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This petrol price is making me consider selling my Grande i10 for an electric motorised road legal scooter (being able to do more than 60 km/h).....

And here I am looking for a urologist to do a vasectomy, I might be sterile already.(Xkulcha Double thick on the East Coast was not fun)
I have a suspicion I am, which honestly is better for the world based on it's current state... one of me running around is enough... 2 will cause the world to implode...
 
I am very strict with using aircon in my car and work has no shaded parking - I sweat balls already.
When going over like 70km/h or so it's more eco to run the AC than open windows apparently, the drag on the car with open windows at higher speeds cost you more in fuel than the AC does.
 
When going over like 70km/h or so it's more eco to run the AC than open windows apparently, the drag on the car with open windows at higher speeds cost you more in fuel than the AC does.
With Covid - I keep my windows closed at all times & just use the fan (I know it is partly nonsensical but I am used to it by now).
 
I didn't swap a car for scooter, but bought a scooter to help mainly with traffic.
As much as I loved riding a scooter and bike, having a car was also very convenient and didn't want to give it up.

I'm also the guy who rode in full gear, regardless of where I was going. And that can become tedious. Like driving 1km away to get something from the garage station very quickly meant spending more time putting on my gear vs the travel time + buying what I wanted. There's no "quickly popping out" when you have to put on a million things.

Incidentally, I also fell twice on my scooter. Well fell once and the other an asshole merged into my lane without indicating or seeing me, meant I had to brake quickly and no ABS on a scooter meant I slide a bit and fell. It's also a lesson I learnt about something small and cheap vs a bigger bike that has ABS, and brake pads bigger than a bottle cap.
I never fell on the Duke. Thank god because dropping it would've left some damage or scratch and it would've pissed me off until I repaired it.

And I don't know if it's just me, but riding a bike after a gym session was torture. Especially after working out back, forearm, quads(I think quads doesn't matter as much on a scooter though) or triceps. I tried it a few times and just gave up and used my car instead.

Could you rent out you car to uber drivers on the days you won't use it, or at night or something? Have some way of turning it into income?

Also, don't forget to get yourself a dashcam/helmet cam
 
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I didn't swap a car for scooter, but bought a scooter to help mainly with traffic.
As much as I loved riding a scooter and bike, having a car was also very convenient and didn't want to give it up.

I'm also the guy who rode in full gear, regardless of where I was going. And that can become tedious. Like driving 1km away to get something from the garage station very quickly meant spending more time putting on my gear vs the travel time + buying what I wanted. There's no "quickly popping out" when you have to put on a million things.

Incidentally, I also fell twice on my scooter. Well fell once and the other an asshole merged into my lane without indicating or seeing me, meant I had to brake quickly and no ABS on a scooter meant I slide a bit and fell. It's also a lesson I learnt about something small and cheap vs a bigger bike that has ABS, and brake pads bigger than a bottle cap.
I never fell on the Duke. Thank god because dropping it would've left some damage or scratch and it would've pissed me off until I repaired it.

And I don't know if it's just me, but riding a bike after a gym session was torture. Especially after working out back, wrist, quads(I think quads doesn't matter as much on a scooter though) or triceps. I tried it a few times and just gave up and used my car instead.

Could you rent out you car to uber drivers on the days you won't use it, or at night or something? Have some way of turning it into income?

Also, don't forget to get yourself a dashcam/helmet cam
I wouldn't have either bu the pressure from the fuel price (compounded with everything else) is immense.

Would do the same regardless & luckily can deal with that but will take it into consideration.

Will definitely look into that (being able to stop nicely is not negotiable).

That is a fair consideration - being tender from gym is real (it would only be the next day for me as I have a compact home gym setup).

I think the costs of maintenance and insurance would bomb it out for me (needing to regularly disinfect the car would also add up). Good suggestion but I think the previous & admin is not viable.

Would do that first thing - don't want any of that he said-she said caca.
 
This seems to be another @Dom idea.

Jokes aside, have you thought about the logistics of driving to work on a cold winter morning. A cold wet winter morning, during crazy summer storms

Do the maths and work out how much you are going to purchase the scooter for + accessories and how much you get for your i10. You need ruined additional batteries as well. Are you going to keep a spare set at home and at work. No point having an electric vehicle with no power. Then think about extended outages. What’s the backup plan.

