| Motorcycles and Twowheelers: Buying motorcycles - "The Best Motorcycle in the World" Wednesday, 20 August, 2008 | Home | Suggest a Link |
Formula 1 Fantasy LeagueThe usual way new and even many experienced bikers decide on what bike they are going to buy is to look at what their buddies are riding, or what the magazines have been testing recently.
While both these options have some merit they are not without their problems.
Consider:
| a) | your mate may be a different size from you, they may be more or less flexible, they may be more or less experienced, their riding style and needs may be completely different from yours and so ultimately will be their choice of bike. | |
| b) | Magazine tests, the mags are supposed to be fair and impartial when it comes to bike and kit tests. However think about these 2 real examples A magazine which had previously written positive reports about a particular manufacturer's bikes were in the eyes of one journalist not given the respect they deserved and so wrote a negative test report on an almost identical machine, which they had previously stated numerous times was a great bike. A manufacturer withdrew all national advertising from a magazine and encouraged their dealers not to advertise with that particular publication due to a lengthy test piece criticising certain things the magazine regarded as unacceptable faults in a new machine. So the magazines can affect bike sales by unfair writing and manufacturers can punish magazines by withdrawing valuable advertising revenue. You decide; can all bike tests then be truly impartial? |
Another way is for you, the rider, to take a long hard honest look at your current riding style, ability, overall size, weight and strength, and the type of riding you do or are going to do i.e. that sexy 600 supersport may not have the best riding position if you are doing a lot of urban heavy traffic commuting, a heavy touring machine may be comfortable, but is it the best machine for back road blasts with your mates? and while you may love the idea of a dual sport/supermoto, a fuel range of around 60 miles may not be practical when taking that cross country trip you do once a month with your mother riding pillion.
Once you have narrowed your choice down a bit, if you already have a bike licence take as many test rides as you can, on as many different styles of bike as you need in order to make an informed decision. I have come across too many bikers who bought based on little or no thought or information and ended up with a bike they hated, and in some cases gave up biking, blamed the bike shop for selling them 'that pile of s**t' and ended up losing money when selling it, because in their eyes they had bought the worst bike ever made.
Follow the guidelines in this article, give thought to "how you fit the bike and the bike fits you" and I promise you that every bike you buy will truly be, for you, the Best Motorcycle in the World.
Before the 1920s it was an easy decision, a foot-powered push scooter or none at all. But once Gino Tsai from Shanghai, Taiwan developed the Razor scooter it changed everything. His motor scooters became popular so quickly there were people waiting in line for six months before they could get one.
In the 1950s companies like Vespa in the UK started selling the first of their gas motor scooters. It was a big hit at the 1950 Motorcycle Show and quickly became a big hit in the UK as well. Vespa sold over 125,000 in the UK between the years of
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Have you checked out the price of a new bike lately? It wasn't that long ago when you didn't have to fork out that much dough for a new car. In fact, many bikers will remember when you didn't have to pay much more than that for a modest house. The prices for houses and cars have shot up over the years. And, so have the prices of motorcycles. The point is, the price of a new bike can take a good-sized bite out of any budget. Buying a used motorcycle is one way to
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It is common knowledge that motorcycle financing companies base high importance on your FICO credit scores when approving motorcycle loans. However, what many people overlook is that their FICO credit score can dramatically impact the term on their motorcycle loan along with the interest rate that is assigned to the motorcycle loan.
In order to gain better
motorcycle loan rates, it is highly important that you think of
your FICO credit score as a picture of how risky you are to the
lender. Your FICO credit score is essentially a benchmark which
motorcycle financing companies use to grade you and assign a
risk to you when applying for a motorcycle
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Vespa scooters are one of the oldest names in the scooter business. They have been manufacturing motor scooters since 1946 and their models are in great demand world wide. There are several popular Vespa motor scooters that range in size from 50cc to 200cc.
The Vespa Granturismo has a 200cc engine which is the biggest, fastest and most powerful Vespa ever made. It has a 4-stroke 4-valve engine that is liquid-cooled. With its powerful engine it has the ability to pull away from almost any kind of traffic you could encounter. Even with its larger and more powerful engine it
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With the depreciation on motorcycles being so enormous after they are driven off the showroom floor, the potential for a buyer owing more on their motorcycle loan than the bike is worth it quite high. Owing more on your bike than it is worth is often referred to as the world of “up side down”.
Many people finding themselves in this situation discover that financial lessons are sometimes the hardest and most expensive to learn. Motorcycle loans of more than 48 months (especially without a down payment) put you in the position of owing more than the value of the bike.
Let’s
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