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Tourer
Posts: 494
Akron Ohio area | I rode 60 miles, one way, which is 120 round trip, for 6 years.
I had several different routes I could travel in order to break up the monotony.
Consider this;
Are you going to be driving into the morning sun or into the setting sun?
Driving into the sun really sucks and gets me nodding off which is the last thing you want on a motorcycle.
You will be putting 50,000 miles per year on your scoot. (Talk about depreciation!)
You will have to stop for gas every day.
You will need two front tires and 3-4 rear tires every year.
You will need to change oil 20 times each year unless you have a 2011 or newer Victory, then it's only 10 times a year.
You will need a new belt every year.
Dude, buy yourself a Ford Focus (41 MPG) and ride your scoot once or twice a week on perfect weather days.
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Visionary
Posts: 4278
| DO NOT DO NOT change your belt till you get to 75 thousand. Clean and keep a eye on it. Your owners manual will tell you what to look for.
Its Bull Shit to change your belt at 25 thousand. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 262
Flowery Branch Ga | I travel I20 alot for work. Think about more lighting. It is very rural between Augusta and Columbia, deer are very common. Also, make sure your cell phone works all the way across.
Wayne |
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Tourer
Posts: 307
Columbia, SC | bigfoot - 2011-10-14 11:49 AM
I rode 60 miles, one way, which is 120 round trip, for 6 years.
I had several different routes I could travel in order to break up the monotony.
Consider this;
Are you going to be driving into the morning sun or into the setting sun?
Driving into the sun really sucks and gets me nodding off which is the last thing you want on a motorcycle.
You will be putting 50,000 miles per year on your scoot. (Talk about depreciation!)
You will have to stop for gas every day.
You will need two front tires and 3-4 rear tires every year.
You will need to change oil 20 times each year unless you have a 2011 or newer Victory, then it's only 10 times a year.
You will need a new belt every year.
Dude, buy yourself a Ford Focus (41 MPG) and ride your scoot once or twice a week on perfect weather days.
Wow. Won't QUITE be 50k (I end up with about 45 days off per year NOT including weekends), but damn near close. I thought about how annoying it's going to be to fill up once a day. And I'll have access to my wife's honda civic (also 40 mpg highway) for really bad days. Looks like I'll be learning how to do some of my own bike maintenance pretty soon.
And I don't anticipate having this commute for the full tour there. I'm thinking at the least, we'll end up moving somewhere inbetween Augusta and Columbia and we'll cut the commute to my job, and her commute will stay the same to Augusta, just in the opposite direction (she'll take 20 W instead of 20 E).
Alexi |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 25
Walhalla, SC. USA | bigfoot - 2011-10-14 11:49 AM
Dude, buy yourself a Ford Focus (41 MPG) and ride your scoot once or twice a week on perfect weather days.
I just don't get it. Why would you drive a cage when you have an opportunity to ride?
It's good that you have a cage to use when weather is really bad or when the bike might need time off for maintenance.
Alexi, I commute to work and everywhere else every day (don't have a car), although my commute is much shorter than yours. I'm also a little further north than you, so temperatures in the teens are fairly common in the morning commute in January and February, but your ride -- although a little warmer -- lasts longer. You should have some heated gear. I use Warm-n-Safe jacket liner and gloves. I also have a glove cover to keep out the rain, and a set of backpackers' rain gear and Totes for over the boots.
Consider using an iPod with Audible.com -- you might get a lot of reading done during three hours per day of commuting! |
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Tourer
Posts: 494
Akron Ohio area | John Frey wrote;
DO NOT DO NOT change your belt till you get to 75 thousand. Clean and keep a eye on it. Your owners manual will tell you what to look for.
Its Bull Shit to change your belt at 25 thousand.
I noted that he would be putting 50,000 miles on his bike every year, and also noted that he would be replacing his belt once a year.
1 belt for 1 year's use.
There is no way you can visually inspect a belt and know for certain that it will go even one more mile before failing.
As far as why I would suggest buying a vehicle that get 41 miles per gallon and riding it 3 day a week on average, IT'S CHEAPER!
Ford's require an oil change every 7,500 miles.
That oil change will be 1/3 the cost of an oil change on your motorcycle.
Tires on a Ford Focus will last at least 60,000 miles and a set of 4 new ones will be cheaper than 2 new tires on your motorcycle.
You will only have to stop for gas every other day and you will be burning regular fuel instead of high test.
Riding a motorcycle to save money is a fallacy. (unless you are riding a 250cc VS an Escalade)
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Visionary
Posts: 1365
Central Maryland | bigfoot - 2011-10-15 6:19 PM
As far as why I would suggest buying a vehicle that get 41 miles per gallon and riding it 3 day a week on average, IT'S CHEAPER!
Ford's require an oil change every 7,500 miles.
That oil change will be 1/3 the cost of an oil change on your motorcycle.
Tires on a Ford Focus will last at least 60,000 miles and a set of 4 new ones will be cheaper than 2 new tires on your motorcycle.
You will only have to stop for gas every other day and you will be burning regular fuel instead of high test.
Riding a motorcycle to save money is a fallacy. (unless you are riding a 250cc VS an Escalade)
Of course it's cheaper. But.... I'd rather ride a motorcycle, at least every chance I get. |
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Tourer
Posts: 494
Akron Ohio area | Online wrote;
Of course it's cheaper. But.... I'd rather ride a motorcycle, at least every chance I get.
I agree, to a point. (i've ridden 24,000 miles this year)
Bordom on a motorcycle is far more deadly than in a car.
