Is the cost of ownership really as high as I think

[RobberRog]

I looked at the cost of operating a bike assuming riding 5,000 miles a year with a $5,000 purchase price for a low mileage used FZ6.

Routine Maintenance items came out to .15/mile
tires cost: $500.00 good for 6000 miles $0.08 Per mile
valves adjusts cost: $300.00 good for 10000 miles $0.03 Per mile
oil cost: $10.00 good for 1000 miles $0.01 Per mile
brakes cost: $300.00 good for 10000 miles $0.03 Per mile

Gas $277.78 per year (45 MPG $2.5 per gallon $0.06 per mile)
Depreciation $600.00 per year
Insurance $420.00 per year
Interest $150.00 per year

Bottom line it comes out to .44/mile or about $200/month with maintenance being the largest item. The costs are 50/50 between fixed and variable, so driving more miles doesn't really lower your cost of ownership. Tires and value adjustments were the biggest surprise.

I was hoping to reduce my commuting costs by using a motorcycle, but it appears I will be increasing them. This analysis doesn't include repairs or battery replacement, so it is under estimating the total cost of ownership.

Could someone please find the error in my logic. Some cost savings were key to my justification for increasing the fun in my commute by buying an FZ6. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

[SovietRobot]

Your costs are a little off.
A good set of tires with mounting should cost no more than $300
Valve check/adjustment is recommended every 26,000 miles

Maintenance and ownership costs are going to be substantial with any vehicle.
If you think about it, it's much cheaper to ride and maintain a motorcycle than a car.

If the cost of ownership is keeping you from buying a motorcycle, then think to yourself, do you really want one?

Good luck and I hope you end up buying one and being happy as the FZ6 is an amazing motorcycle!

 

[Mattberkshire]

Tyres are my biggest cost. £120 for a back tyre very 4000 miles. £100 for a front every 7000. Oil is £25 every 6000 miles. I do 7000 miles a year and average 35mpg at £6 a gallon. (My car does 28mpg so I'm saving there). I do all my own servicing. I'm on 16000 miles and my brakes are still good. I bought on 0% finance from new so no interest.

Probably costs a little less to run than my car but hey, whenever I'm in my car I wish I was on the bike so I don't relly care

 

[Bruce McCrary]

Agree with SR, your figures are a bit off, especially when you consider that most people won't use them every day so the cost of an automobile still has to be considered. About the only way to make the numbers work the way you're trying to is if you use those from a scooter. Not just a small 50cc one, but even the full sized ones like the Majesty, Bergman, or Silverwing. Much better mileage, better tire life, etc.

The thing I hear most from new owners of motorcycles and ATV's is high much things compare to the cost of a car. Brakes are more expensive, as are tires, batteries and general replacement parts. The reason for this comes down to a volume issue. For example, pick any popular sized automotive tire from one manufacturer, there are probably more of those manufactured and sold than every common sized motorcycle tire from all major manufactures.

That being said I'm of the mind that if someone buys a motorcycle as a commuter vehicle and only a commuter vehicle they are setting themselves up for disappointment. For the most part these are toys. High priced, big boy toys. For most riding them is more about emotion and enjoyment than practicality and cost effectiveness.

But, it's cheap at twice the price. :thumbup:

Bruce

 

[chuckfz6ryder]

For the most part these are toys. High priced, big boy toys. For most riding them is more about emotion and enjoyment than practicality and cost

Bruce

I Agree Bruce, and he didn't even figure in the cost of his time looking for more gear and the time spent on these forums talking about the bike:thumbup:

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

As stated above your prices are off a bit... Most Yamaha's don't require half the maintainance of other bikes (including most jap bikes). Clean and lube the chain, oil/filter every 2-3 K miles. This is very simple to do and if done by yourself, 1/3 the price of the stealership.

Take it easy on acceleration/braking and the tires will last quite a while (PR2' are said to go up to 12,000 miles)....

The FZ6 (and in my experiance, my 04 FJR) are damn near bullet proof....

45MPG vs 20 for most cars, there's no comparison. My friends BMW goes in for any service, it's $3-400 a pop... Valve checks, every 6k miles, sheesh....

Besides, I hate being in a cage.....

As a side note, my old Kawasaki KLR 250 (1989) got about 65-70mpg beating around town. I commuted to work 30 miles RT most days (5 days a week). With the initial cost of just over $1000, it actually paid for itself within a couple of years.. I sold it approx 10 years later for what I paid for it.....

