startup cost

Whats the cost/hassle of owning a bike?
Including training, gettting licence etc
What condition of bike would I expect to get for around £1000?
I need a low cost way of getting to work (thats the excuse im giving my
wife), I'm a 35 year old ex farmer who has just moved into town and got a
job about 3.5 miles the other side of town.
I started riding bikes on the farm when I was 14 (175cc Yamahas of which I
removed the seat and sat on the air filter/intake so my feet could touch the
ground) but moved onto quads when they came in so have had a bit of
experience riding but not for a while.
What condition of bike would I expect to get for around £1000?
I'd be looking at a cheap 125-200cc to start with.
Any opinions/sugestions (clean ones) gratefully recieved.

Drew

 

As much or little as you're prepared to pay.

£500 to get full licence.
£500 on leathers, gloves, lid, boots.

Depends on age and size.

Get a pushbike.

Nothing like riding on roads then..

Depends on age and size

Quite a good one then.

get a push bike.

 

Drew wrote

Kin loads. About 250 as the low end for last season's waterproof kit
with armour.

You are old enough that insurance will not be too much of an issue on a
small bike but it varies from day to day and with your individual
circumstances. 'Course it is the 30 somethings who have been dying in
large numbers over recent years so that might affect you more than
others.

What are these?

You can expect to get a nice tidy little CG125 for that money.

 

Pretty poor.

Bicycle. Seriously.

 

If you want a full, unrestricted license, then it's going to cost lots.

However, you could do CBT (£50-£100-ish) and ride around on a 125 on
L-plates for a couple of years, then do your test.

If you'd be happy with a 125, then you'd get something almost brand new.

Even smaller capacity commuter bikes will be pretty tidy at that kind of
money.

As others have said, pushbike.

However, if you're a bit of a lazy fucker like me, then a 125 is the
best option.

If I were you....

Buy a 125 (should get something nice for £500), do your CBT and ride it
for a while. Then take your test, once passed, sell the 125 and buy
something like an MZ ETZ251/301. This will cost you about what your 125
will sell for.

Don't forget to set aside some cash for bike gear - when I started out
on bikes, I picked up a cheap FM lid (£30-£50), textile armoured jacket,
lined waterproof trousers and wore para boots. Total cost of all the
gear was around £200. You won't need anything more expensive for
commuting on a 125.

 

Pushbike not an option due to knackered knee.

Drew

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, SteveH said:

And for Christ's sake don't forget some decent gloves. It's amazing what
you can't do when you've skinned your palms!

 

With a commuting distance of 3.5 miles, a pushbike is by far the best
option (unless you are a keen jogger). You'd get there in about the
time that it would take to put on and take off your motorbike gear,
unlock your bike, check it and start it up, etc. And it would be far
cheaper too.

 

Hmmm thanks, prety much a bit of both, I need a way of getting to work and
as you say cycling is pretty suicidal these days but due to my knackered
knee thats not an option anyway, I used to Motobike over to a friends house
regularly (on a Honda CR125, wearing jeans, wellies, no helmet) which was a
3 miles down a single lane tarmac road and enjoyed even that short ride
tremedously untill the local plod turned up at the door and told me to stop
it :-(
I went into three bike shops yesterday to enquire about the practicality of
motorbikeing and it seemed to be a bit of a joke that someone of my age
wanted to get a motorbike, between that and some of the comments on here I'm
pretty disheartened by the whole idea.

Drew

 

A. there are 3 roundabouts to negotiate en route (one on a duel carageway)
B. My left knee is knackered due to bieng kicked by a bull, if i press down
hard enough (like on a cycle peddle) it dislocates.

 

That would be because you fall into the statistical group known as
"Born Again Bikers".

This group tend to be 35+, either not ridden before or ridden a long
time ago and buying a quick bike.

They tend to die with frightening regularity apparently.

Sounds like a small commuter 125 is your best bet if you really can't
cycle. Personally, at 3 miles I'd be walking it.

 

Ben wrote

Oi, I resemble that remark (except the bit about buying a quick bike(and
regularly dying))

<snip>

Seriously though, a quick bike with no experience is a no brainer (IMHO).

--
Dan L (Oldbloke)
My Bike 2000 Honda CB500
M'boy's Bike 1990 Suzuki TS50X

BOTAFOT #140, DIAABTCOD #26

 

Also heard the term "mid life crisis" in one of the bike shops I went into,
looks like i'll be buying a decent pair of walking boots and a reflective
jacket to help get across the duel carrigeway at rush hour.If I survive long
enough I'll get a pair of slippers and a flat cap as befits my obvious old
age.
Oh deep fu**ing joy.

Drew

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, Drew said:

Were these comments actually directed at you? If you're being put of by
a few (could you be paranoid) comments like that, then it would suggest
you're not really up to it IMHO.

