Do you communte?

[JohnBoy]

last year i ran the bike into town to goto tech twice a week which was cool, but dont take it too often to work as i start at 7 am and its about 30 to 45 min to work so in the best intrest of being kind to family i dont.
my bike dosen't make too many friends at 6 am with a full arrow exhaust! + =

[vifferman]

Live in Birkenhead

Hi, Al! :spudwave:

I live in Birkenhead too, but only have to go as far as Ponsonby.

[Devil]

Hi, Al! :spudwave:

I live in Birkenhead too, but only have to go as far as Ponsonby.

I've gotten closer to you people, now in Glenfield near the mall.

I wonder if heading to onewa (instead of northcote rd) onramp would be easier in the morning...

[crashe]

But I will ride the bike 99% of the time....

The car only goes out once in a blue moon, if she is lucky......lol.
She sits in the driveway gathering dust...

[TonyB]

I take it that the vast majority of people on this site ride bikes, so how many of you communte to work, college, the police station on your bike? If you don't, why?

I used to commute on my FZR. 20k's each way. Thats just under 10,000k per year. I had to stop because it was insanely expensive. A set of tyres costs me about $540. When I got the bike it had brand new rubber (had to scrub it in). The front lasted 4,500k and it was well stuffed, the back was a bit over 5,000k and it was worse. So that's basically $1,100 + per year just in tyres just to get to work and back. The minister of finance started complaining, so I bought an 84 Mazda 323 as a work bomb- cost me $535. Sure the car rego and insurance bumped it up a bit, but it was way cheaper than using the bike. Plus I get to choose the bikes rubber based on stickiness, not how long it will last!

[NinjaBoy]

Yep I just started commuting last year until I bined it on the Coro loop !

56 km a day thru Southern Motorway traffic and over the bridge. Apart from the tricky cross winds on the bridge its a relatively easy ride. Just have to watch out for the when filtering thru traffic !

Anyway the insurance has come thru and my back is almost 100%, and I'm out looking for another Just when the weather has arrived.

[vifferman]

I've gotten closer to you people, now in Glenfield near the mall.

I wonder if heading to onewa (instead of northcote rd) onramp would be easier in the morning...

Depends what time you leave, and which way you go. But because you're allowed to use the transit lane down Onewa Road (if you're on your bike), that bit at least is pretty good. Takes me 20 minutes from home to Ponsonby (K Road end), with the Onewa Road bit being about 5 of that (compared with my record of 90 minutes in the car, 60 of which was Onewa Road )

[Jonty]

Yup, I'm a commuter - all of 5 mins! I'm trying to reduce the number of days per week as I'm sure it is not good to cold start the poor old ZXR 5 days a week for a 5 min ride. Still free carpark and a chance to ride every day

[**R1**]

every day, takes so long in the car.....10minz on bike 30minz in car.....costs more but thats the price ya pay to look good and have fun everyday i guess

[jrandom]

If I post about my commuting, it'll be about the twentieth time I've said the same stuff.

But I'm trying to get to the top of the post count chart before wkid_one ramps up again or Hitcher overtakes me, so... meh.

I commute too. Every day. From Te Atatu to Northcote, 25km each way. Guaranteed sub-30 minutes if I filter, which I do. My record for longest time doing same trip in cage, in traffic, is 3 hours. I've crashed four times while commuting, two of them in heavy traffic on the motorway. It hurts and I would like not to do it very much more because after the last one I still can't kneel on my left knee, and as I believe I've pointed out previously, that has a very restrictive effect on my sexual athleticism.

[Two Smoker]

I commute around the race track.... Sometimes i sightsee around the race track too....

[NinjaBoy]

I've crashed four times while commuting, two of them in heavy traffic on the motorway.

Are these crashes the result of filtering or just silly cage drivers who don't see you ?

For the 2 months I was commuting I was lucky to not have any close calls but am very careful when I filter. Once I have another ride I start commuting to work again.

[jrandom]

Are these crashes the result of filtering or just silly cage drivers who don't see you ?

They're the result of filtering in a way that put me at risk. Both times the road was wet and greasy, both times it was just after I came around a bend in the motorway and had therefore been invisible in wing mirrors, both times someone pulled across lanes without indicating properly. Neither of them saw me, and I don't really terribly blame them for that.

Because I was filtering like a git. As it happened, in neither instance was there any swerving space, and I was going too fast. The first time I was on really terrible tyres and hit the rear brake too hard, back of the bike fishtailed out from under me. The second time I was on reasonably good tyres, used the front more, hurrah, did a death stoppie, went right over the bars, bounced off the back of the car, bike did a forward 180 and ended up on its side pointing backwards.

If I'd been taking it easy and filtering sensibly with healthy paranoia, neither crash would have happened.

I have done over 100 through stopped traffic when someone pulled across in front of me. It was a warm dry day and there was swerving space that time. I used up one of my cat-lives.

[Devil]

I have done over 100 through stopped traffic when someone pulled across in front of me. It was a warm dry day and there was swerving space that time. I used up one of my cat-lives.

Never again huh?

[jrandom]

Never again huh?

Nup.

I'll get my jollies on the open road, now, preferably behind someone else who can run over any cowpats around blind corners for me.

And I'll still manage 30 minutes each way on my commute with sensible filtering, which is a huge saving. Going nuts never took more than 7 or 8 minutes off that time. What's the point?