Re: Why are superbikes ridden so less?

People use emotions more often than logic. And nowadays, it's so easy to get loans, for everything from phones to superbikes. I wouldn't be surprised if they start providing loans for undies too.

So, inevitably, people count their EMI rather than their savings. Being eligible for a loan is so exciting for us, we don't even realize that we are working for the bank in addition to our jobs.

Consider the man who takes a loan for a sbk. His thoughts usually run like this :

1. I can afford the EMI. (He doesn't ask himself, how can I use this money to make more money? Improve my family's condition?)

2. I'm getting older. So, need a bike to reclaim my youth. ( Doesn't want to get fit, instead believes biking will bring back college days memories. Isn't aware of 50+ aged bikers, or athletes.)

3. Later I may not be able to save money. Due to parents old age, and children's expenses. ( Doesn't realise that if I save money now, later I'll have much more).

4. All the above points will force the poor man into a 'now or never!' situation, and he will rush to the bank to get a loan for his dream bike.


We all know what's happening next. More you ride the bike, more expenses. Tension while riding, tension while servicing. Even the CBR 650 crossing 18,000 Kms would have cost the owner atleast ₹50,000 in service and maintenance overall. Not a small amount for a salaried guy.

The fun part reduces after a year.
No time to ride, as you have to work harder to pay the EMI. All the YOLO, Follow Your Dreams statements start peeling off, and you realize that bills also have the ability to follow you around.

Final nail, is a financial difficulty in one form or the other. The bike isn't earning money, and the pleasure of hitting 200 kmph on the local street has waned.

Note: This doesn't apply to business guys who have 5L+ income a month. Often they would have 2 or three sources of income, a house which isn't on a loan, and dont need a loan for a bike either.

Re: Why are superbikes ridden so less?

Well those who are calculating money and EMI here, the superbiking scene is not for You. If you feel you could rather invest that money somewhere else and make more money out of it, I wonder why are you even bothering to post about something you have no plans of buying. Stop trying to discourage people.

I ride my RC8R wherever I can. I ride it to pay my cell phone bill, I shop groceries on it, I take it wherever I can but I still cant put much mileage on it. By the time we reach the level of owning and maintaining a superbike, we reach a point in life where we need to give our time to work, family and friends etc. We get hardly 2 days in a week in which we can barely go out for a couple of hours ride and you can't expect much mileage from a bike that goes out just once a week.

Also you always need to plan where you are going. You just CANT leave your superbike parked anywhere. The more exclusive a superbike is, the more attention it attracts, the more people fiddle with it and the more chances you have of someone dropping it, scratching it or it being stolen.
A Superbike part may take more than 2 months to source at times. Does'nt matter how much money you have, a dead superbike in your garage is as useless as a punctured condom.

Re: Why are superbikes ridden so less?

Most of your points don’t answer the question which the TS asked! If you are so much concerned about saving money, why do you even ride? I suggest you sell your bike and invest it elsewhere!!

Re: Why are superbikes ridden so less?

I'm sorry but I don't agree with you about cost. I don't think anyone would buy a superbike with such financial constraints as you've described. People do buy superbikes and supercars due to midlife crisis but they usually sell to buy an even more expensive bike or if they are moving abroad. Anyway, anything is possible in this world I guess so to each his own I say.

Also, I have a cbr650f and have ridden it for a year with 12k on the odo and am part of a group of cbr650 owners so I can tell you that the bike would cost 50k in service and maintenance at 30k kms mark not 18k. It really is super affordable. Overall service cost for paid service is 3.5k only with labour and without its 2.4k only. At the 24k kms mark the service cost (one time only) is about 18k and you'll need to spend 10k on brake pads at 18k kms mark. Stock tyres are not good but will run a decent 25k kms without needing replacement. Anyway, people have ridden 80k kms on this bike so far and the cost is exponentially less compared to other bikes in this segment. Just FYI. [emoji4]

Btw, the fun factor is still there for me and for other owners. [emoji4]

Re: Why are superbikes ridden so less?

Thats a whole new level of savagery

Re: Why are superbikes ridden so less?

Valid point though.

Re: Why are superbikes ridden so less?

Sad to hear that you ride less now. Hope to see you on the road sometime. [emoji4]

Re: Why are superbikes ridden so less?

I am one of those who cant buy an expensive superbike! I cant afford it, so i decided to go for a used one! Atleast i can save a huge amount and invest that money in fuel and servicing of the bike! After buying the bike, i might have spent an additional 50k and the bike is good as new! Cant compare with a new bike but a superbike will last long depending on how good you take care it! I am clean at that! Spares do cost a little expensive for Ninja 650 but hey, i cant complain! These things last longer so worth paying that money! Apart from that! There are always after sales spareparts which aren’t as perfect as the OEM but they are almost as good! Which again reduces the cost of owning a superbike! I didnt take loan because it is a used bike! Now i can happily save money for my future and be happy owning a superbike!!

Re: Why are superbikes ridden so less?

I was expecting your reply, my friend. The point of my post was, living within your means.

Which a lot of people don't know how. Trust me.

Now if you've read the post properly, the TS mentioned, " i don't understand why people buy things they can't afford to keep"; that is what I was replying to.

It obviously doesn't apply to everyone. Thus, the note.

The intention of my post is not to discourage people from buying what they want. Far from it. I really love bikes, and I certainly intend to own a litre class someday. Not a hope, a certainty as long as I have two legs.

Why then, am I advocating prudence? Calculation? Because most people don't do that. The 2008 housing crisis was precipitated by greed and fueled by ignorance of thousands of people who wanted to buy their dream home, but on a loan they couldn't afford to pay for long. That dream became a nightmare soon enough. I don't want that to happen to any of us here on Xbhp.


@ Balgi - I had factored in the cost of insurance and tyre change at 15,000 Kms. I'm sure you are happy with the CBR 650F, it's my favourite bike in the segment due to low cost of ownership and riding ergonomics.

Re: Why are superbikes ridden so less?


No, No. I didn't mean I ride less because of the 650. Rather my riding has increased since I bought the 650 than what I was doing on Karizma. But yes, in general my riding will be less than, lets say a college or just starting to work bachelor.

I ride every sunday morning unless I am out of town or it is guaranteed to rain. Try to limit the rain rides to not more than 2 in a season unless it happens unexpectedly.

CHEERS!!

Rachit

Re: Why are superbikes ridden so less?

So on a note of maintenance cost, got my exhaust pipe broken today by a speed bump. I'll check it tomorrow and see if I can weld it myself. Not because the labor is expensive, they are not at 200 an hour charge but because the service center is damn far away and this incident happened while returning from there. Horrible roads. This is another problem, scarcity of service centers that i can think of. Bike is obnoxiously loud now since one of the cylinder is bypassing the muffler entirely. Ugh!

Re: Why are superbikes ridden so less?

Should touch 50,000 on the Fat Gixxer before the year ends despite my erratic riding now days.
So yeah, If you have it ride it!

Re: Why are superbikes ridden so less?

Pretty eclectic line up you own

Re: Why are superbikes ridden so less?

Did you ever hit the underbody of the Hayabusa over speed humps or craters?

Re: Why are superbikes ridden so less?

Not really. Maybe once or twice due to error in judgement. Once you ride you get a hang of it and know if the bike will bottom out or not.