im looking to hopefully get back on a blade in the new year but not sure what to go for! i do arond 1000 miles a month just for work so will need to be lowish miles to start off with but not sure about going for a newish bike or something a bit older i can mod/upgrade a bit? my last blade was an 05 which i do miss but i love how light and flickerble my 600 is, im hopefully going to be doing a few trips to scotland and maybe the isle of man too but dont know if that makes any differance from the older to the newer any advice info would be great cheers
Nearly new at that sort of monthly mileage. Plenty of 12/13 Plates about at £7.5-7.9K with 1500 miles on em. Example.......... http://1000rr.co.uk/bikes-sale/20109.htm
my recommendationis never buy new )) cash second hand something not too old low milage for piece if mind you can always buy honda warranty extra just incase but if you are good with diy you should be able to everything urself.
As Beckers said you can get great deals on new bikes, probably work out cheaper than an older one if you are paying on the drip. Would love a brand new not bodged by anyone else bike.
If you are riding throughout the year for work then get brand new - if you're covering circa 12,000 miles a year and are under a 3 year warranty then there will be peace of mind if anything goes wrong (providing the warranty would cover this mileage). At the end of the warrantly trade it in for another new bike. Check out the PCP deals that are available, they are very tempting. Having said all this I personally have only ever bought low mileage second hand bikes for cash. But I don't commute.
Can the budget run to two bikes? I have an '05 Blade to do lots of fun stuff on, and an '05 1150 GS Adventure to do the commute on. With a set of Tourances, the GS will do around 10k on a rear tyre riding quite hard, whereas I fancy you'll be replacing the blade's tyres at least twice as often. The GSA is surprisingly flickable too. Just got back from a trip to Hungary / Poland on it and had an absolute blast riding through the Austrian hills on the way out there. Best of luck...!
I have two bikes 2013 deauviele pcp deal and fireblade04 bought on credit card. i cover around 1000 a month as well I am scared that fireblade will be just too expensive to maintain woth so many miles but same time i am strugling to keep two bikes on the road Changed tyres at 10.000 miles on deauville no hain shaft drive I wantto see what is going to happen to blade how much will it cost me is thehere anybody commutes on a blade??? How long does chain last Sprockets Tyres
thanks for the replys fella's a few things to look into from the replys such as warrenty cover with that sort of milage as in the past it has come under ware, would love a second bike but i only use the one i have to commute as i wasn't getting the time to use it otherwise be intersested to see if anyone commutes on one and what the real cost of doing so is as it might change my mind too
Hey mate - I used to commute 95 miles a day. Was great to start with, I even had a comfy commuter so I could leave the sports bike at home. But I actually found myself getting tired of it as I started to not enjoy my riding as soon as I got into London because of the traffic... couple that with late nights at the office and an hour and half ride home in winter and riding became dangerous. Do you have any city / town riding to do? Personally I would recommend anyone who is thinking of commuting long distance to do a trial run for a few months before investing in a nice new bike. Maybe get a bit of a hack around for a couple of grand and see how you get on for 3 months. If you love it then sell the hack around for what you bought it for and get a shiny new toy. That way you won't be tied into anything straight away. If you've done the commute before and happy to do it again, go for it and forget all I've said!
cheers fella makes sense but i have been doing it for a few years now just wanted to see what/if theres anyone on here doing the commute on a blade and to see if its worth doing it on a newish bike or just getting something a bit older with not a lot of value as a new one will probably look very second hand very quickly cheers mate
Raphael, in the same boat mate. To answer your question, I offer my cost calculations below. I have for years bought 2 year old low mileage bikes then destroyed them commuting, and the depreciation is not that great, on average might drop a grand a year over 4 or 5 years, the longer you keep them the lower the hit per year. This year I bought new for a number of reasons, the main being that I had a dodgy ABS Blade I was not prepared to sell on privately and put someones life at risk with. The second being was the last new bike I bought, was when flares were fashionable and I had hair on my head. My supplying dealer did such a good deal on the cost to change that I decided on a new non ABS HRC. Will it cost me more in depreciation than a 2 year old bike? The answer is yes, but I can justify the depreciation against the cost of public transport. Over 3 years, with all running costs and depreciation it still works out cheaper than the current price of £3700 a year on Shiteastern railways into Victoria. Even at todays train rates that gives me over 11K to play with on depreciating and running a bike. A time saving of over 2 hours a day travelling is priceless, but can't factor that in financially. The Honda extended warranty has no mileage restriction and gives 3 years UK/Euro breakdown which cost £280 after haggalation with the dealer. No brainer at my mileage regime. Plus it only sees the dealer every 8K now to keep the warranty happy, with a 4k oil and filter change at home. I will drop around 40 to 45 k miles on it over 3 years. I have done the rat bike/2nd bike commute lark in the past, it works to a point, but in the end I questioned why I was sitting on a shite bike just to save a few quid when I just wanted to be on a superbike all year. You pay your money, you take your choice. The bottom line is that my bikes depreciate more than a summer riders 3 or 4K miles, but at the end of the day, my cost per mile is far cheaper than any garage queens when it comes to depreciation. Also a surprise trade off has been that in the 4 months I have owned it, being shiny new I have washed it more times than I did any bike in the previous several years......even an old dog can change his ways.
Taz, I have a 55 blade and had just changed the chain and sprockets. The originals had done just over 17k miles. I decided to change it myself to save a few quid. Deamon Tweeks DID replacement set was £114, I had to get a chain splitter at another £16. Tyres will come down to what you put on it and how hard you ride it. I have always gone for Michelin Pilot Power and got about 5k from a rear and almost twice that from a front. Rear was £155 and front £114 both fitted and balanced.
cheers fella makes sense ,one of the reasons i started doing the commute on the bike,apart from not getting time to ride my bike wa that some days it was taking me 2 hours to do 20 miles which in the end was getting to me to much. also if im gonna be on a bike that much would also want to be on something i enjoy not have to use!
From my experience and based on your mileage, Tank of fuel every 150miles £140 a month sprocket and chain last about 18K (£200 for a decent set tsubaki/Super Sprox rear and OEM front ) £11.11 a month (expected more so will be looking for alternatives) Tyres replace every 8k (220 loose for PR4s) £27.5 ( mileage based on PP3s) Oil and filters replaced by me every 4 k (50 for Silkolene comp 4 10w40 OEM oil filter (BMC filter cleaned and reoiled) £12.5 Brakes every 6k miles (£50 OEM) £8.33 So not including tax/mot insurance and depreciation your looking at around 200 squid just to get to work. This obviously doesn't include toys and upgrades on the bike and wear and tear on your riding gear i.e. leathers helmet. I've also got a CB250 hack. Haven't used it in two years, I spend a lot of time in the saddle and I need to enjoy it ( and win the traffic light GP ) Expensive business, but cheaper, more enjoyable than Pubic Transport and lets me have have 2 hour extra per day with the wife and kids priceless!
