I need a bit of help

[Liamd24]

Hey everyone
I'm looking at getting a bike for summer
Are they cheaper than cars? Bearing in mind that I haven't started driving lessons so whether I choose a car or a bike I'm going to be starting at the beginning

[arry]

Bit of an open ended question, but in the majority of situations - yes. Especially if you happen to be young, where insurance will be significantly cheaper for a bike than a car

[Liamd24]

[Rogerborg]

InB4Tef.

If you stick to smaller bikes and do your own servicing, then yes.

125s can return in excess of 100mpg, but you do need to factor in that they go through tyres, sprockets, chains, plugs and oil much faster than cars. However, the parts don't cost that much, it's garage time that eats the money. If you're handy with a spanner, you're laughing.

The equation shifts as you get bigger and thirstier and onto fatter rubber.

But sod it, they're absolutely ace fun, and that doesn't count for nowt.

What kind you can ride is really down to your age and therefore what sort of license you can get. Care to share?
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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

[arry]

[Liamd24]

[HJM]

CBT = £100 - This allows you to ride a 125cc bike, which i'm assuming will be enough for what you want, and will keep costs down.

Bike - £1000 -You can pick up a commuter style 125 for around a grand, YBR125's, CG125's ect.

Insurance - £300 -Depends were you live, but im a year younger and live in London so no doubt yours will be cheaper. Insurance will go up if you want a sporty/enduro style bike, but you already said you want plain jane so that's no worries.

Gear - £50......£200 -You are only legally obliged to wear a helmet, and with helmets its all about fit. Helmets range from £50-£400. A £50 helmet will protect your head as good as a £400 helmet but wont have nice 'mod-cons' like reduce wind-noise, lighter helmet ect. Now you can pick up a full set of gear for £200, including the helmet. Don't waste silly cash on big brands, there are plenty of bargins to be had on EBay, lots of 'worn once, but gave up biking' gear. (the only thing you don't buy second hand is a helmet)


Annnnd that's it. You can spend more on gear and a bike but that's purely up to you, and your financial situation.



And welcome to BCF!
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"90% of all statistics are made up"

CBT-18/04/2013

[CG Sam]

If you get lucky with a decent bike at the right price you can do it much cheaper, I got the lot (CBT, bike, insurance, gear) for less than it'd cost me just to insure a car!
But really, do it just cause you want to try it and cause its great fun! You don't need to justify it with cost etc!

Getting my CBT and a bike is the best decision I've ever made, I just keep riding constantly!
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CG125, SV650S, CBR600F, GSXR600 SRAD

[Teflon-Mike]

I could buy a cheap hatch-back for about £300, or less. And running costs are likely to be pennies. I work on bangernomics, and haven't paid for a 'run-about' car in err... ten years! And just chuck-em away when they need work! Insurance for old fart like me tends to be pretty cheap too, and all up, per mile, I pay bugger all for car miles, compared to quite a bit for bike ones!

Insurance is probably the more significant difference for a younger driver/rider, but, the start-up overheads of biking are steep, and although 100mph+ from a 125 sounds enticing, fuel savings may not go as far as anticipated.

Car:- £30 for Theory, £90 for Driving test, after perhaps two £99 courses of driving lessons in driving school car. Job done... get cheap banger, pay the insurance monthly.

Bike: £100 for CBT, Then go get kit; and budget maybe as much as a cheap car for helmet and riding gear, say £250. You may not bother with riding lessons, so could save a couple of hundred there, but you are 20, and if you want to keep on biking, you will either have to do tests at some point, or repeat the CBT in two years time.... there's your Lesson money gone. Bike? Cheap 125, budget at least a grand for something worth having, and then up to you if you go for 125 licence, paying £10 for Theory, £15 for Mod 1 & £75 for Mod 2. Saves having to repeat CBT, but you could do some training and use school bike to do A2 45bhp licence... but probably £500 worth. Same as waiting till you are 24 and doing DAS course for a full unrestricted ride what you like licence.