I’ve also been thinking of an electric vehicle more so cos I have solar and cos my Audi is a really big guzzler. It costs me around R3 per km currently… but I don’t drive that much and my car is freehold. Sell it and I get like 150-160k for it and I then need to pay in to get what. I decided I rather just keep the 245kw and bite the bullet and pay the fuel costs. It still works out cheaper than trying to get something more fuel efficient.

Do you have a bike license? Is there no option to join a lift club or start a lift club to cover some costs or share some costs. As others have mentioned, driving around in a car these days is risky, especially in jhb. Most Road users it seems, don’t give a shit about anyone other than themselves. There is almost no value put peoples lives these days, there’s no deterrent as you can be involved in an accident, kill someone and not face any consequences.

It’s just not worth the risk, especially in jhb. Driving slow on a bike isn’t a solution as you then become a hazard. You need to go with the flow and still try to be safe.

Why not try to hire a bike or scooter for a few days and see what it’s like.
 
This seems to be another @Ignored_Abortion idea.

Jokes aside, have you thought about the logistics of driving to work on a cold winter morning. A cold wet winter morning, during crazy summer storms

Do the maths and work out how much you are going to purchase the scooter for + accessories and how much you get for your i10. You need ruined additional batteries as well. Are you going to keep a spare set at home and at work. No point having an electric vehicle with no power. Then think about extended outages. What’s the backup plan.

I’ve also been thinking of an electric vehicle more so cos I have solar and cos my Audi is a really big guzzler. It costs me around R3 per km currently… but I don’t drive that much and my car is freehold. Sell it and I get like 150-160k for it and I then need to pay in to get what. I decided I rather just keep the 245kw and bite the bullet and pay the fuel costs. It still works out cheaper than trying to get something more fuel efficient.

Do you have a bike license? Is there no option to join a lift club or start a lift club to cover some costs or share some costs. As others have mentioned, driving around in a car these days is risky, especially in jhb. Most Road users it seems, don’t give a shit about anyone other than themselves. There is almost no value put peoples lives these days, there’s no deterrent as you can be involved in an accident, kill someone and not face any consequences.

It’s just not worth the risk, especially in jhb. Driving slow on a bike isn’t a solution as you then become a hazard. You need to go with the flow and still try to be safe.

Why not try to hire a bike or scooter for a few days and see what it’s like.
I have and will bite the bullet to deal with it to maintain alertness & driving ability.

I am on that & will factor in everything here (financial & non-financial). Will put quite a bit of thought into contingencies as well as charging costs.

No bike license but my brother is an experienced rider & very open to any advice. Not much surrounding a lift club as I would like to be able to do a bit more than going to work (also not comfortable with sharing cars with people I don't know - Covid reasons).

Very good points which I appreciate!
 
So the takeaway form all this is as follows, as far as I can tell:

1. Everyone has said you should keep the car due to (endless list) of reasons
2. You likely won't save much money, if anything
3. You lose all the perks of a car, for little to no benefit
4. You are going to do this anyway because WTF do we know, we're just carbies
5. There will be a future thread, filled with much guffaws
6. Evetech is kak
 
So the takeaway form all this is as follows, as far as I can tell:

1. Everyone has said you should keep the car due to (endless list) of reasons
2. You likely won't save much money, if anything
3. You lose all the perks of a car, for little to no benefit
4. You are going to do this anyway because WTF do we know, we're just carbies
5. There will be a future thread, filled with much guffaws
6. Evetech is kak
You went awry from point 4 - was just gathering info (being thorough); as is Carb & no doubt.

Info is useful nonetheless as I have a long-term plan to emigrate (with the SO) to the UK & will use a scooter for travel outside of the transport system.
 
You went awry from point 4 - was just gathering info (being thorough); as is Carb & no doubt.

Info is useful nonetheless as I have a long-term plan to emigrate (with the SO) to the UK & will use a scooter for travel outside of the transport system.
Post pics of the italian when you get the scooter.
 
