[ASecretNinja]

Originally Posted by krbreton

I don't mean to be negative but you aren't saving any money by riding a motorcycle. In general, maintenance on a motorcycle far outweighs any potential gas savings.

Did you graduate from the Al Gore school of fuzzy mathematics? I went from driving a 15mpg V8, to getting 60-70 mpg on my motorcycle. So for starters I've slashed by gas bill by 1/4. That's going to be a HELL of a lot of maintenance to make up for the rest the gas savings. Do you even own a japanese motorcycle? I didn't need a damn thing done to it up to and including the 6k mile service. Japanese bikes are bullet proof. According to my friends in the motorcycle service industry, practically all you have to do is change the oil in them and they just keep going.

Your bike will require chain adjustments, valve adjustments, chain lube, etc.

99% of the people on this board should be able to adjust their own chain. It is NOT difficult. And valve adjustments? Do you even own a japanese bike? While Ducatis are notorious for needing valve adjustments, the japanese bikes can go MUCH, MUCH longer between needing adjustments. Again, this is a fairly simple procedure which many people could easily do themselves. I'll concede the 9 dollars I spent on my can of chain lube.

However, once you determine that dollar amount, you need to take the fact that an RSX OEM tires (not driven super hard) will last about 25-35K miles. Your bike tires will last less than 10K.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the ratio of # of tires on cars to bikes is 2:1, no? Have you seen the price for performance motorcycle tires versus performance car tires? So the tires may last half as long, but you only have to buy half as many at a cheaper price.

Motorcycle oil is approximately 2x the price of car oil.

Only if you're dumb enough to buy over priced synthetic **** from the dealer.
Being that this is a ninjette forum, I'll use it as the example.
-My EX250 holds 1.9 quarts of oil.
-My V8 truck holds 5 quarts of oil.
-I use Shell Rotella T (synthetic) which costs 20 dollars per gallon (good for two oil changes)--or 5 dollars per quart--which is LESS THAN the price of the Mobil 1 synthetic I run in my truck. So not only is my synthetic oil cheaper, but I use LESS per oil change in comparison to my truck.

Additionally, while your RSX will run for 200K miles or more if you treat it right, your chances of exceeding 100K miles on your ninja

Have you seen the type of people that drive RSXs? MAN I GOTTA REDLINE IT BETWEEN EVERY LIGHT!! Sure you can put 200k miles on an RSX, but by the time you get there, that will include several replacement clutches, and your piston rings will probably be shot and burning a fair amount of oil at that point.

Finally there's gear. Hopefully, you can drive your RSX in whatever you wear around town. If not, you may want to seriously examine your driving habits Your ninja will require that you have (at the bare minimum) a jacket, helmet, gloves, and boots. Start adding in leather pants, upgrading the helmet to a nice Arai (which you do change out every few years because your sweat breaks down the foam, right?) and a back protector, and you're looking at a fairly decent gear investment.

My gear check and price list. These are all new prices, I didn't buy anything used. Admittedly I'm a pretty savvy shopper and was able to get almost everything on clearance:

Shoei TZR $199.99
Alpinestars SMX-5s: 189.99
Teknic Chicane Leather Jacket: 109
Teknic Chicane Supervent textile pant: 109
Joe Rocket gloves: 53.99
Total: ~660 dollars

Bike (used) $2,000
Insurance 1 year: $213
(To compare, my 10 year old truck costs 3 times as much @ $660 a year to insure with a perfect driving record)

GRAND TOTAL starting from NOTHING to getting a myself out the door, onto a bike: $2,877 We can even round it up a little higher for the can of chain lube I bought if you want. Depending how much I ride, I spend MAYBE 20 dollars a month on gasoline. In my truck I was filling up between once per week (or two weeks if I was REALLY lucky) @ $45 per tank (gas is expensive in southern California).

I realize I have a slight advantage in this argument being that I drove a gas guzzling truck. Even so, while you may not save AS much money as I do by driving a motorcycle, you WILL still save something.

To the original poster: there's no simple formula to take into consideration. You can get one to see what you save on gasoline, but when you throw in maintenance variables it starts to get a little less scientific. But don't be fooled. You WILL save money on a motorcycle.