjuice]

As an owner of a 400 I defend that position !!
how much did you pay for your 400 again...??

didn't mean 'shit' as in they are 'shit', I meant it in the context of 'more words than I can be bothered to type' type 'shit'

[NC]

how much did you pay for your 400 again...??

didn't mean 'shit' as in they are 'shit', I meant it in the context of 'more words than I can be bothered to type' type 'shit'
Damn 600 riders...
Go on, dig the hole deeper.. :rofl: :bleh:

[bugjuice]

Damn 600 riders...
Go on, dig the hole deeper.. :rofl: :bleh:
*deep breath..*......
no, can't be arsed. it's only a 400

[Eddieb]

If you do it, be prepared to be hurt. Even if nothing gets broken you will get knocked off & you will get badly bruised, often.

Ultimately shaft drive and low tech is the way to go and narrow helps a lot. At least make sure it's not a race rep, you'll be crippled within a week by the riding position in traffic all day if you are doing serious hours and mileage.

The main reasons you can make good money as a courier, especially in London are:
a) You work long hours riding like a maniac
b) You work as self employed with a good accountant who knows how to claim back and pay no tax, or,
c) You work as self employed with no accountant and 'forget' to pay tax. Not that I would know about this of course.

Wear good gear, ALWAYS. No matter how hot or uncomfortable it might be.

My old courier bike below, a state of the ark Kawasaki GT550..

[Wolf]

The bike couriers here in Hams ride CT110s - in all weather, on slippery roads. Braver or stupider than I...

Thought of doing formal courier work (as opposed to "informal" couriering of shit around on my bike as part of my main job) - would be good with a decent, low-maint, economical bike

[Wolf]

Eddie, dude, your thumbnails are bigger than the pictures themselves...

[MrMelon]

I was thinking a street magic would make a pretty good courier bike if you didn't have to deliver anything too far outside of the city. It'd Cost bugger all to run and maintain, and you could get away with parking anywhere.

[bungbung]

I don't think anybody is using motorbikes for courier work in the Welli CBD.

Hutt?

[Devil]

Have seen various courier bikes in akl cbd, from street magics, to hornet 600's, to cbr250rr's (ouch!)

[Mr Skid]

I discussed this with an ex-motorcycle courier once over a few jars.

His advice was if you wanted to make cash, the best option was to look at cycle courier work. Apparently you can make similar gross income and don't have the running costs associated with a motorbike.

I recall seeing around town a TR50/110 (Street Magic), a GSX250, and a Kawasaki D-Tracker being used for courier duties.

I think some sort of electric legged single would be the way to go.

[Motu]

My daughter just finished 5 years of inner city courier work last week,I don't know how the hell she did it.She spent most of her time with Inter City Urgent and a guy there rode a Street Magic.They were everywhere,now you hardly ever see a motorcycle courier.

[geoffm]

A fair number of years ago I did relief driving for a courier (in a car) and knew a few bike couriers.
IMO, a good way to destroy a good bike while slowly going broke, or quickly when you get munted by a car. One of the problems that bike couriers have is they have a very limited payload. Get a big parcel - tough luck. This is one advantage the car couriers have. Look how much money you get (and you don't get pid if it takes to long), take off a living wage, tax and bike costs and see if it is still positive. When I was doing it, I couldn't see how you could make money at it, especially if things got slow.

Geoff

[TwoSeven]

I used to do bike work in london - yes you can earn a living from it if you can ride. Jobs are paid for on piece work (you get paid per package by cheque at the end of the week minus any cash jobs you picked up during the week). The rate is quite small if its in london or westminster, and goes up if its out of the city. Long jobs pay quite well - so long as its a wait n return. Generally you got 15 min pickup and delivery (so parcel has to be delivered within half hour of you receiving the job) which is ok.

Not worth doing here because its a weekly wage and because there is no traffic here - might as well use a car. No set time for delivery also means not worth using a bike and any small work or inner city work might as well go to a push bike (it saves the running costs of a motorcycle). Heck, i've even noticed the couriers are so lazy here if they dont offload the parcels before 4pm friday night the customer has to wait til monday morning (like the lazy shits never deliver saturday).

[bungbung]

Bike couriers in Welli were paid piecework a few years back. There were three rates, depending on the delivery timeframe:

1 hour = one piece
30 min = two
15 min = three

[swanman]

Yes interesting comments. I called urgent couriers yesterday. Spoke to a guy called Dave. He said that they were looking for mc couriers. That you got paid 60% of total courier fee, that bike couriers made about $5.2k a month gross. You have to get a commercial goods licence which is an open book affair and costs $103, and is easy. I'm sure that the monthly income vaires hugely on how quick you are, know the streets etc. Still worth considering.

Must say I am sure it is quite dangerous as I remember in London, mc couriers were famous for being absolute nutters!!!!! While here they seem pretty tame by comparison. We'll see.

[TonyB]

I was going to say that down here there used to be a long waiting list of guy's wanting to be MC couriers...times have changed obviously.
I used to do an afternoon run for the photolab I worked for. Whatever bike you get, it needs to be able to get off the line quickly- low down torque is highly desirable. I of course started on an RZ250, then got an FZ400R, :weird: so speaking from experience a peaky wee bike is a shit of a thing to courier on.

[TonyB]

Oh, and when my bike broke down I discovered I could do the same run just as quick and much easier in a car....

