Biker's Cafe Chatroom

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So with the plan of trying to lose the massive gut that's hanging off me (few weeks in so far so good) I'm seriously thinking about learning how to ride a bike, My Dad has been a rider all his life, and I kinda like the appeal of something capible of supercar speeds at 1/20th of the cost.

But i've got my sensible head on at the minute and if I did get a bike in the future, it'll be used to massively cut down my commute times which is mainly rush hour M4 and rush hour cardiff traffic, and freeeeeee parking (currently pay £10 a day for parking my car, i work mon-fri).

Now i'm clueless about bikes, all I know is my dad had a Ninja and an unreliable triumph, but my main concern really is cost to run compared to a car, Do bikes being massively lighter than a car albeit rev twice as higher, are they good on fuel? general cost for tax? maintenance cost in general?

I'm 27 and have had my car licence for nearly 10 years so hoping insurance won't bend me over too much, plus I won't be looking for a bike to set track times, i'd only want something that's suitable as a daily driver.

Cheers for looking at my completely noobie questions.
 
Uncle_Gravy said:
So with the plan of trying to lose the massive gut that's hanging off me (few weeks in so far so good) I'm seriously thinking about learning how to ride a bike, My Dad has been a rider all his life, and I kinda like the appeal of something capible of supercar speeds at 1/20th of the cost.

But i've got my sensible head on at the minute and if I did get a bike in the future, it'll be used to massively cut down my commute times which is mainly rush hour M4 and rush hour cardiff traffic, and freeeeeee parking (currently pay £10 a day for parking my car, i work mon-fri).

Now i'm clueless about bikes, all I know is my dad had a Ninja and an unreliable triumph, but my main concern really is cost to run compared to a car, Do bikes being massively lighter than a car albeit rev twice as higher, are they good on fuel? general cost for tax? maintenance cost in general?

I'm 27 and have had my car licence for nearly 10 years so hoping insurance won't bend me over too much, plus I won't be looking for a bike to set track times, i'd only want something that's suitable as a daily driver.

Cheers for looking at my completely noobie questions.
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After adding up the cost of kit, the bike, the licence, the cost of munching sets of tires in 10k miles at best, replacing chains/sprockets, short oil change intervals and mpg being worse than a normal daily driver in most cases you won't save mountains of cash, you will save time and your sanity though.
 
tom_e said:
After adding up the cost of kit, the bike, the licence, the cost of munching sets of tires in 10k miles at best, replacing chains/sprockets, short oil change intervals and mpg being worse than a normal daily driver in most cases you won't save mountains of cash, you will save time and your sanity though.
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Cheers for that, I never thought a bike could be quite high maintenace, i'd imagine it would save over 30 mins on my commute a day, but doubt that would offset potential more running costs than my 2.4 Honda Accord is costing me.
 
Uncle_Gravy said:
Cheers for that, I never thought a bike could be quite high maintenace, i'd imagine it would save over 30 mins on my commute a day, but doubt that would offset potential more running costs than my 2.4 Honda Accord is costing me.
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They aren't high maintenance, how many miles is your commute?
 
My commute is only 50 miles total (25miles there and 25 miles back) but I leave peak rush hour, so where it would normally take me 20 mins to get to work outside of rush hour, during i'm on the road 2 hours+ (especially on a friday when people like to crash their cars on the M4) in total, Anyone who lives in south wales know's how notorious Malpas road and the A48M is.
 
Was behind an off this morning on the way to work - chap on a Gixxer 750 was filtering past a queue of traffic, as someone decided to pull a U turn.

I'd imagine it'll go 50/50, as the rider had crossed a solid line, and so did the driver - there was a small private road, which the driver had intended to pull into, but unfortunately the rider wasn't going slow enough to react.

Thankfully the chap got up - but that was before he found his knee had been de-gloved. A GP on the way to work stopped to help, and the emergency services turned up pretty quickly, so I left details and went on my way.
 
Uncle_Gravy said:
My commute is only 50 miles total (25miles there and 25 miles back) but I leave peak rush hour, so where it would normally take me 20 mins to get to work outside of rush hour, during i'm on the road 2 hours+ (especially on a friday when people like to crash their cars on the M4) in total, Anyone who lives in south wales know's how notorious Malpas road and the A48M is.
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I commute on a bike from Swansea to Cardiff (all M4, minus the A470) and it is soul destroying. Yes, it’s an epic feeling when there’s a big queue around Port Talbot come 5pm but the motorway isn’t a fun commute.

Now, when I had a 10 mile commute with a mix of A roads.. that was fun! Don’t do it.

Edit: I was pulled over by an undercover copper on the commute a few weeks ago. I’d been sat behind a van dawdling in lane 3 for what felt like an eternity, so I shot passed him between the lanes @ 85mph.... blue lights came on the white X5 and I stopped on the hard shoulder.