Proper Ignored_Abortion advice this.
I've been on a yammie R3 and easily went to 170kmph.
I rode a CRF250 that also still easily overtook anything robot to robot.

Why do people keep thinking you have to have a bike capable of going 200kmph to be "safe"? Get on a smaller CC bike, you'd be surprised once you put your big bike ego away dude.

Edit: LOL i called it d-o-m advice and see it just replaces everything :LOL:
I'm talking about acceleration and stopping power.
I want to see a CRF250 out accelerating or out stopping a S1000R, MT07 or anything that isn't as basic as a CRF250.

It's not about easily overtaking people from robot to robot. Its about seeing someone not paying attention and being able to either slow down quick enough or accelerate fast enough in time to get out of trouble.


But meh, I'm wasting my breath on a "My R3 can somma do 170kph" person.
 
I'm talking about acceleration and stopping power.
I want to see a CRF250 out accelerating or out stopping a S1000R, MT07 or anything that isn't as basic as a CRF250.

It's not about easily overtaking people from robot to robot. Its about seeing someone not paying attention and being able to either slow down quick enough or accelerate fast enough in time to get out of trouble.


But meh, I'm wasting my breath on a "My R3 can somma do 170kph" person.
Yeah not sure what person you are referring to, was I flexing because I bike can go a certain speed or something? Calm down. Even more perplexed by how you haven't realized that bigger cc bikes have better brakes because they are expected to be going faster... just don't go fast then. by refering to overtaking robot to robot, I am literally refering the bikes ability to accelerate fast enough to get out of this trouble everyone keeps talking about. Far more effective strategy would be driving defensively correctly and being high viz instead of 150hp.
A bike going at any legal speeds are quite easily stoppable without needing a high performance motorcycle.

Moral of the story. Stop telling people that smaller cc bikes are "dangerous" because they can't go 0-100 in 2 seconds, it's kak as proven my thousands of people riding smaller cc bikes.
 
Moral of the story. Stop telling people that smaller cc bikes are "dangerous" because they can't go 0-100 in 2 seconds, it's kak as proven my thousands of people riding smaller cc bikes.
Case in point:
My wife's bike is a Z300. 0-100 is faster than 99% of the cars out there.
Kawasaki Z300 Acceleration & Top Speed Review - MotoStatz

Only 0.8 seconds slower than the Honda NC750, with less than half the engine capacity:
Full performance review of 2021 Honda NC750X DCT offered since February 2021
 
Yeah not sure what person you are referring to, was I flexing because I bike can go a certain speed or something? Calm down. Even more perplexed by how you haven't realized that bigger cc bikes have better brakes because they are expected to be going faster... just don't go fast then. by refering to overtaking robot to robot, I am literally refering the bikes ability to accelerate fast enough to get out of this trouble everyone keeps talking about. Far more effective strategy would be driving defensively correctly and being high viz instead of 150hp.
A bike going at any legal speeds are quite easily stoppable without needing a high performance motorcycle.

Moral of the story. Stop telling people that smaller cc bikes are "dangerous" because they can't go 0-100 in 2 seconds, it's kak as proven my thousands of people riding smaller cc bikes.
Yea because cars around you are going legal speeds?

You missing the point again.
A 600cc-750cc twin or triple will stop from 100kph quicker than a 250cc.
Yes, they can go faster but I'm not talking about illegal speeds, Being able to stop quicker from legal speeds and accelerating quicker will always be beneficial.
I didn't say anything about bikes that can go 0-100 in 2 seconds or bikes with 150hp. Any of those twins or triples can't do that.
Are you being thick on purpose? or are you just trolling?

Case in point:
My wife's bike is a Z300. 0-100 is faster than 99% of the cars out there.
Kawasaki Z300 Acceleration & Top Speed Review - MotoStatz

Only 0.8 seconds slower than the Honda NC750, with less than half the engine capacity:
Full performance review of 2021 Honda NC750X DCT offered since February 2021
Yea lol. Comparing a NC750 against almost anything else isn't fair to the NC750.
The entire purpose of the NC750 is fuel efficiency.