 

[flhtifz]

Anybody that tries to justify buying a bike to downplay commuting costs is whacked. You would need to drive an insane # of miles to do so. A car can get 30-35 mpg easily, so if your bike gets 45 mpg, you'll save AT BEST 33% of your fuel costs. If you spend 100.00 per month in fuel, wow, you could save $35.00 in gas if you rode a bike every day, rain or shine, warm, hot or cold, year round. I've heard of guys using the " I"m only buying it to save gas $$$ to work" excuse to their wives. I honestly laugh at the wife when the guy pulls it off. He gets about a million " guy points" in my book.

 

[Humperdinkel]

My biggest cost is spending $10000 on a new bike today :rof:...But she's worth every penny i throw at her

 

[dean owens]

depending on your commute and size you could look into different bikes. if you looked into a ninja 250.... you could get one that's a few years old for $1500.00 - $2000.00 and they get ~60 mpg. same goes for the gs500. and depending on how small you are you might even be able to look at something like a tu250x.... they get ~80 mpg. another very affordable bike with good gas milage is a cx500. they need very little maintenance and get about 50 mpg. they're older bikes so if you're not machanically inclined you need to find one in good condition. this isn't hard and can be had for $1500.00 at the max.

anyway, there's options out there.

 

[gearheadstu]

Is the cost of ownership really as high as you think?

No.

Yes.

Depends.

 

[bcityroller]

Agree with the others - reduced commuting cost is not a good reason to buy a proper motorcycle escpecially if you can't afford to buy it outright. Since you'll likely still have a cage a lot of the costs (eg insurance) are simple adders to what you're already paying to have the car and you only save the difference in cost of mileage/maintenance for the bike vs car which would take 10+ years to show a return. That doesn't even get into the additional risk you assume by riding.

Bottom line IMO - if you're going to get a bike do it b/c you want a bike not b/c it's cheaper.

 

[RobberRog]

I Agree Bruce, and he didn't even figure in the cost of his time looking for more gear and the time spent on these forums talking about the bike:thumbup:

I'm not concerned about the time. I've even been loving the research. And this is going to make you scratch your head. My wife is in favor of me buying a bike:cheer:. She doesn't care about the cost. Yes, I did marry very well indeed.

My deal is that my income is way down from last year. I have 2 Yamaha dual sport XT225's that I believe I can sell for enough casht to buy one good street bike. (My son doesn't ride on the trails with me anymore. Something about going to college being more important. I guess he's too much like me.) I was hoping to keep my expenses with the street bike similarly low to the Yamaha XT's and it is vastly different, at least that's way it appeared. I appreciate these comments and enjoy the educational process that only comes from talking to those that have the experience to know . Thanks so much.

 

[RobberRog]

Clean and lube the chain, oil/filter every 2-3 K miles. This is very simple to do and if done by yourself, 1/3 the price of the stealership.

Take it easy on acceleration/braking and the tires will last quite a while (PR2' are said to go up to 12,000 miles)....

I had one dealer tell me that if I went to a harder tire compound that the tires would last longer but I would have a lot less traction. That didn't seem like a good trade off. Was he just trying to sell me tires that wear out faster of is this a valid point?

I can see where one can save to ton by doing their own oil changes. Much easier than in a car. I used to do my own engine timing adjustments (back when we needed to do such things) Is it reasonable for value adjustments to be something you can do yourself?

 

[RobberRog]

I do all my own servicing. I'm on 16000 miles and my brakes are still good. I bought on 0% finance from new so no interest.

Do you replace you own brake pads? Is that something that is not too difficult to do?

I'll be paying cash, but the "interest" is the loss of income by taking the money out of production (a savings account).

 

[wolfc70]

Do you replace you own brake pads? Is that something that is not too difficult to do?

I'll be paying cash, but the "interest" is the loss of income by taking the money out of production (a savings account).

Brakes on bikes are simple. If you can do a brake job on a car, a bike is even easier. If you can take a motor apart, and are familiar with timing belts/chains, a valve adjustment is a piece of cake. Remember that you only have to check the clearance every 26000 miles, and adjust as needed. I find it very unlikely that an adjustment will need to be done every 26000 miles. I think some people have gone twice that amount and have not needed an adjustment.

The adjustment type is inverted buckets with shims. Very similar to a 1995 Toyota Corolla I had.

When people factor in costs vs cars, people never factor in the expensive stuff cars need too. A timing belt change on my Saturn L300 will cost $1400 at the dealer and $1000 at my independent shop. A brake job for a car will cost you hundreds of dollars if you pay to have someone else do it. My old bike (1981 Honda CX500) never broke and only needed a few sets of tires in the 30000 some miles I put on it. That and bikes are much easier to work on than cars. To remove an engine from a bike, all you needs is basic hand tools and a floor jack. And maybe some blocks of wood. Compared to all that is involved in removing an engine from a car.

