I'm preparing some material contrasting various car benefits with van benefit, and I'd also like to throw in a motorcycle example.
Obviously the motorcycle benefit is 20% of MV when first made available, plus the annual running costs.
Assume a reasonably experienced motorcyclist with a decent bike (a few leaps up from a moped, but not a superbike) bought secondhand (say 3 years old).
Anyone that knows about bikes care to suggest a reasonable figure for that secondhand purchase price (I'm using £5K at the moment)? and the annual running costs (tax, insurance and servicing), excluding fuel (I'm using £2K at the moment)?
Any suggestions would be very welcome.
Thanks.
Replies (6)
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Secondhand cost more likely £2000-£3000. Insurance fairly low for a mature rider servicing/tyres can be high though £1000-£1200 maybe.
Yamaha FZ600 - best selling in Europe
is probably your best bet as a comparison to a focus or a golf; autotrader can give you purchase price and indicative insurance quotes. Running costs are usually found on similar sites, try motorcycle news.
I don't think you'll be far away with the numbers you've already got, in the end; but a little substance will help validate your research.
Good Luck,
Anth
Cost of motorcycling
IMHO £2k-£3k would buy a very secondhand bike, I think you'd probably want to spend a bit more than that.
Running costs are much more related to mileage than tends to be the case with a car, service intervals are also generally a lot shorter. The oil in a bike engine tends to be working a lot harder than a car engine, smaller quantity, higher revs etc. So oil changes are much more frequent. Riding style is also a factor. It's not just the cost of servicing, it's the other consumables - brake pads, tyres etc. In a good summer, I've been known to get less than 2,000 miles from a new tyre. Don't forget personal protection either; helmet, boots and gloves, a decent jacket at the very least, maybe full leathers, maybe body armour, probably something high viz, in the UK you'll certainly need waterproofs.
I haven't put any prices, because there is such a wide variation available.
Not trying to put anyone off; it's great fun and I don't know many people who look forward to their commute to and from work.
Hope that helps
Jonathan
Interested
Good afternoon Steve
Agree with Jonathan that you'd want to spend more than £2k-£3k on the bike. I ride an ST1100 Pan European, which is a little larger than the others mentioned but it has a full set of panniers which is useful for getting my stuff to work etc... I paid £3.5k for a 2000 model early last year which would put £5k about right. Much of it depends on the budget and what you want it for.
Helmet £100-£500
Clothing £250-£1,000
Tax £16-£76
Insurance £100-£500
Maintenance... As above, can vary imensely! I've been riding 20yrs (no car licence) and the general interval is just 4,000m for most bikes, but newer bikes are going up to 6,000m at £150-£600 per service. Just done a pair of tyres in 8 months for £300. MoT £27.
Won't touch fuel! I average 190m per tank but just rode through Belgium with some friends and it went up to 245m per tank so I think I'm a bad example!
Feel free to PM if you want to ask me anything else, I'm a severe bike enthusiast!
I would also be interested in your findings if that's OK?
Cheers
Pat