Commuting - per mile

[Ingah]

Note that i have put this thread on another forum too (in case anyone thinks they're getting deja vu):

My girlfriend has suggested i move in with her family again for my next (last) year of university as i've been struggling with the finances of living at university, messy housemates, and paying city rent etc (and don't want to spend too long doing paid work in my 3rd year). Having lived with her and her lot before, for over a year, and coming back to stay with them every holiday since i've been in uni etc (they seem to like me), it's not like it's taking a big chance or anything. I've been with her for over 4 years. I really want to take her up on the offer (shh don't tell her, she still thinks she's got to be on best behaviour ).

Anyway, that's not what this thread is about per se. This thread is about money! (i'm trying to work out how much i might save, or even if i could lose out, as it's going to cost me plenty of extra commuting time at the very least).

Basically, i have 2 real options - rent or commute:
1) Do what i did this year, pay out £225+ a month in rent, along with bills and everything else. Let's call it £300 before food, and i eat a hell of a lot.
2) Stay with her lot. Offer her mum moneys every week to help pay for the extra power, food etc i cost them. Commute to university on my CB500, and fix up my CG for use as a backup vehicle, much as i detest how irritatingly slow it is. However, this is about 25 miles each way. Every day i go in.
A gallon of petrol a day at my current 50mpg (i'll be working on it, but i'm not going to assume i'll be able to improve it).
I worked out i'm likely to be in uni about 130 days a year. So 130 gallons of petrol = shy of £900. Why so much? Because i'm assuming petrol is £1.50/L. One thing i do have on my side though, is that i can do most labour to the bikes by myself (lots of practise on my CB500!)
It will also save me making a journey to come visit her once a week or so, but that's irrelevant really.

Of course, petrol (£900) is one cost. It's a total of 6500 miles (130 * 50).
Tyres are 2p/mile (£130 for 6500 miles).
No extra costs for oil and filter (every 8K or once a year).
Chain and sprocket wear (maybe £60 worth - assuming £100 per set and that i'll get a mere 10K per set).
So far maybe £1100 of extra costs (equivalent to less than half of the extra rent i'd have to pay, but quite a significant sum nonetheless)
What else do i need to take into account (as so far it actually looks it's not going to cost much more in the servicing, tax or insurance department...)?

Another question on my mind - how much would i save by going for a smaller bike like a CB250, or even trying to force myself to use the underpowered CG? (is it worth it? - as it could cut a chunk off that fuel bill, and i need minimum 2 bikes anyway for reliability reasons). Maybe there's another bike that would be nice and cheap on the petrol etc, like the CG, but not so slow! (am hoping for a suggestion or two if anyone has anything in mind) If i remember correctly, small bikes parts, tyres, etc don't last nearly so long... (but are cheaper).
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-- Ingah

[blurredman]

Train?
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CBT: 12/06/10, Theory: 22/09/10, Module 1: 09/11/10, Module 2: 19/01/11
Past: 1991 Honda CG125BR-J, 1992 (1980) Honda XL125S, 1996 Kawasaki GPZ500S, 1979 MZ TS150.
Current: 1973 MZ ES250/2 - 18k, 1979 Suzuki TS185ER - 10k, 1981 Honda CX500B - 91k, 1987 MZ ETZ250 (295cc) - 40k, 1989 MZ ETZ251 - 51k.

[nokiakeys]

I would say use the cg for commuting to uni, you will save a shit load on fuel. At least you still have 2 bikes available for yourself.

Remeber fuel and all that crap is going up... and as your in uni i think you will feel it.
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CBT: 04/2010 -> Theory: 09/2010 -> MOD1 & 2: 10/2010 (That's right baby, both on same day)
Honda CBF125 -> Honda CB600FS

[Ingah]

[Glenben92]

25 miles each way is nothing, use the CG. I commute 11 miles each way to college and fuel costs me £5/£6 a week. (probably 7 now that the government have bent me over and fisted me)

You're assuming very high prices for the servicing and wear and tear costs though.... are you sure you wanna move in with them? coz you sound like you're trying to convince yourself it's a bad idea.
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57 Huoniao HN125-8 - , 97 Kawasaki GPZ500S -
99 Yamaha FZS 600 -
Mod 2 Passed - 01/10/2010

[neil.]

I'd use the CG and even SORN the CB500 if you really want to penny pinch. £15 tax for the year, insurance possibly cheaper if you have held a full license for a while (from my experience with the YBR). You can get a new set of tyres for £70 or so and get 8'000 miles out of them. Servicing a CG is very cheap, quicker than the CB500 and easier (if you are doing it yourself). 25 miles each way is no sweat (my commute is 30 each way and I've put 35'000 miles on this 125). You should get 15'000 miles at least from a chain and sprocket set on a CG, providing you clean/lube it often and don't neglect. These 125's are a Jewish biker's wet dream come true.

