Just wondering if anyone has a story to tell of moving over to a bike from being a car enthusiast.
They're not mutually exclusive
Sounds like you already know the main positives and negatives though.
Performance:
Bikes are incredibly quick. Even a modest 500cc commuter will outperform most cars on the road up to about 120mph. a 125 will beat most cars away from the lights, and a GSXR1000 will beat everything under a Veyron. TWO magazine took along a load of old bikes to Bruntingthorpe for the annual Autocar magazine 0-100-0 tests. A Goldwing almost kept up with a GT3, and a 10 year old yamaha thunderace costing £1500 beat every car there
Ability:
Using all that performance is a different matter. It easier to learn to ride a bike than it is to drive a car, but its harder to ride a bike fast than it is to drive a car fast. Cornering comes with experience - it much harder to change lines mid corner on a bike than a car.
Practicality:
Mixed bag this - on a sportsbike you're really restricted to what you can carry. You can use a tank bag which will get a few carrierbags worth of stuff in it, plus a tailpack which will get the same again, and/or wear a rucksack. I recently bought a Triumph Tiger with hard luggage, which is much more practical. I have lockable top box plus 2 panniers, all of which just click on and off the bike, turning them into small handheld suitcases. I have about 100 litres of luggae space, plus can still add a tank bag if required. Little things like carry a spare change of 'normal' clothes, plus the ability to lock your helmet and gloves away makes it more suitable for commuting etc
Time:
one of the best benefits of a bike. You generally never get stuck in traffic, so you know how long your journey is going to take - you're not reliant on how busy the rest of the traffic is. Filtering is fun
Cost:
Very dependent on the Bike. An R1 or any other litre sports bike is not going to be cheap to run. Economy is about 35-40mpg, service intervals are generally every 6k and can be expensive when you need the valve clearances checking. Tyres will last between 2 and 5k and cost about £200 per pair to replace. They also eat chains. On the flip side, a 500cc commuter will do 60mpg easily, 10k on a set of tyres, about £30 for a years road tax etc etc. a 600cc sportsbike is somewhere in between. Insurance is also to be considered. My ZX9 cost me £300 per year TPFT, and the tiger is £150 fully comp - both have 900cc engines
Safety:
Car definitely wins this. I've been lucky on that in 17 years riding I've not had an accident. My dad has been riding about 45 years and also has never had an off. I ride quite cautiously though, but like to open it up when safe. Bikes arent inherently unsafe - its a combination of bad riding and other road users that cause the accidents. You do see a lot of dangerous riding on the roads - not necessarily crazy speeds, more dangerous overtakes, lack of awareness of what might be round the next bend, bad reading of road signs etc. All you can do is do as much training as possible, use your common sense, learn from any near misses and ride defensively.
The biggest thing for me is riding a bike really does give you a greater 'rush' than driving a car. You can take a car out for a good blast on a night/weekend whatever and have a lot of fun for sure, but try taking it to the coast on a bank holiday weekend and its misery stuck in traffic, whereas even a mundane commute on a bike can be exciting
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How will you give you mates a lift to the pub
