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Cost per mile of ownership


Francis

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I'm interested in learning about cost per mile of bike ownership. I'm looking at a 2014 R1200RT . Any thoughts on this on an all in cost per mile basis (including depreciation, insurance, gas, etc.) ?

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Don't have a number for you, but if you're going for an all in with depreciation, insurance and registration I know the per mile cost goes down the more miles you ride....so just keep riding until it gets low enough to be “worth” it!

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Francis, I don't have costs including insurance, gas, etc. but I've been keeping track of everything else in a spreadsheet since I acquired my 1999 R1100RT in 2008. I'm finishing up 130,000 mile maintenance this weekend. I would attach my spreadsheet as a PDF, but the forum blocks PDF files, so here are my bottom line figures:

 

First owner (purchased December 1998 for $13,793.00): Total cost of ownership over 65,000 miles: $22,635.04

Second owner (purchased February 2008 for $8025, doing all my own maintenance): TCO 65,000 miles: $15,626.98

 

Add considerably more if you don't do your own maintenance. I have had no failures or unusual maintenance costs; the most expensive things were a clutch replacement at ~97,000 miles, and new brake rotors at ~100,000 miles (front) ~115,000 miles (rear), both normal wear/replacement items for the mileage.

 

If I were 10 years younger, I'd be willing to ride this bike to Alaska and back.

Edited by Selden
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Per mile seems like a silly measure. A hot miserable ride in 10 miles of traffic would cost the same as a nice 10 mile cruise around the lake in nice weather with a stop for lunch.

 

I do track days in my car and once a guy calced it out. It was silly expensive per minute of track time. But it didn't factor in the rest of the event....bench racing, BSing, happy hour.

 

I'm an accountant and somewhat cheap, but find a different measure.

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Per mile seems like a silly measure. A hot miserable ride in 10 miles of traffic would cost the same as a nice 10 mile cruise around the lake in nice weather with a stop for lunch.

 

I do track days in my car and once a guy calced it out. It was silly expensive per minute of track time. But it didn't factor in the rest of the event....bench racing, BSing, happy hour.

 

I'm an accountant and somewhat cheap, but find a different measure.

 

 

Try smiles per mile.

 

It's a motorcycle, if cost per mile matters you are looking at the wrong type of vehicle.

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Per mile seems like a silly measure. A hot miserable ride in 10 miles of traffic would cost the same as a nice 10 mile cruise around the lake in nice weather with a stop for lunch.

 

I do track days in my car and once a guy calced it out. It was silly expensive per minute of track time. But it didn't factor in the rest of the event....bench racing, BSing, happy hour.

 

I'm an accountant and somewhat cheap, but find a different measure.

 

 

Try smiles per mile.

 

It's a motorcycle, if cost per mile matters you are looking at the wrong type of vehicle.

 

Ain't that a fact! The cost per mile on any large displacement motorcycle is high! I find it higher on my BMWs than on my Triumphs, Guzzis and Harley. I do my own maintenance on all 8 of them, the HD is the least $/mile for me.

Edited by fatbob
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Francis,

Like cars, they are more "sophisticated" machines then they were.

The cost/mile will almost always be more than other vehicles.

Now, there are mitigating circumstances, like cost for parking, cost for insurance as examples.

In NYC you'd be the expert on parking/storage costs mc vs other.

Insurance should be less also.

Then, everything else is more expensive, as you know. Tires/parts/frequency etc.

When I commuted 90-110 a day the GT was more expensive than the car.

Car got 30ish, bike just under 40mpg.

But all other consumable costs much higher.

But you know all this.

So tell us about intended use.

Looking at Selden's example of @$40k for 130K (need to add in what he didn't)

and 40-50 cents a mile isn't unlikely as a starting point and going up to a couple dollars/mile

based on usage.

I bought GT used. Did a lot of minor maintenance and worked at dealership so other

services/parts cost less or nothing.

Just the buy/sell difference came out to 88 cents/mile (bought '05 sold in '17) with 86k on it.

Add in the 12 sets of tires(did get some free from distirbutors for evaluation)/14 services/oil return hose/rear seal clutch/Motolights/PIAA's/GIVI/ touring lids/fat foot/GPS and mount/wiring for multiple Gerbings

Airhawks/sheepskin/headlight cover/horn upgrade/Stealth backrest/Upak/Autocom w in ear speakers/etc

Then 3 helmets in 12 years, summer/winter gear/SIDI's resoled 1x (had before GT) gloves/gloves/gloves

rain gear/balaclava/neck gaiters/etc

So thousands more in farkles and gear.

Add that in at retail co$t$ and dang, it is up there/mile.

Tires and services alone would be over $10k.

Question becomes one of what a person can afford, what they will budget for and not become unhappy.

These things don't feed themself.

 

:wave:

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Ain't that a fact! The cost per mile on any large displacement motorcycle is high! I find it higher on my BMWs than on my Triumphs, Guzzis and Harley. I do my own maintenance on all 8 of them, the HD is the least $/mile for me.

 

 

I have been tracking the gas usage of my R1150R. My prior bike was an R65 that I didn't ride that much (in fact I had it apart for a long time for paint/restoration). I certainly have burned through some gas in my 2 months of ownership, but I guess that's a testament to actually riding the darn thing. Nothing like you hard core tourers, but there's no short trip less than 50 miles. :)

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Francis, I don't have costs including insurance, gas, etc. but I've been keeping track of everything else in a spreadsheet since I acquired my 1999 R1100RT in 2008. I'm finishing up 130,000 mile maintenance this weekend. I would attach my spreadsheet as a PDF, but the forum blocks PDF files, so here are my bottom line figures:

 

First owner (purchased December 1998 for $13,793.00): Total cost of ownership over 65,000 miles: $22,635.04

Second owner (purchased February 2008 for $8025, doing all my own maintenance): TCO 65,000 miles: $15,626.98

 

Add considerably more if you don't do your own maintenance. I have had no failures or unusual maintenance costs; the most expensive things were a clutch replacement at ~97,000 miles, and new brake rotors at ~100,000 miles (front) ~115,000 miles (rear), both normal wear/replacement items for the mileage.

 

If I were 10 years younger, I'd be willing to ride this bike to Alaska and back.

 

Selden, does the 1st owners $22,635 include the credit for the $8025 you paid?

 

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I guess I paid right around $21k for the '07 RT new. It's worth maybe $3k. So there's $18k. After the second maintenance I did all my own labor... you could figure an average of $60 every 6k miles. I'm approaching 90k miles. Replaced shocks, $1400. Tires figure $300 every 6k miles. If I had dealer service the $60 every 6k miles would be more like $450. Registration has averaged around $60/yr, Insurance about $200 yr. Fuel, figure an average of 45 mpg x $3.30/ gal...

 

$18k purchase less current value = depreciation

$1200 maintenance (13 self done, 600 mile "free", and one paid at dealer)

$1400 Shocks

$4500 tires

$660 Registration/Title

$1200 Insurance

$6600 Fuel

 

$33560 / 90,000 miles = 37.2 cents per mile over 11 years.

 

If you want to include farkles and riding gear, you could probably add another $3000.

 

If you are dealer servicing add another $5000.

 

Then 46.1 cents per mile.

 

 

Edited by Twisties
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Bike has 120000, purchased for $10k eight years ago with 5800 miles on it, kept records of maintenance which totals $23664 (doesn't include insurance or fuel, does include all accessories, clothing, helmets), so, around $0.19 a mile sound good? It helps to get gear used/goodwill etc.

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Bike has 120000, purchased for $10k eight years ago with 5800 miles on it, kept records of maintenance which totals $23664 (doesn't include insurance or fuel, does include all accessories, clothing, helmets), so, around $0.19 a mile sound good? It helps to get gear used/goodwill etc.

 

 

You've spent $23,000 on maintenance??? Wow. This seems like a REALLY good reason to NOT keep track of those costs!

 

 

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Jan, I bought it from a dealer, so I have no idea how much the first owner got. I'm guessing that he used it as a trade, and got no more than $4000-$5000 for it in 2007.

 

The enjoyment I have gotten from my RT over the past decade far outweighs the costs of ownership. Unrally 2016 in the Rockies was one of the high points. There haven't really been any low points.

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Bike has 120000, purchased for $10k eight years ago with 5800 miles on it, kept records of maintenance which totals $23664 (doesn't include insurance or fuel, does include all accessories, clothing, helmets), so, around $0.19 a mile sound good? It helps to get gear used/goodwill etc.

 

 

You've spent $23,000 on maintenance??? Wow. This seems like a REALLY good reason to NOT keep track of those costs!

 

 

No, that's total costs, including the bike and equipment that I've bought. It doesn't include insurance and fuel. I did have a tranny rebuild(that failed) and replacement(that works).

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Joe Frickin' Friday
I'm interested in learning about cost per mile of bike ownership. I'm looking at a 2014 R1200RT . Any thoughts on this on an all in cost per mile basis (including depreciation, insurance, gas, etc.) ?

