Buy used. Always.  Do the legwork, and find some guy selling because his wife is making him do it.  Or find a reasonable deal on a 500F from someone who bought it as a first bike, then wants to sell it after 6 months in order to move up to a GSX-R. 

Save some cash by using your old T shirts as polishing rags; then wash 'em and wear them some more.

Quote from: LimaXray on April 05, 2006, 01:00:02 PM

Quote from: JoChan23 on April 05, 2006, 12:39:42 PM
im 20 years old i am a college student i work part time and make around 14,000 a year.
suzuki approved me for 5,000 credit, which is good considering i have very good but extremely limited credit.
i would like to sell my bike and put that towards the difference of the credit they gave me and the price of a bike.
it would be nice to build credit while having something i absolutely love.
but everyone says dont finance.
any advice?

As long as you know you can make your payments and be responsible, I'd say finance (well put it on your Suzuki credit card, you'll own the bike out right and you only have to pay 100 bucks a month).  I look at it like this: when I get out of college, I'm gonna make a lot more money and not have a family to take care of so I'm gonna be a whore and buy expensive shaZam!, and how the hell am I gonna do that with no credit?  Plus, your credit score impacts your insurance premiums.  It's really up to you, finacing is easier but costs a more in the long run and can get you in trouble 

You sure about that? I'm paying my monthly payment to Suzuki (the actual financer is HSBC Bank) and I'm not the holder of the title. Not until I pay off the loan, then HSBC will send it to me. I'm not sure if you can be making payments and yet still have the title.

Oh, and paying $100 a month isn't a good idea. If you got the 9.99% loan like I did, paying the minimum $100 a month isn't gonna get you anywhere. The interest can eat almost half of that payment up when you first get the bike. So you're paying like 50 a month towards the balance, so 600 a year...dude, you're gonna owe a lot when the 5-year term is up.

I'm a graphic designer by day and sometimes by night if I have some freelance jobs to work on.  I can't complain about the side business, but working on a computer all day, and then working on a computer all night can be a bit of a pain.

I paid cash for my bike also.  I love buying used stuff!  I don't like financing things but many times you can get 0% interest and anytime you can make that work to your advantage go for it!  However you must must must have whatever you buy paid off before the rate changes to something like 174% on the original price.  

My wife and I consolodated a pretty hefty loan onto a 0% credit card that, once we have paid off, will have saved us about $500.  Hmmmmm, motorcycle fund?  Probably not!  

Quote from: JoChan23 on April 05, 2006, 12:39:42 PM
im 20 years old i am a college student i work part time and make around 14,000 a year.
suzuki approved me for 5,000 credit, which is good considering i have very good but extremely limited credit.
i would like to sell my bike and put that towards the difference of the credit they gave me and the price of a bike.
it would be nice to build credit while having something i absolutely love.
but everyone says dont finance.
any advice?

- Jordan

As long as you make all your payments on time, you can build your credit score. The higher your credit  score the lower your interest rate. That will help when you buy high dollar items like cars or houses. But until your score reaches 700 + you will pay more in finance charges and higher interest.

credit sucks big donkey C**K!!!   

if your 20 and just starting out.  buy NOTHING on credit. EVER.  eat Ramen and sleep in the closest thing to a cardboard box you can.
your student loans are going to be hard enough to pay off. DONT add to it.  I know its hard but it can be done.  START AT TWeNTY not 40 like most people do.

Don't listen to the guy $80k in debt.   listen to the guy who is 26yrs old  Debt free and living a great life with KIDS!!.   having everything you want is not about being RICH. it is about making the right decisions at the right point in your life.

Some guys are scare to get married and have a family because they don't understand money.  they think the only way to live is to not have dependants.

I say FOOOEY!!  Most rich people were born Poor. and most of the one who were born Rich have stories of a family member born destitute and made it big.

Money makes money. if you are in debt SOMEONE ELSE IS USING YOUR MONEY TO MAKE MONEY!!!!!!!!! 
That should piss you off.

CREDIT IS 100% WRONG.  period.  It didn't work for your parents, Did it?

I'm a lawyer.  Other than my mortgage and my student loans, I don't owe anybody anything. 

I am getting ready to buy a new bike, however.  And I'll likely get it financed.  I'll probably put $3,000 or $4,000 down on one (tax returns rock when you own real estate!). 

You know why?  Because if I can't afford a bike, then who the f*ck am I? 

I work at Corning INC. as a Production tech. I bought the GS cash cause i had paying people money every month. Just bought my wife a 1998 CRV with a trade in of her car, paid cash. And the onlt reason we had to get that because we are having Twin girls in August. That equals "NO CASH"....lol

I was able to buy my GS 'cause my mustang got stolen from a shop that was fixing it; then totaled. I got almost 4 grand from the shops insurance (I didn't have insurance on it, was just gonna fix it and sell it). I only paid 800 for the car in the first place 


Right now I'm asst dept. manager at a Vons (safeway for you nor-cal/every-other-place-but-so-cal people) and I'm hating it.
For those of you with jobs where you sit at a desk and don't have to deal with people...be happy about that. Customer service SUCKS! 

self employed architect.

paid cash for each bike.

