BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Motorcycles Motorcycle for Saving Gas?

Hi Everyone!

Let me say 1st off - I know nothing about motorcaycles. I crashed into a tree on a minibike when I was 12 and have not been near anything with 2 wheels and a motor since then.

But my husband commutes to Atlanta every day for work - about 50 miles (1 -1 1/2 hours depending on traffic).

With gsas prices, this has been nuts. He really can't commute, because he keeps such odd hours, he is the emergency goto guy when something goes wrong with the network/internet.

So he's considering getting a motorcycle to cut back on gas prices (he hasn't ridden one since high school)

What do you guys think? WOuld the price output (bike, helmet, gear, etc.) be worth the amount of money we would save on gas?

Don't forget when tallying up the costs to include insurance!

There's some things to consider when looking at costs. For me, a motorcycle would be too expensive to counteract the savings. I only have 5 miles to go, I own a bicycle and all of the equipment, and should really ride 10 miles/day on a bike.

Things to reduce motorcycle costs:

Get the smallest bike that will do the job. A 250cc engine will get him there just as well as a big Harley or a 1000cc speed demon, but will cost much much less, both in purchase price and in gas efficiency.

Talk to your insurance company about classes. He's going to have to get a motorcycle endorsement for his license, but if a motorcycle safety class is offered by the DMV or the county or city, jump on it. A documented safety class can reduce insurance rates as well as provide reminders of what to look out for on the road.

50 miles is a long way. Depending on the difference in milage... If your savings in gas money is more per month than the purchase price payment plus insurance plus pro-rated gear, it's a good deal.

Got any concrete ideas on what you're looking at? I love to run numbers, so I'm fascinated by the idea.

I believe he was looking at Hondas, yeah I know there's a bunch - but I just dont know that much.

He did say he didn't need a (pardon the term) "crotch-rocket". He'll be carrying his computer and stuff, so needs a heftier machine, not a faster one. Besides, Atlanta traffic tends to only go about 45 mph half the time anyway when it gets clogged up (or worse)

Of course he will be able to use the HOV lane if he rides a motorcycle. That's the lane reserved for carpoolers and energy saving vehicles (motorbikes, hybrid cars, etc.) and buses. So it will shave a little bit of time off his commute.

I am thinking we need a scooter. street legal. We have the one car now and that works MOST of the time. but when one of us is on a trip, the other is stuck at the house unless we set aside a whole day to walk to town.

We manage fine but still think a scooter, as a back up vehicle, is a smart idea. Great gas mileage and very convenient, right?

I have no idea how to find one.

I'm afraid that the original outlay of cost, even for an economical 250, would be high enough that it might be a loooooong time before any savings on gas would be seen, but by all means, run the figures and see for yourself.
I look on my 250 Suzuki as a big toy because I don't put enough miles on it to make up for the $200/year insurance, much less the original purchase price. (about $3000) But, a 50 mile commute does use up a lot of gas!

If he is in IT, can't he figure out/negotiate a way to do some of the work from home? My son manages a number of office computer networks and can access them from his home computer and fix whatever has screwed up except for hardware problems.

As for scooters, I guess it depends upon your state laws, but here in Indiana they are considered to be in the category of big bicycles. No special licenses needed, and they aren't covered by auto insurance, which is both good and bad. A friend of mine has an electric one, it cost as much to buy as my motorcycle but only goes 30 mph maximum, which is fine for his short neighborhood commute but wouldn't be useful if you had to go on a highway.

Claybird, the way I was looking at it was in relation to my vehicle, which is a (admittedly not high on mpg) Jeep. A 250 will get, what, 50 mpg compared to the Jeep's 20 mpg max. A 100 mile round trip commute would use 5 gallons of gas for the Jeep, and 2 gallons for the bike. In today's $4/gallon prices, that's $12/day savings, $60/week. The purchase price of $3000 would be paid off in approximately a year, and then the annual insurance would result in a net savings of just under $3k/year. Unless gas prices do a nosedive, (and I doubt they will) a bike would be more economical. Of course, that is assuming you can drive it year-round, which is not the case in most of the country. In addition, a sudden rainstorm (which is common in GA) is either very dangerous, or strands you on a bike, or forces you to drive a car of some sort.

Your figures show that it might well make sense for your DH to have a motorcycle, especially since he could ride it for many more months that I can up here in the snowbelt.
But... however short my riding season, and however uneconomical my bike is in the long run, I LOVE riding it, and you can't put a dollar value on that.

Yeah, He was talking to one of the other guys at work who does regularly ride a bike to work, and he said thsat with as insane as some of the drivers are in Atlanta, it really takes an experienced driver to be able to handle rush hour on a motorbike- so he's sort of given up on it anyway - sigh. It seemed like a good idea.

He does try to do telecommuting as much as he can, but his company is so old-fashioned, and so many people took advantage of it in the past- that they only allow 1 day a week -and thast is if there are no meetings planned.

He is somehwere between IT and mgmt. He does security for the network and internet and handles the firewall (and anything that goes wrong, he's basically on call 24/7).

