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RhadamYgg wrote: In the long term I'm not sure if there will be any savings until gas hits $5+ in New Jersey.

If you get your gas in Summit, it's already close to $5 . (last I remember seeing as I passed by was $4.89 for regular)

Dragon on Wheels wrote:

RhadamYgg wrote: In the long term I'm not sure if there will be any savings until gas hits $5+ in New Jersey.

If you get your gas in Summit, it's already close to $5 . (last I remember seeing as I passed by was $4.89 for regular)

I'm a freak - I've been going to newjerseygasprices.com all the time watching the high end of the prices.

Two or three stations keep pegging the 4.89 - and then a couple follow at about 4.39. The gas station by me - for the past 3 or 4 weeks - has been stable at 3.93.

RhadamYgg

RhadamYgg wrote:It is true that most of the new bike purchases are of smaller displacement. Most of the articles I read about increasing motorcycle sales indicate that the smaller bikes are selling like crazy, but the larger bikes are sitting on the sales floor.

So, at least people aren't (on average) going in to this on a 600cc sport bike.

I find that in terms of ROI, my bike is a lot better than a Prius. Given the almost 10K premium to get that hybrid over my cars cost - it would take a long time to make that up in gas savings - even at $3.93 a gallon at my local Exxon.

Even so, the 4K+ that I've spent on my bike, equipment will take 750 rides to work to make itself up in terms of gas monetary savings. But with the costs of maintenance - In the long term I'm not sure if there will be any savings until gas hits $5+ in New Jersey.

RhadamYgg

750 rides of that distance for most people would take less than a year. you have ride to work and then ride back so if you work 365 days/year your already at 730 rides after only 1 year. Thats actually quite a quick turnaround. Plus you have rides you take your bike to the grocery store or the hardware store for the "small" things you need in a pinch.

ofblong wrote:

RhadamYgg wrote:It is true that most of the new bike purchases are of smaller displacement. Most of the articles I read about increasing motorcycle sales indicate that the smaller bikes are selling like crazy, but the larger bikes are sitting on the sales floor.

So, at least people aren't (on average) going in to this on a 600cc sport bike.

I find that in terms of ROI, my bike is a lot better than a Prius. Given the almost 10K premium to get that hybrid over my cars cost - it would take a long time to make that up in gas savings - even at $3.93 a gallon at my local Exxon.

Even so, the 4K+ that I've spent on my bike, equipment will take 750 rides to work to make itself up in terms of gas monetary savings. But with the costs of maintenance - In the long term I'm not sure if there will be any savings until gas hits $5+ in New Jersey.

RhadamYgg

750 rides of that distance for most people would take less than a year. you have ride to work and then ride back so if you work 365 days/year your already at 730 rides after only 1 year. Thats actually quite a quick turnaround. Plus you have rides you take your bike to the grocery store or the hardware store for the "small" things you need in a pinch.

Nah, it would be 750 commute days... So, two years - if I rode every day. But this actually isn't all that bad - considering it would be difficult to impossible to do the same in a hybrid given the premium they cost over say a Corolla or Civic.

But this is vastly reduced on the days that I have to go to Yonkers and the Bronx. An extra 20 miles that particular day there. Then if I decide to take the Tappan Zee and the GSP back home instead of the stop and go riding on the GWB it is 62 miles home instead of 42. It all adds up, I'm keeping track of miles and miles for commuting on a spreadsheet. I've already put on 1406 miles for commuting out of my total miles of 2270 total miles.

I save $6 a day minimum when I take the bike. Currently, I've spent $4451 on bike, insurance, and equipment. 4451/6 = 741. But like I said, some days I put on more miles - which translates in to more savings to go against my costs.

It still upsets me that my savings per day is so low. The GWV costs $8 in a car, but is only reduced to $7 for motorcycles. This is messed up given that the Tappan Zee bridge is reduced by half if you are on a motorcycle.

