Is it really worth getting a motorcycle to save on gas mileage?

in most cases, yes…

small initial investment, and fuel savings more than make up for it in the long run if you get something reliable…

if you buy a bike that sucks on gas, or that requires repairs often *cough* hardley ableson *cough* then you’re just throwing money down the drain…

get a medium displacement bike with decent power (600 cc range) and you will see the savings…

if you get a small bike (250 cc or similar) you will see a BIG boost in fuel savings, and even better return, but not as much fun…

I think it is. I have a 1981 Suzuki GN400. It gets 85mpg on a good day. Insurance I pay $81.00 a Year. Saves me a ton of money. If you are switching to a bike because of gas prices make sure you know what your getting in to. But yes any motorcycle will get better gas mileage than a car.

You can get 30 to 70 mpg on a motorcycle, but it will become a pain in inclement weather. Why don’t you buy a small car like a Honda Civic or Hyundai elantra or Kia Spectra? Besides, you will have to watch out for cars trying to run you over on a motorcycle.

well…uhhhh….yeah. 45 to 65 mpg vs. 15 to 35 mpg, plus if you get a good enough deal on a used bike you can sell it after a couple of years of riding and get your money back and you would have been riding it virtually for free for a couple of years.

it will also save you time commuting cos you can drive between cars.

Yes it is and if your going to get one then you might as well go with the king of all bikes Harley Davidson. They last the longest, are easy to customize, and if you ever do decide to wrench on them they are fairly straight forward.

You will save on gas, but not enough to justify the cost of the bike.

Consider this.

You spend $2000 on a cheap but good used bike. As the price of gas rises, so does the price of a used bike. Good ones also get harder to find. You will have to ride it for years to make up the difference of the gas that you would have used in your car. And although less, you still need to put gas in your bike.

Think about it, $2000 will buy you a little over 571 gallons of gas at today’s prices. You can drive quite a while on that much gas. If your car gets 25 MPG that’s about 14,275 miles you can drive your car on what you spent on your bike.

You would also need to ride it as much as possible.

Where I live, the riding season is relatively short. I have only had my bike out a few times so far this year. Mostly because of the weather. We had snow on the ground up until last week. It snowed this week. So I have only been able to put on about 60 miles so far. The riding season for the most part ends by late September. So most of the time my bike is in storage.

But the good side is that it sure is a lot more fun on my bike than in any car. I smile every time I ride mine.

formula to figure out when you will start seeing savings…

cost of motorcycle= x
price of gas/ gallon= y
size of tank (gallons) motorcycle= s
size of tank (gallons) car = S
current gas mileage= c
motorcycle gas mileage = m
miles driven/week= d
time (weeks) = t

y x s = how much it costs to fill tank for motorcycle
y x S = how much it costs to fill tank for car
d/(ms) = times you fill the motorcycle tank per week
d/(cS) = times you fill the car tank per week

so….

x + t (ys)(d/(ms)) = t(ys)(d/(cS)

Figure out “t” and that will tell you when you will begin to see savings… so for instance, if:

cost of motorcycle= x = $ 1000
price of gas/ gallon= y = $3
size of tank (gallons) motorcycle= s = 10
size of tank (gallons) car = S = 15
current gas mileage= c = 20
motorcycle gas mileage = m = 40
miles driven/week= d = 100
time (weeks) = t = ?

1000 + t(3 x 10)(100/(10 x 40)) = t(3 x 15)(100/(15 x 20))

1000+ t (30)(0.25) = t (45)(.33)

1000 + 7.5t= 15t
1000 = 7.5t

t = 133.33 weeks = about 2.5 years

Hope this helps…

Yes and no. I ran into this a few summers ago. You will save money on gas, but most end up loving their bikes so much that they want to ride more. For me, I ended up riding just for fun so the gas tradeoff wasn’t worth it.

Basically, if you won’t drive anymore than you would in a car, then yes, a motorcycle would be a good way to save on gas.

It’s well worth it if you are not one of those 4 people in 10 who have no business on 2 wheels.

If gas is the reason you start to ride, then go for it. You’ll soon love to ride and never go back.

The Los Angeles Times reports 40 deaths per million miles, which works out to 1 death per 25,000 miles.

You will save a lot of money on gas by being dead.

Take the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course before you buy a motorcycle. I’ve done maybe 150,000 miles… but I’m not claiming responsibility for six dead guys.

If your gettn it for the gas mileage your gettn it for the wrong reason. get it because you would rather ride than drive any day in any weather.

I agree with Dave S. Yes a bike will use less gas, no doubt. But when I ride to work I find myself taking the long way. You ride just to ride. So if you can by a bike & just use it for basic transportation you’ll save on gas. But you’ll likely find yourself talking long winding rides just because.

i drive a ram, so it costs me about $80 to fill up the tank. So i ride my bike as much as i can. for me the bike is quickly paying for itself in fuel savings.