Becoming a 2 bike man... pros and cons

Post by **Wattie** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 11:02 am

im thinking of buying a 2fiddy, or something small and cheap on the rego, to commute on, and maybe one day teach the boss how to ride b4 i let her loose on the Z.
this means i would have no car.
The missus has a car, so she can get to work and shopping and going out and stuff, but i would be riding the fuel squeezer rain hail and shine...
so apart from the getting cold and wet bit, whats anyones thoughts and experiences on living on a bike...
and no i dont wanna know how my life expectancy will be shortened...
i ride about 100kays a day to and from work.
Z will become the weekend warrior and prized posession.

and also what bikes would be good? low maintenance etc.

mike-s · Post by **mike-s** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 11:09 am

id suggest a gpx750, but it's a touch big for rego costs, but they ARE cheap to get & run

.

seriously, a gpx250 would be best, a zzr250 has more plastic to break if you drop it & the 4 pot 250's are all useless below 8krpm, not exactly the best for commuting on.

SenNey · Post by **SenNey** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 12:37 pm

Huby has 2 bikes, me just one.

He has a FZR600 and ZX6r

The FZR was his normal bike play and communter.
The he upgraded to the 6
No point selling the fzr not worth much private or a trade in.
So he kept it to commute.

pros
Great it keeps the kms down on the 6.
Spreads the services out somewhat over the two bikes.
If the bike is in for a service he has another to ride.
Or if has to wait a few weeks for a part.
The 6 is for weekends and long trips.

cons
Yes you do have 2 insurance, 2 regos, 2 services.
But all in all, i think it's good if you can afford it.

With that said we also have 2 cars, but one is mine and the other is a tow vehicle.
I wont let him take a car to work, he said he would commute everyday so he BLOODDYYYY well can! Rain, hail or shine.

Come to think of it we have to many regos and insurances.
2 cars
3 bikes
2 trailers
and a friggen boat.

K

SenNey · Post by **SenNey** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 12:39 pm

Oh as for a second bike, go naked and older.
Not so much damage if you drop it, cheaper to insure.
Many times you can pick up a damaged one cheap for parts.

I have an RD250 for sale and a trailer load of spares

Stereo · Post by **Stereo** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 12:40 pm

Something like an er-6 or a GS500 or similar are good.... they are a bit quicker than the 250's and dont use much fuel, and the rego on them is cheaper than the 600's too... insurance on them should be cheap because they are not a sports bike...

Remember to change the insurance on the Z from daily use to weekend use and it will drop right down too...

Smitty · Post by **Smitty** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 12:54 pm

Wattie wrote:im thinking of buying a 2fiddy, or something small and cheap on the rego, to commute on, and maybe one day teach the boss how to ride b4 i let her loose on the Z.
this means i would have no car.
The missus has a car, so she can get to work and shopping and going out and stuff, but i would be riding the fuel squeezer rain hail and shine...
so apart from the getting cold and wet bit, whats anyones thoughts and experiences on living on a bike...
and no i dont wanna know how my life expectancy will be shortened...
i ride about 100kays a day to and from work.
Z will become the weekend warrior and prized posession.

and also what bikes would be good? low maintenance etc.

wattie
my bro has done this for about 12 years
he had a Gpx2fiddy until recently (it blew up at 280,000 kms

)

he then went hunting a Gpx750 but found an early Viffer750 with low kms
and very cheap..either 750 would be good
The Gpx 750 costs very little fuel wise (easy 350 to a tank)
and one thats looked after will last ages (mine lasted 11 years
and is still going strong..I see the lady who bought it riding around)

hth

bonester · Post by **bonester** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 12:57 pm

GT550 is a great commuter (I guess the GT750 would be too) and costs nothing to run- no chain maintenance (shaft drive) and aircooled basic donk that is great on fuel with a big fuel tank. (21.5L) I paid $500 for mine and have done 10000 cheap km on it..
BTW there are a GT550 and GT750 on ebay ATM as well- same guy selling both- he paid $1260 for the 750 recently (ebay) and now wants $2800-3000 for it- must have done a LOT of work to it!

FrogZ · Post by **FrogZ** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 1:01 pm

Two bikes at LEAST.
The 12 for everything.... The 7 to stack at T'days.... The old Darmah for going to Duc Rallies and repairing

The minibike for ... welll minibike races....
Just gotta get me a dirt bike and supermoto now.....

The FZR and ZXR 6's are a bit too close too each other to appreciate differences....
Jumping from hte 12 to the Duc and back is always VERY interesting....

Seriously but go the 250 route, easy to get rid of when she trades up too....
2nd hand GPX or ZZR 250.....

bonester · Post by **bonester** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 1:10 pm

GT750
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Kawasaki-GT-750- ... dZViewItem

GT750 (what he paid for it!)
http://cgi1.ebay.com.au/aw-cgi/eBayISAP ... 4617313746

GT550 (wonder what he paid for this one? Same as mine except I got panniers, topbox and fairing with mine...and $2k cheaper!)
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Kawasaki-GT-550- ... dZViewItem

Post by **Wattie** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 1:20 pm

is it the zzr or gpx that has the storage under the tank and the fuel cap at the back??

Duane · Post by **Duane** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 1:24 pm

nope thats the accross it's a spewzuki!

NovaCoder · Post by **NovaCoder** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:01 pm

We're a 1 car family which saves us some cash for a little inconvenience.

Used to be a 1 car, 2 bike family (both mine) the 'pro' was that I got to choose which to ride depending on the phase of the moon etc, the 'con' was that I copped loads of grief from the missus

hidepenny · Post by **hidepenny** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:25 pm

i'm thinking aobut the same thing too, however, i might look in to a scooter or some sort, to be cheap on maintainenece and fuel

rtyuiop · Post by **rtyuiop** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:51 pm

I can say from personal experience a GS500 (or equally an ER-5) is damn cheap on insurance - I'm guessing 250s might be a bit more exxy there due to learners dropping them more often than the 500.

But who knows the logic of insurance companies...

Danny

mike-s · Post by **mike-s** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:08 pm

smitty, is that 350/tank running it near bare bones dry? if so i can get figures close to what your spouting. If its till you start working your way just past the E i have NFI how you do it.

I need to tweak my bike to have it a bit more accurate, its a bit diturbing having over 90km of fuel or more once you hit the E mark, even though you had 210 before you got to that.

going to tweak it to about 40litres at the E mark i think.
Oh and ive replaced the low fuel light sensor. just went to a car wreckers and bought a couple of fuel float sensir gizmo's for a commodore for $10 each and got soldering, gonna test it tonight i think

oh and r.e. the across, the fuel range in that thing is marginal at best, kinda similar to the range a 10 gets.

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Becoming a 2 bike man... pros and cons

Becoming a 2 bike man... pros and cons

Re: Becoming a 2 bike man... pros and cons