Cost of ownership: Does anyone keep records?

[Yammer Dan]

Would you like us to ask for you?????

 

 

NO!! She claims when I croak she is having a yard sale. All in one pile for one very low price!!

[Guest tx2sturgis]

This topic (cost per mile) comes up occasionally in the world I operate in (transportation).

 

Sure, a motorcycle is a recreational vehicle to some of you, and others, like me, its more like a primary 'car'.

 

I'm approached at gas stations now and then, ( I'm sure others have this happen too), and the well meaning but un-informed cagedriver will say something like, "I bet its a lot cheaper driving that than this" or, " man I wish I could fill up for twelve dollars!"

 

I usually say something like its a lot more expensive to ride than you think, when you consider the total cost to ride the thing, like insurance, maintenance and so-on. I try to get the message across in 30 seconds that these large bikes are not el-cheapo transportation like your daddys old Honda 360 Twinstar.

 

What I would love to be able to say to them, as well as others who want a motorcycle to 'save money', is that its costs $xx per mile to ride a bike like this and $xx per mile to drive a cage around, and that you wont, in fact save ANY money riding the larger bikes, and in fact, it will cost plenty, but of course, its worth it to those of us who ride.

 

Its just a little excersise in record keeping that I thought SOMEONE would be able to help with. Like all of you, I ride because I WANT to...not to save money.

 

Thanks for all the input.

 

 

 

 

[etcswjoe]

Mine was based on records, but considering the bikes age and what I payed for it probally skews things.

[KIC]

NO!! She claims when I croak she is having a yard sale. All in one pile for one very low price!!

 

Can you put me on the yard sale notification list ? Please ?

 

 

[Evan]

I'll offer a different pperspective that I have used with my wife to rationalize the cost of bike ownership, although like many others, I would not be without a bike regardless.

 

In our case, we "downsized" from a two car family to a one car family some time ago. I am amazed how often I use my bike for transportation when my wife needs the car.

[Yammer Dan]

Can you put me on the yard sale notification list ? Please ?

 

 

 

 

I'm gonna stick around just to tic her off!!

[etcswjoe]

Went throught the records of the 99 RSV I bought last March and so far it has cost me 31.921 cents a mile.

[LilBeaver]

Does anyone keep good records of the cost of ownership of these large bikes?

 

Yeah, we know what it costs to fill up the gas tank, or put on a set of new tires, but I wonder if someone on the forum has kept good records of what it costs per mile to own and ride one of these machines?

 

I can guess, and make some educated calculations, but what I'd like to do is make a comparison between say, owning and riding a Venture for 5 years, vs owning and driving an average compact or midsize car (of about the same initial purchase price) for the same amount of time and miles.

 

Of course you might have to correct for mileage not ridden in the winter, but if you compare the initial purchase, the insurance, the gas, the tires, the maintenance, repairs, and any upgrades wanted, are we ahead financially with a large touring bike? I doubt it.

 

To be fair, I would assume that both vehicles should be covered by a warranty for the entire 5 years, and any warranty repairs that are done, do not affect the owners cost of ownership. But I think its also fair to include any and all riding gear purchased, including helmets, riding suits, heated gear, boots, gloves, goggles and so on. This gear should be included in the cost of ownership, cuz you gotta have most of it.

 

Sure, we get some decent fuel mileage, but when you figure ALL the costs involved, including resale value after say 5 years...I bet a standard econobox car is cheaper to own.

 

I'm not including the 'fun' factor, we all know bikes are more enjoyable most of the time.

 

Does anyone keep good accurate records from purchase to resale?

 

I never have...

 

 

 

 

 

 

I do.

I will clean up the spreadsheet(s) that I use and write up a little blurb on the parameters that go into the calculations as well as any assumptions that I have or will make.

I will come up with a few numbers with respect to operating expense and an estimate of 'cost of ownership' (since I have not sold my RSV, I can only guess at the depreciation but will do that too). I do have these numbers off the top of my head but I would prefer to 'show my work' so to speak so that anyone that choose to can make adjustments for their own ride, riding style, geographical location, etc etc.

