Car or Bike - Unsure - Need help!

[tvchimp]

Hallo.


Basically, I sold my 125 back in March as I started a new job which was <2miles from my house, decided I should start walking as I needed some exercise and needed a bit of cash for things and that was the only logical thing I could get rid of..

I'm getting the bug for a motorbike, not just for work (which I'm more than happy to continue to walk to/from) but for visiting relatives and such. I was going to look at getting a car after February (I have a loan, which payments will finish in February, meaning I'll be £250 a month better off!) but, recently did some insurance quotings on car's ranging from every spectrum I could think of (<1ltr-1.9ltr Diesel, old-new etc etc) and even on something like a 900cc smart car or a 1ltr fiat shittychenko my insurance would be in the range of £2400!! Fucking unreal amount of money when I would spend no more than £1300 on my first car, not to mention I'm 24 and hardly a 'boy racer' type. I wouldn't even be fussed if it had hub-cap wheels and a cassette player

I still dont have my bike license, and I was thinking along the lines of doing it, and getting a 600-750cc bike (naked most likely) for the odd sunny day and travelling to see my sister and such. I did again, a few insurance quotes (same exact details as the car, license <1yr, no ncb, etc etc) and I found that insuring myself on a Hornet 600 costing me £1500 with £300 worth of accesories (say a fancy stubby, or renthal bars) would cost me £500 to insure fully comp. FULLY COMP!!!

Part of my dilemma is apart from the obvious "Get a Motorbike, you'll save tonnes of money!" I hated riding in wet weather (probably due to rubbish tyres), and I could never take any of my friends with me anywhere, The only person I know at the minute is my old man who rides, and now it's not very often due to him wanting to get rid of his Ninja in replacement for a Pan European and also that he works odd hours so doesn't have the time/daylight to get out for a ride properly.

So...Do I save and get a car, or do I jump in the deep-end and get my motorbike license and stop being a bitch about it?..

I know it seem's like a simple thing to do (pick A or B basically) but I feel like I'm going to regret not getting a car (although I could get my license and insure myself as a named driver on my folks/brothers car if I ever needed to borrow or use one for anything?) .. Am I missing something? or is it really that simple?

Has anyone just got a bike license and ever regret not getting their car license?.. Or do you have both, but only own a bike and borrow other peoples cars when you need to?.. my head hurts
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Bike: Currently Bikeless... Gahh

[bikertomm]

I am in a very very similar situation to you. I have car licence and pretty much everyday this goes through my head...

I'll get a car through the winter

Oh yeah but insurance is fucking ridiculous.

I'll do my bike test.

Rain Ice & gay.

Repeat.

haha, interested to see replies.
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07' Honda Hornet now full powaah! My guide on performing an oil change!

[st3v3]

I got a moped, did my car licence and didn't buy a car for a few years, borrowed a few because it kept costs down.

Did I mention this on my insurance for the NCB? Na, never used 'em long enough. Did my bike test before the big change and by chance just needed a car for work and taking people so bought the Pug and off I went.

Bike test cost me 350, all in, first lesson to pass within 2 weeks. Car test about triple cost, I had the dearest instructor around and straddled lessons over about year and a half.


I'd say do the bike test, use a dirt cheap dog of a hack then get a car, that way you have the licences should you require them and it's a case of buying a set of wheels and setting off.
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Roger wrote: Women don't get damp for clingy puppies. Get some better happy pills, hit the gym & buy a medallion the size of a dinner plate. Job done

[DrDonnyBrago]

You don't NEED either, you don't need them for work just for seeing mates etc so you dont NEED to ride in the ice and snow to make ends meet.

As such in your position I would do your bike test so that you have it done and ride a cheap 500 twin for a while, your needs seem to extend as far as something to get you from A-B on the odd occasion in which case forking out £2k on car insurance is a bit insane. Cars are a damn site more practical, you can take passengers (pillion is not the same - need a lid, gear and lots of people wont go on the back of a bike), lots of luggage, they are more comfortable, warmer, safer etc etc. Insurance aside, most 600s will be more expensive to run than a cheap car because consumable are so much more expensive. Do your car test with the difference in money between running and buying a 500 twin and the 600 you were going to get.


I use my bike to commute all year and it is really shit. We do it for various reasons (parking in my case but also traffic, congestion charges, only transport etc) but truth be told I would rather use the car for the commute no contest, especially in winter. I envy those that have bikes they only use in the summer.


However do consider that you are more likely to get laid if you have a car to drive the tits'n'ass around in.

[FirebladeRuss]

I've got both, but despite having said "I'll use the car in the winter", the reality is the traffic sucks a nut so I'd rather use the bike whenever possible.

Not only is the cost of the bike running significantly cheaper, but I don't like getting the car dirty!