 

It'll be pretty variable. If you're looking at a 2014 RT, then obviously it's used, but how used? How many miles on it, and what sort of purchase price are you looking at? If you know that, and you know how many miles per year you expect to ride and how long you expect to own it, you'll be able to estimate a resale value and then compute a per-mile depreciation cost.

 

Will you be servicing the bike yourself, or dropping it off at the dealer? If the former, you'll save a lot of money.

 

Likewise with tires. You can buy a set of tires on the internet for ~$300 and install them yourself at home. If you have a dealer do it, they'll probably make you buy their tires at their price, and then of course you pay them for the install. So now instead of $300 every 6000 miles, it's more like $550 every 6000 miles (I'm guessing on the latter figure; I've been changing my own tires for about 18 years now).

 

For reference, here's the math on my old 1999 R1100RT. I owned it for 10 years, and rode it about 135,000 miles:

 

Purchased new for $17,000 (tax included)

Sold for $3500

Depreciation cost: $0.10 per mile

 

Tires: $300 per 6000 miles, so $0.05 per mile

 

Fuel: 38MPG, $3.30 per gallon, so 0.09 per mile

 

Oil change: $60 per 6000 miles, so $0.01 per mile

 

Insurance: $350 per year (estimated), so $0.03 per mile

 

Grand total, $0.28 per mile.

 

Some costs were left out of this. I upgraded to Ohlins shocks after about 4 years, and had them rebuilt once or twice; can't remember the price for all of that. Also, I had some aftermarket lighting, and I replaced a final drive ($700), a gearbox input shaft and clutch ($500?) and also added a GPS receiver ($500). I sold the lights and shocks separately from the bike at the end, and I still have that GPS unit on my current bike. Net, I'd guess those things probably added about $0.01 per mile.

 

There's also the riding gear - although if you're comparing one bike to another bike, this cost would be pretty much the same, so could be left out of the analysis. If you're comparing a bike to a car, then the cost of riding gear definitely should be factored in. Me, I went through a couple of jackets (~$300 each), a couple of helmets ($400 each), a couple of sets of gloves ($100 each), a couple of sets of riding pants ($100 each), and a couple of sets of boots ($200 each). Altogether, that added perhaps $0.02 per mile.

 

If you keep your bike for less time, and ride fewer miles per year, your per-mile depreciation cost will go up quickly.

 

If you want to cut ownership costs, look for a well-used Kawasaki Ninja 300, and put touring tires on it. You can probably buy one for $2500, and sell it for not much less than that after a few years, resulting in minimal depreciation cost. Use touring tires instead of sport-touring tires; the cost is the same, but they last twice as long. Fuel economy, depending on who you talk to, is around 60 MPG, so your per-mile fuel cost will drop accordingly. Insurance cost should be much less, since the replacement value is much lower.

 

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Joe Frickin' Friday
I am in the "who cares?" camp on cost per mile. The joy the bike brings is much more than any monetary cost.

 

I think most of the active members on this site can say the same thing, but that's because we tend to be people who have significant disposable income. For people on a tighter budget, operating costs matter more, and may make the difference between buying and not buying.

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I am in the "who cares?" camp on cost per mile. The joy the bike brings is much more than any monetary cost.

 

I think most of the active members on this site can say the same thing, but that's because we tend to be people who have significant disposable income. For people on a tighter budget, operating costs matter more, and may make the difference between buying and not buying.

 

Two schools of thought there:

The practical let's see if I can afford it before I buy it - which probably results in not buying.

 

The bass-ackwars approach of I'm pretty sure I can't afford it so I'd better just buy it without costing it first...and then figure out how to pay for it. This is of course my theory, and is how I've managed to have three BMWs I couldn't afford (and now a Ducati to really make me get creative with the budget).

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I am in the "who cares?" camp on cost per mile. The joy the bike brings is much more than any monetary cost.

 

I think most of the active members on this site can say the same thing, but that's because we tend to be people who have significant disposable income. For people on a tighter budget, operating costs matter more, and may make the difference between buying and not buying.

 

 

The OP has 1000+ posts, so I would assume also has another BMW bike and thus familiar with the brand and the brand surcharge. Would you say a new bike (maintenance wise if you do it mostly yourself) is that much more expensive to own than an old one?

