Cost of ownership

[Kookoo]

A total n00bie, so hi all.

I guess this was addressed umpteen times in other threads, but I just couldn't find a definitive thread which would tell me what it costs to own a road bike.
I mean as a total n00bie considering buying a new bike (assuming I don't need to finance it), what are the ongoing costs pa that I'd have to face?
Because for me the question is simple - I want a bike, I can afford to buy one, but can I afford to keep it?
Assuming 250cc, riding 400Kms per week.

So, if you have an advice or know a thread I should look at instead of pestering people here - please do tell.

[Cajun]

check out my thread here - http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=3453

i have itemize semi my costs of 3 years of ownership on my 600

[Nasty]

Good thread Cajun ... remember though KooKoo ... he has a much bigger bike than you would be allowed to have as a newbie ... so scale it down just slightly.

[Marmoot]

A rough guideline:

Yearly registration : around $275
6-monthly WoF: around $30

Tyres: around $250 each, lasting approx. 8,000-15,000kms depending on how you ride

Service (if you're not servicing it yourself): $150 - $300 asuming no big broken parts, every 6,000kms

Insurance: $600 - $2000 depending on how big the bike is, what it is and who you insure it with. Don't ride without insurance. I learned the hard way.

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Things you would need:

Helmet: $350 - $1400, depending on brand and how you want it
Jacket: $200 - $1000, depending on brand and material
Pants: $200 - $1000, depending on brand and material
Gloves: $150 - $500, depending on how much protection you want
Boots: $150 - $600, depending on how much protection you want

Basically, the more expensive = the better protection you get (with a few exceptions on certain brands and types).
If you like to do extreme sports riding, I'd suggest aiming at somewhere above the middle price. If you only go to university and back home everyday, aiming at towards a third bottom would be sufficient.

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Other things you will need:
digital camera: price varies
condoms: yes, BIG chance you'd get laid!
(if your bike is very cool, you may want to ask the girl to supply the condoms)

[Cajun]

Good thread Cajun ... remember though KooKoo ... he has a much bigger bike than you would be allowed to have as a newbie ... so scale it down just slightly.

In theory but the costs are comparble, (600 goes thru little bit more tires) but fuel and such be rather simlarly, services intivals of 6,000km be same, services might cost more than what mine, due to make mine cheap for me as possible

[Blackbird]

Refer to the graphic which is the cost of running my Blackbird exclusive of insurance, rego etc. Your 250 won't be anywhere near this especially tyres, but it will indicate the top end and maybe show some of the things to take into account. These costs include a certain amount of "bling" as well but running a big bike isn't all that cheap (well it is really, considering the fun to be had on one ).

Incidentally, I've stopped keeping a record because Mrs B saw how much I was spending and evened up the score

[MotoGirl]

Incidentally, I've stopped keeping a record because Mrs B saw how much I was spending and evened up the score

Cajun is particularly efficient at keeping dibs on what he spends on his 600. I would consider evening the score, but I just bought the RSV so the ball is really in his court now

Excluding fuel, it roughly cost me $1,500 a year just to own my VTR1000. This includes full insurance, registration, one warrant, one service and a set of tyres.
I won't put the costs for the GSX-R1000 or RSV because it's just depressing - crashing doesn't make the cost of owning your replacement bikes any cheaper!

[Bonez]

A total n00bie, so hi all.

I guess this was addressed umpteen times in other threads, but I just couldn't find a definitive thread which would tell me what it costs to own a road bike.
I mean as a total n00bie considering buying a new bike (assuming I don't need to finance it), what are the ongoing costs pa that I'd have to face?
Because for me the question is simple - I want a bike, I can afford to buy one, but can I afford to keep it?
Assuming 250cc, riding 400Kms per week.

So, if you have an advice or know a thread I should look at instead of pestering people here - please do tell.

Learn as much about servicing the bike yourself. Personnally If I was you I wouldn't buy new. Too much money gets lost on depreciation. Better to get a secondhand bike up to 5 years old and spend what you loose on depreciation on good kit and using the thing.

[peasea]

Learn as much about servicing the bike yourself. Personnally If I was you I wouldn't buy new. Too much money gets lost on depreciation. Better to get a secondhand bike up to 5 years old and spend what you loose on depreciation on good kit and using the thing.

All of the above is positive

[peasea]

Learn as much about servicing the bike yourself. Personnally If I was you I wouldn't buy new. Too much money gets lost on depreciation. Better to get a secondhand bike up to 5 years old and spend what you loose on depreciation on good kit and using the thing.

All of the above is positive information but your original question is a difficult one to answer accurately. Pick the eyes out of what is on offer to suit your application and YES, learn how to do the basics on your own bike asap; get a manual. Not only do you save money but you also get to know your machine. Oil/filter changes aren't that hard, chain/belt adjustment, brake checks, tyres etc are all common sense. Buy as new as you can afford but (as said above) not new. You'll be surprised what you can learn from the manual and every time you go over the bike you'll pick something up, even if its a soft tyre or a loose bracket somewhere. This is an on-going cycle (bad pun I know) but once you're in a groove of riding/maintenance/riding you'll never look back. Welcome to the fold. Now go get a basic tool kit and read up on the manual. Ride safe. Live long.

[Roj]

A total n00bie, so hi all.

I guess this was addressed umpteen times in other threads, but I just couldn't find a definitive thread which would tell me what it costs to own a road bike.
I mean as a total n00bie considering buying a new bike (assuming I don't need to finance it), what are the ongoing costs pa that I'd have to face?
Because for me the question is simple - I want a bike, I can afford to buy one, but can I afford to keep it?
Assuming 250cc, riding 400Kms per week.

So, if you have an advice or know a thread I should look at instead of pestering people here - please do tell.

Pestering people on here is what the site is about...

you need to have a budget....
rego ~$275
warrants ~ $30 x 2 (for an older bike)
insurance
servicing: variable depending on how much you do yourself and the distances
Tyres: variable depending on the distances and cost of tyres
fuel costs, an economic 250 might be 3-5 litre per 100 k, 400 k maybe $20 - $30 per week

it could cost up to $70 per week, but that would get you around a lot and look after your bike properly

[Kookoo]

Cajun, Nasty, Marmoot, Blackbird, MotoGirl, Bonez, Peasea, Roj (I think I've mentioned everyone) - thank you very much for the insight and the advice.
It's not really a pretty picture, is it... I better go see my boss about a pay rise.

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.

[Grub]

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

Oh that's easy ... compare the cost of ownership and getting to/from work everyday in the car! If you did the same exercise with a car, you'd never own one.

In short, you're going to be spending thousands less commuting on a bike and women never have a problem in working out what extra money in the purse means

[steved]

Oh that's easy ... compare the cost of ownership and getting to/from work everyday in the car! If you did the same exercise with a car, you'd never own one.

In short, you're going to be spending thousands less commuting on a bike and women never have a problem in working out what extra money in the purse means

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).

[Grub]

Really? I reckon a cheapish (~$5000) car would be less to maintain than a bike.

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?