If you compare a Z300 to something with a slightly more focus on actually going forward. Like a MT07 at 3.73 seconds it's quite a bit faster than 5.47 of a Z300 but either way, people buy bikes for different reasons. Some to commute, some for the weekend run.

I have commuted on a 125, 200, 250, 500cc bikes before for years and by far I have had the most accidents on them than anything else.The only one I didn't see my arse on was the 250cc but that's because I rarely used it as I was using a CB1000R with ABS which made it much much safer.

Again, I'm not talking about going 200+kph. I'm purely talking about being able to stop quicker and accelerate out of trouble and I have avoided a few potential idiots that have/or would have caused accidents that I was luckily not apart of.
 
Yea lol. Comparing a NC750 against almost anything else isn't fair to the NC750.
The entire purpose of the NC750 is fuel efficiency.

If you compare a Z300 to something with a slightly more focus on actually going forward. Like a MT07 at 3.73 seconds it's quite a bit faster than 5.47 of a Z300 but either way, people buy bikes for different reasons. Some to commute, some for the weekend run.

I have commuted on a 125, 200, 250, 500cc bikes before for years and by far I have had the most accidents on them than anything else.The only one I didn't see my arse on was the 250cc but that's because I rarely used it as I was using a CB1000R with ABS which made it much much safer.

Again, I'm not talking about going 200+kph. I'm purely talking about being able to stop quicker and accelerate out of trouble and I have avoided a few potential idiots that have/or would have caused accidents that I was luckily not apart of.
Seems to me like it is YOU that is missing the point. 5.8 seconds is FASTER THAN MOST CARS. That is the ENTIRE POINT we're trying to get across.

I feel equally at home in the saddle on the Z300, the ER6-n or the Triumph Speed Triple R. Three completely different bikes, all of them perfectly well suited for riding in traffic.

I have heard this "accelerate out of trouble" horseshit more times than you could possibly imagine. If you're constantly in kak on the road, you're the problem. I have only had to deal with overly aggressive drivers maybe twice in the 20+ years that I've been commuting with motorcycles. Both times, I pulled into a side street using other cars as cover, and they had no choice but to fuck right off ahead and carry on with their douchebaggery elsewhere.

As for quicker stopping distance, perception does not reflect reality. The Z300 stops from 60mph to 0 in 38 meters on the shitty Dunlop GPR stock tyres. The CBR1000RR needs 38.7 meters to do the same. So settle down, okay?
 
Seems to me like it is YOU that is missing the point. 5.8 seconds is FASTER THAN MOST CARS. That is the ENTIRE POINT we're trying to get across.

I feel equally at home in the saddle on the Z300, the ER6-n or the Triumph Speed Triple R. Three completely different bikes, all of them perfectly well suited for riding in traffic.

I have heard this "accelerate out of trouble" horseshit more times than you could possibly imagine. If you're constantly in kak on the road, you're the problem. I have only had to deal with overly aggressive drivers maybe twice in the 20+ years that I've been commuting with motorcycles. Both times, I pulled into a side street using other cars as cover, and they had no choice but to fuck right off ahead and carry on with their douchebaggery elsewhere.

As for quicker stopping distance, perception does not reflect reality. The Z300 stops from 60mph to 0 in 38 meters on the shitty Dunlop GPR stock tyres. The CBR1000RR needs 38.7 meters to do the same. So settle down, okay?
Then you have been extremely lucky. I have been pushed off the road by a car and he wasn't being aggressive, just an incompetent driver.
I've been rear ended while I was at a stop(I'm guessing that must be me being recklessly stationary then I guess)
I've had a couple of close calls in standstill traffic or slow moving traffic where people do not use their indicators or they themselves take evasive maneuvers and I had to respond to that.
I have been commuting exclusively on bikes for 12+ years . through winter, rain and hail and I have been pushed and smacked by non aggressive people because my 125cc,200cc literally couldn't accelerate out of the way. But I guess you must clearly know better right?. I've had first hand experience where I know I would have been squished, pushed or smacked by some taxi ignoring the rules or some idiot on a phone.
 
Then you have been extremely lucky. I have been pushed off the road by a car and he wasn't being aggressive, just an incompetent driver.
I've been rear ended while I was at a stop(I'm guessing that must be me being recklessly stationary then I guess)
I've had a couple of close calls in standstill traffic or slow moving traffic where people do not use their indicators or they themselves take evasive maneuvers and I had to respond to that.
I have been commuting exclusively on bikes for 12+ years . through winter, rain and hail and I have been pushed and smacked by non aggressive people because my 125cc,200cc literally couldn't accelerate out of the way. But I guess you must clearly know better right?. I've had first hand experience where I know I would have been squished, pushed or smacked by some taxi ignoring the rules or some idiot on a phone.
Dude, of course I've had close calls. I've been rear ended as well. We're not disputing that a 125cc is too small, what we're saying is that a 1000cc is unnecessary. Instead of constantly getting up on your hind legs, maybe try to actually read AND disseminate the content of what our replies consist out of.

I too ride rain, shine, hail and indeed snow when it happens. I exclusively use the bike for the work commute because, well, traffic, and have been doing so for 2 decades. I am a seasoned biker. I have been in every situation you can imagine, and some that you can't. I sat next to my brother, pressing on his femoral artery to prevent him from bleeding out after falling. I had my share of ambulance rides. 9 out 10 times the accidents could have been avoided by adjusting my own behaviour on the road.

I spoke about avoiding AGGRESSIVE DRIVERS, which was something that has happened twice in all my time - 1st an Audi S3 about 13 years ago, and the second was a white Ford Ranger 2.2 double cab at the corner of Malibongwe and Bellairs Drive in August 2016. STUPID DRIVERS are harder to avoid, because they are literally in every second car. However speed isn't the answer, distance is. While it is often preferred by most bikers to be infront of the idiots, I'd far rather be behind them where I can keep an eye on them. Aggressive drivers are even easier to avoid, because you can spot them a mile away. Let them get on with whatever the fuck they think they're doing, don't provoke them and keep distance.

So no, I have not been extremely lucky. On the contrary, I am well known in my friendship circles as the unluckiest person that they know. I'm so unlucky, that if it were to rain pussy, I'd catch Caitlyn Jenner's mangled penis. What I am by now is very experienced. I have learned from my mistakes.

And I can tell you, which I'm now doing for the last time, that the 300cc we have in the garage is more bike than I need most of the time. It goes like the clappers, accelerates fine and stops on a dime. It handles exceptionally well and is comfortable and quiet.

Here's a video showing just how capable this machine actually is
 
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I've been riding bikes for 40+ years.

From 50cc back in the day at school, to offroad bikes, scooters (Vespa is a POS in my opinion, Beewizz is fkn awesome), "sensible commuters", dual purpose and superbikes.

Commuted plenty, done some enduro rides, some MX (both as "fun days = weekend warrior race days", not competitively), lots of offroad rides with mates and our sons, long distance road trips, scratching mountain passes and track days as well as babysitting middle aged twerps on bicycles aka marshalling of rides like the 94.7 etc. (Cycling has practically replaced golf as the middle-aged pursuit of choice theses days, for those who didn't know :ROFLMAO: ). Even done a fair bit of training of novice (and some seasoned, but unskilled) riders.

I can count on one hand how many times when riding on the road I've had to accelerate to get out of trouble or danger. That phrase is as common a biking folklore as "I couldn't avoid the crash so I just laid the bike down" and IMO shows a skills deficit on the part of the rider, no matter how they try and justify it. And yes, in each instance my skills were lacking, even if I did not think so at the time.

Insofar as "accidents" - more like falling off, or exceeding my skills go:
Offroad - lots, with some eina injuries.
Track - a few, also some eina injuries, but never as bad as offroad, as there are less rocks and trees and other shit on a track 😂.
I have never had an accident due to someone else being at fault on the road.
Have had 3 road accidents: 1 was when the POS Suzuki GS450 twin decided to throw a rod on the N1/N12 split whilst en route back to base in Potch during National Service (I've never owned a Zook since then), another where I grabbed a handful of brakes and lost the front when someone jumped a stop street ahead of me (reflection and examination after the fact showed I could easily have stopped in time if I knew how to brake properly) and the third when I overcooked a corner on the 22 in Mpumalanga.