If I saved $4 in tolls and $5 in gas a day - my Return on Investment would move much faster.

RhadamYgg

im sorry I took what you had said previously as 1 way trip to work not a round trip.

ofblong wrote:im sorry I took what you had said previously as 1 way trip to work not a round trip.

Yeah, that's ok, I wish! Even so, it really isn't all that bad.

RhadamYgg

I think as for gas I have lost money since riding again. You see I never EVER go straight to work when I ride.

KingRobb wrote:I think as for gas I have lost money since riding again. You see I never EVER go straight to work when I ride.

Depending on the mpg you got on your car vs the mpg on your bike, you may actually still be observing some savings.

For me, my car gets 25 mpg. The bike gets 65 reliably.

So, it takes me 1.28 gallons 1 way to work or 2.56 gallons for a day.

That means 2.56 * 65 = 166.4 miles. Anything I travel in a day less than 166.4 miles I observe a savings (no matter exactly how small).

Of course, when I control myself (or I'm too beat) - I travel exactly 64 miles to and from work. I consume just about 1 gallon - saving 1.56 gallons a day.

1.56 gallons of gas costs $6.13 (@ $3.93/gal/gas).

If I'm a good boy I save $6.13 + $1 (toll savings on bridge) = $7.13 a day. Gas must have gone up since the last time I calculated - and predicted a $5 savings in gas and $1 toll bridge savings.

Based on this and the fact that often I'm too beat to ride extra - due to being tired and needing to get home and help with the kids - the number of commute days I have to ride in is reduced from my old estimate to 625 commute days.

If gas went up to $5/gal - My daily gas savings would be $7.80. At $8.80 savings a day - I'd only have to ride 506 times to have saved as much as I put in to the bike.

The reality is though, that it is the reduced consumption of gasoline that counts - not really how much I personally save (although that is a great thing).

I save 1.56 gallons a day. Theoretically, we get 249 days at work a year.

249 * 1.56 = 388.44 gallons of gas saved. This rather unfortunately has no effect on overall demand and consumption of gas.

But, if even 100,000 people observed that kind of reduction (average commute is around the size/duration of mine).

38,844,000 - 38.8 million gallons of gas would be saved on an annual basis. 100,000 commuters is not a very large number to want to hit. This might be a good number to start reducing demand on gasoline.

Unfortunately, since demand is going up everywhere else in the world it probably wouldn't have a significant overall effect.

RhadamYgg

*Edited for revised number of work days in a year.

the reason the trend worries me is the fact that we live in such a 'nanny' society nowadays.

therefore, all these noobs getting into it to save a buck that have crashes will most likely have an effect on current laws.

look at all the silly laws we have now to protect idiots from living in the real world....

mark my words - you'll have required helmet laws in every state, required seatbelts, required airbags(the wingers will be OK.. ) and who knows what else the idiot lawmakers who have never even sat on a motorcycle come up with...

KingRobb wrote:I think as for gas I have lost money since riding again. You see I never EVER go straight to work when I ride.

Heres to taking the long way to work!!!!

Here in Florida, it's now mandatory to take the MSF course before you can get your endorsement, so even if a lot of people DO get a bike to save on gas money, they'll have to take a safety course (that is, of course, assuming they are all honest law-abiding citizens). Hopefully that will dissuade the more casual would-be riders.

I have seen a LOT more bikes on the road lately where I live. I saw an older gentleman pulling out of a parking space in the Walmart parking lot who CLEARLY had no business on a bike yet, shorts, black socks and all . He slipped the clutch and almost ran into a moving car, grabbed the front brake and shot both legs out like he was free falling. It wasn't pretty.

Here's hoping that all these new riders find the TM forums and get set straight. There is so much help available here.

P.S. I feel kind of naughty slipping into the "Experienced Riders" forum with only ~60 miles under my belt, but I was just snooping and wanted to weigh in . Not sure if this is a faux pas. And NO, I didn't get a bike to save on gas money (even if it is a nice perk).