View Full Version : buying a motorcycle (gas rant + your thoughts please)
Gas rant:
With 87 octane going for $4.19, times are tough. They’re bound to get tougher yet, as the price of gas is certainly bound to reach $5 and maybe beyond before it stabilizes.
At present, I get 11MPG city. Yes, traffic is that bad here. Yes, my maintenance is immaculate. Yes, I’m moving to Upstate NY, where there’s a lot less traffic and most of my miles will be highway. Even then, if Bob98SR5, fuster, slosurfer (hi Chris) MLT or any member here can perform miracles over the web and agrees to grant my truck the holy grail of 4Runner mileage: 22MPG…it’s still not going to be any easier on my wallet, not really. A few dollars here, a few there, it’s a trivial difference when I gas up at the pump. Ok, so, I don’t eat one day a week (Mondays suck anyway), so what.
My issue:
As of July ’08, I’m living off student loans and am therefore on a student loan budget. My apartment is threadbare and I don’t mind at all. I like the Rochester area. I’ll have to drive about a total of 60 miles daily, this being to and from campus. From mid-November to late January, I’ll be working at a Toyota dealership. 120 miles daily. Hopefully full-time. Then again, all summer I’ll be working, same deal. Come Fall, again with the 11 week semester routine. (I’m doing the T-TEN program, if anyone is curious)
This accumulation of miles burns a serious hole in my wallet. I feel ridiculous spending a huge portion of my student loans on gas. I love my truck and it’s great for winter weather…think lake effect snow. Tons of it. But for all the other seasons….
Proposed solution:
I think I’ll buy a motorcycle for commuting. 250cc. Honda Nighthawk/Rebel, Kawasaki Ninja 250, Suzuki GZ250, Yamaha Virago. Maybe a KLR 650. Great gas mileage for all of them, 60+ MPG possible. I ride easy. Insurance will be dirt cheap for me (cheers for USAA). I’m a beginner rider and engine size will be sufficient for me. Spare parts all over the place for them and they’re all pretty reliable machines to begin with.
I’m a responsible driver. I have no points on my license and I’ve never gotten as much as a parking ticket. I drive 55-65 whenever possible. I think racing is great fun and should be kept on the track or similar. I LOVE to drive fast but I think in most highway conditions, or at least the ones that I see around here, it’s pretty unsafe. The motorcycle will be supplemented by a full plethora of leathers. I don’t care how I look and I’m not about do to wheelies or throw it around corners, I’m cautious. I realize I’m still at the mercy of others but from what I’ve seen and from the people I know, most bike accidents happen because people do dumb things intentionally.
I figure I’ll have to cough up money initially, but, it’ll pay off in the long run. It’ll also be cheaper then buying a used Tercel or whatever and paying for repairs on a high-mileage vehicle. Since getting my '96 4Runner with 57k on it last November (67k now) I've had to replace the following: alternator, starter, front sway bar links, rusted out muffler, front 02 sensor, one cracked rim, and last but not least broken door handle. Now, routine stuff since I got it; new tires, new battery, rotors, brake pads, engine gaskets, all new belts and hoses and other small stuff. I also had it undercoated. I'm also sure that there's more that I don't remember. I figure, if I had to do all this on my truck, I'll probably wind up dumping a significant amount of money into a heavily used gas miser as well. I could just buy a brand new motorcycle outright. never mind used.
Any thoughts or suggestions? I think I have it worked out well enough but certainly there are caveats or things I haven't thought of.
EDIT: Should have mentioned two things (thanks scottiac!):
a) I'm 5 foot 9 , weighing in at 180 lbs.
b) freeway vs street: in the area I'm considering, it's relatively easy to stick to the streets/back-roads and make good time/mileage as well. I'll hit the freeway if I can, though.
scottiac
05-26-2008, 08:35 PM
Just a minor consideration about a bike... a 250 is a pretty darn light bike for freeway speeds, depending on your weight. I have a 1983 nighthawk 450 which is no rocket under my 200# carcass. If you are doing mostly city stuff, it's fine though. The KLR was my wish-list bike for a long time. :drool:
4Mogger
05-26-2008, 08:54 PM
I have been riding motorcycles for almost as long as I have been walking. You logic is a little flawed. I figure that I have survived the highway simply because I have not pushed the odds there. The more time you spend on the pavement, the greater your odds of becoming the subject of someone else's mistake. DAILY when I ride on the street, I have someone try to take me out. Too many people drinking their starbucks, talking on the phone, etc. Yes, you need skill to control the bike, but the real skill is in predicting stupid.
You may save money on gas on a bike. But without a great deal of skill (only way to get is by experience) and even more luck, you will likely get yourself hurt...or worse. I ride for fun. I would never ride for NEED...not by choice anyway.
