No doubt it costs more to own a bike than a high mileage reliable small car. But, it IS more fun! However on the GS you can do MOST maintenance your self.
In the cruiser world, we joke about the "Harley Tax"...
Its not a tax at all except that once you buy the bike, you then have to buy leathers, bags, helmets, boots, glasses, crash bars, highway pegs, sissy bar, chrome, chrome, chrome, and more chrome.....
And if you drop it, you get to buy them all AGAIN!!
with all my crashes and other assorted parts. I am at about 21 cents per mile.
I used to calculate that every month I rode the bike to work when living in Northern CA in the mid/late 90's and owning a truck that gave me 17 mpg) I pretty accurately nailed down to $175 a month savings with bike. Included tires, chains and other maintenance items on bike and truck, and did not count repair costs on either, and didn't include service on the truck. Of course at 60K that truck was $600 to service ... I even accounted for what the bike will be worth after I ran it into the 50K mark and I sold it for well more than that this year. In short I was low on all counts. Bike repair and maintenance was just elbow grease, it broke very very rarely, and in those cases was cheap to fix, and it was crashed 7 times and paid off by insurance twice ... so In all I saved atleast 175 a month. The kicker is ... gas was $1.25 then, parking was free for car or bike, bike let me use carpool and avoid tolls and save tons of time lane splitting ... Pay for parking a car but not a bike cos 99% of the time bike parking is free ... gas is $2.25+ a gal, I am even better at fixing it and the whole thing gets even better.
Cool.
Srinath.
well I had a quick look-see and since I've only had my bike for a month I can't really compare it against anything... also, when I fill up I usually buy cigarettes, so I don't know which is gas and which are smokes from my receipts!!! It's usually around the same price :) This is what I figured anyway...
GAS/CIGS $79.17
MAINTENANCE/PARTS $80.02 (500 mile checkup plus some lube - so this won't be here every month, obviously)
GEAR $524.52 (not buying any more crap!!!)
total $718 and some change (incl. first 2 months insurance)
if you take all the other stuff out, it should run me about $50 a month plus $17 in insurance... Not bad, when it costs over $23 to fill my car tank twice a week if I drive it full time!!!
I love my bike!!!!!!!!!
60 miles round trip to work..
In my truck its $50 for gas per week..
On my VTX its roughly $20 per week for gas..
I spend more than that just on trackdays and tires!
Including payment, gas,leathers, maintenence, etc, i'm at about 200 per month.
That number will go down as my lenghth of ownership goes up.
I catagorize my bike as 40% transportation, 60% entertainment.
Quote from: Maduro MistressGAS/CIGS $79.17
MAINTENANCE/PARTS $80.02 (500 mile checkup plus some lube - so this won't be here every month, obviously)
Damn :o whats does fuel cost a litre there and how many cartons of smokes are you buying.
Aust fuel price approx $1.10 per litre and approx $10.50 for packet smokes (25s)
youre service cost are about the same when converted to oz dollars
I don't spend anything on my bike to speak of. I've had her since early 2000, and total running costs including original purchase are well under $2500. Never had a serious problem with her, thankfully.
Hey Lukewarm! I'm from Aus!!!! I hail from Melbourne though - sigh... I am so native-homeland-sick!
These crazy people over here work in gallons, and I could never work the difference out. I still have to ask how many inches in whatever and what quarts and pints and what not equal out to in metric and I've been here for about 7 years!
So there are app. 2.79 liters in a gallon (I asked one of the engineers here) and gas up here is about $2.28 a gallon, so you're figuring conversion factor (I didn't know there was one of those either) at 3.789 and you come out to $0.60 a liter...
SOOOOOO, in reality it's really cheap! My cigs cost about $3.85 a pack, and I smoke about a pack every other day....
My head hurts now! :)
1 US gallon = 3.7854118 litres
1 UK gallon = 4.54609188 litres
perhaps why britisah bikers seem to get more miles per gallon :?
Your engineer needs to go back to school .... Cos there is 3.76 liters in a gal. From India and I was taught metric ... learned SAE after getting here ... and after 14 years I can do both ... :lol:
Cool.
Srinath.
OK OK 3.79 liters ... sheesh :x
Cool.
Srinath.
I mostly commute about 7 miles/day, with a weekend ride here and there. Ride every day, but only did 6k miles (10k km) in 2 years. :oops:
Change brake fluid every other year... $0.20/month
Change oil 2x year, and bike doesn't burn oil... $1.33/month
Changed oil 3x in 2 years due to possible contamination... $1/mo.
Lube: $0.68/month
chain is 2 years old, maybe half done?... maybe $2/mo.
tires: maybe half-done with rear, front is good... $2/mo.
insurance: $10/mo.
gas: $15/mo.
...so, about $40 per month, about $0.17 per mile so-far (2+ years owning the GS). That will come down, until the chain and rear tire are dead, then it will go up again. My main costs over 2+ years have been:
purchase of GS500 OTD: $2100
mods (2x windscreen, rack+trunk, tailbag, tankbag, electrics, springs, case guards, fork brace): $800
gear (helmet, 2x suit, 2 pr. boots, 2 pr. gloves) : $1300
cost of ownership/maintenance/operation: $1k
various tools & shop stuff: $300
Quote from: Maduro MistressHey Lukewarm! I'm from Aus!!!! I hail from Melbourne though - sigh... I am so native-homeland-sick!
you come out to $0.60 a liter...
SOOOOOO, in reality it's really cheap! My cigs cost about $3.85 a pack, and I smoke about a pack every other day....
Hi Maduro,
What are you doing over there when planet Australia is the best place to be :lol: I can even forgive the melbourne base, when your out of the country suddenly what state your from dosen't seem to matter at all just the country.
I was starting to feel good when i first read the prices you pay for fuel & smokes now reading your latest post Im back to feeling depressed about the prices we pay we have just been warned to expect fuel at $1.20+ a litre for standard unleaded so add another 5-7c for premium good thing the bikes only 500cc and the car is 1300cc feeling sorry for all the HSV drivers and litre plus riders.
Anyway have a good one, stay well, and stay upright :thumb: :cheers:
Worth every penny :thumb: