Scooters - are they cost effective?

I have allways wondered about the economics of a second bike for commuting
where do you save money?
The O.P says he has a good 1150 which he has commuted on if you buy a new scoot for say £4000.00 and take into account servicing,tyres brake pads ect
petrol, insurance over a year you must be getting close to £4500.00 deprecation is only relivant if you intend to part-ex for a newer model.
Now long would that £4500.00 pay the running costs of that 1150 for?
 
Have you seen the servicing costs for the new BMW scoots?
Something like £1000 for the £12k service
Now that is really scary
 
ahutcheon said:
You deliberately seeking excitement and adventure when the crucial go-belt snaps in who knows where? Or me no understand? Fair enough, there's lots me no understand...
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Nah, I did many more miles than I expected through the M.E and thought I could get one imported into Indias 'Honda' dealers. They aren't really Honda though so I can't. Scooter belts have steel inside and don't snap, they just become crap as they wear. Honda Thailand are sorting me out. :thumb2
 
Every year, about this time I ponder over whether it's worth getting a scooter as a winter hack for my commute into the smoke.

And every year I come to the same conclusion that the outlay required for even a cheap 125 will be more than any depreciation I'm likely to suffer riding my GS through the winter. The only advantage I can see is the first part of my commute is on untreated rural roads which I'm on at 0530. Black ice and GS's don't mix but I figure a slip on a scooter will only enhance it's street cred!!

That said, 10 years I've been doing it and haven't dropped my bike yet!!

I have test ridden one of the new BMW scooters and a T Max. Enjoyed them more than I'd like to admit and great for commuting but they are 'real bike' money and would have to replace my GS as a do everything bike.

So every year, about this time I spend a day cleaning my bike and coating it in ACF50. When I clean it all off in spring I'd argue you'd never know I'd ridden it all winter.

Now if this was a Harley site and you owned a pristine Electra Glide I could understand the need for a scooter.........
 
g.s.john said:
I have allways wondered about the economics of a second bike for commuting
where do you save money?
The O.P says he has a good 1150 which he has commuted on if you buy a new scoot for say £4000.00 and take into account servicing,tyres brake pads ect
petrol, insurance over a year you must be getting close to £4500.00 deprecation is only relivant if you intend to part-ex for a newer model.
Now long would that £4500.00 pay the running costs of that 1150 for?
Click to expand...

No need for £4K.

Mine cost £2.2k new. £60 per service,£14 road tax and 113mpg. 2yrs warranty and now start your calcualtions. :beerjug:
 
V4 TRV said:
No need for £4K.

Mine cost £2.2k new. £60 per service,£14 road tax and 113mpg. 2yrs warranty and now start your calcualtions. :beerjug:
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I only used that as a rough figure as i dont have clue what a scoot will cost
but it is still £2274 plus fuel that would run a GS for some time :nenau
 
Backmarker said:
Now commuting Sevenoaks to Eastbourne (110 miles a day) on the same GS & S - I am thinking of a scooter once again. So before I do the maths again, (and I realise that fuel has gone up far more than tyres/servicing etc - so a scooter might make sense), I thought I pose the question here.

Has anyone done 6k on a scooter recently, and what did it cost in terms of tyres servicing and repairs (or depreciation if bought new/nearly new)?

(I was considering a C1 until I saw one that had cost http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2000-BMW-...8626794?pt=UK_Motorcycles&hash=item19d6d774ea)
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To me scooters are primarily about urban mobility. A 20-mile-each-way commute around London's North Circular Road was pretty miserable on the R1200RT, but perfectly acceptable on my scooter of choice (Honda SH300).
No machine got a look-in unless it was at least 100 kg lighter than the RT. So that was bye-bye Tmax and Silverwing ,although they are nice.

I get 80 mpg and the tyres are still good after 10,000 miles thanks to 16" wheels. I have heated grips but would not hesitate to run a heated jacket as well.

I don't know the Sevenoaks area at all well since I live in North London, but I would expect that I would rather do your Eastbourne commute on my bike - but I do have a fully-faired tourer. However, I might well prefer a Silverwing with all its weather protection to a naked bike or a trailie. If you choose a major brand, then depreciation should not be too bad.

Incidentally an SH300 - or similar machine - will hold easily 70 mph uphill on a motorway and I have no qualms about using the M25 or any other m'way.