I think you should trade off your 4X4 for a econo car that you would not get bent to make a payment on if you needed to. Supercharged Mini? Something like that. I test drove one and they are fun and easy on gas if you can stay out of the throttle.
You can get a 4x4 again after you graduate. This way you keep your body in one piece and live to wheel another day. And then you too can still enjoy your coffee on your commute.
I still have wrist pain from breaking both wrists when I laid down my Nighthawk 750 at 65mph in 1989. I was just taking a turn too fast and lost it. It gave me all kinds of perspective and changed the way I ride and they way I live. We are mortal. I just found out the hard way.
Just my .02.
Bob98SR5
05-26-2008, 09:00 PM
im in agreement with 4mogger. have 2 friends did what you want to do. have 2 friends who had accidents and/or very near life ending incidents. both sold their bikes.
fustercluck
05-26-2008, 10:11 PM
I'm right there with you relative to modifying behavior to fit within the confines of your budget. I think though, that Mogger has an undeniable point. There is a cost/benefit to erring on caution's side.
This is not to say that you have no other options though. When I was in my early twenties, I had a muscle car with a flush toilet for carburetion. Gas was climbing beyond my stunted pay scale, so I bought a little beater toyota corrola...I think it was a 75. It cost 500.00 It had a two barrel carb and got killer gas mileage. It was not as great as a motorcycle nor as sporty, but I could afford to drive it. In fact, it was ugly as sin and the headliner sagged down to my forehead. You get the point; 500 bones does not a dream buy.
Fortunately, I still had my muscle car for dates and occasional fun....
By the way, when the time came to sell it, I made back my principle plus 200.00. Not bad for a beginner.
4runnerchevy
05-27-2008, 04:53 AM
I think you should trade off your 4X4 for a econo car that you would not get bent to make a payment on if you needed to. Supercharged Mini? Something like that. I test drove one and they are fun and easy on gas if you can stay out of the throttle.
Just my .02.
Well worth .02 cents
hillbilly
05-27-2008, 07:18 AM
I still have wrist pain from breaking both wrists when I laid down my Nighthawk 750 at 65mph in 1989. I was just taking a turn too fast and lost it. It gave me all kinds of perspective and changed the way I ride and they way I live. We are mortal. I just found out the hard way.
I have some experience in this department too, so here's my $.02:
My parents would never let me have a bike (motorcycle). I begged them for a bike. The only answer I ever got was, "You'll get one when you buy it yourself." As a 10 yr old, I worked a paper route and mowed lawns for years hoping to save money for a bike. I got my first "real job" at about 16 as a service/gas station attendant in high school. The first thing I did shortly thereafter... bought a bike. :clap: A nice, slightly used Honda XL 200 from a friend. Great bike and super cheap on insurance and gas. Mom wasn't happy about it, but she kept her word even though she probably never that it would happen.
I traded up to a Honda XL650 (similar to the KLR650) a couple years later, toward the middle of my senior year of high school. Still a great low budget bike for a high school/college guy. I eventually went away to college and left the XL650 at home the first couple years to ride during the summers. I eventually got a job near school at end of my second year of college, so having many years of riding/road experience, I brought the bike down to tool back-n-forth to work.
On a clear, sunny afternoon, a taxi ran a stop sign in front of me. I T-boned the late 80's Chevy Caprice square in the drivers side door at about 40mph, sending me hurling over its roof and crashing to the pavement about 25-30 yards down the street. After tumbling to a stop not one block from my apartment, I only recall people standing over me. I recall seeing the helmet that likely saved my life, broken in the street behind those trying to comfort me till the ambulance arrived. I can recall only small segments of the events immediately after the wreck.
I had road rash all over my elbows, forearms, legs, knees, and the top of my right hand was ripped to open in several places from shattering the drivers door window on impact. There was a large hole at the bottom of my right knee cap. I was strapped to a spine board in agony and unable to comfort any of my pains while being X-ray from head to toe. The pain of a betadine scrub brush in open wounds is indescribable.
Since then, I've had three surgeries on my left wrist/hand to repair a completely fractured Navicular. I've had "permanent screws" implanted, only to have them removed after they failed. About 4-5 years ago I had to have a PRC (http://www.wheelessonline.com/ortho/proximal_row_carpectomy) (Proximal Row Carpectomy) procedure on the same hand after it was discovered the entire bottom row of carpals were broken/dead. I now have 4 few bones in my left hand than my right. The PRC procedure will fail in about 10 years. My only option is a wrist fusion, at which point they'll take a bone graph from my hip and permanently lock my wrist in place.
