Thinking about swapping pointy for curvy or similar.

Hi .org

So I am in a bit of dilema. My wife and I are currently saving for a house and I am looking to save costs.

I currently have a 2007 fully faired sv, which I have just spent a bit of money on servicing etc (thanks Spannerman, top job) but I cant help but feel that I could get rid of that and go for a cheaper bike and put some cash away.

I was thinking I should able to get about £2500 for mine (2007, black fully faired, road legal Yoshimura, full service history (last service a week ago where is was given full working over, brake rebuild, valve clearances, linkages greased, new fluids etc) a new battery about a month ago, scottoiler, fenda extenda etc. The only 'negative' is that it has just gone over 18,000 miles.

I use the bike for a daily commute of about 50 miles a day into London (50% motorway, 50% in town) and get about 170 miles out of tank before the light comes on. So any bike I get needs to be about that.

Is it a false economy to swap to a curvy or a bandit (less than £1500 worth of bike so I have at least £1000 to put towards the house)?

My goal is to save money!

I've not seen many good curveys for £1500 I could be wrong though, but if it was me and I used every day then I would keep it if only used once or twice a week I'd change it, so I would say it's your choice really but it's not a luxury if used all the time, keep it you will only end up selling the curvey later to buy a pointy once you have the house.

Keep the bike - you've just had a lot of work done, and you are more familier with your bike's particular faults than you are with any other bike. Who knows whats lurking within another machine?

Stick with what you have - every bike costs about the same to keep maintained so you may not save much money. Getting a curvy means you are getting an older bike, which means there are likley to be things wrong with it that are not so likey to be wrong in your bike...for example, corroded electrical parts. The work you've just had done - chances are if you get any toher bike alot of that will have to be done (especialy greased linkages! they never get done lol). So long as you adress every problem you get with your current bike ASAP, you'll never need to be spending alot of money

You might be trying to get money together quick...but how long would it take you to save another £1000?

You use your bike for transport to work and you've just got it into tip-top condition. That £1,000 will soon get eaten into when you buy a £1,500 shed that's in dire need of a service and needs consumables replacing.

Plus little annoyances like "can I change the bike on my policy please?" "yes sir, that's a £50 admin fee please."

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by Son of a beesting

My goal is to save money!

Which you might not. Depends on what you buy, If you buy a lemon you may well find it needs alot of work / parts on it. I wander what sort of curvey you'd get for your money...

The bike you have now is a known quantity and I'd be inclined to keep it...

It seems to me an awful lot of hassle to seel what you have for the sake of £1000 - £1500...

Very true, as Kylie said 'better the devil you know'

I suppose with all the money I have put into it it would make sense to get the benefit from it!

£1000 is a lot of money to me though and have really got into a 'save as much as possible' frame of mind which I take to far sometimes!

Originally Posted by Son of a beesting

£1000 is a lot of money to me though and have really got into a 'save as much as possible' frame of mind which I take to far sometimes!

Do you not have anything lying around that you can sell on ebay/car boot etc?

£1000 will soon rear it's head once you start selling your old junk.

Change gas/electric supplier, cut back on food, get a water metre, shop somewhere else, there are a whole host of ways to save money that don;t involve selling your precious.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/

I know what its like, me and my fiance are saving for a house aswell. It stopped me from buying a VFR750 a few weeks back, and part of the money saved went on new clutch parts for my SV!

Save money buy spending a little less in other area's, even something simple like making your own lunch instead of always buying from a cafe would save a few quid, which can go on petrol

Just consider expensive purchases a bit more and decide whether you really need that shiny shiny thing

Thanks for the advice, we are already doing all those things (bringing in own lunch etc) and can save just over £1000 a month (not this month gas, electricity,water and bike service all in one month!).

Just looking for ways to speed up saving (sounds so boring).

All the best with the saving Alpinestarhero, nice to know people in the same boat! Not sure if this helps you but I am very interested in the Lloyds lend a hand scheme. Might be of some use to you too?

[Paul the 6th]

part of the reason for me swapping the sv1000 for preston's SRAD was to help me adjust my finances... £60 pcm for the sv1000 til this time next year, if I sell the thou, the lump of cash dave gives me will settle the finance and leave me with around £600 = best quote on insurance so far has been £404.11 = £200 left, I'll prolly just wax that on drugs and women*.... Having said that, £60/month will be free'd up and diverted towards mortgage/bills so it kind of works in practice..

(*= paracetamol and women taxi drivers)

(note to nick the greek, there are other reasons for wanting to swap as well )