 

The difference between a BMW and a Honda might be different. (The MSF class near me has some beat to hell learner bikes. Owner tells me that he just keeps the oil changed and they run forever. )

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Cost/mile is a useful measurement when comparing fleets of similar vehicles, but there are too many variables to be meaningful on an individual basis, particularly for a vehicle as inherently impractical as a sport touring motorcycle. I fully understand living within a budget, but it makes more sense to simply buy a less expensive bike in the first place rather than be concerned with a few cents/mile. A four year old BMW is never going to be the most economical choice.

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I think his query was more about how it has changed compared to previous models rather than budgetary.

 

Regardless, enjoy the new ride Francis.

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The cost per mile analysis posted here is interesting... I think basically we are all quite close on costs... Just depends on how close we account for our $$$. I would find this most useful in a comparison of other bikes, in a real academic study. I think in the result we would learn that the general the cost per mile of a BMW compared to other bikes is slightly higher, and if you keep you bike longer the cost difference is even less, I think we would all still pay the difference in the entrance fee to ride these great bikes...

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I have a 2016 R 12000 GSA.

 

Fixed monthly costs (insurance, loan payments, storage, annual inspection/registration) are there whether you park the bike all year or ride it 30,000 miles. Insurance is based on coverage, location, driving record and claims history and will vary for each person. My bike is paid for, tagged through 2021, and sits in my garage, so for the last few years my only fixed cost has been insurance. Some costs (down payment, which could be payment in full, and title work) are only occur once, at the beginning of ownership. IIRC I paid about $10K plus my old bike.

 

Per-mile (variable) costs are gas, tires, and dealer maintenance. Over the last 100K miles it's worked out to $0.186/mile of which $.096 is gas and tires. Obviously if you do your own maintenance and tire changes your variable costs will be less than mine.

 

If the OP is really trying to budget for a bike, doing one-time + fixed cost + variable cost is the way to do it. Figure out how much you really ride, multiply by cost/mile and add fixed cost - that's how much it costs on an ongoing basis to ride. Remember that variable costs fluctuate seasonally if miles traveled vary seasonally. It may sound like doing it this way sucks the joy out of riding, but it's hard to enjoy the ride if you're worried about being able to pay the rent when you get home.

 

Edited by WBinDE
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I'm in the why bother camp, but do understand some for budget reasons, or just

are curious about cost of ownership want the numbers. For most a motorcycle is a toy, hobby or passion so perspective is needed or you'll caculate yourself into a used bicycle to be on two wheels.

 

The extreme of a knownble but pointless number is to do this exercise for fishing. Pole, reel, lures, boat, time and travel would generate an obscenely high cost per pound price for that fish. For me knowing this type number is a black hole of fun exercise and better to stay away from.

 

YRMV

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The cost per mile analysis posted here is interesting... I think basically we are all quite close on costs... Just depends on how close we account for our $$$. I would find this most useful in a comparison of other bikes, in a real academic study. I think in the result we would learn that the general the cost per mile of a BMW compared to other bikes is slightly higher, and if you keep you bike longer the cost difference is even less, I think we would all still pay the difference in the entrance fee to ride these great bikes...

 

 

I only know of 2 head to head comparisons of note.

First ( a long time ago) MCN compared BMW LT/Harley Ultra?Honda Gold Wing

3 yrs 36,000 miles

All services/consumables/repairs

Cost to buy

Resale

Determine cost to own

BMW won

Second

We sold authority bikes to 5 agencies

Compared BMW costs to previous HD's and the BMW were less

This was back in 1100/1150 era

Caveat, HD worked out some hinkey deals back in the day wrt to upfront costs/resale/etc

 

Now, without a doubt BMW bikes can be expensive to repair/maintain.

But, parts for other bikes can be really expensive too.

Best wishes.

Edited by tallman
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A four year old BMW is never going to be the most economical choice.

 

 

That's unfair! What if the other option is a four year old Ferrari? ;)

PERFECT!

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Two guys were talking as they headed home from a fly-in fishing trip in Canada...

 

First guy: "Man, we spent $5000 on this trip and only caught 4 walleye. That's over $1000 per fish!"

 

Second guy: "Wow, I guess we're lucky we didn't catch any more than we did!"

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I can offer some numbers that will make you feel better about your cost per mile.

 

I used to race a TZ250, 250cc, 2 stroke GP bike.

I added up the running cost per mile - did not include purchase price or any crash related costs - just running.

 

I stopped when I reached $6/mile. Crankshaft was $1/mile for a new crank, rebuilt was a little cheaper. One lap of Road America was $24 - i have done more than 2,000 laps on a 250 there.

Edited by BrianM
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