Training. Training. Training. I am a staunch advocate of training. Both car and bike, but let's be real, bike training is far more likely to save your life or limb.

Do a track day. Or more. Many more. You learn that the bikes capabilities far exceed what you thought they were, and you also improve your skills and confidence as the instructors know their shit.
California Superbike School was the most advanced track training I did & it was amazing what those guys (it's 1 instructor to 3 or 4 riders) can teach you.
Road training. AKA Defensive rider training. Learn how to emergency brake, including using the back brake. Or front brake (You'll be amazed how many riders won't use one or the other ever). Learn road and lane position. Learn to constantly scan your mirrors when at a standstill so you don't get rear-ended. Learn the 30 second sweep (used in a car as well).
Learn countersteering. Learn SIPDE. Learn how to brake in a corner when lent over.
Learn how to do all of that in the rain too.
Then practice, and redo the course/s a number of times over a year or two - your practical skills will improve beyond belief.
Then do a refresher every few years, because like all humans we get complacent, forgetful and yes, lazy.

I also used to be a big advocate of ATGATT, but now mostly apply that to track, offroad and mountain scratching. Your leather/Kevlar jacket and pants when commuting are of minimal help when you hit a solid object (or one hits you). They only really help if you land up sliding down the road, which is 99% of the time due to your own error anyhow and a seldom occurrence when commuting in traffic.


@Dom - nowhere (I may have missed it) in this thread have I seen any mention of budget for training.

Work on at least R2k a day, plus getting there & back (Zwartkop and/or Redstar for basic bike training & handling if in GP), plus food and refreshments for the day.

My advice would be to do a minimum of 2 of those days, then defensive rider training (Gerotek or on the road) and budget for at least two of those at the


That all said (typed). As many others have stated, you will regret selling the car to replace it with the bike. Try, by whatever means possible, not to do so.
One of your reasons for selling the car was to put more funds toward medical insurance. Please realise that whatever level of medical insurance you are currently on, you should probably up it by at least 2 levels to mitigate costs should you have a middling to serious accident on the bike.
 
I've been riding bikes for 40+ years.

From 50cc back in the day at school, to offroad bikes, scooters (Vespa is a POS in my opinion, Beewizz is fkn awesome), "sensible commuters", dual purpose and superbikes.

Commuted plenty, done some enduro rides, some MX (both as "fun days = weekend warrior race days", not competitively), lots of offroad rides with mates and our sons, long distance road trips, scratching mountain passes and track days as well as babysitting middle aged twerps on bicycles aka marshalling of rides like the 94.7 etc. (Cycling has practically replaced golf as the middle-aged pursuit of choice theses days, for those who didn't know :ROFLMAO: ). Even done a fair bit of training of novice (and some seasoned, but unskilled) riders.

I can count on one hand how many times when riding on the road I've had to accelerate to get out of trouble or danger. That phrase is as common a biking folklore as "I couldn't avoid the crash so I just laid the bike down" and IMO shows a skills deficit on the part of the rider, no matter how they try and justify it. And yes, in each instance my skills were lacking, even if I did not think so at the time.

Insofar as "accidents" - more like falling off, or exceeding my skills go:
Offroad - lots, with some eina injuries.
Track - a few, also some eina injuries, but never as bad as offroad, as there are less rocks and trees and other shit on a track 😂.
I have never had an accident due to someone else being at fault on the road.
Have had 3 road accidents: 1 was when the POS Suzuki GS450 twin decided to throw a rod on the N1/N12 split whilst en route back to base in Potch during National Service (I've never owned a Zook since then), another where I grabbed a handful of brakes and lost the front when someone jumped a stop street ahead of me (reflection and examination after the fact showed I could easily have stopped in time if I knew how to brake properly) and the third when I overcooked a corner on the 22 in Mpumalanga.

Training. Training. Training. I am a staunch advocate of training. Both car and bike, but let's be real, bike training is far more likely to save your life or limb.

