Buy both car and motorcycle when you invest in transportation. Economically it is not much more expencive than having just a car, but it brings far more adventure, possibilities and greater mobility.
On the large image (above) Teis is sitting on a BMW S1000RR beside a 3-series Touring model, with cost totalling arround 124.000 EUR in Denmark (yes - we have high taxes indeed!), but on the small image he is standing with a BMW 5-series Touring model prized at about 129.000 EUR. The ’large’ package in this example - with both motorcycle and car - is hence 5.000 EUR cheaper than the ’little’ package which comprices only a car. You can buy both mc-drivers license, clothe, helmet and other equipment for the difference.
The larger and more expencive car in the 'small' package will presumably bring more joy than the smaller car, but in the end it is just a car. The extra joy it will bring is nothing compared to the adventures waiting on the back of one of the World's best, most powerfull and most modern motorcycles!
The example given here is in the somewhat higher price class, but the same rules apply for much cheaper vehicles, that the car & mc kombination winns.
You almost always have an extra vehicle in reserve when the car brakes down or the son/daughter has borroughed the car. You can easily park free of charge anywhere you want to go. You get experiences and challenges far beyond what a car alone can bring you.
The friendship which exist between all motorcyklists is also an important part of it all. You great eachother in the trafic, you talk together on the gasstation or at the ice-cream kiosk, admire eachothers motorbikes and give a helping hand when it is needed. The anonymity has dissapeared and you join up on trips, exibitions and training courses.
The training courses are also important, because learning to really master the motorcycle is a years long and very exiting education. It is easy to get started, but a lot of traing to get really good. Most people probably remember their first car driving lessons and the joy it brought. On motorcycle this joy lasts several years, as there always sems to be more to learn, more to master safely and correctly.
Now back to the economical aspects. A motorcycle costs much less that a car and it keeps it value better. It runs longer on the liter and for each km you drive on the mc, you reduce your expences and value loss on the car.
Even the smallest motorcycles brings more performance that a car. A small inexpensive 250 ccm Ninja accellerates with no problems from most cars, and on a tracking training course in turning techniques, it is just as fast as the larger and more expencive motorcycles, if the driver is good enough!
And you can let the joy of riding pass on to your spouse and to your children by letting them take the mc driver license. They will become more skilled drivers. You learn to a much higher degree to read the trafic and to react correctly on whatever happens. Simply because your survival instincts makes you more alert for anything threatening and dangerous. In modern cars with all their built in passive security systems (belts, airbags, ...) the comfort easily becomes a sleeping madras (en 'sovepude' in Danish - did 'sleeping madras' make sense in this context?) with potentially catastrofic consequences.
See also:
First Year
with my Fireblade
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