The hyper-efficient Honda NC700X equipped for commuting by Twisted Throttle
With gas prices continuing to climb and free time being a limited and cherished resource, riding a motorcycle to work just makes good sense. Check out these points below to see how and why to make motorcycle commuting work for you:
Save Time, Save Money
According to the Ride To Work website, the average U.S. commute is a mixed route, meaning it requires workers take a combination of open roads and city surface streets. It’s 29 miles long and takes, by car, about 55 minutes to complete.
Now compare that to commuters who ride motorcycles they shave an impressive 33 minutes off this same commute. Add that up coming and going, and that’s an extra hour-plus every day and who couldn’t use that? Add to this the fact that passenger cars have an average mpg of 22.3, but motorcycles get an average 50.1 mpg. That’s more than twice the fuel mileage, which translates into some big savings each week at the gas pump.
Accessorize
If you’re concerned about any inconveniences riding a motorcycle to work may present, investigate the variety of motorcycle accessories that are available and convenient for riders to use. There is gear to keep you safe, warm and comfortable during commute times.
Perhaps the most vital accessory is a good, sturdy helmet. Helmets protect your brain from injury and decrease the likelihood of death. They come in different styles, including open-face, half-coverage and full-face just make sure to wear one that fits snugly. To lessen the helmet-hair effect, get a ventilated helmet, which decreases how much your head sweats.
There are in-helmet earphones that enable riders to enjoy music and still be able to hear traffic and sirens, and radio and stereo features that work with your MP3 device. Garment cases enable you to pack work clothes on your bike and keep them clean and wrinkle-free.
Be Safe (and Save on Insurance)
New riders should take a motorcycle safety course. Not only will it make you a safer rider, but successful completion usually gets you a break on insurance costs, too. (just make sure the course you enroll in is recognized by your insurance provider).
Safety courses teach riders how to start and stop, how to inspect a motorcycle and how to maneuver in varying traffic situations. They also teach riders how to recognize and avoid potential hazards, including blind spots.
Nick Ienatsch of SportRider.com explained, If you can’t see the driver’s face in the car’s mirror, that driver can’t see you and you simply don’t exist. He suggests motorcyclists use acceleration, deceleration and lane position to “ride in the mirrors” of the cars around you, adding, The Highway Patrol teaches its riders to constantly move through traffic, to ride slightly (slightly!) faster than traffic and move through blind spots rather than sitting in them. Good advice.
Commuting can be Cool… No, Really!
If you think motorcycle commuting has to be drudgery, then you’re missing the point. Check out this video of Twisted Throttle’s fully ticked out urban commuter, the Honda NC700X. The hyper-efficient adventure styled “soft roader” makes 64-73mpg, and does it with a fair bit of fun.
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With fuelprices of CAD 2,34 per liter for regular 95 RON in the Netherlands this isn’t a bad idea.
It’s not really a great idea for us as bike insurance is just as high as a car here.
We’re paying the same here, around CAD$2.25–2.50/litre in London. What has really screwed the pooch for a lot of people is that insurance went up 30–50% across the board this year to offset the huge number of personal injury claims that spiked last year. Based on last year’s rates I should be paying £450/$700 for full comprehensive in Central London but no… my renewal just came through at £707/$1,100. It has become a complete joke and utter disgrace that annual motorbike insurance premiums are approaching a week’s wages, considering if I lived just 15 minutes outside of the M25 my premium would be around £200/$300. I’m starting to think it might be worth commuting 45 minutes each way but it would be hard to give up my current 7 minute commute… Not that it makes me sleep better at night but a sportbike would be double, as would any car bigger than a Toyota iQ.
I have looked it up: insurance of my ’93 BMW R100 GS in an annual € 22,66 (75% bonus), my ’99 Renault Kangoo Pampa € 208,35 (80% bonus). Tax would be an annual € 104,00 for the bike and € 480,00 for the car. Not so bad compared with U.K. rates.
Annual insurance bike CAD 30,27 and car CAD 278,36. Annual tax bike CAD 138,94 and car CAD 641,28
Here we go again for all 4 vehicles we have 1 car 1 cross over, and 2 bikes…all yearly insurance premiums in BC are over $1250 per vehicle. We get taken over here for a bad ride.
Someone is a happy puppy in BC with those rates 😦