commuting and all year riding..

[footlong8]

hi, only recently completed my DAS course. Happy days! time to buy a bike (looking at an awesome looking SV650 this wknd ) anyway i digress.

I was hoping to hear peoples experiences of commuting on a bike. I want to commute from my home (near stansted airport) to shoreditch-london, i cant be doing with the train any more , and in theory it should work out a lot cheaper?! (monthly train ticket is £340!) not to mentioned an extra half an hour in bed

im trying to work out my bike buying budget - realistically will i ride all year? 9 months, 6 months. 3 months?!?! summer is coming to an end so how long will i be riding? im just trying to justify a nice bike to myself and the mrs basically!

would be grateful to hear any commuting and bad weather experiences!
cheers!

[olionel]

I guess SV aint bad.. but it has bits of bodywork etc... I reckon look at Fazer 600 (older ones), it can take a lot more abuse (and comes with better engine, better brakes and comfier posture) + it might cost you less when you come off.. you will come off... get a bike that you won't mind dropping and building up more experience on.

Look at Transalps aswell, they are comfy and will work till they drop.
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[Nai]

I am on a 125 and ride all year, snow, rain, wind, and sun. A lot of people put the nice bikes away for the snow / grit season. If you want to ride all year every day, maybe consider buying a cheap scrapped up 125, or be prepared to go in the snow with your SV. Or catch the train for the 20 days a year we get snow. Entirely up to the rider to be honest...

Welcome to commuting in the elements!

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

Keep riding for as long as you feel comfortable. Personally I ride when the weather's half decent regardless of the time of year. Had plenty of great rides on christmas/boxing day.
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[Kris]

[footlong8]

great advice thank you all.

Kris:

the bike would be garaged, and i too start at 8am so would miss the worst part of the traffic. theres a multi story carpark opposite our office which is free for bikes so it would be parked undercover.

in my head i planned on riding february-oct. something like that.

as im so new to riding im starting to think about buying something cheap so i can get used to the whole affair. when the weather turns crap getting back on the train for a few months and then buying myself something nice!

[Rowey]

Kris has summed it up nicely I think.

Just make sure you have the right gear. If you're on a budget, a good set of textiles can last you a fair chunk of the year. Mine are waterproof, have removable linings and air vents and have lasted me five years and counting. In the summer they can get a little hot. But in changing weather they're brilliant and in the winter I can fit enough layers of thermals under them to stay toasty.

Also ACF50 is a must for winter riding. Coat your bike in it (except brakes) before the bad weather kicks in. Then wash it around the christmas break and reapply till spring. It'll keep corrosion at bay better than anything.

Commuting into inner London is interesting. Don't buy a bike you wont want scratched and get some crash protection. Also, while controversial, get a loud exhaust. It may seem obnoxious but I and many others have found that being heard, often means being seen.
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[c_dug]

You seem to have the right idea, riding through the worst of it is possible, but be prepaired to come off, several times if you ride through the snow and ice.

If you plan on doing anything remotely useful within half an hour of getting to work, I suggest heated grips/gloves.

If you've never ridden a bike at 70mph for an hour in negative temperatures before I promise you it will show you a whole new level of cold.

Spring Summer and Autum are a doddle
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[P.addy]

For all weathers and fuel economy I wouldnt recommend an SV650...

Something along the lines of a parallel 500 or il4 400 or 600 would do the job nicely.

I averaged about 40mpg on the SV when I had it.. Im guessing thats about average? I managed 45mpg on the GSXR750 on motorways.. thats with some quick pops every now and then.

All weather riding isnt something I've done since starting on bikes, first bike was my only transport and subjected that to hell with regards to riding in all weather

[footlong8]

please forgive my complete newbie ignorance ...

but can you give an example of an il4 please? SORRY!

[DrDonnyBrago]

Motorbikes in the winter are gay, we use them anyway for various reasons (mine being no car parking at work) but they are still pretty shit.


It is cold so you either spend loads on good gear, heated grips, handlebar muffs etc or man up and tank the cold.

The roads are slippery, ice is a bitch and if you leave early in the morning you WILL come across it somewhere.

The roads are salted which makes shiny parts of your bike go orange and dissolve, ACF50 helps a lot but you can still tell it has been used for a few winters.

In the summer people get used to seeing bikes so are looking for you a tiny bit more, in the winter bikes are rarer so people don't expect to see them, hence don't see them.

It gets dark early, combined with rain, headlight glare and a salty scratched visor tat has fogged up on the inside means you can see precisely feck all. Keeping your visor clean and using a pinlock insert helps a bit.

Snow is a no go zone for most bikes (awaits snow riding heroes).

[DrDonnyBrago]

[P.addy]

[chillyman0]

I personally dont think you can go too far wrong riding in the deepest depths of winter assuming you can afford good gear as said above.

I nailed it last year with gear, kept myself happily warm all winter and most importantly waterproof, get some goretex stuff if you can, especially boots!