The summer of my accident, I worked at Calgon Carbon in KY with a guy that lost his long term memory due to injuries suffered after being whipped out by an unsuspected motorist. He literally drove to work everyday, whether he was scheduled to work or not, just so he wouldn't forget how to get to work and back home. He lost all memory of his childhood, his parents, family, and his children's childhood. Ever seen the movie "50 First Dates"?? That was his life. I wish I had seen the writing on the wall a little sooner.
This obviously doesn't happen to everyone that rides a bike, but it does happen. The point is, on a bike you have little to no protection from the several ton vehicles traveling just a few feet away. Someone else's seemingly little mistake, which may have only been a fender bender if another car were involved, can quickly change your life just because you're on a motorcycle.
Motorcycles can definitely be cheaper. But you need to evaluate your driving environment. If its even fairly congested with traffic or in a significantly urban setting, I have to agree with 4Mogger, you might be wise to go the econo car route and save yourself a great deal of trouble.
HTH.
corax
05-27-2008, 08:08 AM
All great advice. Remember too that even on back roads you'll need to watch out for deer and other animals running out in front of you. I've seen too many blood stains on Cali highways to even pull my bike out of the trailer anymore (2 weeks ago I saw a Harley wedged under the front of a buick and some poor guy lying in a pool of his own blood, the stain is still on the highway). If you want fuel economy, buy a Metro, they're inexensive and will at least give you a chance.
Take 12 minutes and watch this video. Riding is fun, but like 4mogger said "I ride for fun. I would never ride for NEED"
http://www.livevideo.com/video/Maxxi/E737D6A3377A4C66A864957B8E39BE3E/requiem-for-a-biker.aspx
hillbilly
05-27-2008, 08:44 AM
Jesus man... a couple of those are like deja'vu. :(
Seanz0rz
05-27-2008, 12:29 PM
hate to jump on the wagon, but i would never ride a motorcycle. ive seen far too many fatal or near fatal accidents on them... its just not worth the savings in gas. get a TDI rabbit or jetta or something of the sort, 50+ mpg, and not a COMPLETE death trap (might want to put a cage in just incase. haha)
tulsa_sr5
05-27-2008, 01:04 PM
Honestly, bike or not I'd first look at finding a way to live a heck of a lot closer to school and work. MPG don't really matter if you have a 1-5 mile commute.
thats true and not true. i live in arlington. i used to work in quincy... about 18 miles, no traffic a half hr, regular commuting traffic was about 40-45 mins or so.
i now work in downtown boston. distance is 9.3 miles (half), no traffic 25 mins, regular commuting traffic to work is about 40 mins, FROM work is easily 50-70 mins....
i still dont eat as much gas as i did when i worked in quincy, but it's damn close and thats for half the distance. stop and go is terrible.
DHC6twinotter
05-27-2008, 02:56 PM
My boss has a steel rod in his leg from a bike accident he had. He still managed to build a 25' fiberglass sail boat while he was in the wheel chair though. :smokin:
I'll probably never own a bike, but a good friend of mine has some sort of 1985 Honda with a shaft drive. It's a pretty awesome little bike that he got for cheap.
I'd probably buy one of those electric cars before a bike if I was just trying to save on gas.
fustercluck
05-27-2008, 04:36 PM
After watching those vid clips I am reminded of the ironic nature of mortality. Life is at once delicate enough to be lost at the slightest misstep yet robust enough to survive the most violent calamities.
I suppose there's no use tempting fate.
I had a 'once-removed' acquaintance who while riding his crotch-rocket, became impatient with the traffic ahead of him on a serpentine two lane road. He moved to pass in an inadvisable location and while only a couple of cars past a string of several, he spotted a dump truck oncoming. he was traveling around 50 and gunned it to pass the rest of the cars having evaluated at a glance that he could thread the needle. He was wrong. The dump truck being fully loaded and traveling too fast as well, could not do more than a token skid as he plowed head first into the grille. Physics is a mother.
Decapitation seems an understatement. He was provided a closed coffin funeral. He was 20.
I think motorcycles are fun. For some, the seemingly limitless power/torque is a narcotic in every sense. They can't get enough and use it inappropriately. The other factor is that others are not mindful of motorcycles' (and bicycles') presence. during an activity where the consequences are severe and permanent, one needs as much control as possible.
2ndGen
05-27-2008, 04:50 PM
plain simple, people who drive cars(trucks, whatever) don't look for bikers. no matter how careful you are trying to avoid them, them cars just won't pay attention to you. i live less than 2 miles from work and i have tried once riding my bicycle to work, i almost got hit twice during that 9 minute ride. i don't ride fast and i always watch.
that was the last time i ride to work.
slosurfer
05-27-2008, 06:17 PM
Hey Nick, how's it going? I'm not going to say anything for or against the motorcycle, as I have no experience with them.