[N cee thirty]

cba reading all that

but used to commute 30 miles each way on my cg before it died from old age and only had to fill up the tank once a week
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'00 Aprilia RS50 > '92 Honda CG > '99 Yamaha Fazer > '91 Yamaha RXS > '79 Suzuki X5 > 01' Honda Cg > 07' Honda Cg > 82' Kawasaki Z200 > suzuki gsxr 400 gk73a > honda vfr 400 NC30 Mod 2 Passed 09/06/2011

Jewlio Iglesias wrote: I actually did vote BNP once

[Mark65]

Hi
neil. is right there, use the cg, atm it costs me £7.50 a week to do 173 miles, about 6litres, i have a 13 litre tank, , so i have about 7l n reserve lol. You will easily do the commute on it, and maintanance and services will be piss easy.

Mark
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07 Yamaha YBR125, 07 Honda CG125 , 15 CBR300R (Chocolate Crank, Deaded), 16 CB500FA, 19 Honda Forza 300, 70 Suzuki SV650

[ncrn]

Last year I was commuting 90 miles (total) a day for work while I was on a placement at university. It cost me about £7 a day in fuel if I was careful about how I rode, as it was all motorway it helped a bit on fuel I think.

The best advice I can give you is to keep on top of maintenance on your bike so you can spot developing problems early and rectify them before they become a big issue that may stop you getting to university one day. The biggest thing is to keep your chain lubricated, its amazing how quickly a chain can go bad. I've managed something near 15k miles on my current chain, it is shagged at this point, but my previous chain only lasted me about 8 because I didn't look after it.

Also make sure you have decent break down cover or a useful toolkit under the seat (preferably both). I remember one day my side stand switch failed as I was on the motorway which meant the engine wouldn't run with the clutch engaged. If I had the right screw driver with me and some pliers I could have fixed/bodged it at the roadside, but as I didn't I needed to call the break down company to come rescue me.

Oh and one more thing try find a petrol station with pay at the pump if you have to fill up a lot, you'll be surprised how much of your life you recover if you don't have to queue all the time for fuel.
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Past: 55 Sym Jet, 91 ZZR250, 03 NSR125R. Present: 97 ER-5.
https://www.nsr125.co.uk - NSR Owners forum.

[G]

Or he could just commit suicide now and save the protracted process of riding the CG that will lead up to it anyway .

In the last few months I've been mixing up a c90 and GSXR1000 for getting around town on. While the c90 will do the speed limit for anywhere I've used it on (apart from when I had to go down the A43 , but that's another matter) I still it pretty frustrating.

Think the CB250 is worth a shot. Of course another thing is to practice 'good' riding practices - gentle acceleration, least use of brakes etc - but then that's no fun .

The GPZ500 is generally considered to do better than 50mpg, but doubt it's worth swapping. The BMW F650 is supposed to get pretty good fuel economy and has 6k service intervals too I believe. Pretty dull, but not as much as a CG (certainly wheelies easier ).

[Irezumi aka Reuben]

Youre trying to save money so are considering buying a new bike, and already keeping two?

Get rid of one, I'd keep the CB 500 as fuel wont be that much cheaper (maybe a fiver a week?) and it's a lot more practical should you need to use it for other journeys. Or break both and sell them and buy a bike which doesnt have reliability issues.

Also, where are you commuting to/from roughly? I go across London and my 16 mile each way commute still takes 40-45 minutes. So factor in youve easily lost 2 hours in a day with messing about unlocking/locking bikes, changing in/out of bike gear, getting petrol etc.
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Pictorgraphicalfantastical

[Paxovasa]

Remember you will need to add commuting to your insurance.

I would also get breakdown recovery. (unless you have a friend or family member that can recover you and the bike if something happens).

I would keep the CB500 but try and use the CG the most.
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Suzuki GSF600 K3 (in the fastest colour, black).

[Kris]

[Rogerborg]

You need to take in account what kind of access you're getting with this deal. Can you pop in and out whenever you feel like it? Do you get to use the back door?

Eh, bikes. If money is an issue, you already know that you should be SORNing or selling the CB before it costs you more money, and using the CG until something expensive drop off, then sell or break it and buy another 125 hack.

What you want is for someone to tell you that it's fine to keep both of them, maybe even buy another bike for double-redundancy. It's OK, you can be honest: we're all bikers here.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Nick__C]

could always sell me the cb, would sort my kwakker restriction problem
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'02 GS 500.

[Ingah]

For all those saying to use the CG exclusively, i understand where you're coming from, but i think only G has fully understood where i'm coming from:

[Moo.]

Tbh.. my cb250n only does about 50mpg anyway.. think the nighthawk and the rs are a little better.. But cant see much point when you have the cg
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A2 Passed 18/6/10

[Nick__C]

haha searching for a kwakker restrictor a better bet then?
Wish you the best of luck with which ever route you take mate
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'02 GS 500.

[Ingah]

[bacon]

[G]

[Rogerborg]

Your rating is valid.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Clanger]

My work pay me .33p per mile (which is quite low) but if I drive slow enough, works out that I make a little on it. I don't know if this helps your estimations of cost.
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind - Dr. Seuss

[mrr1]