first step towards bike test + BMW going

Scariest bike ride for me was on the back of a mates Kwak ninja turbo. He was 5'nowt and I'm 6'2", so I ended up sitting about 2 feet higher than him and hanging onto the grab handles for dear life at 3 figure speeds.

huh well been thinking today and boring lil diesel it is, i may even be real gay and get something i can tax for £35 a year. whatever i get i'd save on insurance, tax, fuel and tyres! surely small cars are less than £80 a tyre?

then i'll get a nice bike, nothing to mental at first just something i can enjoy on the weekend and on the odd sunny day to work, as i said in another post i am quite liking the suzuki bandit.

think it is time to ditch the BM, been talking to the sales manger at work and i have a bit for a good ish deposit on a car so won't have to finance a lot, might go for a astra or *spits* corsa or maybe the lil diesel fiesta out the back (new shape one) if it's not sold, for me be about £3500-4000 which considering what i forked out for the BM aint to bad, i'll then take the bike test, save my pennies to after xmas when the weather improves a bit then look for a nice bike. the BMW is actually quite exspensive once i've added up the numbers and a decent bike shouldn't hurt the pocket as much as the BM especially as a play thing.

thanks for the advice though people, i have tried to take some of it in this time to avoid a 'told you so' although i know the choice of car and bike will start another war no doubt but isn't that the fun of the group?

"Vamp" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

FFS, if you're going to buy something you don't WANT to drive - a diseasel Fester, for example... - why the hell would you spend four grand on it?

If you're really going to drive some boring transport, at least only spend a few hundred quid on it...

Probably not much more than 80 quid a set if you get something really pikey...

Well yes, but if you want to take good advice on board - don't spend anywhere near £4k on a car. If I were you I'd be looking at spending £1k max, and getting something registered before March 2001 or whenever the cut off date is for getting stung on tax. Mind you, if you're after something pikey, have a nose around CO2 figures and make a shortlist of what cars in a cheapish tax bracket you could live with. Mind you, £100/year isn't really worth worrying about too much. Just get something that's simple enough, not likely to go wrong in an expensive way, and doesn't cost too much to start with. Forget even mildly financing something newish.

Well, that's one f*ck load cheaper than running a bike.

Proper size bike:

Tax: £65 ish / year Fuel: 35-40mpg, 45 at a push Chains: Every 10k miles, £100 at least with a set of sprockets Tyres: Rear every 6k or so on a Bindit, front every 12k. Around £150 a set, fitted.

Then there's the servicing - Bindits are pretty crap for a modern bike -

3k oil changes and 6k valve clearance checks are specified in the handbook.

Don't, whatever you do, buy a bike to save money on commuting.

Aside from that, if you use it for commuting in even vaguely shitty weather, you don't want a Suzuki or Yamaha, as they have quick-corrode brake callipers.

See above.

No, no, no...... finance is 'a bad thing'. Especially if you want to move out from your parents' house - and it really does defeat the point of chopping in the BMW.

£48 fitted for a 185x65x14 Firestone. Had a bloody puncture on the way into our data centre this morning...

1200? Tons of torque, 100bhp rear wheel stock, 118 with a can, 150 with a head skin and a bigger hole in the (stolen from the 600) airbox, pipe and rejet to suit. When you are used to it pop round and I will give you an extra fifty to a hundred bhp for about 50 quid at the push of a button. More if you want to buy a few clutch bits and a slightly longer swinging arm... 600s are gutless and a bit cheap on brakes/swing arm/front forks, wheels and tyres. And about the same size physically. But cheap...

Under 25 and only just passed his test.

'Hello, I'd like an insurance quote, please'

'Bwahahahahahaha. *snort* Bwahahahahahahah *thud*'

snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk (SteveH) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

It's when they quote a monthly premium - not as a "budget" option, but because they don't think you'll last any longer.

I don't 'get' this chase for power. To be honest, I never have.

I've ridden bikes with stupid amounts of power (can't remember what a GSXR1000K2 puts out, but it's 'lots' and weighs 'not lots') and just found that they can't be enjoyed on public roads without getting into being banged up territory.

Conversely, the Ducati, with a huge 60-65bhp is immense amounts of fun on the road - strangely, it's the first bike I've got to ground out a peg in nearly a decade, too. Even Katie commented on how much 'safer' it felt, even though I was cranking it over much further than I ever get the VFR. It never really felt under-powered, even 2-up. Mind you, that might be because Katie only adds 50% of my weight to our all-up weight.

Isn't Vamp like 28?

Oh, dunno. He writes like an illiterate 10 year old so it's hard to tell ;-)

Still, even a standard Bindit 1200 wil be HFM!? to insure 'till he's built up some NCB.

i'm 26 but yeah they will especially when they ask 'any convictions?' and i was thinking more 600cc than 1200cc

no 26

so does everyone else pretty much, i do it so it's easier for steveh to read you know :)

true true

ok that's not to harsh compared to the BM, the BM was £185 a year, did

29mpg, something exspensive pretty much broke every 10k and tyres lasted a bit long but are nearly as pricey!

MR2 turbo used to have 3k oil changes which got exspensive when used for 12k miles a year! probably do bout 3k miles a year on a bike! i'm guessing valve clearence is something not to be done by a novice? wouldn't mind learning though.

no bike would be for fun mainly

noted, honda ok?

noted

noted but with not a lot saved and the BM still costing a fair wedge i really want to get out of it now, if i did take finance i'd borrow very little, might even ask the bank of dad which i REALLY hate doing (especially at my age) but there would be no APR and it gets me out of a hole, which i might add i hope not to get into again.

Once you pass get yourself one of these.

wheels complete with air conditioning.Mike.

Bollucks. You're usually the first to bemoan somethings' lack of power, usually another Usenet posters' choice of ride.

[snip]

Power is everything.

Not on bikes. I'm always chasing power in cars but with bikes 140 bhp is PLENTY!!!

Fraser