That's up to you, mate. If it's really what you want, you'll do it
anyway, no matter what anyone says.

Indeed

 

Thanks, some encouregment at last, the dealers didnt take the piss directly,
it was more the knowing looks and rolling eyeballs, they did say i might
find it difficult to get insurance due to "mid life crisis syndrome" ie
someone my age jumping on a fireblade, Z1 or whatever and spreading
themselves along a length of tarmac within a week, however I hate sports
bikes, bloody uncomftable (spelling?) and I want to live a bit longer.

Drew

 

I'm sorry, but I'm shocked at how many people have told you to walk or get a
pushbike. We're not much of a group of bikers if we can't sell the idea of
riding a motorbike to somebody who actually wants to, FFS.

OK, most important thing first ... DO IT! Biking is fucking great. You've
said you used to enjoy it when you were younger and messing about on farm
tracks and stuff. We'll it's going to be much better when you are all
licensed and legal and haven't got to hide from coppers.

If money is an issue then buy a shite old 125 for a couple of hundred notes,
spend a couple of hundred more getting good boots, gloves and a lid. A
leather jacket is nice, because they're reasonably wind-proof and a little
bit water-proof, although a good Barbour jacket (they're standard issue for
farmers, aren't they) will probably do while you're getting started.
Leather jeans will save you from the iodine and the scrubbing brush, but
like a leather jacket they won't do bugger all if you hit something solid.

Armoured gear is obviously worth having if you've get the cash, but you'll
look a tit on a 125 wearing an armoured 1-piece suit

Keep an eye on e-bay and you might find all or some of the above knocking
around for reasonable prices.

A basic CBT will get you road legal on a 125 and shouldn't set you back more
than a ton, especially if you're using your own bike. That gives you two
years to sort yourself out with either a light motorcycle licence (lets you
ride a 125 without L plates, with a pillion and use motorways ... all three
at once if you're man enough for it), a standard licence (33hp restriction
for 2 years) or a DAS licence (the world is your oyster).

If you're looking at the ~£1000 end of the bike market you're probably much
better off buying from a private seller than a dealer. Be sure to take
along someone who knows something about bikes or you're going to end up with
a heap of shite. If you're not bothered about having the latest, flashiest,
fastest bike on the road then there should be a load around in that price
range that will suit you down to the ground.

The important caveats are:
o You will almost certainly drop your bike at some point, even if it is
only something crap like doing a 3mph U-turn in a car park.
o You will almost certainly become addicted and 3 miles a day commute with
<15hp will not be enough. Prepare to sacrifice your money, time and sanity.
o As others have said _you_ might get killed doing it, but then you might
get hit by a cigarette lorry as you run across the road to buy a bus. It's
one of them life things.

Go for it and the best of luck to you, sir.


--
AndrewR, D.Bot (Celeritas)
Kawasaki ZX-6R J1
BOTAFOT#2,ITJWTFO#6,UKRMRM#1/13a,MCT#1,DFV#2,SKoGA#0 (and KotL)
BotToS#5,SBS#25,IbW#34, TEAR#3 (and KotL), DS#5, COSOC#9, KotTFSTR#
The speccy Geordie twat.

 

On Thu, 4 Mar 2004 20:57:18 -0000, "AndrewR"

Unless you're speeding or pulling wheelies.

Take a look at http://www.begin-motorcycling.co.uk/ which sets out the
options step by step and gives details of training schools in your
area.

<round of applause>

 

Thanks AndrewR

I was pretty surprised with the reaction my OP got, with hindsite I should
have said I was a 17 year old desperate to to get into biking

So a CBT will allow me to ride a 125, I looked on the DVLA site and it
wasn't clear what you needed to ride what, again it seemed to asume all new
riders are 17 yo.
Around here (West Scotland) if a farmer wore a Barbour he'd get laughed at
worse than a "newbie" in a motorbike newsgroup

Drew

 

3 points.

1) Biking is not as cheap as you might think. My commuting costs on a
CG125 with insurance, maintenance etc. are more than I would spend to
travel by bus, and about half the cost of running a Shite Old Cage of
the small family hatchback variety.

2) Biking is addictive. If most people here are anything to go by,
after 6 months you will want a bigger bike, and to do a lot more
riding than 7 miles a day. And a bigger bike can easily be more
expensive to run than a cage.

3) You need a thick skin to ride a bike. Don't be so easily put off.

4) Go for it!

5) No-one expects the Spanish Inquisition.

 

Just get yourself an old 125. Unless you're very big or very heavy, then
a CG125 <makes sign of the holy pushrods> is an ideal starter bike. They
run forever with minimal maintenance, and return frankly silly mpg.

As AndrewR says, you'll get hopelessly addicted, and end up on something
much, much bigger before you know it.