[Sutage]

A little 50 scoot if you just stick to round town, got underseat storage and can fit a box thing on still youd get sore:( and fuck riding aronud on a scooter all day, living life to the edge i think not

[bugjuice]

wow, I seemed to stirr up a nest with my 400 comment.. quit with the red rep!!
phrased wrong, I didn't mean the bikes are 'shit', k? I meant that because they are cheaper than most, that they're easier to keep loved and in top nick. I'm looking for a 400 myself. I wouldn't if they were 'shit' would i? nope. I just couldn't be arsed to type a long para about the reasons why, so I chose a bad word instead. please ignore it then. All bikes are good. period. I love them all, and would make love to each and every one of them.

[Sutage]

Should look into being one of those dudes who ride around picking up litter :D
Those jobs may be reserved for ex-cons tho i dunno:P

[Cary]

My old courier bike below, a state of the ark Kawasaki GT550..

Hi Eddieb when were you at Moves, I was there from 92-94

Del still the bike controller when you were there?

[SPORK]

Well, my brother shared a hospital room with a motorcycle courier... He'd just had a trike accident that left his friend in intensive care...

[Brian d marge]

Hi Eddieb when were you at Moves, I was there from 92-94

Del still the bike controller when you were there?

Started off at arrow, then on to Globe , then on to wheels ( before the scot took over !!) then was at moves after I cam back from greece, Knew the controller ( Del ??? he worked with me at wheels top bloke... ..big bloke short black hair , you would find me W1 in the Mc D z on baker st opp Sherlock holmes apartment )
It WAS good in the old days , but when I left in the 90 91 ish I was struggling for 3an1/2 a week and was bored sh%%&' less
The most I did was 43 W1 W1 Ec at 330 per ....but If I work a full week it was a sh%&'ing miricle ,,,Usually I banged out 100 quid and pissed off home ...or to the pub ...
It was a really cool Job ,,I liked it ...Snow and rain is when I made my money cos the circiut wasnt full...
I also did it on a pushbike ,,,as the stress got to me a bit ...and was doing 250 a week , but with no costs ,,, I liked the pushies better ,,Ec4 to Sw1 in 12 min ...( I finished me bacon sandwich first,,,)
often thought I would like to do it again,,, but it would have to be piece work .... open call ... more money :ride:

[Cary]

Thought about getting a bike and doing the self employed thing but sooo much fun thrashing someone elses bike. Yea, same Del, he came over to NZ for a look mid '95.

Had a great time doing it too, snow, IRA bombs n all!

[fredie]

what sort of money can you make

[fredie]

hello . any more news:sleep:

[skidMark]

saw a guy from pace couriers at byp on khyber pass rd newmarket.....had a brand new hyosung gt250r in yellow with a yellow pace couriers bag on the back.....

i walked past and said hi...he gave me a funny looked then cracked up...considering i was walking up khyber pass...carrying both my zxr wheels...one in each hand....up to mt eden motorcycles....

seemed like a good idea before i left home.....

but then the bus i got only went as far as broadway then went off into parnell..1.5 k's carrying 2 wheels with tyres and discs on em.....not wanting to repeat that in a hurry eh.

[NighthawkNZ]

Me and a friebd started up a MC Courier company in the HB in the early 90's, did ok, not huge huge money (at the time being new business and all) but it was growing... and got a few contract runs (even some from other courier companies... :blink:


hello . any more news:sleep:

yes the All blacks suck... but we already knew that

[fredie]

where is HB ;)

[bmz2]

here,s the real deal on being a sprint couriers, i was one for 6 years for a company called deadline, money was good at the start 8,000 per month then over the years it dropped down to 4 to 5000 per month , motor cycle couriers on do inner city work around 4 to 5 dollars a parcel, you get a run from bottom of city to top may get 4 jobs at time most city work is 15min jobs pick up and go, you need a good bike and willing to work every day

[Wiki Drifter]

saw a guy from pace couriers at byp on khyber pass rd newmarket.....had a brand new hyosung gt250r in yellow with a yellow pace couriers bag on the back.....

I think I've seen that dude a couple of times around newmarket... had an Autobot logo on the bike too

[fredie]

where is HB

[canarlee]

:dodge::dodge:
wow, I seemed to stirr up a nest with my 400 comment.. quit with the red rep!!

ffs rep dont do or mean shit, stop whinging will ya. oh hang on, yer a kiwi aint ya :dodge::lol:

[canarlee]

where is HB

HB = Hawkes Bay

[Kelem]

I have had a guts full of being a sparky, motorcycle courier is something i have considered.

[swbarnett]

I did a few months as a courier in Auckland between jobs in 1985. Back then it was a bloody good earner. Just after I stopped faxes became popular and most of the document business dropped away. Don't see nearly as many couriers now.

[Reefer]

I'm in between jobs at the mo and thinking of the same. I tried to send a same day document via courier from home (Warkworth) but local couriers don't do it. So could be a market here. Can pick up the whole of Hibiscus coast as well on the way down. NighthawkNZ metioned work for courier companies as well so who knows. Worth a shot.

[MattyP]

saw a guy from pace couriers at byp on khyber pass rd newmarket.....had a brand new hyosung gt250r in yellow with a yellow pace couriers bag on the back.....

i walked past and said hi...he gave me a funny looked then cracked up...considering i was walking up khyber pass...carrying both my zxr wheels...one in each hand....up to mt eden motorcycles....

seemed like a good idea before i left home.....

but then the bus i got only went as far as broadway then went off into parnell..1.5 k's carrying 2 wheels with tyres and discs on em.....not wanting to repeat that in a hurry eh.


A littlle off topic, but I saw the same guy and I couldn't believe how nice the bike sounded. I was pretty surprised when I got closer to see it was a 250r and not a 650. The can looked stock, so there may have been some baffle drilling at play, but it reinforced my thoughts - I want one! :2thumbsup