Do a track day. Or more. Many more. You learn that the bikes capabilities far exceed what you thought they were, and you also improve your skills and confidence as the instructors know their shit.
California Superbike School was the most advanced track training I did & it was amazing what those guys (it's 1 instructor to 3 or 4 riders) can teach you.
Road training. AKA Defensive rider training. Learn how to emergency brake, including using the back brake. Or front brake (You'll be amazed how many riders won't use one or the other ever). Learn road and lane position. Learn to constantly scan your mirrors when at a standstill so you don't get rear-ended. Learn the 30 second sweep (used in a car as well).
Learn countersteering. Learn SIPDE. Learn how to brake in a corner when lent over.
Learn how to do all of that in the rain too.
Then practice, and redo the course/s a number of times over a year or two - your practical skills will improve beyond belief.
Then do a refresher every few years, because like all humans we get complacent, forgetful and yes, lazy.

I also used to be a big advocate of ATGATT, but now mostly apply that to track, offroad and mountain scratching. Your leather/Kevlar jacket and pants when commuting are of minimal help when you hit a solid object (or one hits you). They only really help if you land up sliding down the road, which is 99% of the time due to your own error anyhow and a seldom occurrence when commuting in traffic.


@Dom - nowhere (I may have missed it) in this thread have I seen any mention of budget for training.

Work on at least R2k a day, plus getting there & back (Zwartkop and/or Redstar for basic bike training & handling if in GP), plus food and refreshments for the day.

My advice would be to do a minimum of 2 of those days, then defensive rider training (Gerotek or on the road) and budget for at least two of those at the


That all said (typed). As many others have stated, you will regret selling the car to replace it with the bike. Try, by whatever means possible, not to do so.
One of your reasons for selling the car was to put more funds toward medical insurance. Please realise that whatever level of medical insurance you are currently on, you should probably up it by at least 2 levels to mitigate costs should you have a middling to serious accident on the bike.
Agreed training is key. I've been on a kak ton of training days and have been doing them since my 200cc days, at least 2 a year, Learning how to brake properly etc.

My personal experience with accidents which I've been in a few has been that the quicker the bike can accelerate the less accidents I've been in. I'm not saying small capacity bikes are dangerous as all bikes are. I would prefer a 650cc over a 125/200/300 because it will definitely outperform them in normal riding conditions. I started on a 125 and immediately rode into a pole... 100% me not being able to ride but since then I've discovered that bigger capacity bikes, I'm not talking about 1000cc 300kph bikes like a couple of people keep bringing up, have saved my bacon more than a few times where I know a lower capcity bike would have seen me in the ditch.

Which is why I always suggest a ninja 650 or z650 or something along those lines. I'm not talking about 130hp 600cc superbikes either.
 
A couple of anecdotal points, but points none the less.

I blew a fork seal going over a speed bump at about 50 km/h. I had a taxi tailgating me and the road was in no condition to go faster on a bike. When I say tailgating, I mean less than a bike-length behind me. II brake checked him (just hard enough to activate the brake light, not to actually slow down at all) to try to get him to back off, but he closed the gap a bit. He was close enough that I only had to turn my head a few degrees to see him in my peripheral vision. Getting pushed off a bike (and then probably under the taxi) isn't something you're guaranteed to walk away from. In a car he might have just damaged the paintwork.

All my spills have been at low speed. Sometimes slower than walking pace. Frosty grass and the wheel slips sideways = bite the dirt (the ground wasn't level, the bike wasn't even running. I sat down and the front wheel went sideways. Yes, there was a R 1.5k repair bill for that. Doing a corner at +/- 10 km/h in pissing rain, hit an oil puddle (I assume), front wheel said cheers. I wasn't walking properly for nearly two weeks after that. Another repair bill, can't recall what that one was. There are one or two more to add to the list. I've never had a close call at speed, all injuries and damage has been at ridiculously low speed.

Scooters can be fun, I've been quite reckless on one (on private property), but those tiny wheels mean you have 1/10th the traction you do on full sized wheels, and my list would be ten times longer. Loose stones, gravel, potholes, etc are all things that you can normally make your way through on a bike, but you need to avoid like the plague on a scooter.