So it's a pain, but the insurance for our child with autism is so good, he is hesitant to look for a job anywhere else.

Claybird, we do both work at home, but sometimes someone takes a trip to see family, or has to show up for a conference or something, leaving the other person stranded for a few days.

It's all small town roads here, no highways to worry about on our mountain. So a scooter would work fine. We don't even have a single stop light.

Oh, and it's about 2.5 to three miles into town. very steep road.

Michelle, I drive past Atlanta on I-75 around 7 AM once a year, and that's enough to tell me that there's NO WAY I would ever want to take a motorcycle on that road during rush hour. It's bad enough in a car!
"Insane" pretty well tells it all!

LOL! Yeah, he pretty much leaves at 5 AM so he can leave work at 3 PM to try and miss most of the traffic.

It works sometimes....

I hear motorcycles are super cheap on gas.

I was riding my Harley 883 to college a lot of days of the last semester. I carried my books in a large and heavy backpack, and had a smaller one with loose straps that I wore over the first--it had my lunch, water bottle, and knitting for between classes in it. I can easily see carrying a laptop, etc., while riding a smaller bike.

My dentist rides a Honda 250 to work and back--it's small and looks like a dirt bike. Says it gets 70 mpg, and he's had it up to 70mph on occasion.


My only concern would be that your Hubby realizes that while a motorcycle can be an awesome way to save gas, when the roads are the least bit wet the bike can slide easily. A tiny bit of moisture on the pavement in a curve can be serious, and if another driver gets stupid trying to perform evasive maneuvers may prove impossible. While I am comfortable with my skills in driving on wet roads, the skills of other drivers concern me enough that I take the car in inclement weather.

Harley 883 is worth enough.

But I was amazed to here that you are comfortable with driving on wet roads. I am scared of that.

motorcycles save gas only if you fill it right. and at night when properly changing the tire pressure. theres a bar that cut across the inside of the gas tank dont pas it and therefore burn fuel normaly and not waist it.

I guess I ought to mention that I drive very carefully on wet roads even in a car...when I first learned to drive it was raining every day I went out, so I know my limits. In fact, I consider myself to be a much better driver in wet weather than in dry, because I pay closer attention to the road conditions.

The chopper that I drive burns as much gas as a small car, that's why it's parked right now. Harleys don't get great mileage either. To get the best mileage from a bike, the same rules apply as when you want to get the best from a car. Drive it smooth with no jack rabbit starts.

Wet roads and rain storms are no more a friend to the biker than they are any other motorist. Caution should prevail. Lots of cars get hit by lightening and the charge travels around the frame with no harm to the driver. Motorcycles don't give riders that protection. If you hear thunder, the best idea is to park it. The tough guys might ride it out and make it and more power to them, but I'd rather take the odds that let me ride another day. Ride safe. Evo

Good point about the differences in bikes and driving methods--DH has a Full-dressed Electroglide that gets aobut 45 mpg, my 883 gets almost 50, and our 2 smaller bikes (yamaha 535 and Honda CT110) get around 55 and 100 mpg respectively.

EXCELLENT point about lightning!

I get about 50 mpg from my Yamaha VStar 650.

To see the gasas prices, We should consider getting a motorcycle to cut back on gas prices. Because I think definitely bike, helmet, gear, etc. be worth the amount of money we would save on gas.
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angel
Addiction Recovery Kentucky

You have to look at the long run though. Yeah, there are up front costs, but you will still save in the long run. You don't have to replace motorcycle gear very often.

Well, as for my hubby getting one (I'm the one that started the topic originally) - the question got answered for us this weekend.

My husband's friend that recommended Atlanta was not the safest place to drive a bike for rookies (he's been riding for over 30 years now) was in a pretty bad accident last Friday.

Afternoon rush hour traffic, luckily he was only going about 10 MPH, but this idiot pulled over right in front of him, and he did not have time to stop and nowhere to go on either side; flipped up over the guy's trunk, broke an arm. Like I said, this guy has been riding for over 30 years, was in stop and go traffic, and still didn't have time to react - that's how idiotic some of Atlanta's drivers are (guy was on his cell phone, never even saw our friend).

Hubby said there's no way he's going to attempt a bike. It's been too long, and he'd wind up getting killed.

Oh goodness! I'm sorry to hear about your dh's friend...I hope he's ok.

My husband just got a motorcycle, small 200cc and even with only 10 miles to get to work we figured it would pay for itself in a year. We paid $1200 cash and he drives it instead of his (*cough*) diesel pick up truck. Yeah - we also have cattle so we HAVE to have the big truck. But unless he's working cattle or hauling hay, etc that sucker (as in GAS sucker) is parked now. Yeah! :-)

He figured his first tank of gas got him about 85 miles per gallon! Compared to 15-18 mpg of diesel. Yeah.

Angela <><

It sounds good...............
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Its a very good idea to consider this because its less waste of time in traffic and you tends to save a lot of gas, we should think about it, its a bout calculate our time and money saved.

gc0005
Hawaii Drug Addiction

I save about $100/month in gas money since riding.

How long have you been riding?