The recession - give up biking?

**SARGE** · 2nd July 2009, 07:32

meh .. media hype .. just an excuse for people to moan .. im having record months personally

'busy' isnt gonna come knocking on your door .. you have to go find 'busy'

i may go buy another bike or a big fuckoff V8 Falcon Ute

**BMWST?** · 2nd July 2009, 08:00

recession is real for the building industry,but it has always been boom-bust.This one is worse because of greed,unrealistic expectations, and some sophiticated schemes built on absolute unsustainability in the US housing market.

**junkmanjoe** · 2nd July 2009, 11:00

I got the boot about a month ago now,,,

if i didnt have my bike id go insane... stuck at home, can only do so much.

some gas in the bike and get out for a day ride, every now and then.....much needed..

**GOONR** · 2nd July 2009, 11:16

Originally Posted by junkmanjoe

I got the boot about a month ago now,,,

if i didnt have my bike id go insane... stuck at home, can only do so much.

some gas in the bike and get out for a day ride, every now and then.....much needed..

I got the shove just over a month ago, I don't have the bike and yes, it's dull. Getting the bike this weekend so at least I'll have something to pass the time with..

**Brian d marge** · 2nd July 2009, 13:13

Originally Posted by martybabe

I've lived through a shed load of boom and bust times and whilst I love bikes, for me they are a luxury, real hard to justify when you've got little hungry mouths to feed, vital transport not withstanding.

I would have to say yes, if the black clouds of misery and hardship swirl over my house once again, the bike will have to go, there are simply more important things to consider when the cash stops flowing. Would I be happy about it? Hell no! and I'm sure not jumping ship until I'm left with no alternative.

Is the recession going to be as bad as predicted, only time will tell but it is a fact that a lot of people will be facing redundancies and that sure makes it clear what life's priorities are. Keep an eye on the storm clouds guys .

can those little mouths work? I have 2 of em and unfortuantly the coal industry here has some stupid law about hiring a 1 year old , ( the nuclear uindustry isnt so bad they are hiring bucket carriers )

But I do think and have often wondered about sports bikes ( I dont know the prices there ) but lets say you get say a blackbird , Nice bike , but the tyres are 50 000 yen or more and if you drop it .......

Now my enfield ( the newr ones are quite good and use the old running gear )

its all metal , a whole fork leg COMPLETE is 5000 yen and runs on a smwell of an oily rag, buy an older one and get vintage rego

There are Jap bike with similar workings ( early gold wings )

For commuting to work

a BSA Bantam ! you can run that on kero !

if you need a car ,,, nahhh cant think of a reason just yet , there is probably one , just cant think of it yet !

Stephen

**pritch** · 2nd July 2009, 15:41

There was an item on the local radio news here that claimed building consents were holding up numerically but the average value was down.

The theory was postulated that people are currently getting smaller projects done that the builders wouldn't look at when there was lots of work.

That may be true, my house is old and has a roof of many angles. The roofing contractors didn't want to look at it when they were busy because they could do two or three new houses in the same time and make more money.

Same with the painters - the house is roughcast - but they are running out of work now and were very keen to paint it.

Now I just need to get the new guttering up and the house will look great...

So now the office in which I work is closing and the decision about exactly when to retire may be made for me. Time will tell.

No plans to sell the bike though. Or the

**Blackbird** · 2nd July 2009, 17:12

Originally Posted by Brian d'marge

But I do think and have often wondered about sports bikes ( I dont know the prices there ) but lets say you get say a blackbird , Nice bike , but the tyres are 50 000 yen or more and if you drop it .......

I'm 61, retired and have a Blackbird with plenty of goodies on it. It's a luxury all right and as you point out, the total operating cost isn't cheap. However, even in these financially troubled times, it would be one of the last things I'd let go. I've worked 60+ hour weeks for over 3 decades and it's time to REALLY enjoy life whilst the body is still in good nick. I've been passionate about bikes for over 40 years and owning a bike that "does it for me" is a conscious decision that is a large part of enjoying life to the full, despite the cost. No intention of going to the grave with regrets

**Brian d marge** · 2nd July 2009, 17:38

Originally Posted by Blackbird

No intention of going to the grave with regrets

I will

I regret, I trusted that woman in Amsterdam ,,,she told me she was clean

Stephen

**Aaron_newrider** · 2nd July 2009, 18:25

I am about to buy a bike, had 2 choices. A bike or a car.