Day to day running costs of a 'tiddler' tend not to be too high; and 90-100mph is quite common; but they are low performance machines, and not enormousely more 'useful' for getting about than a push-bike. You ent going to carry much luggage, many mates or go on too many long journeys on one.... unlike a car.

Car is a different kind of vehicle, its capabilities are very different, and there is over-lap in get to work commuting and general getting about, but the bike only saves money by not being able to do as much as a car can vis general transport and loggage carrying.

And while tiddlers up to perhaps 250cc can be reletively cheap to run, after the set up costs have been recouped, kit still needs maintaining, and hidden costs can be quite significant, and on anything much over 500cc, or with more performance than the 100mph ish commuter twins, running costs can be as much or more than an ecconomy car.... performance has a price; and a 600cc sportsbike, that can out accelerate a super car and reach 150+mph is NOT going to be cheap to run.

Its ALL reletive.

And there has to be more atraction to biking than just £-Signs, or you wont hack the crap stuff, like miopic car drivers out to kill you at every corner, diesel strewn roundabouts threatening to dump you on your arse at every turn, rain that feels like you are being attacked by a hundred sycopathic acupuncturists when you ride into it at 60mph, frozen fingers in the cold weather with withering plum testicles to boot, sitting in the inevitble puddle inside your decidedly un-water-proof trousers, and a million other inconveniences, discomforts, terrors or life threatening hazards!

You REALLY have to be pretty stupid to want to ride a motorbike, AND have some enthusiasm, coupled with a perverse masocistic streak, to find it 'Fun'.....

Really.

You do!

Yes... we ARE all mad.

No sane person would do this.
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My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[FireStorm-X]

Fun Fun and more Fun not looked back over the last 11 months of owning a bike, but I do feel like crying every time I take my car to go fill up and I only use it for shopping and taking my Duaghter to horse riding once a week, but it still uses the same amount of petrol in a weekend as my bike uses all week to get me to work and back and don't even ask about how much the insurance costs so it can sit on my drive 99% of the week not being used roll on Big Bike and Duaghter on the back then I can get rid of the most expensive garden ornament I have it would be cheaper to take her to her hores riding by taxi ? Hum that is a even better idear lol.

Car insurance £860 per year
Motorbike insurance £90 per year

Car fuel (going to work) £50 per week
Motorbike fuel (going to work) £8 per week

Car tax dam forgot how much but approx £160 per year
Motorbike tax £17 per year

Saving with bike only per year approx £2800 to £3000 over just running a car. That is for me, time to dump the car at the end of the month lol.
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Lexmoto Street 125 (sold) - Kawasaki ZR7S

[Liamd24]

Thanks guys you've all been helpful

[Liamd24]

Hey guys
I think I'm going to book my CBT soon but won't have enough for a bike straight away should I wait untill I have enough for a bike ?
Iv also found an old Honda for around £500 and the insurance would be £68 a month

[J.M.]

[Liamd24]

[Digsey]

if you want to ferry your mates around and be warm in the winter buy a car, if you want a sense of speed (thrills) bikes the way to go. just don't plan to start a family or it will be the first thing to go. good luck.

[J.M.]

At 17 I insured my 125 for around £300-400, with the provisional license. Try playing around with some factors, that seems ludicrously high unless you're living somewhere seriously high risk?
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2004 R1 & 2018 XSR900

[Liamd24]

[J.M.]

Try quoting different bikes. Some are more expensive than others! Also try messing around with security and where the bike is stored.
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2004 R1 & 2018 XSR900

[Liamd24]

[Digsey]

how much you choose to pay in the event of a crash. your excess will be 100? then volountary 200? = 300 if you crash it this is what you pay towards it being repaired etc.

[Liamd24]

[Liamd24]

I put it down as a 1988 Honda cg
Locked in a garage with 2 other secure things
£200 voluntery
On third party (not sure what that means) it came to £463

[Ayrton]

[J.M.]

[Liamd24]