I will say that with some research and crazedlist.org you can come up with a cheap older 4banger of some type that is easy to work on and gets good gas mileage. Who knows you may even be able to find something unique. I basically just did something similar for a work vehicle. The good thing is the insurance will be cheap and you can keep the 4runner.
back in the day, I had a "baby ninja" (ex250) loved that lilthing, was my first "street" bike, i grew up on dirtbikes, it would get up to about 130, soo light, and nimble, got about 50 MPG thats what got me into the racing, lol Ive often thought about getting another one, they are soooo fun. BUT these drivers here in Denver are freaking crazy, non-driving, a holes. lol
YotaFun
05-27-2008, 07:01 PM
You can do a google image search of motorcycle accidents,
and thats enough to scare anyone off a bike.
I remember someone I use to talk to on here or TOF showed me these pictures and that was enough to make me slow down period...(mind you I don't have a bike but if I did it would only be for weekend fun, as a DD it would be to hard with the ever changing weather here)
http://crazymotorcycleaccident.blogspot.com/
im sure if you google 4wheeling/death, you can find some pretty nasty pics of people dieing while 4wheeling. point is, everything can de dangerous even deadly.
bikes are not dangerous, people are.
btw, i got see the real pics from that accedent, that was bad..
YotaFun
05-27-2008, 07:28 PM
btw, i got see the real pics from that accedent, that was bad..
maybe it was you that showed me the pics?
could have been,, my buddies on the FD and PD always sends me the real bad pics, that dont generally make the net, lol.
04 Rocko Taco
05-28-2008, 06:58 AM
btw, i got see the real pics from that accedent, that was bad..
maybe it was you that showed me the pics?
I showed those to you Avy. I still have them saved around here somewhere. I was told to take them down off of TOF back when I was over there.
YotaFun
05-28-2008, 02:03 PM
btw, i got see the real pics from that accedent, that was bad..
maybe it was you that showed me the pics?
I showed those to you Avy. I still have them saved around here somewhere. I was told to take them down off of TOF back when I was over there.
ah okay, really? the other forum made you take them down?
surf4runner
06-02-2008, 03:51 PM
rule #1 on a bike - you ARE invisible to all other drivers on the road!
i put over 100,000 miles on my last bike, 84 honda CB700SC, while living too close to LA, and was hit 2X by left turn drivers.
more close calls than i can remember... they happened daily!
what everybody said is true about accidents, its only a matter of time before some idiot takes you out, and your always able to crash by yourself...DAMN!
my dad worked 25yrs for the FD and has many a gory stories... wasnt enough to stop me though.
knowing what to do WILL save your life. take a rider class if you havent already.
the few times ive driven in east coast big cities (not NY), id be a subway kinda guy.
enjoy the ride!
...they dont call em brain buckets for nothing.
helmet laws suck! loud pipes saves lives!
slosurfer
06-02-2008, 06:28 PM
My brother just bought a Suzuki Burgman 400 (http://www.suzukicycles.com/Products/AN400K8) to commute on. They have a Tundra and an Avalanche, so the gas prices are hitting them hard. I'm not too sure how much it will save them, as his commute is maybe 10 miles round trip.
I just want to bump this and let everyone know I'm not disregarding it, the text in here has really made me think! I've read through this and appreciate the comments tremendously; I haven't had the time to write out replies to everyone just yet, which I'll probably do over the coming weekend. Cheers!
fustercluck
06-02-2008, 09:58 PM
Nick, I thought about you today when the following news story hit the wire:
Motorcyclist killed in collision with deer
June 2nd, 2008 @ 11:49am
Mary Richards and Nicole Gonzales reporting
A man is dead after his motorcycle hit a deer this morning in Salt Lake City.
The accident happened near 1300 east near 1400 South at 5:15 a.m.
Officers say 37-year-old Kenneth Duckworth was wearing a helmet and wasn't speeding.
Salt Lake City police Lt. Gary Young said, "[It] looks like he did attempt to brake, but it was too late. From the impact, they were all in the same general area, meaning he didn't have too much travel after hitting the deer. He was separated from his motorcycle at the point of the impact."
Police say the deer probably jumped into the street and the man didn't have enough reaction time. Salt Lake City police Lt. Rich Brede says, "We have had deer hit vehicles, but when it's a motorcycle you are a little more exposed to the elements."
Duckworth was thrown 20 feet from his motorcycle and landed near a car parked on the side of the road. Both the deer and motorist were killed on impact.
The officer on scene was surprised a deer was down in the valley this late in the year, but the Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) said that's common. Anis Aoude, with the DWR, said, "Deer live in our urban area year-round. They don't migrate. Wherever there's a habitat for them, they can live. All they need is water, food, a place to live, [and] shelter; that's provided here in the urban areas."
It may have been too dark this morning for the motorcyclist to spot the deer ahead of time.
Follow the link to see photos and video http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=3440385
Sad stuff.
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