Tires

I always find it hard to tell when I need a new tire on my bikes.

On my road bikes, I usually just run them till I start getting flats (punctures), at which point I give in. If I did more criterium racing, the flatting out of the tread would probably bother me more, but for training it doesn't matter much.

For mountain bikes, I usually get sidewall slashes before the tread really goes (light-tires + stan's = side wall failure, I guess). OK, sidewall cuts make the decision easy. Assuming the casing holds up (tubeless designed tires hold up better), I've found tire shape makes more difference than the tread on most terrain, and they can be run pretty low. If trails are muddy or sandy-over-hardpack, the tread seems to matter a little more.

On the motorcycle, this one was easy.
I came to an interesting discovery the other day. I loose money when I ride my Bandit 1200s motorcycle to work instead of my Honda Element!

My calcs went something along the lines of, I figure my car to be fully depreciated at 150k miles, my motorcycle at 45k miles. I replace tires on the Honda about every 40k miles, on the Suzuki every 8k miles (I got 9 out of this one). Oil every 10k in the Honda (yep, that's their recommendation), every 5k on the Suzuki. Chain and sprockets every 15k on the Bandit. I should probably include 1 alignment at 80k on the Honda, but I didn't.

Oh, the gas mileage: 26 mpg in the Honda, 40 mpg on the Suzuki. I think I used $3/gallon, which is oh-so-last-week, now that it is < $2.00 again, but anyhow higher gas price helps the looser in this case.

It would be interesting to include some cost-correction for carbon-footprint. I don't know what would come out better. My guess is the bike. Gas would be in the bike's corner. Also, at 500lbs (even with 1/3 the life) there is much less processed metal in the bike. Tires would go to the Honda. Right now all that is "free", so I don't know how to include that.

I guess I forgot to mention the purchase prices. I think I stuck in 20k for the Honda (which is what I payed), and 6K for the Bandit, although, that is perhaps unfair since I payed less for a slightly used one. Anyway, it wouldn't have mattered. One last thing, insurance. It is cheap on the Suzuki, but since I have to have the car either way, it is an add-on cost as opposed to a replacement.

Moral of the story? 1200's are fun to ride, but a little 650 would be cheaper for commuting. A 250 would be much cheaper, but perhaps not really up to the interstate commute to work. I once saw a You-Tube video of a Rebel on the interstate, and it was barely able to keep up on the flats.