Do you own your bike?

[indysoccer16]

I was having a discussion with my friend about how the winter weather is coming up in about 3 months and then riding time will start to be cut into and he said he was considering selling his bike because he would be making payments on it for the 6 months he cant ride it and paying insurance. My response was I guess since I don't owe anything it never really crossed my mind my park insurance is 20 a month so it never really bothered me.

So I was was wondering do you own your bike, or pay on it, or did you buy it in full? also has it caused you to be less or more careless with buying things for your bike?

I know it sounds weird but since I don't owe anything it makes me feel like if I move slower and mod the bike slower it wont bother me. Odd logic but it makes sense in my head.
For now I just have the basics FE, watsens flush mounts and a smoked rear tail and exhaust on the way. No real plans exhaust to clean things up like paint the motor and rear sets and powder coat the bolts and screws black

[i NO need hellmits]

i live in california so i can ride mostly any day year round. im still paying my bike but it doesnt bother me.

[Jstu202]

Down payment of $6,000.00 on my 08 SE, paid off the rest.

Paid for my track bike in cash (salvage title).

[Sparker]

Buying vehicles with loan, and making the minimum payment is insane. I figure my bike is worth 5-6k right now.

If I would have bought my bike new in '06 (it's an '07) with an OTD price of $11,000 (yes, I know this varies by area) at 8.5% (My actual rate was higher) I would be sending in the final payment in this month (4 year loan).

I would have paid $2,014.30 in interest alone. I would have lost at least $5,000 in depreciation. That is a total loss of $7014.30. I don't know about you, but $7000 is a lot to me. If I buy a used bike, pay all or at least most in cash and save $7000 that is a good choice.

I was saving up for my bike and starting looking before I had the full amount saved up. My bad, but I let the impulse win that battle and borrowed $2000 and paid it off 2 months later. I will be using cash only from now on.

In my example the monthly payment would have been ~$270. If I buy a used bike (which I did) it would take 2 years to save up $6000, while somebody else gets raped on depreciation. 2 years of saving beats four years of paying and I have no stress about sending checks out.

For those who say they won't buy used because of reliability, abuse, etc... you could fix a LOT of problems with $7000.00, and the reality is you probably won't have to. Pick out a clean bike and be patient.

[DecepticonDon]

I put nearly half for a down payment, paid the rest off in 2 years.

[i NO need hellmits]

my payment is 175 and i bought the bike new. i never pay the minimum. i pay at 250-300 dollars each month. yea it sucks ill be in debt for a few years and some interest. the way you made it sound sparker has given me insight on how fucked i am but whats done is done and i totally enjoy my bike. to me thats all that matters

[x1wagner]

I waited a while to pick up my 07. I bought her in September of 2009, it was used with 850 miles on her. I decided in 2005/6 that I needed a 675, but my sorry tt600 kept running. Then when it wasn't running right, I found a new motor on ebay for 150 bucks. Kept me riding but kept me from getting my 675.

On that 675 with 850 miles, I picked it up for $5700, 2 weeks after my daughter was born. Maybe the epidural was still working, or maybe the mommy glow was in overdrive but my wife gave me the blessing, something she wouldn't have done before she was pregnant...

So, now I have 3 street bikes, a 2000 Buell X1 Lighting that I bought new in December of 2000 (but have regretted since 2001), a 2000 TT600 that I bought used in December of 2002 (for 4k), and my 675 that I bought (out of season) in September 2009. Garage is filling up nicely, but parking outside in the winters is a bitch...

Keep rolling!

Josh

[Sparker]

Originally Posted by i NO need hellmits

my payment is 175 and i bought the bike new. i never pay the minimum. i pay at 250-300 dollars each month. yea it sucks ill be in debt for a few years and some interest. the way you made it sound sparker has given me insight on how fucked i am but whats done is done and i totally enjoy my bike. to me thats all that matters

Bikes aren't a huge deal to me, yeah it sucks but double or triple those numbers if you talking about a car or truck, and then yeah, you're screwed. Sometimes the only way out is counting the loss, selling the car and making the payments on the depreciation whilst driving a '91 Escort. Short term it sucks, but I'll be able to retire when I want, where I want.

[Stein]

Traded a paid-for Miata straight across for my 09, so I guess I could say "paid cash". Paid cash for the car, anyway. I never have payments on vehicles. If I can't pay cash I don't buy it.

[tooblekain]

I put about 5K down payment and financed the rest because I thought my credit was decent. Turns out I had 720+ score and probably didn't have to do a down payment. Got approved for Triumph's 8.9% for 5 years. Was paying that for about a year.

Got it refinanced from 8.9% down to 4.5% for 3 years because of the Credit Union I work for now. I got hooked up phat...my monthly payment increased about $0.15 but I shaved off a year's worth of payments.

When I quit my previous job I had some 401K left over but it turned out it was going to be a total PITA to transfer it. So instead I cashed it out since it wasn't much (only a couple thousand....even after penalties) and used it to payoff the Daytona 675 and pay for my 2 week Hawaii trip.

At that time I also bought a Bonneville and have it financed for 3.9%. Now my monthly expendable income is much more comfortable. Once a couple credit card bills are paid off I'll focus on paying off the Bonneville.