The economics of commuting

I will be doing about 70km a day next year - is it?

a. cheaper to buy and old piece of shit bike and ride that to and from
work and therefore save the VTR as a fun play bike

b. ride the VTR each day and just wear the cost in terms of km and
tyres, lubes etc.

c. find an old shitter of a car and drive that instead.

Any advice will help.

 

Never under any circumstances should it be C.

 

In aus.motorcycles on Tue, 12 Jul 2005 19:13:12 +1000

Depends on the shitter.

You'll need something cheap to buy, and light on tyres and fuel that
you can service yourself, or is cheap to have someone else to do it.

You will need to do the sums to see if the money you save pays for rego
and the cost of the thing over say 3 years.

So work out what the VTR will do in terms of tyres and fuel, and so how
much per year you will save.

There's also the depreciation on the VTR, if that matters, factor it in.

Me, I bought a commuter because I felt like getting a new bike

Zebee

 

Depends on the journey to work

Two bikes = two regos= waste of money

roughly same with a car except it has the advantage of its raining drive yet
if its a great day and you feel good ride.


but in terms of cheap then just keep the current bike

 

D. You could trade the VTR in on something that will be cheaper to
commute on. Big trailies are easy commuters, but if you've got lots of
freeway a road bike would be more comfortable.

G-S

 

If you're doing 70 clicks a day on the bike, that's to outer suburban,
right? So say half to three-quarters of an hour splitting peak-hour
traffic each day? Freeway travel?
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say for each day you take the
bike, particularly during winter, you're going to have to carry a change
of clothes, spare gloves (two pairs if you need to stop for fuel), and
outer shell wear (for those really drenching piss-down days) at the bare
minimum. You're going to want good lights on the bike, and depending on
just how far out of town you're heading, maybe some auxiliary lighting.
You're travelling a fair distance, so the bike has to be reliable. If
you're in peak-hour traffic you want something that will stop or hunt up
in a hurry.
So in summary I'd say you're looking for a good long-haul commuter bike
with good luggage capacity that doesn't make your arse look big.
Don't get a piece of shit, car *or* bike.

 

Eliminate the ridiculous commute from your life and get a bicycle.

You'll be:
Healthier,
Happier,
Free of traffic stress,
Availed with more time,
Environmentally friendly,
Sustainable.

Failing that, I've got an Aprilia Pegaso which'll suit the job perfectly ;-)

Or
Get used a Hyosung 250 for a couple of grand. About 3.3L/100km I believe.

The depreciation on any decent sport bike used for that kind of commute
will cost you more than it would in a nice(ish) car. Plus VTRs guzzle fuel.

Jules

 

'Cos chances are you'll more than likely get wet on a really wet day if
you're riding the bike. And 'cos you're not going to want to put cold,
wet gloves on after filling the bike with fuel and going in to the nice,
warm servo to pay for it.
- sanbar

 

I wouldn't commute on a VTR, It's a touring bike and will not be suitable
for commuting. A 600 Bandit is a more betterer idea.

YOU did say any advice

 

Failing that smack can give you advice on twins that are more suitable
for commuting... something like a 250 jap twin or a 600 ducati twin,
they make about the same power and use the same fuel... both good for
commuting... (the VTR250 will pull the chicks better though


G-S

 

thought a VTR would be lucky to pull the skin from a custard......

Bry



(Who said the R12ST woz oogly?)

 

Soft. SOFT I TELLS YA! ;^)

Tony F

 

Geeze, some people _really_ know how to make mountains out of molehills!

I commute 80km a day on that paragon of reliability, the Ducati Monster.
Its has stock lighting, I _never_ carry a change of clothes (though I do
keep a dry pair of socks in my filing cabinet at work), I never carry
spare gloves, and I only take the wet weather gear if its raining or
looking like rain when I leave home.

A 35km each way trip is not a polar expedition Sanbar! You _can_ just
get on the bike and ride it you know...