I do ride all year 'round, except for the few days here and there we get ice and the slightly more frequent times that we get winds that are 60+ mph. I have a short commute to my lab but also ride quite a bit for recreation (at least I used to ).

 

Give me some time, I have been super busy with work lately, but I should be able to squeak some time in here and there to get something written up for those that are interested.

[JohnMidnight]

67$ a month insurance

107 for tags (was 87 last year)

Current mpg is 28-33. Riding Easy 31 barely. (weekday round trip is 63 miles give or take a breakfast grab)

So usually 16 fillup. 19 if cutting into res)

 

Oil filter: 10$s no tax, free shipping amazon prime (november purchase)

Oil: 6.80 a quart for the 10w40. Switching to 15w40.

30$s for coolant.

Tires, 101, 104 respectively.

 

60$s for cleaning supplies

240 for new stator, and RR

220 new tci

15 new pickup coil

 

Incoming impacts:

197 fork rebuild. 59 progressive springs. 8$ oil.

64.99 carb boots

299.99 new sliders and diaphragms.

59.02 seat refurb.

299$ new windshield.

$$ unknown for new terminal mounts on left and right sides, plus new screws to go around.

2.60 apeice new spark plugs.

$$ cost to refresh the saddlebags, trunk and mounts.

$$ cost to really repair left and right upper and lower bodywork before the duct tape stops working.

$$ cost for a paint job with battle scars to show her continued survival being here.

 

Still able to ride her every day, priceless.

[Condor]

NO!! She claims when I croak she is having a yard sale. All in one pile for one very low price!!

My kids threaten to torch the place.....

[Flyinfool]

NO!! She claims when I croak she is having a yard sale. All in one pile for one very low price!!

I am on a bunch of lists where I have dibs with the wives to by various hobbies stuff for what the guys have told their wives they paid for it..... another one to add to my list.

To bad the warden was not at MD, I could have made the purchase offer at that time. You do have more ladder work to do on that garage roof, right?

[Yammer Dan]

I am on a bunch of lists where I have dibs with the wives to by various hobbies stuff for what the guys have told their wives they paid for it..... another one to add to my list.

To bad the warden was not at MD, I could have made the purchase offer at that time. You do have more ladder work to do on that garage roof, right?

 

 

I might just hire somebody!!

[LilBeaver]

Ahoy all:

 

I have decided to not publish my entire maintenance and operational history but just summarize. I will report the operational cost and not the cost of ownership as I have not sold my bike yet. This means that I will NOT include a calculated depreciation value in the first number as this will change depending on original purchase price and when the bike is FULLY depreciated or sold (as one can calculate the depreciation by ([Purchace price]-[selling price])/[miles driven].

 

Parameters, assumptions, additional notes:

- Amounts calculated over the last 35,000 miles of operation and expenses therein

- Amount includes ACTUAL cost to end user

- I do all of my own maintenance EXCEPT for mounting and balancing of tires (I remove wheels from bike and take it to my nearby dealer that does each for $15/wheel off bike)

- Insurance NOT included since this varies WIDELY for each person - to calculate your insurance cost per mile take your annual insurance premium and divide it by your annual mileage: that is: [Average Annual Insurance premium/Average Annual Mileage]

- Fuel is almost exclusively "Regular" from 'name brand' stations (BP, Mobil, Phillips 66, Speedway, Shell and Valero)

- Oil changes (Mobil 1 Fully synthetic Motorcycle oil with Mobil 1 or Bosch filter) done on 3,000 to 7500 mile interval depending on conditions (really dusty where I live)

- Only purchased 2 sets of tires but have had a total of 5 different sets on bike (First set was Avons, Avon replaced both front and rear a total of twice before buying me Dunlop E3s, which I wore out and replaced 4k miles ago).

