Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

I have to agree with most here. Personally I wouldn't dream of having a bike without full comp insurance. The chances of something/anything happening are just too high.
For theft alone the chances of you foiling every attempt by professional thieves are absolutely minimal. You don't need to spend long in forums like this before you see a story about bikes being stolen. Only last week a guy in the US had his 05 (with Micron Slip-on) ripped from out the front of his office in broad daylight. My favourite (or least favourite really) was the limited edition Duke chained, covered, alarmed, in a lock up garage within a secure apartment building. Gone. $75,000 bike with no insurance.
Having said that. You are going to love the 636. Well, I am very biased as I think it is the best 600 on the market.

If you do get the bike you should really try to get insurance. One way or another.

Heres the costs:
$15000 05' ZX-6R
$3000 Insurance.
$1500 excess

If i crash and write it off in the first year, it would of cost me $4500~

The odds of that happening, and me being at fault are low, as i don't ride too aggressive.

Now, a cage wiping me out is more likely, and having 3rd party insurance, and them being insured, my insurance company does the work for me. But if they are uninsured, i can still get 5~ grand, which could cover a repair, unless it's a bad accident.

If i could put 3 grand a year in the bank, by the time i crash it myself, that would probably cover it. and i'd also get interest

So far, it seems only I-K would go for it??

Colettezzr600 wrote:but if - or when - the time came to pay for accident repairs (or medical costs)

Ummm, what medical costs? Third-party personal-injury insurance is compulsory for registration, so, provided you're not riding an unregistered bike when you cause an accident in which someone is injured (and, be honest, what are the chances of that?), you've got no problem whatsoever.

Your comprehensive insurance has_nothing_to do with any injury which -someone might sustain in an accident.

how many people would actually have that "saved" lump sum readily available?

Well, what would you need a lump sum for? If your bike's not completely pretzled, chances are it'll only cost a couple of grand, at worst, to get it back on the road, if not necessarily looking immaculate (let the scuffed, colour-mismatched secondhand fairing you've had to buy from a wrecker for $70 a panel serve as a reminder of what not to do again); so long as the bike runs ok, who cares what it looks like, and, if you really do manage to make a complete mess of it, you'll be able to get mobile again by snapping up something a bit older, again for no less than a couple of grand.

For example, you could chuck your ZZ-R600 off a cliff, it could explode like in the movies and you could be back on the road on another, early 90's ZZ-R600, for no more than $2500. That sort of money you can pull off your credit card, if you're really desperate.

The money you save on insurance doesn't have to go into some kind of "In case of emergency, break glass" fund. It can go on your mortgage (Two extra grand a year for a few years running knocks a fair bit off your principal, and how much interest does that save?), on a second bike (so you're still mobile even if you launch your "main" bike), on booze, smokes, smack...

Let's agree to disagree, IK.

Vash, ultimately it is your decision and all we are trying to do is give you the benefit of our experience, which you are free to take or leave.

deleted

I appreciate that.

Is there anyone here who has bought a brand new bike without full comp?

I gotta learn to type faster, I'm way behind on this one

Vash wrote:Been riding every day to work on the DR for the past 6 months,

There's your answer. Keep the DR as your commuter, or get another, older, crappier big-bore traillie for riding to and from work, and save the ZX6 for the weekend.

Regardless of how crime-free you think your suburb is, warm the ZX6 up in the garage instead of in the driveway, vary your route home and keep an eye on your mirrors when doing so all the same.

Well, what would you need a lump sum for? If your bike's not completely pretzled, chances are it'll only cost a couple of grand, at worst, to get it back on the road, if not necessarily looking immaculate (let the scuffed, colour-mismatched secondhand fairing you've had to buy from a wrecker for $70 a panel serve as a reminder of what not to do again); so long as the bike runs ok, who cares what it looks like, and, if you really do manage to make a complete mess of it, you'll be able to get mobile again by snapping up something a bit older, again for no less than a couple of grand.

I-K you can't be talking about a new bike here. Who buys a new bike and doesn't care what it looks like?

Try putting the acid back on the bike dealer. There was a recent instance I heard of (Ithink in AMCN) with someone in your position who went back to the dealer and basically said they loved the bike but the ridiculous cost of insurance means it was no deal. The Dealer allegedly put some pressure on the insurance company and got a fairly sizeable discount. Problem is they probably screw you come renewal time.

I would strongly suggest insuring it though. Your biggest problem will be theft and whatever you do don't underestimate the lengths that scumbags will go to to pinch your bike.

Good luck with it, I'm sure you'll love the bike.

Mick C wrote:So just for interests sake, do you have all that money you've saved sitting aside in case the unfortunate happens?