Joe, the VTR will commute just fine, but you _will_ take a beating on
resale price if you do this for long - google up Al Pennykids tale of
woe trying to sell his ~60,000km old VTR. It'll also cost you more in
maintenance than it needs to, if you get a "commuter bike" you can run
less sticky tires and less expensive oil - if you _don't_ get a
dedicated commuter, you'll either wear out your fun "weekend" tires way
too often, or feel obliged to compromise your weekend fun for your
weekday practicality. You may also find that you can get a discount on
your insurance if you don't commute on the VTR (WQBE offered me a 5%
discount if I'd stop commuting on the Monster - for the ~$40/year I'd
save, I'd rather have the option to commute on it if I want - if you're
paying a lot more for insurance than I am it may make more difference)

big

 

X-No-archive: yes

The VTR needs a shaft!
--
Clem
(If you're being honest then buying a 1990 Hyundai Excel (in excellent
nick!) for $2000, spending $1000 on rego, tyres, 3PP insurance etc, racking
up 50,000km and then selling it again for $1900 is gonna' be the way to save
money. [Assuming you have free parking]
....but is that what you really WANT?)

 

Just alter your drug intake... loooooks fiiiine....

Bry

 

I got an old car 94 camry, a new bike 02 cbr600f4i, and a old 250 89 cd250u
spud.

I travel 35k's each way through shit, strait roads, covered in thick fog,
roo's, lots of spilt fruit and road trains. The roads I swear have been hit
by meteors with pot holes you have to camp inside before getting air lifted
out, and bumpy, they have managed to make a flat road bumpy.

I use the car a lot more, it carts shit, it carts the missus, I neglect to
maintain it my self, I just put fuel in it and change the oil, it has a
heater for those -6 4am starts and a air conditioner for those 55 degree
afternoon starts. Having a exotic sports car and cringing doing my 70ks a
day has turned into a test, lets see how many k's I can get out of it till
she blows, 230,000 so far, about 60,000k's a year I put on it since I
brought it. Put tyres on the thing, a full set costs less than a rear tyre,
and rego isnt much compared to a bikes.

But on that note, you own a bike, use the dam thing, its there to be used,

Buy a hack bike, you have 2 regos and loose all that cred by riding some old
cb250 around, and not pulling chicks doing wheelies on a shiny new vtr1000f.

But at the end of the day, why do I drive to work, I wear a uniform I wana
keep clean, dry and ironed, and I park a bike outside my place of work, some
dickheads gona spit/piss/shit/kick/fire bomb it after I give them $22 ticket
for doing something stupid, nowhere to park the thing but right on the
street with everybody else.

When I get the new station, it shall have a secure car park which I may
start riding to work in the warmer months, as there is nothing like checking
that roster to see whos working before riding home.

He's MAD!





From: "Baron Von Rotter" <>
Subject: The economics of commuting
Date: Tuesday, July 12, 2005 7:13 PM

I will be doing about 70km a day next year - is it?

a. cheaper to buy and old piece of shit bike and ride that to and from
work and therefore save the VTR as a fun play bike

b. ride the VTR each day and just wear the cost in terms of km and
tyres, lubes etc.

c. find an old shitter of a car and drive that instead.

Any advice will help.

 

What happened to the Pug?

Hammo

 

In aus.motorcycles on Wed, 13 Jul 2005 11:48:18 +1000

I did the same trip plus 20km every day on a 30yo bike with the standard
30yo headlight.

And a couple of times on the XT hoonbike with no fairing and a headlight
chosen for its looks.

I did carry wets when on the Guzzi cos I had a topbox and so I could.
Didn't bother with spare clothing.

Yeah,. sometimes you get wet, sometimes the 30yo neglected bike feels a
bit hard done by and something stops working so you have to sit by the
side of the road witha torch and the toolkit and fix it or bodge it.

So?

Zebee

 

where is BT when you need him

get a GPX

excellent fuel economy and fuel range
centre stand
cheap to service
plenty around and last a long time