Should I keep it or not

zuksammy

New Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2008
Location
High Point
Hey guys heres the deal I am trying to decide if I should keep a motocycle I just bought. I work as a helper at Johns Plumbing in gboro as a helper for 10 a hour. So I make around 360/380 a week after taxes. I was also planing on sarting to save 50-100 a week to have some money if needed or for a down payment on a duramax.

Heres a List of all my bills

Phone 90.00
Bike Payment 140.00
Car insurance 210.00 the bike is 90 a month
Cable at the lake house 90.00

Will the bike pay for its-self?????
 
I would dump it. Sounds like you already have a car to drive.

I'm all about driving paid off cars, after many years of making car payments I've vowed to save my money and pay cash for all my cars from now on.

I wish when I was younger I would have made this decision, I would be in a lot better shape financially now.
 
sell sell sell

I used to ride bikes a bunch. Had all the gear to be comfy in the winter. It ain't cheap. Upkeep on a bike is more expensive than you might think (Tires, Oil, etc).

Bikes sell better in the summer and fall than in the winter. If it were me I would pitch the bike and maybe make a buck or two, then take the savings on the payment + insurance and get ready to buy the Duramax.
 
Yea I have my xj it gets about 14 mpg but in the money I save I could have money to fix it up and save at the same time.


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How many miles is your daily commute to work?
 
man up and ride.. I used to ride about 20 miles each way to work all year long and it saved me a ton of cash..

now I have kids that need car seats so can't do that anymore :(
 
BRUISER said:
man up and ride.. I used to ride about 20 miles each way to work all year long and it saved me a ton of cash..

now I have kids that need car seats so can't do that anymore :(
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I will ride trust me I rode motocross all year around. I mean even when the track was froze. The main thing is will it save me enough to pay for the bike and insurance


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Do the math. It sounds like your XJ would use about 2.5 gallons a day for your commute vs probably 1 gallon for the bike, so you save 1.5 gallons/day minimum. I'm guessing you would also save more by riding the bike instead of driving on other trips after work and on the w/e's.
 
i bought a bike thinking i would save gas money, then it was so fun that i would always take the long way home and it ended up costing me even more money in gas
 
Here's my thinking:

Average daily round trip commute is 35 miles x average number of work days in a calendar year (250=2000hrs/8hr day). That brings you to 8750 miles traveled a year for your work commute. Divided by the XJ 14mpg's means you'll use 625 gallons of gas. The same milage divided by a conservative 35mpgs in the bike means you're using 250 gallons of gas for your commute. Multiply that by say 3.25/gallon...and the XJ will run you $2031.25 in gas throughout the year. The bike will cost you $812.50 in gas for the year. Divide each of those by 12 to get monthly costs and you get $169.27 for the XJ and $67.71 for the bike. Now you didn't say exactly what your XJ insurance coverage was, but I said $100/month...which brings the cost of ownership for the XJ up to $269.27/month. Now with the bike, add $140/month for payment and and $90 for insurance...and you're talking $297.71/month to own the bike.


Side bar...I've noticed when driving a used vehicle as dd, I average somewhere between $100-150/month in parts to keep it on the road. Other things to factor are build modifications on the XJ, as well as the bike. And don't forget to divvy up transportation that isn't work related.


Note...figures are not exact...so adjust to fit. I believe the actual issue at hand is a true definition of how much you'll be riding the bike and what kind of mpg's it actually gets and how stock you can keep it...and how much it'll cost to keep that XJ dd capable.
 
You didn't say what kind of bike, but holy damn...$90 a month for insurance, that's right at what I pay yearly. Its a nice thought and all thinking you will save a ton riding a bike versus a truck but the truth is it will never take over %100 of the driving period and you're still paying for the jeep. I would bet over the course of a year at least half of your miles will be in the xj. If you had bought something cheaper and didn't pay so much in insurance it would be economical, now its just another toy. Ask for a raise.
 
Ditch the bike. The math just dosn't support it paying for itself. Only way it is worthwhile is if you sell the XJ and only drive the bike. But the insurance is killing you.

I'm guessing you are a young guy. Save that $$ for something for later. I noticed you didn't list rent or anything in your expenses. One day you'll want to move, not being tied to too many expenses will help you be able to do that.

It is very, very rare that having a 2nd vehicle to DD actually saves any $$ in the long run once you count in all the things that come with it.
 
I ride my bike cause it gets 50mpg and my TJ gets 12 (maybe) and i drive 32 mile rounds trip. And to be honest my TJ is only warm half the ride and is a bear to drive everyday. My buell is a blast and even with half warm clothes idc, i love riding. But i have a low payment and cheap insurance. In my case my bike is a better DD even destroying tires with my 2nd gear 50mph wheelies haha.
 
It's a 2011 dr650se dual sport bike. Yea right now I still live with my dad. Yea the big thing right now is how the insurance is killing me.


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UTfball68 said:
Side bar...I've noticed when driving a used vehicle as dd, I average somewhere between $100-150/month in parts to keep it on the road.
Click to expand...
Geez what kind of crap piles are you buying. I have never owned a new car and I can honestly say that I have never had one that took $100 in parts a month. Not even if you figure out a years worth of parts. My k1500 Suburban needed a transmission and that is the only time it came close to $100 a month. Although seeing that I put 300K miles on that truck in 4 years the cost per mile was very low.
 
TheWarBeast said:
Geez what kind of crap piles are you buying. I have never owned a new car and I can honestly say that I have never had one that took $100 in parts a month. Not even if you figure out a years worth of parts. My k1500 Suburban needed a transmission and that is the only time it came close to $100 a month. Although seeing that I put 300K miles on that truck in 4 years the cost per mile was very low.
Click to expand...


That was basically to be on the safe side...and to be fair, I put more miles on my rigs than most and usually like rigs that are 30+ years old. That said, when averaged out over the course of the year, I generally spend $100-150/month to keep them in DD condition. That ranges from trannies ($1000 rebuild), to dshafts ($220 just for CV's at Oliver's), to t-cases ($3-400 rebuild), to routine maintenance (fluids and filters hit $100-150 pretty easy), to regasketing (can be in excess of $100), to ball joints ($77 for the Spicers I bought last month), to brake jobs (usually around $50), to WP's (Flowkooler is $100) and alternators (can be a few hundred)...etc.
 
I would say being thats its a duel sport it probably gets 50+ mpg so it probably pays for its self or close to it so if you like it keep it
 
Also I think I am smart for Doin this. I always look down the road 3-4 months and think what happens if work slows down ( which the guys say it usually does) or what happens if they have to let go of some of the helpers? I don't want to be stuck with a payment I can't pay. So I don't know what to do.


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zuksammy said:
Also I think I am smart for Doin this. I always look down the road 3-4 months and think what happens if work slows down ( which the guys say it usually does) or what happens if they have to let go of some of the helpers? I don't want to be stuck with a payment I can't pay. So I don't know what to do.
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Blaze said:
I would dump it. Sounds like you already have a car to drive.
I'm all about driving paid off cars, after many years of making car payments I've vowed to save my money and pay cash for all my cars from now on.
I wish when I was younger I would have made this decision, I would be in a lot better shape financially now.
Click to expand...
:)
 
zuksammy said:
Also I think I am smart for Doin this. I always look down the road 3-4 months and think what happens if work slows down ( which the guys say it usually does) or what happens if they have to let go of some of the helpers? I don't want to be stuck with a payment I can't pay. So I don't know what to do.


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Click to expand...

Sell the new bike, and buy a 5-8 year old model with low miles. Insurance and payment will drop, but mpg and fun factor will stay the same.
 
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