What is your cost per mile. - Page 3

 Geez, all these people and no one will answer the question.   Well,
let me tell you, Ben, I save a LOT of money by riding my motorcycles.

1. Riding the Harley Street Glide to work in stop and go commuting
traffic saves me the cost of high blood pressure and heart medications
that I would have to take if I drove my turck every day.

2. Riding the Ducati Monster S4Rs in the mountains of West Virginia
saves me the cost of tickets on cruises and planes to the caribbean.

3. Buying hop-up bits for the Harley and Italian chrome (i.e. carbon
fiber) bits fro the Monster saves me the cost of shopping in malls for
curtains and bathmats and furniture and sofas and tile and ceiling
fans, etc.

4. The money I spend on racing is taken directly from the "what the
hell will I do when I get really old" fund, and if I race long enough,
it is my opinion that I will never get to the point of needing that
money, anyway!

 On Mon, 19 May 2008 13:42:42 -0700 (PDT), "tomorrow@erols.com"


Good points, Tim.    

Ben

 On 19 May 2008, Ben Kaufman wrote in


In 2006, when gas was $2.40/gallon, AAA estimated the cost of owning a
Honda Civic driven 10,000 miles a year to be $.505 per mile including
depreciation, insurance, etc.

I rode about 10,000 miles in the last year.  Using my receipts (oil,
oil filters, fork oil, tires, chain, spark plugs, misc. stuff) and
adding the fractional cost of items that last longer than 10,000 miles
(sprockets, brakes, battery, etc.), I figure non-fuel costs to be about
$500 every 10,000 miles, or $.05 per mile.  Add fuel cost of about $.08
per mile, and you get $.13 per mile.

My bike cost me $2500 and I wouldn't expect the value to go under $1500
in the next few years, so let's say $300-$400/year depreciation, or
$.03-$.04 per mile.  The total cost for me then is about $.16-$.17 per
mile not including insurance.  I do all my own maintenance except tires
since I don't have a balancer.

Even adding an extra $100 labor for the things I did myself and $110
for my insurance (time for a rant: I had no claims and my bike was one
year older so they raised it this year), the total cost of riding my
Nighthawk is under $.20 per mile, compared to over $.50 per mile for a
car.

That's comparing an old air-cooled Nighthawk with self-adjusting valves
and no fuel injection.  If you run the numbers for a brand new BMW, it
may be closer to a car, but in my situation it's much cheaper to ride
my bike.

--
Lew

 

 It's interesting how close your costs were to mine.  I paid about $840 for 10K,
having my mechanic do everything.  Subtracting the labor (and tax on labor) for
everything but the tires  brought it to about  $500 too.  I have not had to
replace sprocket and chain yet but  ZR-7S's  valves don't adjust themselves.
:-(

Thanks for playing.  ;-)

Ben

 My Valkyrie gets worse MPG than my 1997 Nissan Sentra...  But is a lot more
fun to ride.  :)

Joe in Northern, NJ  -  V#8013-R

Currently Riding The "Mother Ship"
http://yunx.com/valk.htm

Ride a motorcycle in or near NJ?
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