I've made $0.64  with google ads since I started using them a month ago... I guess I need a different strategy to reach the amount needed every month for the bike 

Quote from: pantablo on April 05, 2006, 03:57:23 PM
self employed architect.

paid cash for each bike.

And on that note, I really like the windows on the Smith house. That's such a cool design.

I also like the curved glass section wall in the Flyer Entertainment building.

I'm inked in as an internet whatchamacallit doing shenanigan doohicky's for low lifes ... I'm there because it pays well.

The GS was the ONLY thing I have ever financed NEW and plan to pay off the rest of the loan this summer... W00t. 

Pablo, nice work man! You should try Sketchup , cool program.

usually, i like being able to pay cash. in fact, my car and eclipse convertible i saved up then just paid all at once at a used car dealership.

i did want to find a used bike (gs500f) but used ones were only a few hundred dollars less.
i wanted to do the same with the motorcycle i bought, but the payments were so reasonable i couldn't say no.

$169 a month this includes the payment for the bike itself, insurance, 6 priority maintenace visits, and 1 year of free tires.

i was really happy with my purchase.

Quote from: 3imo on April 05, 2006, 02:42:39 PM
credit sucks big donkey C**K!!!   

if your 20 and just starting out.  buy NOTHING on credit. EVER.  eat Ramen and sleep in the closest thing to a cardboard box you can.
your student loans are going to be hard enough to pay off. DONT add to it.  I know its hard but it can be done.  START AT TWeNTY not 40 like most people do.

Don't listen to the guy $80k in debt.   listen to the guy who is 26yrs old  Debt free and living a great life with KIDS!!.   having everything you want is not about being RICH. it is about making the right decisions at the right point in your life.

I'm 26 and well over 80K in debt (100% mortgage).  I bought my house a few years ago when the real estate interest was really low and now I'm locked on it for 20 years.  I'll have my house paid off when I'm in my mid 40's.  That's a good thing. 

Debt isn't neccessarily a bad tihng, just have to be smart about your investements.  If you go in deep debt over a few months worth of stupid car/bike loans and credit card purchases, that is bad debt.  That's going to be a PITY to pay off and your return on the investment isn't very good.  Debt is ok, you just have to commit to the right things. 


I just got my first bike a few days ago and paid cash.  I pretend to be an accountant.  I hope to have a beer pub and be the brewmeister someday. 

I'm a mechanical engineer at a turbo testing laboratory.  75% of our business is testing large turbochargers (weighing up to 8,000 lbs) for the natural gas industry.  We also are doing engine development for the U.S. Department of Engergy, Ford Motor Company and a bunch of other companies.

-Turd.

Quote from: Turd Ferguson on April 05, 2006, 06:15:45 PM
I'm a mechanical engineer at a turbo testing laboratory.  75% of our business is testing large turbochargers (weighing up to 8,000 lbs) for the natural gas industry.  We also are doing engine development for the U.S. Department of Engergy, Ford Motor Company and a bunch of other companies.

-Turd.

Mmmm. That is so cool. We're just now starting to learn about 2nd Law thermo stuff with turbines in class. So awesome.

I got a kawasaki good times credit card approved for 5k when I finished MSF and was lookin for my 1st bike. I almost got a new 250 ninja but came to my senses and decided to save up for a 1/2 a year to buy my GS. It was nice to pay it off w/ cash in hand, it took a while to find a good deal tho. I've thought about selling my GS a couple times and financing a newer bike, but i just cant bring myself to do it.

-ash

Quote from: AlphaFire X5 on April 05, 2006, 06:37:21 PM
Mmmm. That is so cool. We're just now starting to learn about 2nd Law thermo stuff with turbines in class. So awesome.

Yes, we used to use a gas turbine to run the turbochargers but it pretty much grenaded itself so now we use a large gas burner.  Not as exciting...but much quieter.  The gas turbine could be heard some 3 miles away at the Sonic Drive through until we made an intake silencer for it.

-Turd.

Quote from: Turd Ferguson on April 05, 2006, 08:37:06 PM

Quote from: AlphaFire X5 on April 05, 2006, 06:37:21 PM
Mmmm. That is so cool. We're just now starting to learn about 2nd Law thermo stuff with turbines in class. So awesome.

Yes, we used to use a gas turbine to run the turbochargers but it pretty much grenaded itself so now we use a large gas burner.  Not as exciting...but much quieter.  The gas turbine could be heard some 3 miles away at the Sonic Drive through until we made an intake silencer for it.

-Turd.

How would a turbine tank itself? Blades have too much rotating mass?

Quote from: AlphaFire X5 on April 05, 2006, 08:42:15 PM
How would a turbine tank itself? Blades have too much rotating mass?

PM sent.  Didn't wanna hijack.

-Turd.