dlszrfn

im 20 years old. i have a job. i can afford a bike under $1000, i have good credit. i need a motorcycle because i can not afford the price of a car, the gas for a car, nor the insurance. i trust honda very much. im making this post because i dont have enough time to do thorough searches.

in your opinion, what should i go with? i know something pre-90's is a given. sport bike or cruiser, id prefer to start with a cheap sport bike. i did some searching and it seems the interceptor is the way to go. but i dont know and just would like some help.

thanks

LAS2K

cruiser because it will be your daily (more comfortable) and insurance is going to be cheaper than a sport bike. I would say an 80's Rebel 250.

fatboy01

Do you have a car now?

Buying a motorcycle, insurance, gear, maintenance, ect is going to cost a lot more than the cost of rising gas prices in a car.

By a Vespa scooter if you really need to save cash and don't have a car. If you need a bike, look for a Suzuki Savage or Honda Rebel (cruiser type) or an older Kawi ninja 250/500. Insurance is cheap on these, and they are cheap and good on gas.

Gixx312

To be honest, I don't think that it's anywhere near practical to just have a motorcycle as your main source of transportation. For $1000, personally, I think that you should put that as a down payment on a used Civic or something.

But if you REALLY need a bike for whatever reason it may be and your budget is only $1000, your best bet is to search for ANY type of motorcycle for under $1000 on CL or something and do some research on it. The last thing you want to do is to dump $1000 into a used bike you know little to nothing about, and realizing it's a POS and/or a waste of money.

AdeJong 03

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Gixx312 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">To be honest, I don't think that it's anywhere near practical to just have a motorcycle as your main source of transportation. For $1000, personally, I think that you should put that as a down payment on a used Civic or something.

But if you REALLY need a bike for whatever reason it may be and your budget is only $1000, your best bet is to search for ANY type of motorcycle for under $1000 on CL or something and do some research on it. The last thing you want to do is to dump $1000 into a used bike you know little to nothing about, and realizing it's a POS and/or a waste of money.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

+1

cars are more practical. What are you going to do when its freezing or raining? are you going to want to ride? do you have gear? at the very minimum, gloves, helmet and jacket are at least 300 dollars

keep that in mind and make a wise choice. to me it sounds like a bicycle may be your best bet. no gas, no insurance and theyre cheap

dlszrfn

thanks everyone for the replies

just, things come up and you end up losing it all for the sake of your own life, id rather not go into it.

i would really love to get an EF civic, a hatch or crx, but for a decent one that i wont have to pour loads of cash into just to get everything fine again, its going to cost me.
i plan on using my bicycle but i commute to university and i plan on going to the fall semester. im going to be relying on student loans and barely getting by with the job i have. so the less money, the better. im taking into account the rain/ice/etc. and all i can think of is tough, ive just got to tough it out until things get stable.


thanks everyone. ill look into the rebel or above mentioned bikes


Modified by dlszrfn at 5:46 PM 4/23/2008

ucb

just get a beater toyota corolla and get liability only insurance

getting a bike when you are down on money and having it as your only mode of tranport is not a good idea IMO. How are you going to move stuff around? Bring groceries home? Gonna have money for full rain gear and rain tires when it rains?

Blahblah718293

id try to find somthing shaft driven, since itll cut down on the maintinence a little. maybe go to goodwill or a pawn shop for some cheap gear. but ive seen running bikes on craigs for 500. thing is, anything you get for 1000 or less is propably gonna need maintenince... tires, brakes, chain... unless you can do labor yourself, motorcycles are generally alot more expensive parts and labor wise then a car.

daviddahlb

Get a room close to school and bike to class. Work on campus because often you can study on downtime and get paid for studying basically, library jobs, or another desk job. I would also get a 2nd job nearby, work weekends or something minimal just to make the extra dough to buy the beater car, affording rent, books, etc.

Starscream

Get a scooter or something small like a 125cc. Many people in the rest of the world have bikes as their only means of transportation.

crxma22

what area do you live in!?

EGlovr

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ucb &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">just get a beater toyota corolla and get liability only insurance</TD></TR></TABLE> seriously

ucb

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Starscream &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Get a scooter or something small like a 125cc. Many people in the rest of the world have bikes as their only means of transportation.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

True, but in those places, yeah its usually a scooter

I worked in taiwan for awhile and there are literrally THOUSANDS of damn scooters on any given block, and they drive those bishes rain or shine. Co-worker of mine was there during a mofuggin typhoon and those fools were out on their scooters, going like 10mph fighting against 80mph winds ahahahhahaha

PLus they have a decent little storage compartment and get like 100mpg

Starscream

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ucb &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

True, but in those places, yeah its usually a scooter

I worked in taiwan for awhile and there are literrally THOUSANDS of damn scooters on any given block, and they drive those bishes rain or shine. Co-worker of mine was there during a mofuggin typhoon and those fools were out on their scooters, going like 10mph fighting against 80mph winds ahahahhahaha

PLus they have a decent little storage compartment and get like 100mpg</TD></TR></TABLE>

It's similar in here...small chinese bikes have become the only means of transport for a whole lower class family...and many people only have a scooter or small 150cc chinese bike as their daily transport.

But maybe in the US it's not very practical. But it can be done. When there's a will, there's a way.

But since used cars are so cheap in the US, maybe that would be a good option...gas savings are only worth something on the long run.

ucb

lol do you you see entire familys of 4-5 ppl all on 1 scooter?

While I was there saw it multiple times, 4-5ppl on a scooter. One time saw 1 lady with 3 dogs too lol

Starscream

LOL it's basically this way...

1st the older kid, 8 or 9 years old on the tank...then dad riding, then the little girl 5 or 6 years old, then the newborn being held on by mom...

It's so friggin' irresponsible...no one wearing helmets

TypeR864

congestion is a major factor as well as poverty level for those countries, not to mention it doesn't get below freezing and their is no snow.


as for the OP, I would suggest a used beater car. With good credit and a steady job and $1000 to put down you should easily be able to pick up a small loan either car or personal and buy a used car. You will get 40mpg+ with a civic, not to mention you will be out of the elements and have storage space. With a bike and an apartment you're going to have the possibility of the bike being stolen, then what? Seriously consider the car over the bike, its just more practical and economical.

EDIT: As mentioned above, try and get a job on campus. I know a lot of people who do it and literally all they do is sit there and study while getting paid. If you have to, pick up a side job working weekends to pay for gas money and rent.

Good luck.

GraphiteAccord

I would buy a bus pass, and a bicycle.

quicksilver1689

i bought my 86 cb700sc nighthawk for like 900, put a jet kit in the carbs, new filter, cleaned out carbs, ran like a champ with only like 1200-1300 total in it. got 40-50mpg, had about 85hp~ so it moved pretty good for an old bike