Riding the same route for that amount of distance over and over and over again is just asking for trouble.
Momentarily running over the rumble strips in a car will not usually cause you to have an accident.
Doing the same thing on a motorcycle could if you overreact.
If the sun is in your eyes it exponentially increases the danger of riding a motorcycle because you may not see road debris, and other vehicles may not see you.
I'm playing Devil's Advocate here so all variables can be considered. |
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Visionary
Posts: 1365
Central Maryland | bigfoot - 2011-10-15 6:55 PM
Online wrote;
Of course it's cheaper. But.... I'd rather ride a motorcycle, at least every chance I get.
I agree, to a point. (i've ridden 24,000 miles this year)
Bordom on a motorcycle is far more deadly than in a car.
Riding the same route for that amount of distance over and over and over again is just asking for trouble.
Momentarily running over the rumble strips in a car will not usually cause you to have an accident.
Doing the same thing on a motorcycle could if you overreact.
If the sun is in your eyes it exponentially increases the danger of riding a motorcycle because you may not see road debris, and other vehicles may not see you.
I'm playing Devil's Advocate here so all variables can be considered.
Agree and concur to the points that you made. However....
.. the very essence of motorcycling is to rely on the very machine the you are astride on; taking in all of the inherent risks that come with it; repetitious journey's or far trips included; repetitively on a daily basis... What we ride are "distance machines" and the Vision is adequate for what the OP is looking for
I am certainly not a "hard core" biker but I will ride every chance that I get. No matter what they distance. Weather does play a factor in that though... I hate inclement weather and especially freezing precipitation/snow/salt up here... those are the periods where I must use my truck (regrettably)...
Edited by willtill 2011-10-15 6:22 PM
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | Oh boy. Let the man choose what he chooses to do. One, I never get bored riding, long distance or the daily 32 mile trek to work. Even going to the corner store is an adventure. As far as cheaper, I just did some math recently in comparison to what I have a choice to drive. In gas alone if I drove my Jeep 27,000 miles in a year it would cost $4,935 at $3.29 a gal. My Vision, which I average 27,000 miles a year since owning would cost in gas for the year $2364 at $3.59 a gallon. That's a saving of $2571. In there I'll replace the rear tire for about $600 for the year, the front tire for about $300 a year. Then the 5 oil changes at about $22 bring the total up to just over a grand. So far it is cheaper to ride my bike than drive the car, at least that is what I tell my wife.
There is a zillion excuses my mom has given me why I shouldn't ride this murdercycle, yet I shutter to think that I would give up living life to succumb to falling off of a ladder while cleaning my gutters.
Enjoy whatever you decide Alexi/
Edited by varyder 2011-10-15 7:37 PM
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Tourer
Posts: 432
Gettysburg, 2008 Tour Premium | I grew up in NE Ohio and I will never again ride a bike on roads that have been salted, even if dry salt and calcium dust will get in every crack and crevice. If you do plenty of COLD water and soap. |
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Visionary
Posts: 1365
Central Maryland | wroman - 2011-10-15 8:45 PM
I grew up in NE Ohio and I will never again ride a bike on roads that have been salted, even if dry salt and calcium dust will get in every crack and crevice. If you do plenty of COLD water and soap.
Concur. Bike get's put up for the winter once they apply dat chit.... |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 25
Walhalla, SC. USA | willtill - 2011-10-15 8:47 PM
Concur. Bike get's put up for the winter once they apply dat chit....
Dey don't apply day chit down here where I live, and I doubt dey do dat further down south where Alexi is. |
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Tourer
Posts: 460
| I would find another job closer to home. I can't imagine riding 200 miles daily on any bike. |
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | kodonnell1 - 2011-10-21 9:24 PM
I would find another job closer to home. I can't imagine riding 200 miles daily on any bike.
when it is heart and soul to ride, it is never too far or too much. |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 40
South Central Pennsylvania | 200 mile commute to work, plus another 200 to get back home daily is the exact reason that I naught my Vision! I ride east into the sunrise every morning, west into the sunset every evening, and fill the tank daily at the end of my ride. It is anything but routine, and far more pleasant than driving my truck, especially at the pumps $50 per day in the truck vs. $20 per day for the Vision. Just be sure to clean your windshield. At every gas stop! It may look clean until you are staring into the sunburst!
Edited by Shadow-Bear 2011-10-21 10:26 PM
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Cruiser
Posts: 161
Oregon. | I think it's great Alexi. Have a wonderful commute, and to echo what some have already said, get some garbing heated gear. My wife swears that it is the best stuff ever made. Take care and ride safe.
Edited by Brian G 2011-10-22 9:16 AM
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Tourer
Posts: 457
Green Bay, WI United States | If it's just a bit cold and misting I hate putting on the upper rain gear as I start to sweat in mine (cheap). I use a polo type zip up wind breaker over a sweat shirt(or 2) and my ballistic jacket. I can still move good, don't get too warm and it's cheap. I assume your wearing a helmet and I always find the back of my neck get's hit by cold air which chills my whole upper body. I have a woven dickie (no comments) that I put around my neck. I use a very good thermal underwear under my pants and then put chaps on. I do not have any lower rain gear and have never needed it. Wish in the rain I would have had water proof boot covers but have never used them. Last but not least I did not see if you have heated seats and grips but they are the finial touch in cold windy weather. I am from WI and would love to be in your neck of the woods to ride longer into the year. Thanks for your service to our Country and as I always say....
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Next year have a 200 mile daily commute for work - what accessories should I buy?
