Advising not to buy motorcycles

[amboman]

Over here in New Zealand the fuel prices are increasing weekly.  The average price of a liter of 91 octane is about $1.55.
  This continuing price increase has left the average kiwi bloke looking for ways he can keep his B12 gas tank full.
  Of course it is only natural that the citizens not wanting to admit defeat have come up with an economical way in which to remain mobile.

  The upsurge in motorcycle purchases has lead to a refreshing boast in the motorcycle industry much to the dismay of one of our major government departments.

New Zealand still has a government funded accident compenstion department known as ACC.  This department is directly funded by the fuel taxes imposed on the comercial and domestic fuel users.  Don't quote me but from memory for every liter of fuel purchased at the pump about 41.7 % or approx 65c is taken by the goverment in taxes, a portion of which funds the ACC.

Late last week the ACC in a media statement that went country wide stated: That although motorcycles are certainly more economical, they are dangerous forms of transport and ACC would discourage any persons purchasing one just to save a few dollars.

With a government mentality like that it is hard to see light at the end of the tunnel.

What are your thoughts?????

[PeteSC]

THey're right.  Skip the motorcycles, and everybody take public transport or walk.  See what happens to the fuel tax income, then?

[Desolation Angel]

Hehe!  That would REALLY get their attention.

[jared1970]

In my part of America, Iowa specifically, public transportation is pretty much nonexistent. Population density is simply too low to support it. Recently I've restricted my driving on freeways to 55 mph, regardless of speed limit and adjusted my shifting habits to shift as low as I can without bogging the engine. In my car I've started shifting at 1500 rpm, and on my bike I've been shifting at 3000 rpm. This has netted me about a 3.5 mpg gain in my car, but hasn't really had an impact on my motorcycle's mpg at only about .6 mpg gain. Not huge improvements by themselves, but if enough people modified their driving to gain maybe 3 mpg, I believe it could have a significant impact.
I think a big problem, especially here in America, is the idea that you need a huge 4x4 truck or SUV for everyday transportation. For some reason, people have forgotten that just 25 years ago, hardly anyone owned a four wheel drive truck or SUV. Everyone drove cars, and everybody got around just fine. Do I need an 8 foot truck bed to carry my groceries home from the store? No. Do I need four wheel drive? No, I buy snow tires for the winter time and my car gets around fine. ( Remember snow tires?) It seems like most Americans have completely forgotten that four wheel drive is not necessary in the winter time with right tires. Big truck and SUV manufacturers spend a lot of money marketing the idea to us that we need big 4x4 trucks and SUVs to make driving through 4" of snow safe. And that we need the 100 cubic feet of cargo space that their SUV offers. But how often do I really need to haul 100 cubic feet of something? Not very often. If I need to haul a lot of something, or if I'm moving all my belongings to a new residence, I can rent a U-Haul truck for what seems like nothing compared to the cost of purchasing a truck or SUV.

[B6mick]

THey're right.  Skip the motorcycles, and everybody take public transport or walk.  See what happens to the fuel tax income, then?

Pete's got the right idea, well almost, don't worry about the tax, just think of how nice it is to ride down the road with only half the amount of dropkicks sharing the road with you. Thats gotta be good.

[aussiebandit]

Jeez, Mick the bus drivers must be a damn site better in Melbourne than they are here, and I can't think of anything much worse than MORE bloody trams......except maybe more Volvos.

[fartndust]

Wifey and I have driven over to Portland and hopped on the MAX train just for a trip downtown...not that we had any business to tend to, just wanted to check it out.  Now, this is my own opinion of course:
I'd weld the doors shut and set it and it's nasty content ablaze if it were legal (is it?).  Nothing but punk kids, dysfunctional street-people, rude nasty attitudes....what do they call that attitude??  Oh yeh...entitlement.
I hate 'em.  The thought that my tax dollars go to support an almost free ride to them so they can move freely about makes me want to vomit, but I can't afford to replace the coffee and breakfast I consumed just an hour or so ago.  I see the bus system that transport the heroin users from Camas and Vancouver to the Clinics with 90% of the seating empty running the same routes 3 and 4 times a day...how much methadone do those people need?!!  Public transportation my ass  Now, let the rebuttal begin  
       

[PeteSC]

When I lived in Denver, (25 years ago)I actually rode the bus at times, and it was OK, with few exceptions.  I could pretty much get to anywhere I wanted between sunup, and about midnight.
  For a while, I worked at a restaurant about 5 miles away from where I lived.  (had no car.)  More than once, I had to work late, and missed the last bus...........
 