Crude annual cost analysis:

Car
Tax £260
Fuel @ £60 a week = £3120
Insurance £800 (bound to go up in November)
Service £200

£4,380 total

Bike
Tax £16
Fuel @ £10 a week = £520
Insurance = £110
Service = £15

£661 Total


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Twitter is for people who can't STFU even when they're by themselves

[iooi]

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

[Bendy]

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

[DrDonnyBrago]

[FirebladeRuss]

My car tyres won't last 25-30k! More like 10-15k and cost £120 each - guess it depends on car and driving style though.
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Twitter is for people who can't STFU even when they're by themselves

[Kickstart]

Hi

I would also say that normal cars are cheap to run compared to a sports 600. Tyres, less frequent oil changes, general parts, brake pads / disks, exhausts, air filters, plugs, etc are all cheap on a car compared to a bike, and the car doesn't have a chain that needs to be replaced and doesn't fall over if nudged in a parking spot. And a car will have a far longer life expectancy than a bike (100k bike is a high mileage rarity, 100k car is pretty much the least to be expected)

Sure the bike is likely to be cheaper on petrol, but that doesn't make that much difference (do 9000 miles in a year and the difference between a 45mpg bike and a 30mpg car is about £600).

The killer with cars for some people at the moment is insurance.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

[FirebladeRuss]

Bloody hell.

If it cost me more to run my bike than a car, I'd take the car thanks and put up with getting stuck in traffic a bit.

Fast, fun, warm, comfortable, music, no specific clothing required to drive it.

I'm not implying I don't like riding my bike, because I do - but the fact it's a lot cheaper makes it even better.

I'd like to know what car's you guys with 600's are saying are cheaper to run and insure than your bikes? 1990 Fiesta's or something?!
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Twitter is for people who can't STFU even when they're by themselves

[Paxovasa]

Do your bike test and get a cheap bike.

As you only live 2 miles from work you don't need to use the bike to commute and so you can only ride it on good days.
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Suzuki GSF600 K3 (in the fastest colour, black).

[Kickstart]

Hi

Old Alfa 156. Cost £1k. Now done 145k miles. Used a set of tyres, couple of brake disks, a power steering pump pipe, a MAF sensor, radiator switch and a couple of upper suspension arms as non service bits in 40k+, and none of those are expensive. Service wise it has had a couple of oil changers which cost peanuts, but had the cam belts done as well (ouch - even more so as we got a new clutch put in at the same time which was probably a mistake).

Compare that with a bike which in the same time would need 3 sets of chains and sprockets, 6~7 oil changes and 5 sets of tyres. So pretty close even before getting to occasional expenses on the bike (like brake disks, and on Hondas regulator rectifiers ). Car does 31mpg while the bike might do 45. Treated carefully the car does 37mpg.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[iooi]

[FirebladeRuss]

I know what you mean about NCB. Any claim (your fault or not) means your premium will rocket, so even when your NCB is apparently protected, that doesn't matter, as your premium will increase way more than the discount you get.
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Twitter is for people who can't STFU even when they're by themselves

[Kickstart]

[tvchimp]

well,

Thanks for the answers guys and girls. I was kind of getting the to jist that the bike would be a lot cheaper in all (I still have my helmet which was worn for around 6months before I got rid of my 125, and jacket/gloves/boots, never invested in any kevlar trousers although should have - prefer them to wearing textile trousers).

I've been looking at Honda CB600's mainly, both in the faired and unfaired guises. Mainly for the ability to have a bit of fun and acceleration when I want it (compared to a single/twin 500 commuter), decent fuel consumption and looks fairly tasty for a naked bike. I did a quote for it earlier and came up at £460 fully comp with Bennetts (who my previous bikes were with - had no issues with them at all) with all the gubbins thrown in (legal cover, breakdown cover etc) so I'm likely to go for that.

I'd happily walk to work when it's winter, have no issues with not using the bike then. Takes me around 25minutes on most days so the bike would mainly be used in decent weather and sit on paddock stands with an battery optimiser in the winter. I cant see consumables (read: tyres/c+s/oil) costing me too much, as I'd probably guess my yearly mileage to be around 7k at most. Sure I could look at taking it abroad for a quick week or two and rack up an extra few thousand miles, but on a 600 naked? Not too sure. Possibly get something fully faired and 900cc+ to make it a lot nicer.

My local bike place does DAS courses for £400 or so with fee's included, so I'll be booking that most likely beginning of the year once my loan is cleared off and the weather starts to get a little better for riding.

Spoke to my brother and getting on his insurance as a named driver wont be an issue, he uses 'elephant insurance' and named drivers on their policies build up their own (not a named driver) NCB. Unlike quite a few others I've looked at, bonus really. Probably take my car license, but just borrow or hire something if I really needed to.





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Bike: Currently Bikeless... Gahh

[DrDonnyBrago]

[blurredman]

All cars have hubcaps, but not all wheels have hubcaps, and not all wheels have trims.
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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.

[panrider_uk]

[FirebladeRuss]

That's quite encouraging, as my insurance is soon.
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Twitter is for people who can't STFU even when they're by themselves

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]