A General observation, why are all the toys going?

[timwilky]

Ok, you may not believe it but for some of us, bikes are just big boys (and girls) toys.

so far of my drinking buddies

Dave R6, gone
Lissa ZX6R, gone
Neil Blandit 650, for sale
Brian Z1000, for sale

All for the same reason, skint and the toys have to go.

Is it people not wanting to play out with me these days? Dave and Lissa have Mr Brown to thank for no income for 12 months, and both Neil and Brian are on reduced time. No overtime etc.

How bad does things have to get before you have to consider selling the toys. So a big lump of capital sat there, additional revenue items such as maintenance, insurance, tax all for a few months of sunny weekends.

Personally I would never think of getting rid of the bike. but I do worry second hand prices must be dropping due to a flooded market. Anyone else noticed this worrying trend?

[Biker Biggles]

Yep.But I use mine to get to work so its an essential toy.

Mine was cheap when I bought it and is cheap to run - and I have my own personal mechanic so hopefully I wouldn't ever have to consider it! Wouldn't say mine is a toy - more like an antidepressant

[garynortheast]

Definitely not a toy for me. Ok so I derive a huge amount of enjoyment from riding but I also use it for work in preference to the car wherevever possible as it's cheaper to run and makes for faster journey times. It'll also be my daily transport for getting me back and forth to college in Wrecsam later this year for the same reasons as above.
Can't afford not to have the bike!

last resort ,i use it all the time so not a toy but be honest if it were the house or the bike sorry but the bike gets sold to another loving owner

The market getting flooded with secondhand bikes may not be as bad as you think,due to a low pound against the euro a lot of British bikes are ending up on the European Market.The value of good second hand bikes is actual very stable,or even increasing slightly due to all the manufacturers hiking the prices of the new imports and people being afraid to spend lots of dosh on new bikes
As is always there are bargains to be found in last years models and so called finance deals,also lot of good private sales by people desperate for funds.

[yorkie_chris]

I don't understand some people, they sell the bike but keep some daft expensive car that does 200 yards to the gallon?

Keep the bike, flog the car and tell the missus to take the kids to school. Not like a bike is expensive to run.

[tigersaw]

Sold my last bike as I only rode it on a nice sunny day and the maths just didn't stack up. Depeciation, tax, insurance, service etc worked out at about 80p a mile over the three years I had it, or another way about £50 a ride.
Now I get just as much fun on an old traily bike thats cheap as chips to run

[Mej]

I just worked out including all the intial cost, moeny i got back for selling it, spares, fuel(rough est), servicing, depreciation and bits that i bought for my SV it cost me about 0.51p a mile in the time i had it. That was over about a year and a 3 months.

My bike would literally be the last thing i sell, i use it as much as i can, i would rather get rid of my car and but a crapper one. my car, since May has cost me roughly 66p a mile including petrol.

I think second hand bikes are actually going up a bit - what with the hike in new bike prices...?

But I agree - its an expensive amount of capital to be sat in the garage awaiting sunny days (for the fair weather riders amongst us anyway).