I’ve always had a thing for motorbikes. I didn’t actually want one, and neither did my parents, but needs must and I needed one to go to work as a necessity. Over the years, I passed my bike test, my car test and I had several bikes, all nice powerful ones until a girlfriend forced me into a car with bikes being relegated to playthings. Good thing really as my license was much better off after the transition.
Not my Honda CB500F but a similar one. I had 4 into 4 exhausts (it sounded throaty and a joy to hear), it had twin disks on the front and a custom copper paint job.
Now we slip forward a few years, whingy whiney greenies and government sharks with eyes for a quick tax mean that the cost of motoring has gone up considerably. Insurance alone for a youngster in a car can reach several thousand pounds. No wonder there are so many people running around untaxed and uninsured and using unsafe vehicles. With plod back at HQ looking at speed cameras and filling in forms there are hardly any plod out there to catch these guys. Just don’t use them on main roads at rush hour and keep your journeys short and you are safe. Ensure you only spend a couple of hundred on the vehicle so if it get taken off you you are still quids in. Anyway, I digress.
Motorbikes have always been more economical than cars. It is one of their few advantages. So if you only use the car for transport back and forward a short way to work, and many do, then it would be worth looking at a bike as a cost cutting exercise. It seems from what I can see that many people in our area have thought of this and are purchasing small motorbikes with cutting costs the reason given. You can get a new bike ready for the road including all the gear for under a grand. You can ride them on a full car license so no testing required although decent shops will give you a short training session. Running costs are much smaller and they are OK for about town with parking rarely an issue.
As a plus it seems that bikes are also being looked at as using electric engines. This is good. As the power requirements are lower than a car then you can recharge them quicker, and a portable unit becomes a feasibility. No sign of one being fitted to a bike yet though although we do now have a series of bikes that run on electric. Some look quite good, unless of course you expect high performance from them, although remember this is still the early stages. The one in the video doesn’t even have gears although soon I’m sure it will.
Only real issue with these, and it is the same with the electric cars, is that they are expensive. $10K is still a lot of money and so, as usual, it is a balance between cheap initial cost and fuel costs or expensive initial cost and negligible running costs. Currently the initial costs put off so many people but with time it will be much cheaper. How long though? I could get myself a decent bike for the price I am expected to pay for a low performance short range kids bike just to keep whingers happy.
To be honest though, if the electric bikes were cheaper, had gears, a longer range or on board charging I could see myself with one of these electric bikes soon. Not fast enough to scare me silly and ensure I drove reasonably and yet fast enough to keep up with traffic on the motorway or main roads would be fine. Unlike the Serpent. 
In the meantime though a quiet change is taken place on our roads. Cars are being used for those that can afford the taxes, or are willing to take the chance by not paying the taxes, or have simply not thought of bikes yet and commuters, those that do short journeys on their own, trying out an old form of transport. Not horses, yet anyway. Motorbikes were in heavy use before cars and their time has come again.
If you feel confident riding a bike and you would benefit from their low running costs on a commute to work then buy one and give it a go now. When the electric ones come down to a reasonable price you will then know if it is worth the price. If you don’t buy new then you will probably get your money back on the old one as well. WhooHoo.
Motorbikes are making a comeback
I’ve always had a thing for motorbikes. I didn’t actually want one, and neither did my parents, but needs must and I needed one to go to work as a necessity. Over the years, I passed my bike test, my car test and I had several bikes, all nice powerful ones until a girlfriend forced me into a car with bikes being relegated to playthings. Good thing really as my license was much better off after the transition.
Not my Honda CB500F but a similar one. I had 4 into 4 exhausts (it sounded throaty and a joy to hear), it had twin disks on the front and a custom copper paint job.
Now we slip forward a few years, whingy whiney greenies and government sharks with eyes for a quick tax mean that the cost of motoring has gone up considerably. Insurance alone for a youngster in a car can reach several thousand pounds. No wonder there are so many people running around untaxed and uninsured and using unsafe vehicles. With plod back at HQ looking at speed cameras and filling in forms there are hardly any plod out there to catch these guys. Just don’t use them on main roads at rush hour and keep your journeys short and you are safe. Ensure you only spend a couple of hundred on the vehicle so if it get taken off you you are still quids in. Anyway, I digress.
Motorbikes have always been more economical than cars. It is one of their few advantages. So if you only use the car for transport back and forward a short way to work, and many do, then it would be worth looking at a bike as a cost cutting exercise. It seems from what I can see that many people in our area have thought of this and are purchasing small motorbikes with cutting costs the reason given. You can get a new bike ready for the road including all the gear for under a grand. You can ride them on a full car license so no testing required although decent shops will give you a short training session. Running costs are much smaller and they are OK for about town with parking rarely an issue.
As a plus it seems that bikes are also being looked at as using electric engines. This is good. As the power requirements are lower than a car then you can recharge them quicker, and a portable unit becomes a feasibility. No sign of one being fitted to a bike yet though although we do now have a series of bikes that run on electric. Some look quite good, unless of course you expect high performance from them, although remember this is still the early stages. The one in the video doesn’t even have gears although soon I’m sure it will.
Only real issue with these, and it is the same with the electric cars, is that they are expensive. $10K is still a lot of money and so, as usual, it is a balance between cheap initial cost and fuel costs or expensive initial cost and negligible running costs. Currently the initial costs put off so many people but with time it will be much cheaper. How long though? I could get myself a decent bike for the price I am expected to pay for a low performance short range kids bike just to keep whingers happy.
To be honest though, if the electric bikes were cheaper, had gears, a longer range or on board charging I could see myself with one of these electric bikes soon. Not fast enough to scare me silly and ensure I drove reasonably and yet fast enough to keep up with traffic on the motorway or main roads would be fine. Unlike the Serpent.
In the meantime though a quiet change is taken place on our roads. Cars are being used for those that can afford the taxes, or are willing to take the chance by not paying the taxes, or have simply not thought of bikes yet and commuters, those that do short journeys on their own, trying out an old form of transport. Not horses, yet anyway. Motorbikes were in heavy use before cars and their time has come again.
If you feel confident riding a bike and you would benefit from their low running costs on a commute to work then buy one and give it a go now. When the electric ones come down to a reasonable price you will then know if it is worth the price. If you don’t buy new then you will probably get your money back on the old one as well. WhooHoo.