Really tidy guy... said he was a bike trainer and gave me a slap on the wrist (verbal, no paperwork). He was great about it and understood the stress behind stuck behind vehicles in rush hour... he even said that he didn’t care about the speed but the move was foolish. I fully agreed and apologised which made me realise that motorway traffic has made me impatient recently, to the point it’s not fun.

Having 3 lanes of traffic all travelling at the same speed is soul destroying. You think you can weave and make progress but I’ve found that unless you’re willing to nail it trying to make every gap and have eyes up your arse then you’ll barely make up 5 minutes on your commute. I can recall at least 4 occasions when cars tried to merge in to me in the past two weeks... most of them whilst filtering (at reasonable speeds :p), some even just changing lanes and not looking. Stationary traffic is when you’ll make up time but praying for lines of traffic is sadistic!
 
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EVH said:
I commute on a bike from Swansea to Cardiff (all M4, minus the A470) and it is soul destroying. Yes, it’s an epic feeling when there’s a big queue around Port Talbot come 5pm but the motorway isn’t a fun commute.

Now, when I had a 10 mile commute with a mix of A roads.. that was fun! Don’t do it.

Edit: I was pulled over by an undercover copper on the commute a few weeks ago. I’d been sat behind a van dawdling in lane 3 for what felt like an eternity, so I shot passed him between the lanes @ 85mph.... blue lights came on the white X5 and I stopped on the hard shoulder.

Really tidy guy... said he was a bike trainer and gave me a slap on the wrist (verbal, no paperwork). He was great about it and understood the stress behind stuck behind vehicles in rush hour... he even said that he didn’t care about the speed but the move was foolish. I fully agreed and apologised which made me realise that motorway traffic has made me impatient recently, to the point it’s not fun.

Having 3 lanes of traffic all travelling at the same speed is soul destroying. You think you can weave and make progress but I’ve found that unless you’re willing to nail it trying to make every gap and have eyes up your arse then you’ll barely make up 5 minutes on your commute. I can recall at least 4 occasions when cars tried to merge in to me in the past two weeks... most of them whilst filtering (at reasonable speeds :p), some even just changing lanes and not looking. Stationary traffic is when you’ll make up time but praying for lines of traffic is sadistic!
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I'm still waiting for the paperwork to come though after my last chat with an unmarked VW :o
 
EVH said:
I commute on a bike from Swansea to Cardiff (all M4, minus the A470) and it is soul destroying. Yes, it’s an epic feeling when there’s a big queue around Port Talbot come 5pm but the motorway isn’t a fun commute.
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The motorway commute stamps on my soul and then proceeds to do unspeakly things to it, especially when you decided you wanted a manual car instead of a automatic cause the manual would be way more fun...he said...

Like I said i'm a complete noobie when it comes to bikes, I like the appeal, the speed, the nimbleness and the fact i see a load of them filter pass when i'm stuck doing 5mph D:

It's quite an eye opener that it's more to it in terms of running costs and maintenance, Me thinking it's only a small engine and the whole package weighs nothing can't be that tasking for the bike, what has been said which I do agree, it's not yourself you need to watch out for but the idiots around you.

I still have many many months to think about it while I continue to try and get myself into shape as I don't fancy looking like the michelin man in a set of leathers, but I certainly have a few things to think about and research.

Cheers for the info guys.
 
My bike is supposed to be sorted next week - here's hoping! As it has really ****** me off not having my own bike for the great weather recently - missed the whole of July for ***** sake! And the hire bike isn't great - GSR750 :(

Damaged lid and visor now replaced - put them through as a claim with my enhanced legal aid, and hoping to also put in a claim for Loss of Use...
 
MowyTone said:
Hopefully it gets resolved soon. A friend of mine was given a NC750 as a temp bike and hated every minute of it
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Funnily enough, other than ragged Street Triple 675s the NC was the other option - other than the wife's Grom, I have avoided Hondas since passing in 2007 - no idea why lol :D
 
Looking at a VFR 1200 X crosstourer as a replacement to the dog GS. Anyone had any experience or at least experience of the DCT box on a Honda?
 
It's bomb proof. It's also on the NC750, the X-ADV and a few others which I can't think of right now. If I remember correctly there was a recall a few years ago due to a software problem but they seem to just go on and on.
 
The DCT box is marmite.

You will be able to pick one up fairly cheaply because of that. Just don’t think it will be easy to move it on when the time comes.

This was advice given from a Honda dealer to one of my bike buddies.

Matt
 
My local place has the Africa twin with dct as a demo model I'll give that a go first.

Can't be doing with another BMW, three bikes three let downs.
 
Just hearing a few whispers on the grapevine that the new S1000XR will be announced in the next couple of weeks, with orders before Christmas and first deliveries before Easter.

Lots of changes - suspension, TFT screens, RR styling... but apparently no shift cam engine. Decisions... I've briefed Mrs Abyss to be ready. This will likely be my last big power bike, I think.
 
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