Hubby bought a motorcycle to help with the cost of gas while commuting. Pretty sure I have seen

[GreenPartyVoter]

some folks here say they do the same. How are you doing saving on gas money and emissions? (His bike is like this one. A 250cc 2006 Yamaha.)

[Ptah]

1. I gave up my motorcycle when my first child was born.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. I wouldn't let him get one when the kids were babies. I'm still a bit

anxious over his safety, but not as freaked out as I thought I would be, which surprises me since I am the anxiety queen.

[NightWatcher]

3. gas mileage, thanks I'll have to use that......even though I dont work/commute

I would really like it if Santa put a 2012 Triumph Street Triple R



After I was diagnosed, I decided that I'm not going to limp my way off this mortal coil without having some fun and living first. My wife says there's no way in hell I'm buying a bike. I'm going to cash in all my favors and chips and see if I cant round up 10K over the next year or so.

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. I hope you can work things out, though I totally understand your wife's concern.

[riderinthestorm]

5. Yup, we've got one too.

I'm not sure that its about gas mileage though and more about hitting the road... Course, we're daredevils and use these all the time. My kids are even savvy on them around the farm (with safety gear - nobody gets on anything at my place without a helmet).

The biggest thing we've done is making sure that every time we hit the road, we have multiple destinations. We're rural so a single trip into town for one thing is wasteful. We "group" our errands so if we head out we're maximizing fuel since most of the trip cost is consumed by the first 4/5ths of the trip (and back).

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Yeah, any excuse for him to ride makes him happy. LOL But he is saving quite a bit in

gas money since he is a computer fix-it guy who makes a lot of house calls. Two days a week he can't use the bike because he needs the car and all his gear. But the other days if he doesn't have to bring a computer back or need a lot of equipment, he is out on that bike. Just loves it! We're rural and coastal, so everywhere he goes is a nice ride.

[TheCruces]

6. I have a scooter...I get about 100-110mpg

It cost me $800 used. Insurance is $70/yr and I spend about $3/week on gas.

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. He was originally going to go with a scooter, but the bigger ones cost more than a motorcycle and

the smaller scooters weren't powerful enough for his tastes. I think he said he could get about 85mpg on his bike.

[TheCruces]

10. I weigh about 100lbs, so I get my scooter up to about 50mph (it's supposed to max out at 32mph)

Plus, personally, I think guys look ridiculous when they're on little scooters. There's one guy in town that has a scooter even smaller than mine and he probably weighs about 250lbs. It looks dumb and it's pretty dangerous since he can't keep up with traffic at all.

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. Wow! You're really rocking that thing. I agree no tiny scooters for bigger people. They look like

they stole a motorized shopping cart from the store, and appear about as safe as if they had actually done that.

[TheCruces]

17. I rock everything I do

Seriously, though...my one coworker and I really want to get drunk one night and ride around walmart on the fat people scooters wearing our motorcycle helmets...with walkie talkies.

We will be YouTube legends. We both kind of thought we'd be past this stuff at thirty, but apparently, not.

[Wounded Bear]

9. Rode for a while, back in the 80's-90's....

Commuting on a bike sucks. It ruins the pleasure of fun trips.

But it's a great way to see country if you have some good roads to ride. Freeways are just quick routes to the good roads. I remember AAA had the best county maps going. Had all the good country roads. You learn to look for squiggly lines without a lot of cross streets. Mountains tend to be the best bet.

Aahhhhhh to be young again.

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. So far he's pretty happy with commuting, since we live in a rural coastal area with

lots of hills and curves. Plenty to keep him busy as he goes along.

So far he hasn't mentioned wanting to do some serious traveling like out of state on it. He said he would have bought a bigger bike for that, esp if he had to use freeways.

[Wounded Bear]

14. I have to admit....

I was commuting at the time on some of the busiest freeways in SoCal. Often got to work just happy to be alive.

Oh, and yeah, long trips on small bikes are not recommended.

[GreenPartyVoter]

15. That would be a really scary ride, for sure!

[haele]

13. My little 2010 seafoam-green 125cc Genuine Buddy Scooter is 'Elliotte the Hell-blazer.

Except for 1 month in the shop because some ass driving an Audi was late for work and sideswiped me trying to pass me in my lane doing 45 in a 25 zone, I have made the 9 mile work commute each way and the occasional short trip to the store on city streets for the past two and a half years. It may take a bit longer than using the car and driving on the freeway, (top speed is just around 60 mph, so no freeway driving!) but I can haul pretty much everything I need going to work (equivilent to four bags of groceries. Ellie gets around 80 mpg, so here in Cali, it costs around $4.00 a week.
Bought Ellie in January of 2010 for $3200 out the door; she's $70 a year to insure. The initial motorcycle safety course to get that insurance down to $70 a year from $200 a year was around $250.00. With 9K miles on her, she's just about paid for herself.

Yes, I have to keep an eye out for the other drivers, but it's usually pretty safe if I avoid heavy traffic.

Haele

[GreenPartyVoter]

16. Sounds like a good deal so far, except for that Audi incident! Hubby took the course too, though

it was $300. But it was money well-spent, and he thinks it's a good idea for everyone riding on two wheels with a motor.