Hope this helps,

John
 
Bob Southgate said:
Vines just quoted me £450 for the 12k and £660 for the 24k.
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They have just phoned me back and revised the figures. £600 for the 12k and £1000 for the 24k:eek: To put that into perspective a 5 year inclusive service plan on a 5 series BMW is £400. If you go for the inclusive plus, which includes discs and pads front and rear, clutch and wiper blades it is £1550. The scooter is going to cost £3200 for the two 12k and two 24k services that will be needed plus the costs of any disc pads on top. I haven't included the cost of the 4 6k services that will also be included in that period.
 
Bob Southgate said:
They have just phoned me back and revised the figures. £600 for the 12k and £1000 for the 24k:eek: To put that into perspective a 5 year inclusive service plan on a 5 series BMW is £400. If you go for the inclusive plus, which includes discs and pads front and rear, clutch and wiper blades it is £1550. The scooter is going to cost £3200 for the two 12k and two 24k services that will be needed plus the costs of any disc pads on top. I haven't included the cost of the 4 6k services that will also be included in that period.
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It must have been the 24k, the salesmen told then.................I'll admit I lost interest when he said it was nearing £10k for the demo parked in the car park

I couldn't see £10k's worth of value in it, overpriced tat
 
I hate to be controversial :rolleyes: ...

Spend £1,500 on a PCX with 1,000 miles from new. Don't bother servicing it regularly, just run it into the ground.

I've done 12,000 miles and spent £60 on a service at 8,000 miles. That's it, and it continues to get me around the world. A GS would have broke down by now.

There's a Swedish guy in Iran right now on a R1200GS. He's completely screwed with a knackered final drive and has been quoted four weeks to get the part sent over.

Small bikes = bigger brain. :)
 
beemerboy9 said:
To me scooters are primarily about urban mobility. A 20-mile-each-way commute around London's North Circular Road was pretty miserable on the R1200RT, but perfectly acceptable on my scooter of choice (Honda SH300).
No machine got a look-in unless it was at least 100 kg lighter than the RT. So that was bye-bye Tmax and Silverwing ,although they are nice.

I get 80 mpg and the tyres are still good after 10,000 miles thanks to 16" wheels. I have heated grips but would not hesitate to run a heated jacket as well.

I don't know the Sevenoaks area at all well since I live in North London, but I would expect that I would rather do your Eastbourne commute on my bike - but I do have a fully-faired tourer. However, I might well prefer a Silverwing with all its weather protection to a naked bike or a trailie. If you choose a major brand, then depreciation should not be too bad.

Incidentally an SH300 - or similar machine - will hold easily 70 mph uphill on a motorway and I have no qualms about using the M25 or any other m'way.

Hope this helps,

John
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And there in lies the rub. Commute is basically a couple of big towns (Sevenoaks, Southbrough/Royal Tonbridge Wells & Eastbourne) and a load of small villages (Frant, Marks Cross, Argos Hill, Five Ashes, Cross in Hand, Little London, Horam, Coggers Cross) with a few miles of National Limits between. Once it is dark and wet (ie both ways at the moment) I cant overtake much, and so the bike advantage (over a car) is in the filtering in towns. Hence the idea that a scooter would maximise the filtering in towns, lose nothing on the open road (was running at 26-37mph on A22/A26 today - any scooter could do that), or in the villages (30/40/50 limits), be lighter and more manageable in really slippery conditions (I am 2 miles from the A25/M25 and its always my drive followed by those 2 miles that cause me the greatest problems). I just need it to pay for itself. I would save on fuel and tyres but the servicing costs for a scooter just seem extreme. Even if done by me.
 
Snoopy said:
Nah, I did many more miles than I expected through the M.E and thought I could get one imported into Indias 'Honda' dealers. They aren't really Honda though so I can't. Scooter belts have steel inside and don't snap, they just become crap as they wear. Honda Thailand are sorting me out. :thumb2
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Sounds all good. Better than a C90?
 
+1 for a T-Max

I'm now commuting just under 2000 miles a month, previously on a 1150GS, then a Gixxer Thou and now a Tmax 500 bought on ukgser for £1500.

My route is a mixture of long boring motorway and country road and built up townsville.

I cannot quantify the savings, but petrol and servicing costs are way down on both the GS and Gixxer. And I'm not really taking any longer to travel to and from work.

But its the ease of riding a big twist and go over a long commuting distance that makes them just such a good buy, over and above any potential saving.

If I had to buy one of my three favourite bikes again - the three above, it would be the TMax. Its utterly brilliant, wish I'd bought one years ago now.
 
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