Cost of ownership

[Marmoot]

......

how on earth do I convince my missus? She is not err... very happy with me getting on a bike.

ouch......

Good luck. I'll keep you in my prayers.

[Horney1]

Welcome Kookoo,

In addition to the normal tyre, pads 'n things mentioned above consider that when I bought my new bike a major hidden cost for me was services. I'd do them all myself except that you generally need to have services done by authorised dealers at the defined mileages so as to not void the warranty. I clocked up kilometers so fast it seemed I was getting a service done every payday!

The other big cost for me was fines etc!!! Over $1000 in a few weeks. You can probably avoid that one if you use a bit of forethought....

[RantyDave]

Parking costs of the car if you're not lucky enough to have free parking (at least $8/day)

Yeah, and on the positive side of the ledger this is the biggie. Driving in to Welly would cost me $2000/year on parking alone. Two fucking grand, I ask you. Not a business expense either so it would be two grand post tax ... three before. Add in fuel (same again? half as much again?) and a figure representing the time sat in traffic jams, or having to leave the house before about half seven to avoid them.

Buses are, say, $1000/year but they make me want to kill everyone on the planet.

Suddenly Pilot Powers' and the occasional burst of rain start to seem quite reasonable. Mind you, if you want to get from A to B cheaply you can't beat a 50cc scooter. Provided A and B aren't too far apart, obviously.

Dave

[steved]

I guess that could be right if you get lucky but I'm ireally saying you have to match the scenarios. That means that you have a shop service your car at 10k intervals etc the same as we're saying you should do with your bike and then factor in the gas cost, the bike is way cheaper.

Some details
- Parking costs of the car if you're not lucky enough to have free parking (at least $8/day)
- Cost of tyres, while an individual tyre is dearer for a bike, the car has 4 of them
- Oil, there's 4 litres of it in a car
- Servicing, a $5,000 car is old and going to need some parts and repair bills whereas a $5,000 would be newer and less likely to have major repair work
- Fuel, my bike (CBR600) uses 4.82 litres/100k whereas most cars will be in the 11-13 litres/100k range, especially commuting. So your bike is using 48% of the fuel the car would use.
- Distance, KooKoo is doing 400kms/week, that's 20,000km in a year. In gas alone, the bike will use $964 of petrol. The car's gas bill will be $2,400 .... $1,400 saving in the first year - not bad?

True, true. I had been using my car (which has been very good too me and is very economical) as the comparison.

[2Cycle]

I know you said "road bike". But what kind of riding will you be doing? If it's just commuting and not too much open road and you are really concerned with low costs then you should consider a scooter.

I recently had my bike stolen (luckily I got it back now ) and I was considering what to get and the numbers really add up well for scooters esp' things like tyres(cheap) chains/sprockes(none) fuel consumption.

Since we bought a scooter for my wife to get to work on I'm converted, not that I really want one but I would rather take the scooter for a short trip than my bike. The ease of use, the under seat storage, the lack of people frowning at you. It's all good. Thats just me. Some people would refuse to ride a scoot.

[Horney1]

I know you said "road bike". But what kind of riding will you be doing? If it's just commuting and not too much open road and you are really concerned with low costs then you should consider a scooter.

I recently had my bike stolen (luckily I got it back now ) and I was considering what to get and the numbers really add up well for scooters esp' things like tyres(cheap) chains/sprockes(none) fuel consumption.

Since we bought a scooter for my wife to get to work on I'm converted, not that I really want one but I would rather take the scooter for a short trip than my bike. The ease of use, the under seat storage, the lack of people frowning at you. It's all good. Thats just me. Some people would refuse to ride a scoot.

Nah, scooters are scarey. I bought a few new Piaggio 80ccs to try and hire them out about 10 years ago. I managed to drop them a couple of times basically because of the lack of power, weight distribution and small wheels. Still got one and "a half" in the shed over there if anyones interested in them (low k's and slightly gravel rashed).

[Roj]

- Fuel, my bike (CBR600) uses 4.82 litres/100k whereas most cars will be in the 11-13 litres/100k range, especially commuting. So your bike is using 48% of the fuel the car would use.

what sort of car do you drive?
I have a 2.5l V6 mitsi legnum, fuel consumtion on open road is about 8.5 litres/100k round town 10litres/100k

Something like a 1.3l honda jazz is around 5.5l/100k

as for a scooter, they are really cheap but I personally think they can be dangerous, usually because of the attitude that alot of the scooter riders adopt

[Squeak the Rat]

I just got a service on my car - oil & coolant change, cam belt replaced, spark plugs + a few minor items.

$1000

And it does a whopping 10km/l the way I drive it.

Go the

[crshbndct]

i just picked up my new bike

car used 14.1l/100km there and back... my god i didnt relaise that towing a trailer had such a big impact..

[MotoGirl]

MotoGirl, a question for you - how on earth do I convince my missus? She is not err... very happy with me getting on a bike.

Sorry, I'm not sure! Cajun and I both rode before we met, so neither of us had to convince the other it was a good idea.

You could promise to:
- Be responsible
- Always ride defensively
- Always wear the correct gear to protect you
- Do a rider training course to ensure you are as safe as you can be.

Other than that, it's out of your hands!

[marty]

i just sold my bike to finance another toy. bike was costing $350/3000kms for a rear tyre. $900/yr insurance. gas was comparable to a 2.0l car.

my new toy costs $60/month fixed cost (insurance/parking) and $180/hour when i'm using it. it doesn't go through tyres very often, but it does use 70 litres of gas an hour

[Bass]

i just sold my bike to finance another toy. bike was costing $350/3000kms for a rear tyre. $900/yr insurance. gas was comparable to a 2.0l car.

my new toy costs $60/month fixed cost (insurance/parking) and $180/hour when i'm using it. it doesn't go through tyres very often, but it does use 70 litres of gas an hour

It's a truly excellent toy with superb cornering capability, but.......... when did you last use it?

[Storm]

Really? My Civic uses almost the same amount of fuel as my CBR and I reckon the maintenance costs on the CBR far out-weigh the Civic (specifically tyres and oil).

But who enjoys driving a car over riding eh?