Good video with good, eyes-wide-open information. Cars are more versatile and practical as well - useable all year, in even crappy weather (and if you’re riding in crappy weather, you’ll need a special outfit for that, too!), carry more stuff/people, safer (not safe, but safer)… but nowhere near as fun! But as you said, in our respective countries (UK and US), motorcycles are a hobby, a luxury item. And those can be pricey.
It's incredibly difficult to do more than generalities, so as a sensible frugal rider I'll accept your salute and return one myself. 😊 My situation is that after retirement my car went from daily use commuting to hauling groceries once a week, while my bike now travels on several week-long trips each year. My bike's maintenance, including new tires annually, greatly exceeds my car's because of the mileage difference.
I have 3 modes of transport: an estate car, a Hornet and a Monkey. I'm lucky - I don't have to justify costs to anyone as I live on my own. Bikes are my hobby. They keep me sane and happy. Many hobbies are even more expensive (think horse riding) but I admit that, if money gets tight, and there's only one vehicle I could keep, it would be the car. I'd just be a miserable bastard of a car owner if that was the case!
Ride 70 miles round trip everyday for work. Take the Road King as often as I can. Gets way better mileage than my F150. Yes, I have warm weather gear, cold weather gear, Frog Toggs for the occasional rain. Usually don’t ride when significant rain is forecast, but I will take my chances at times. Yes, I have spent funds on upgrades. But all in all, the bike is the cheaper ride. Especially with gas between $4and &5 USD per gallon.
Aye, owning a bike is cheaper, but you can't ride most bikes all year long. If you do ride an mt-07 or some other naked all year long then hat's off to you. If you want a bike with which you can comfortably ride all year long, you're looking at twice the price of an mt-07, if not more. (That's buying new, not used) It can be done on a budget if you buy used and wrench on it yourself, but that's a whole another topic.
Well in my experience and bear in mind the cost of comparison is over three years, my first helmet was quite cheap and something to get me started and it didn't really suit the bike, so I wanted a nicer one that suited the bike and that turned out to be really noisy and not so good in colder months and then I changed the bike and it didn't suit that bike so I got another helmet and so far this one has been excellent (Shoei NXR2). Now I've been shown the world of Shoei I'm thinking I'd like one of their more premium offerings. Of course I appreciate that some (the sensible ones) will just buy a helmet and be happy with it but I'm a sucker 😂