SV's are supposed to fail in the rain, dont know how much truth there is in that but its what I have heard!

As others have said, look towards IL4's or parallel twins
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[P.addy]

[chris-red]

I wouldn't expect an SV to take that find of abuse.


Please be aware that that commute will wreck a bike cosmetically and you will have to keep ontop of servicing. I currently work in Shoreditch is the carpark you are talking about the one that has the American car wash on the ground floor? If do be careful, as there is usually soapy water everywhere even on the roads which is slippery.

I ride all year round now barring snow. It's do-able but IMO just not worth it, dropping the bike in the snow is inevitable, journeys take 6 times as long and you freeze your tits off.

I am currently 100% happy with my kit and bike for my commute through winter.

You need decent bike kit to ride through winter, which is expensive but IMO is essential.
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[footlong8]

the car park is the multi story in whites row. not sure about a carwash?

this is all good stuff - seriously re-considering my choices. perhaps a fazer to start with, then in the spring i might try something different.

[BigTobyD]

Honda Deauville is the commuter's friend. Dull as dishwater but a definite commuter. There's a reason why so any couriers use them.
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[P.addy]

[G]

[Ingah]

I think everyone else has covered the bases, but as a "my sole transport is bikes" rider, i felt it can't harm to reiterate certain points.

Firstly, you can safely ride ~11 months+ a year, i.e. Any time there is not a significant risk of ice. Coming off a bike is a very dangerous occurance. And in sub-zero conditions, you're largely taking the ability to prevent it out of your hands, and putting more than a sensible amount in the lap of fate - not clever. I've rode in ice a good handful of times and surprisingly managed to keep it upright, but looking back, very stupid thing to do and i never plan to do it again.

Secondly, as a newbie, you are best to be prepared to fall off. Never accept it as an inevitably, it can almost always be avoided through preventative actions/training/experience, but as a human being learning a new skill, you're very likely to make a mistake at least once, that will result in a bike-road interface. So i recommend you ensure your protective gear is going to provide you with some good abrasion protection and padding, because it'll help you walk away. Also, don't underestimate the value of advanced training! Also, think carefully about your choice of bike - can you afford to drop a shiny faired vehicle (bearing in mind what other posters have already said about winter ruining shiny bikes), when there's plenty of bikes out there that are so much cheaper to fix up after a drop? (another consideration: do you really want to be having to remove all the fairings as well to do the maintenance you'll be doing such a lot of, each and every time?)

That said, i would recommend you get a bike that has a screen / add one on as an aftermarket modification (they're not too expensive), for motorway work.

And yes, definitely consider mpg and servicing costs. Annoyingly though, the more 'fun' bikes tend to be pretty bad on both these counts

IL4 = In-line 4. 4 cylinder engine, cylinders arranged in a line. Like a car engine.
Parallel twin (IL2) = 2 cylinder engine, cylinders arranged in a line.
V-twin = 2 cylinder engine, cylinders arranged in a 'V' shape.
Single = as it says on the tin.

Engine type affects how the bike's engine responds. Crudely and broadly speaking, less cylinders = more low end grunt, less of a steep power delivery as you get towards the red line and IL4 = power that increases rapidly as you get towards the top of the rev range, not so much going on lower down - and generally "smoother" and more expensive to run (4 cylinders = 4 spark plugs, 4 carburettors, etc). Many sportsbikes are IL4's. The "newbie friendly" big bikes like a CB500/ER-5/GS500 etc, are notably parallel twins.
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[Easter Bunny]

[Killer Rat]

my first winter last year i was going sub-zero icy conditions sticking to tyre tracks, only managed to drop the bike once (lowside) on an icy patch with minimal damage.
If your looking to save money rather than pay for heated clothing, i used thermal vest and longjohns,trousers, padded thermal bike trousers, 2 pairs of socks,t-shirt,3 fleeces, bike jacket, bar muffs neckscarf and balaclava, thermal inner gloves and larger outer gloves. It made me look like a right fat bastard and i walked funny like i had been bummed.
Most importantly it kept me going till the snow kicked in and made me purchase a battery charger which will get used a lot in the colder months. Invest in anti-fog spray for your visor and try and make yourself a visorwiper with an old car wiper,stanley knife,cable ties for the rain and mist.

It's a bitch though winter riding, but it's great to show cagers how much of a daredevil/skilled rider/nutjob guy you are
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[yen_powell]

I've been doing the commute you mentioned (practically, Brtaintree, Stansted, Blackwall) nearly every week day since 1997.

As mentioned, usually 11 plus months of the year is rideable safely, this last year was a bad'n though, longest periods of ice/snow I can remember for many years.

Get something that uses the Honda V twin, Deaville, Transalp, Africa Twin etc and ride it into the ground, cos it won't look nice for too long anyway. I've gone through three Africa Twins, and FJ1200 and currently a Varadero.

I used to use heated gloves/vest for about a month of the year, the gloves died and I switched to those two fingered glove things, again only for about a month a year, hand guards help the rest of the year.
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