  A strange thing happened in the late 70's when the bus system totally revamped the routes, and wanted to increase ridership.
  They eliminated ALL fares for a couple of months in the summer.
  All sort of riff raff that didn't even have the quarter, or whatever it was to ride the bus at the time, started climbing aboard.

  Suddenly, WINOS and panhandlers were appearing in the 'better' neighborhoods!   They'd jump on the free bus in the skid row section, and go out and explore the nicer suburbs!  People were pissed. It was pretty funny.......

[PitterB4]

In my part of America, Iowa specifically, public transportation is pretty much nonexistent. Population density is simply too low to support it. Recently I've restricted my driving on freeways to 55 mph, regardless of speed limit and adjusted my shifting habits to shift as low as I can without bogging the engine. In my car I've started shifting at 1500 rpm, and on my bike I've been shifting at 3000 rpm. This has netted me about a 3.5 mpg gain in my car, but hasn't really had an impact on my motorcycle's mpg at only about .6 mpg gain. Not huge improvements by themselves, but if enough people modified their driving to gain maybe 3 mpg, I believe it could have a significant impact.
I think a big problem, especially here in America, is the idea that you need a huge 4x4 truck or SUV for everyday transportation. For some reason, people have forgotten that just 25 years ago, hardly anyone owned a four wheel drive truck or SUV. Everyone drove cars, and everybody got around just fine. Do I need an 8 foot truck bed to carry my groceries home from the store? No. Do I need four wheel drive? No, I buy snow tires for the winter time and my car gets around fine. ( Remember snow tires?) It seems like most Americans have completely forgotten that four wheel drive is not necessary in the winter time with right tires. Big truck and SUV manufacturers spend a lot of money marketing the idea to us that we need big 4x4 trucks and SUVs to make driving through 4" of snow safe. And that we need the 100 cubic feet of cargo space that their SUV offers. But how often do I really need to haul 100 cubic feet of something? Not very often. If I need to haul a lot of something, or if I'm moving all my belongings to a new residence, I can rent a U-Haul truck for what seems like nothing compared to the cost of purchasing a truck or SUV.

All good points!  I just hope people don't try to legislate them through artifically low speed limits, ineffective CAFE standards and the like.  To me, life's too short to spend 1 second more of it commuting in my car than I have to.  If it costs me a couple extra cents to get home quickly, that's my choice to make.  I've been commuting on the bike more the last couple weeks to save a few $$ but, the revlimiter is my friend.  

I have a 100 mile roundtrip every day so I can't afford to drive an SUV as a commuter (again, MY choice).  I do like to hunt and fish.  My wife likes the size and stature of her Grand Cherokee (and allows me to borrow it) so having one in the family works for us.  Besides - even at today's prices, I'll bet you about break even in the cost of an extra set of tires/year vs increased fuel consumption from 4x4.

[snofrog]

In my part of America, Iowa specifically, public transportation is pretty much nonexistent. Population density is simply too low to support it. Recently I've restricted my driving on freeways to 55 mph, regardless of speed limit and adjusted my shifting habits to shift as low as I can without bogging the engine. In my car I've started shifting at 1500 rpm, and on my bike I've been shifting at 3000 rpm. This has netted me about a 3.5 mpg gain in my car, but hasn't really had an impact on my motorcycle's mpg at only about .6 mpg gain. Not huge improvements by themselves, but if enough people modified their driving to gain maybe 3 mpg, I believe it could have a significant impact.
I think a big problem, especially here in America, is the idea that you need a huge 4x4 truck or SUV for everyday transportation. For some reason, people have forgotten that just 25 years ago, hardly anyone owned a four wheel drive truck or SUV. Everyone drove cars, and everybody got around just fine. Do I need an 8 foot truck bed to carry my groceries home from the store? No. Do I need four wheel drive? No, I buy snow tires for the winter time and my car gets around fine. ( Remember snow tires?) It seems like most Americans have completely forgotten that four wheel drive is not necessary in the winter time with right tires. Big truck and SUV manufacturers spend a lot of money marketing the idea to us that we need big 4x4 trucks and SUVs to make driving through 4" of snow safe. And that we need the 100 cubic feet of cargo space that their SUV offers. But how often do I really need to haul 100 cubic feet of something? Not very often. If I need to haul a lot of something, or if I'm moving all my belongings to a new residence, I can rent a U-Haul truck for what seems like nothing compared to the cost of purchasing a truck or SUV.