- Valve clearances checked near recommended mileage

- Includes addition of: Driver backrest, Hopnel Tank Bib (bought used), Saddle bag liner bags (thanks Beer30!), Highway pegs, Butler cup holder, 2 Stebel air horns, Carbon_One lift adapter (with legs), Carbon_One crash bar braces, Yamaha Star Trunk rack and rack bag (bought used), Digital voltmeter, and possibly a few other items

- Significant costs associated with parts replacements that I consider possibly 'abnormal' include: Replacement OEM Regulator/rectifier, replacement main radio amp (300 from pinwall), ignition module (used for a very good price, thank you VR.org), WORKS rear shock (~$800), 3 windshields (OEM taken out by bird, Clearview that snapped off, OEM replacement still working - used [thanks SilvrT])

- Texas Yearly registration and safety inspection fees included

 

I think that covers it all:

 

Final Cost per mile on 2001 RSV (not including insurance and depreciation) is ~12.6 cents per mile

Insurance cost per mile (for this 'young punk' with a spotless vehicle record; ie. no citations, crashes or claims) comes out to ~2.5 cents per mile

 

 

Now, as for the specific question of comparing my bike to the cost of operating a small economy vehicle, I have not done that calculation. In order to do that, I would go ahead and add in the cost of a hotel/camp site for nights on long trips as I would NOT spend money on one of those if I were traveling by car. I own a 2002 F-250 so my bike is far cheaper to operate than the pickup which runs about 25 cents per mile NOT including insurance or depreciation.

Edited July 3, 2012 by LilBeaver
forgot about the Carbon_One crash bar braces

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Thats a lot of math...thanks for that.

 

 

When a large touring bike (of any make) is depreciated out over 5 or 10 years, its probably not gonna look good in the wallet or bank, but alot of these members have purchased used 25-30 year old bikes and ride the heck out of them...and even tho repairs and maintenance are part of the equation, I'm guessing that they might come out ahead when it comes to the depreciation aspect.

 

Again, thanks for the input Rick.

 

 

 

 

[LilBeaver]

Agreed about the depreciation, hence why I did not bother attempting the estimate.

 

Sorry it took so long to get it up here. Had I not had a ~4k mile/3 week detour it would have been up much sooner.

 

Thats a lot of math...thanks for that.

 

 

When a large touring bike (of any make) is depreciated out over 5 or 10 years, its probably not gonna look good in the wallet or bank, but alot of these members have purchased used 25-30 year old bikes and ride the heck out of them...and even tho repairs and maintenance are part of the equation, I'm guessing that they might come out ahead when it comes to the depreciation aspect.

 

Again, thanks for the input Rick.

 

 

 

 

[Bobby G]

A fun thread and process to think about, but too many of the car vs. RSV comparisons are apples vs. oranges, especially in my case, so it's really hard to truly compare. But since march of 2009, when I got both my job-provided F150 (new) and the 1999 RSV, here's how it generally stacks up:

 

Initial investment (39 months ago)

F150 - none (company vehicle)

RSV - $5,750

 

Gear and add-on's (helmets, intercom, leather, windshield, chrome, etc.)

F150 - none

RSV - approx. $1,600

 

Insurance

F150 - none

RSV - $1,347 thru June of 2012

 

Maintenance

F150 - none

RSV - approx. $1,500 (about $500/year)

 

Tires

F150 - none

RSV - 3 sets since '09, or $1,185

 

Gas

F150 - none

RSV - 63,000 miles since purchase, guessing an avg. of 38 mpg overall, guessing an avg. of $3.25/gal. overall = $5,388, or 8.5 cents per mile.

 

Total RSV investment since purchase:

 

$16,770

or $430 per month

or 26.6 cents per mile ridden

 

Very easy to swallow when you have no expenses related to an automobile (for which I am very fortunate), but still a real eye-opener when you think about how much you've spent on that relatively inexpensive bike and related stuff over a 39 month period! And that doesn't even include the expenditures incurred as a result of being out riding all the time (food, hotels, adult beverages, etc.), or the cost of previously owned bikes or my wife's H-D.

 

Had I not been riding, I wonder what I would have done with that $16 grand??? Hmmmmmm....

[Flyinfool]

 

Had I not been riding, I wonder what I would have done with that $16 grand??? Hmmmmmm....

 

 

Wimin and wine? :confused24:

 

At least that is what I tell the better half to justify the cost of my hobbies.