I was taking a friend down to Miami the other day. I took her on my Aprilia for the 600 mile trip and although she was paying for gas, I wondered what my price was.

I figured:

1.) Tires. They only last me 6000 miles at the most. I tend to replace both tires at one time. With a minimum price of $275 Installed, thats .046 dollars per mile
2.) Chain and Sprockets. A chain only lasts me about 12000 miles. I replace the sprockets with it no matter what, and it comes out to roughly $210 for chain and sprockets. Thats .018 dollars per mile.
3.) Oil and filter. I change my oil every 2000 miles. I use synthetic oil and Aprilia/Ducati filters aren't that cheap. Each oil change costs me $55. Thats .028 dollars per mile
4.) Valve adjustment. On a Ducati it's every 6000 miles. At $300 it works out to .05 dollars per mile
5.) Belts. Every 12000 miles at $300 works out to .025 cents per mile.

If we add it all up, we get a total of:
.167 or rounded up to 17 cents per mile.

By this logic, a 600 mile ride to Miami and back is .17 x 600 which equals $102!!!  Is my math bad? am I crazy?

Even if you do the valves for free, and buy your own belts, that works out to 11 cents per mile, or $66!

What do you guys think?

well let me get this straight. are you wondering what it cost you for the trip or what it costs you over the long run. its hard for me to estimate it because i keep dumping money into my eighthundred. so it alters the cost per mile. i guess i shouldn't add for all of the mods i do but they still count as money spent. then i add in my extra insurance plus all the gear, so i don't quite know what it costs me. i probably shouldn't

the ron

Quote from: the ron on June 15, 2008, 05:47:33 PM
i keep dumping money into my eighthundred.the ron

+1

I think I'm at about $500/mile on the M900 right now. 

OTOH, it's probably about .05 for my F650. Not to mention I have a garage full of tools, including a pneumatic lift, a tire changer and balancer, a welder and a big-ass compressor all bought with the money I DIDN'T give the BMW dealer for service. 

Oh, and the confidence I get knowing all my maintenance was done, and done right?

Like the ad says: "priceless".

fwiw, the cheapest vehicle I own, running cost-wise, is my Porsche 968.

Quote from: dlearl476 on June 15, 2008, 06:27:42 PM
+1

I think I'm at about $500/mile on the M900 right now. 

OTOH, it's probably about .05 for my F650. Not to mention I have a garage full of tools, including a pneumatic lift, a tire changer and balancer, a welder and a big-ass compressor all bought with the money I DIDN'T give the BMW dealer for service. 

Oh, and the confidence I get knowing all my maintenance was done, and done right?

Like the ad says: "priceless".

fwiw, the cheapest vehicle I own, running cost-wise, is my Porsche 968.

boy now that i think about it if i started adding up all of the support my bike needs, tools, new shed etc it would give my wife a financial heart attack.

the ron

My wife started figuring the math out too a couple years ago but..she knows if I can't ride, life is not very happy living with me!! 

So, may advice CETME..don't even think about it and forget you ever figured the numbers out!

I don't even want to know 

Quote from: the ron on June 15, 2008, 06:55:55 PM
boy now that i think about it if i started adding up all of the support my bike needs, tools, new shed etc it would give my wife a financial heart attack.

the ron

Well if you add up the numbers of how much she spends on shoes, dresses, handbags, new flowers for the garden, decoration the house doesn't need, hours on the telephone talking to whomever will listen to her, etc, etc, etc you would have a financial heart attack as well, so it kinda evens out.

The big difference is that you don't really notice about her expenses, because it is a bunch of little things, a 20 here a 50 there every day, but it all adds up. And of course you splurge once a year and buy your bike a 1500 set of pipes and all hell breaks loose

Quote from: CETME on June 15, 2008, 05:37:12 PMIs my math bad?

Yes. It's overly optimistic.

There is some cost simply to owning the motorcycle. Even if it was given to you free, it's now a depreciating asset that could, in theory, be sold to raise money for some appreciating investment. Each mile you ride decreases the value of the bike by some amount, and even sitting in the garage unridden the value is decreasing by the day. If, as is usually the case, you bought it then there's the money you spent for the bike and the cost of any finance charges.

Like the cost of ownership, insurance is there whether you ride or not. Most policies have mileage limits for the premium quoted, so there's also a per-mile cost (in that if you exceed a given mileage per year the premium rises).

Do your batteries last forever? How about your helmets (and faceplates), gloves, boots, and leathers? Mine don't, and I haven't figured out how to replace them for free. It'd be pretty difficult to compute a per-mile cost for such items apart from using average mileage numbers.

Where I live, there's a personal property tax that I must pay every year that adds up to a pretty penny. I have to license the thing, too, every year. Here, too, there's little direct way to figure cost per mile, but it's there.

I'm not trying to be a wet blanket, but there are all sorts of costs in riding a Monster. They're all worth it.

Quoteam I crazy?

I really shouldn't speculate, but probably not.

On the other hand, trying to figure out the true cost per mile of riding might make you that way.

You should give me your motorcycle. It would then cost you nothing.

Quote from: blue tiger on June 15, 2008, 11:32:56 PM
You should give me your motorcycle. It would then cost you nothing.

You wouldn't appreciate it. You'd just bend the rims 

a) compare this to the cost per mile to drive a high performance car
2) factor in fuel / mileage costs
b) fugetaboutit
c) go ride

wait....we're focussing on the wrong part of this thread... you got a girl to agree to do a 600 mile highway trip on a monster?

There's no way G would ride pillion for five hours even with the six gas stops for quick breaks.

there's a 'priceless' joke at the end of your adding somewhere.

Quote from: IZ on June 15, 2008, 07:22:40 PM
...

So, may advice CETME..don't even think about it and forget you ever figured the numbers out!

+ 5000!!!

Quote from: Statler on June 16, 2008, 09:54:42 AM
wait....we're focussing on the wrong part of this thread... you got a girl to agree to do a 600 mile highway trip on a monster?

There's no way G would ride pillion for five hours even with the six gas stops for quick breaks.

there's a 'priceless' joke at the end of your adding somewhere.

He got her to ride a hell of a lot more than that

http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=3133.0

She totally rocks

Much like the origin of turkey bacon, some things are best left unknown.