In a car, this post wouldn't exist. Cars don't fall over. Cars are the crumple zone instead of you. Cars have about 6x the total contact patch a bike has (given the front wheels are about three times wider). A taxi is more likely to care about driving into a car than a bike as the damage to both vehicles will be closer to equal, rather than a mosquito splat on his and you (as well as your bike) are a complete write-off.

And then there's rain... Somehow, it always makes its way in, no matter how well suited up you are. You could probably be in a scuba suite and still end up wet. It also sucks balls when the weather changes without warning and you have nothing waterproof with you.

Something else you mentioned about not lane splitting - if you DO get a bike of any kind, lane splitting (or just staying close to the white line) can save lives. If you're at a stop, you're less likely to be rear ended if you're not in the middle of the lane. If you're in front of a bakkie in the middle of a lane, to the car behind the bakkie it looks as if there's nothing in front of it. If you're on the right of the lane, the car will see you before he's perpendicular to the bakkie. If you're on the left of the lane, one of you will notice the other before it's too late. If you're in the middle, you might very well be side-swiped.

I rode daily for three years, I'm unlikely to ride again.
 
A couple of anecdotal points, but points none the less.

I blew a fork seal going over a speed bump at about 50 km/h. I had a taxi tailgating me and the road was in no condition to go faster on a bike. When I say tailgating, I mean less than a bike-length behind me. II brake checked him (just hard enough to activate the brake light, not to actually slow down at all) to try to get him to back off, but he closed the gap a bit. He was close enough that I only had to turn my head a few degrees to see him in my peripheral vision. Getting pushed off a bike (and then probably under the taxi) isn't something you're guaranteed to walk away from. In a car he might have just damaged the paintwork.

All my spills have been at low speed. Sometimes slower than walking pace. Frosty grass and the wheel slips sideways = bite the dirt (the ground wasn't level, the bike wasn't even running. I sat down and the front wheel went sideways. Yes, there was a R 1.5k repair bill for that. Doing a corner at +/- 10 km/h in pissing rain, hit an oil puddle (I assume), front wheel said cheers. I wasn't walking properly for nearly two weeks after that. Another repair bill, can't recall what that one was. There are one or two more to add to the list. I've never had a close call at speed, all injuries and damage has been at ridiculously low speed.

Scooters can be fun, I've been quite reckless on one (on private property), but those tiny wheels mean you have 1/10th the traction you do on full sized wheels, and my list would be ten times longer. Loose stones, gravel, potholes, etc are all things that you can normally make your way through on a bike, but you need to avoid like the plague on a scooter.

In a car, this post wouldn't exist. Cars don't fall over. Cars are the crumple zone instead of you. Cars have about 6x the total contact patch a bike has (given the front wheels are about three times wider). A taxi is more likely to care about driving into a car than a bike as the damage to both vehicles will be closer to equal, rather than a mosquito splat on his and you (as well as your bike) are a complete write-off.

And then there's rain... Somehow, it always makes its way in, no matter how well suited up you are. You could probably be in a scuba suite and still end up wet. It also sucks balls when the weather changes without warning and you have nothing waterproof with you.

Something else you mentioned about not lane splitting - if you DO get a bike of any kind, lane splitting (or just staying close to the white line) can save lives. If you're at a stop, you're less likely to be rear ended if you're not in the middle of the lane. If you're in front of a bakkie in the middle of a lane, to the car behind the bakkie it looks as if there's nothing in front of it. If you're on the right of the lane, the car will see you before he's perpendicular to the bakkie. If you're on the left of the lane, one of you will notice the other before it's too late. If you're in the middle, you might very well be side-swiped.

I rode daily for three years, I'm unlikely to ride again.
Imagine how many of these accidents could have been avoided if you were tall enough to reach the ground.
 
The big upside for me is that it's a smaller fall.
The seat height is the same you nitwit. It's the same fall. It's actually worse for you because by the time you're able to touch the ground, you're doing almost terminal velocity and your ankles take that much more strain.
 
The seat height is the same you nitwit. It's the same fall. It's actually worse for you because by the time you're able to touch the ground, you're doing almost terminal velocity and your ankles take that much more strain.
It's actually not the same fall, lower head = lower head velocity ;)
 

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