Mostly I don't. It's gone into my dirtbike, my van, into my mortgage, lately, and my succession of spare roadbikes (ZX-9R-B, ZX-6R-F2, GSX-R600X, and now ZX-9R-C1) which I've kept hanging around in the event of something drastic happening to my main ride...

A metaphor, if I may... nuclear powerplants have insurance to cover the damage they might inflict in the event of a meltdown. They also have multiply-redundant systems which reduce the likelihood of a meltdown occuring to begin with. Of those two, I know which would keep me sleeping easier at night if I lived down the road from a nuclear powerplant.

I assume you ride just as sensibly as the other people you know,

Um, no, actually, I don't. I ride with a different level of sensibility.
(read the original comment again... )

How do you feel about having third party property?

That costs me $238 a year with a similar-sized excess and, as Vash has pointed out, covers me in the eveny of being hit by an uninsured driver. Unlike comp insurance which runs to multiple thousands of dollars,_that_is value for money.

Don't forget no claim bonuses either. Most bike insurers will carry over your car NCB so for anyone over 25 who's been driving accident free for a few years you won't have to pay anything like $4800...unless you've never had insurance of course

To start accumulating an insurance history, you have to pay a couple of years' worth of exorbitant premiums first. Whether they be five grand on a fifteen grand bike or a grand on a two grand car, they make no financial sense whatsoever, and even if you do accept and pay the cost of getting into the insurance clubhouse, what have your really got...

...the privilege of having to track and keep your insurance company informed of anything which might affect your policy lest they cancel it, and the joy of trying to kick, scream and abuse them into action after you do make a claim.

Two people I know of who aren't aggresive riders have crashed recently (in suburbia)and neither of the bikes were fixable.
One of them was insured, the other not.
One person now has a brand new bike, and the other person nothing...

What's it worth to you?

samhasa636 wrote:

If your bike's not completely pretzled, chances are it'll only cost a couple of grand, at worst, to get it back on the road, if not necessarily looking immaculate (let the scuffed, colour-mismatched secondhand fairing you've had to buy from a wrecker for $70 a panel serve as a reminder of what not to do again); so long as the bike runs ok, who cares what it looks like

I-K you can't be talking about a new bike here.

Why not?

For one thing, there are few better theft deterrents than a fist-sized dent in the tank, a tear in the seat, fairing panels scratched to shit and in every colour of the rainbow. Such a bike can also be lowsided pretty much with impunity, and few things drive the poseurs nuts like being hounded or rounded up by someone whose bike looks like a crashed piece of shit.

The hammerred bodywork can also always be just a temporary measure. What's stopping you having them all repaired and sprayed a uniform colour in a month or two, when you're got the folding? Or slowly accumulating clean bodywork one panel at a time, buying when the price is right?

We're being tightarses, remember. Some compromises have to be made. If we're trying to avoid forking over three grand in insurance premiums, we should be prepared to be seen waiting for the lights to change at the intersection out the front of Brighton-le-Sands Novotel on a bike which looks less than immaculate.

tanyathecheeky wrote:Two people I know of who aren't aggresive riders have crashed recently (in suburbia)and neither of the bikes were fixable.

Sorry, but of the three components that make up that statement:

1. suburban street.
2. crash which results in a total write-off.
3. non-agressive rider.

you can pick any two, not all three.

I-K wrote:

samhasa636 wrote:

If your bike's not completely pretzled, chances are it'll only cost a couple of grand, at worst, to get it back on the road, if not necessarily looking immaculate (let the scuffed, colour-mismatched secondhand fairing you've had to buy from a wrecker for $70 a panel serve as a reminder of what not to do again); so long as the bike runs ok, who cares what it looks like

I-K you can't be talking about a new bike here.

Why not?

For one thing, there are few better theft deterrents than a fist-sized dent in the tank, a tear in the seat, fairing panels scratched to shit and in every colour of the rainbow. Such a bike can also be lowsided pretty much with impunity, and few things drive the poseurs nuts like being hounded or rounded up by someone whose bike looks like a crashed piece of shit.

The hammerred bodywork can also always be just a temporary measure. What's stopping you having them all repaired and sprayed a uniform colour in a month or two, when you're got the folding? Or slowly accumulating clean bodywork one panel at a time, buying when the price is right?

We're being tightarses, remember. Some compromises have to be made. If we're trying to avoid forking over three grand in insurance premiums, we should be prepared to be seen waiting for the lights to change at the intersection out the front of Brighton-le-Sands Novotel on a bike which looks less than immaculate.

You miss the point of my question. If you don't mind riding a bike that looks like track day throw back... why on earth would you be interested in buying a brand new bike?

For $15,000 our mate here could buy 3 bikes that match your description.