you must be one of them sissyfied city boys .around these parts weve got chores to do ,wood to haul, driveways to plow (for them sissyfied city boys while they are buissy puttin snow tires on thair economy car) around here do you know what they call 4 " of snow "flurrys".weve got grain and hay to move .fences to mend .sled`s 4 wheelers and bikes to move for that sissyfied city boy in the prius with the snow tires .we get snow drifts higher than the roof of a car 5'-6' some of them  and snow tires aint gonne help it nun . jmho....  flame away

[Maniac]

you must be one of them sissyfied city boys .around these parts weve got chores to do ,wood to haul, driveways to plow (for them sissyfied city boys while they are buissy puttin snow tires on thair economy car) around here do you know what they call 4 " of snow "flurrys".weve got grain and hay to move .fences to mend .sled`s 4 wheelers and bikes to move for that sissyfied city boy in the prius with the snow tires .we get snow drifts higher than the roof of a car 5'-6' some of them  and snow tires aint gonne help it nun . jmho....  flame away

Actually, I think he's talking about the sissified city boys buying those. What self respecting farm boy is gonna drive an Escalade anyway?  

[PeteSC]

Do any white people drive Escalades?   Dey be fo' shizzle!

  For you people up in 'snow country'.  The next time you have a big storm, look at the vehicles that have slid off the road.  There are just as many SUVS with 4wd, as cars without.
  Buying an SUV with 4wd doesn't do any 'magic'.   You still have to know how to drive.   You just have a better chance of getting your stupid butt back on the road by yourself....after you've slid off it!



Snofrog, take a chill pill, dude! These city slickers have big 4wds, and they'll come up and run over your butt!
  (If they don't slide off the road, first.....)
  Besides, Jared's in Iowa....where it snows as much as Michigan, probably more....and blows like heck at the same time.

[Maniac]

Do any white people drive Escalades?   Dey be fo' shizzle!

Used to see a few up in Michigan, not many though. Could have just been GM execs or demo cars. If not Escalades, what about the Hummer craze? You -cannot- tell me that even half of those purchased ever see a dirt road except in passing.

I love seeing these huge Dodge 4x4 Diesel Quad-cab flareside 1-ton pickups being driven to the grocery store or something. The door opens and the only farm the guy who climbs out has ever been in is of the cube variety...
 

[jared1970]

you must be one of them sissyfied city boys .around these parts weve got chores to do ,wood to haul, driveways to plow (for them sissyfied city boys while they are buissy puttin snow tires on thair economy car) around here do you know what they call 4 " of snow "flurrys".weve got grain and hay to move .fences to mend .sled`s 4 wheelers and bikes to move for that sissyfied city boy in the prius with the snow tires .we get snow drifts higher than the roof of a car 5'-6' some of them  and snow tires aint gonne help it nun . jmho....  flame away

No, I'm not. I DO own an '89 Bronco that I use for plowing snow in the winter and for hunting. However, its too impractical of a vehicle for use as a daily driver. I only use it for plowing and hunting. The rest of the time it's parked in my back yard. In case I wasn't clear in my previous post, vehicles like these are suited only to people who have a real need for their special attributes. The average person doesn't need a vehicle like my Bronco. In fact, about nine months out of the year I don't even need a vehicle like my Bronco. Even in the months that it sees use, I might only use it two or three times in a month. Most people don't hunt (or even own a gun or know how to safely handle one), most people don't plow snow, and most people don't live on farms where you may need four wheel drive to access parts of your farmland. As for drifts of 5-6', very few 4x4 trucks or SUVs would make it through drifts that large without the aid of a snow plow to help keep the undercarriage of the vehicle from becoming buried in the snow. For people like you and I, we own vehicles like these for their UTILITY purposes. People like you have chores and a legitimate reason for such a vehicle. But Joe Blow, or his wife Joan Blow since it seems you mostly see women driving big SUVs, that lives in the suburbs of California or Florida or any of the other states with large cities (with the few exceptions like Chicago, New York, etc.), where there is no snow or mud or grain to be hauled, has no real reason to drive something like that, except for the satisfaction of knowing that if he drove 200 miles to the nearest unpaved hill, he could drive up it.

[fartndust]

   
sissyfied city boy   That's a good one!