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How do you manage having multiple bikes?

kuksul08 said:
I have a hard time justifying it considering every additional bike you own means more insurance, registration, regular maintenance, etc.
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I own Honda's. Maintenance overhead is remembering to change the oil on schedule.

Insurance doesn't double with two bikes. Insurance figures you're only riding one at a time.

Registration costs? This can be minimized by buying a used $3k bike and not a new $10k bike.
 
Once you go from owning one bike to multiple bikes, it's really difficult to go back to just one.

Currently, I have:
1. Track only bike
2. Commuter/Adventure/Street bike
3. Dirty bike
4. GF's dirty bike

So although the list is growing, only one bike currently has insurance. I've owned multiple street bikes in the past, but have found the street isn't as much fun as it used to be.

Maintenance, to me, is fun. I don't mind keeping up my bikes; in fact it's therapeutic. I too keep a spreadsheet of all maintenance to keep things straight.

As said before, different bikes for different disciplines is key. A bunch of overlapping/repetitive bikes isn't worth the added cost, no matter how small.
 
My buddy Vic has 12ea nice vintage show pieces. All riders Jap Duc's English HD's . Single and happy, now looking in Oregon for new home. I have five of the same type of thing.
 
I had 3 at one point, insurance actually gets cheaper on your third because analytically, you are less prone to ride your most expensive bike.

Maintenance wise, it is less because you are spreading your ride time over 2-3 bikes. So I had to do less oil changes, tire changes, etc. The only hardship is when you know you have to do something on a bike and put it off cause you have another bike to roll on. :ride

And of course as other have said, when you have multiples it's nice to have a discipline for each. I had SS, Standard, and Dual Sport. A tool each doing something unique.
 
kuksul08 said:
I really want another motorcycle for commuting, short trips, utility type stuff, but I have a hard time justifying it considering every additional bike you own means more insurance, registration, regular maintenance, etc. For a short period of time I had 2 motorcycles that I switched between. It was nice, but any time or money saved by moto commuting was canceled out with cost and maintenance.

So then I got to thinking.. those of you with 3, 4, ... 12 bikes? How do you do it? The reg and insurance must be killer?
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You assume everyone has the same income levels.
 
Life is full of trade-offs. My wife has a car. I don't. I have three bikes. If I need a car, and she's using hers, I rent one.
 
insurance on the DRZ actually brings my entire insurance lower because of the multiple vehicle discount, which is more than the insurance that it costs
 
I'm not rich. I used to have two expensive bikes (BMWs). Finally brought myself to sell it and ended up replacing it with an SV650 for $750. Made me feel much better (and the SV is more fun to ride anyways).

It basically is all a factor of income and garage space. If I had more of either I'd have more bikes.
 
Plus, if you've got multiple bikes, it really helps to have a truck, you'll be more self-sufficient, which I always try to be. Ive got a '12 long bed Silverado, bought used, which always starts, especially if it rains, which is good for the dirt, bad for the street.
 
I've had as many as four, tiny compared to many multi bike owners here, but have settled on just two that have minimal crossover in terms of mission.

You do learn to value your battery tender(s) though. :laughing
 
sckego said:
or, be not single. Tell wifey that some of the bikes in the garage are hers, nevermind that she doesn't ride them. I'm doing her a favor by keeping them maintained and ridden occasionally.
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kuksul08 said:
I really want another motorcycle for commuting, short trips, utility type stuff, but I have a hard time justifying it considering every additional bike you own means more insurance, registration, regular maintenance, etc. For a short period of time I had 2 motorcycles that I switched between. It was nice, but any time or money saved by moto commuting was canceled out with cost and maintenance.

So then I got to thinking.. those of you with 3, 4, ... 12 bikes? How do you do it? The reg and insurance must be killer?
Click to expand...

Different bikes for different stuff. Dirtbike for dirt, streetbike for street, sumo for hooning around, minibike for cart tracks...etc. etc.

The added maintenance is a bit of an issue, but most of my "side" bikes only get ridden on special occasions. My G1K is the only bike I have that sees any real mileage.
 
I've owned 3 bikes at the most, and that was while living in Manhattan. Paying for garage spaces for them all was the worst and most expensive thing, followed by trying to keep them all ridden once in a while. Now I'm down to 2, which is a lot more reasonable. But my perfect garage definitely includes multiple bikes. Registration fees are like what, $100/year? That's not so much. Insurance gets cheaper per bike for multiple bikes because you can't ride them all at once. And maintenance is a bit more than for a single bike (because some maintenance items depend on time, not mileage), but not that much more, since your mileage is spread across multiple bikes.
 
My wife pays all the bills so I don't normally pay attention to them, but now I need to talk to our insurance agent (State Farm). The annual insurance cost for each of my 4 street bikes range from about $350 to $600; doesn't seem like they're giving me any multi-bike discount.
 
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Gary856 said:
My wife pays all the bills so I don't normally pay attention to them, but now I need to talk to our insurance agent (State Farm). The annual insurance cost for each of my 4 street bikes range from about $350 to $600; doesn't seem like they're giving me any multi-bike discount.
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We asked our State Farm rep and there was no super discount for additional bikes. If you keep the mileage under 1k miles a year then yeah, otherwise it's the same. Gonna look into that further though.
 
Gary856 said:
My wife pays all the bills so I don't normally pay attention to them, but now I need to talk to our insurance agent (State Farm). The annual insurance cost for each of my 4 street bikes range from about $350 to $600; doesn't seem like they're giving me any multi-bike discount.
Click to expand...

I'll take your 690 off your hands...you know, save you all that $$$ for insurance.
:laughing
 
I've had as many as four at one time (Honda CR110 road racer, 1st gen CB750, Yamaha XS1100, Honda CB700SC Nighthawk S). I found I always jumped on the Nighthawk and seldom rode the others so I eventually sold them off. Raced the CR110 only once.

I now just have my 2014 FJR and I'm cool with that.

Dan
 
Buck up dude, the economy is counting on you! :thumbup

I did my part, I have four currently.
 
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