I thrash the shit out of cars, because I enjoy doing so and know there is some metal surrounding me if I crash. So.... I usually brake them and use lots of petrol.

I'm carefull on a bike, cause when you have a nose to tail, it's not metal inbetween the car's, it's you.. So I take it easy and don't do dumb shit so my bike will last along time and not use much petrol.

No recession here

**Ixion** · 2nd July 2009, 18:36

Originally Posted by Brian d'marge

I will

I regret, I trusted that woman in Amsterdam ,,,she told me she was clean

Stephen

Well, she was. She'd showered only the week before.

**Robert Taylor** · 2nd July 2009, 19:01

Originally Posted by Mom

The recession - give up biking? Or should the current economic situation encourage more to take it up?

I have been reading here over the last little while of people getting made redundant, or having hours cut, or not getting enough hours to pay the bills. How does this impact you? I have read comments about people thinking of selling their bikes, or being told they will have to sell their bikes if things stay the same for a while. Should that be an option to consider for some?

How safe is your job? What would you do if you were unemployed all of a sudden?

Doubtless there is pain out there but it means youve got to work harder at it and maybe employees that were very ''union biased'' and / or didnt give value to their employers may now be valuing their jobs much more so.
In the motorcycle industry there are too many dealers and too many that dont do it so well. If it weeds out a few of those thats a good thing. Realignment is neccessary.
But hey, everyone deserves a job and a fair days pay, as long as also they are giving their employers a fair days work.

**GOONR** · 2nd July 2009, 19:37

Originally Posted by Robert Taylor

Doubtless there is pain out there but it means youve got to work harder at it and maybe employees that were very ''union biased'' and / or didnt give value to their employers may now be valuing their jobs much more so.
In the motorcycle industry there are too many dealers and too many that dont do it so well. If it weeds out a few of those thats a good thing. Realignment is neccessary.
But hey, everyone deserves a job and a fair days pay, as long as also they are giving their employers a fair days work.

I worked hard for my company but got booted anyway, along with many many others. I even made changes that saved the IT bill $14M in client licences, so yeah they got value from me, didn't make a shit of difference to them at the end of the day.

The issue with the company that I worked for was that the CEO was a total dickhead. The shareholders and board of directors pushed him out with a nice golden shower.. oops mean handshake. I seem to recall he walked with over $20M AU for 7 years work. The only problem was the damage was done, the share price two years ago was about $22 now it's less than $6.

The shareholders demanded action, and rightly so, unfotunately over 400 people so far have lost their jobs.

**Blackbird** · 2nd July 2009, 19:37

Originally Posted by Brian d'marge

I will

I regret, I trusted that woman in Amsterdam ,,,she told me she was clean

Stephen

Dirty canals in Amsterdam are quite common

**Robert Taylor** · 2nd July 2009, 19:44

Originally Posted by GOONR

I worked hard for my company but got booted anyway, along with many many others. I even made changes that saved the IT bill $14M in client licences, so yeah they got value from me, didn't make a shit of difference to them at the end of the day.

The issue with the company that I worked for was that the CEO was a total dickhead. The shareholders and board of directors pushed him out with a nice golden shower.. oops mean handshake. I seem to recall he walked with over $20M AU for 7 years work. The only problem was the damage was done, the share price two years ago was about $22 now it's less than $6.

The shareholders demanded action, and rightly so, unfotunately over 400 people so far have lost their jobs.

Yes that sucks, there are people at the bottom ripping off companies but all of these bonuses/ payoffs for those at the top are mind boggling, no-one deserves that amount of money. Pure greed. ( I am not a socialist but do believe in social justice and fairness )