If I did not have to endure the crappy weather in Wisconsin for most of the year, I would not even own a car. I love riding on two wheels!

 

[Hellgate]

I think you are very wise to look at the total cost of ownership. As others have stated you're a bit high but close. You can keep the costs down if you can do much of the basic maintenance yourself; oil and filter changes, chain maintenance and shop the sales for tires.

Also follow the service intervals that Yamaha recommends. They are very, very smart folks and if you follow the book to a tee your bike will serve you well for least amount of money.

When gas hit $3.50 a gallon or so last year a woman wrote into the local paper that she was fed up with the high cost of gas. So in her "wisdom" she traded in a 4 year old gas guzzling Camry (must have had a V6) for a brand new Prius. That is when Prius' were selling like hotcakes and for a steep premium. She was slammed in the newspaper by readers calling her a fool. Sure she used less fuel but the breakeven on the new car was something like 5 to 6 years of driving, and now she had a loan.

Buying anything, except for maybe a used bicycle, to save on travel is usually not a good decision. Unless of course you have a 1972 Suburban with a big block and drive 100 miles a day.

 

[bluemax89]

compared to my car, the bike is more than paying for itself. the cost of gas on my g35 is about 40-45per week to fill, thats high test. The bike is only like 9-10 per week in gas, thats also on hightest. So im saving about 30-35 per week in gas money, or rather 120-140per month in gas cost alone. Insurance for me is 200per year and the payment is only 70/month. Yeah, all in all im saving money over driving.

 

[DefyInertia]

I looked at the cost of operating a bike assuming riding 5,000 miles a year with a $5,000 purchase price for a low mileage used FZ6.

Routine Maintenance items came out to .15/mile
tires cost: $500.00 good for 6000 miles $0.08 Per mile
valves adjusts cost: $300.00 good for 10000 miles $0.03 Per mile
oil cost: $10.00 good for 1000 miles $0.01 Per mile
brakes cost: $300.00 good for 10000 miles $0.03 Per mile

Gas $277.78 per year (45 MPG $2.5 per gallon $0.06 per mile)
Depreciation $600.00 per year
Insurance $420.00 per year
Interest $150.00 per year

Bottom line it comes out to .44/mile or about $200/month with maintenance being the largest item. The costs are 50/50 between fixed and variable, so driving more miles doesn't really lower your cost of ownership. Tires and value adjustments were the biggest surprise.

I was hoping to reduce my commuting costs by using a motorcycle, but it appears I will be increasing them. This analysis doesn't include repairs or battery replacement, so it is under estimating the total cost of ownership.

Could someone please find the error in my logic. Some cost savings were key to my justification for increasing the fun in my commute by buying an FZ6. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Routine Maintenance items came out to .15/mile
tires cost: $280.00 good for 5000-12000 miles
valves adjusts cost: $300.00 or more good for 24,000 miles +++
oil cost: $30.00 good for 5000+ miles
brakes cost: $80.00 good for 10,000 to 50,000+ miles

Gas 55 MPG
Depreciation $600.00 per year *shrug*
Insurance $420.00 per year (did you get quotes? mines is less in SF)
Interest $150.00 per year (what rate did you use?)

 

[FizzySix]

It's a good idea to try and estimate the cost of ownership to get a good idea of what you're getting yourself into. At the same time, while it won't save you money, it does wind up being a relatively inexpensive hobby. If you commute on it, you get to enjoy your hobby twice a day! Heck of a lot cheaper than taking up golf or something, and you can do it more often.

In addition to maintenance as others have mentioned, call around re: insurance, you should be able to get good coverage for much less. Mine is only $200/year. You can also increase your oil change interval from 1k to 3k per manufacturer recommendations.

Other than tires, gas, oil, and registration/insurance, I really haven't had to put much of anything into mine, but you can ride a lot more where you are.

In the expenses column, you might also want to add some room to get stuff you might want to go with it, like luggage, mods, gear, sliders, etc.

Good luck with your decision! :thumbup:

 

[bledubd]

i bought the bike because I love to ride. I call it being free. I did not enjoy the train/tube/metro rides into work but now i free far much better. That part is missing on your calculation.

Freedom - priceless

As for the simple weekly expense maths I spend roughly £17 on fuel whereas to buy a weekly travel ticket i would have to fork out about £36.