Decisions, please help

[SS_Fury]

I need a little advice guys,

Heres the situation: I am a mobile personal trainer and have a requirement for a largish car for my stuff (Weights etc). I own a 2000 VX SS which has become my weekender. We also own a 2001 3 door astra which is the misses. NOW:
I bought a 91 model toyota surf off my old man for 8k, which serves me well for business purposes. The old man wants 8k for it, and he gave us the car in advance. We are going to sell the astra to give him the $$. Now heres my conundrem.
Should i sell the SS instead? It only gets weekend use by me and my misses would be the only driver of it to work - which is about a 15km round trip every day in a safe place. However if she lands this new job she will be taking the bus to the city and leaving the SS at a public transport carpark :errr:

Now my options:
1) just sell the Astra as originally planned, keep the SS and just let natural depreciation take its course. I owe 8k on the SS still.

2) Sell the SS, keep the astra for the misses, pay off the debt owed on it, pay off the old man for his surf AND get a bike. I have always wanted a bike but to be truthful, am a little nervous as to the whole 'no metal surrounding me' thing and the 'death may be inimint' thing. However i was thinking i would like either a CBR250RR or a GPX250 or ZZR250: All learner bikes. The purpose of the bike is to simply have a fun toy for the weekend. It wouldnt be a toy in the sense of being a revhead, but rather something to enjoy as I have never ridden before. I am not unhappy with the SS but i want, neh need, to replace 1 toy with another.

Any advice? Does the cost of helmet, bike clothing, rego, insurance, lessons etc stack up to heaps to outweigh the bike idea?

What would you do? Sorry for the long post
Timmy

[Evman]

Hey mate. Here's my opinion -

Sell the SS and pay off your debts. Whatever the amount you were paying for your debts, put into a dedicated savings accounts. This money can go towards personal rewards, to further your business (and make more money), or just compile for a while.

Once you're in a comfortable position with work and finances, look into another V8 if you desire. You might change your mind by then anyway and decide to invest or something instead. Just my thoughts, hope it helped you :)

Here's food for thought. In general, with equivalent amounts in property and shares, the shares will return 2 to 3 times more than the property over a given period. Also, unless you're buying blue chip shares, make sure that you can afford to lose the money.

Evan

Edit:
Haha...acou.nts gets blocked....

[SS_Fury]

yeah my dad said the same thing - except his was put it towards the deposit for a house...i know its the sensible thing to do, but i do like my toys :( hence the cheaper bike as a toy

[LS1TOY]

Sadly i think it would be best to sell the ss:bawl: bikes worry me so much though, you especially, need to bare in mind that if you crash you can do yourself some damage. In your line of work it could be disastrous!!! it took me 3 months to get back to work after a moto x accident!!!! cost me near $8000 in wages:bawl:











They are fun though!:eyes:
Jake,

[SS_Fury]

yeah if i pranged myself up good, then i would be up the creek - i do alot of fitness work. The bike however would only be used locally to go to the gym, nothing else - a bit of weekend cruising on a sunny day sorta stuff. Selling the SS kinda stings! :(:(

[LS1TOY]

Unfortunatly it doesnt matter when you ride, generally its the other idiots on the road who will cause the problem ie: mid 30's guy in his new porche out on a nice sunny day goin for a blast............ might be a good idea to look into some sort of income protection insurance maybe? just have to be careful. when it happened to me i wasnt getting sick pay or holidays etc would have lost my car if i had it then.
Jake,

[Gteeez]

Mate, those who only ride on weekends, especially inexperienced riders are probably the ones who are going to be visiting the hospital the soonest, or worst still, the funeral home.

There is reason behind this statement. If you only ride for a bit of fun, you are more likely to take risks(for fun) and get yourself all tied up in knots mid corner due to inexperience. Takes a lot of practice and a shit load of riding to be proficient on a bike. And yeah, then there's the factors completly out of your control. VOLVO's, especially on weekends!

If getting a bike is going to be a major financial decision and burden, don't do it. They just keep costing more and more the longer you have them. Or, do what more and more road bike riders are doing for sheer fun. Get a dirt bike!

You might break some bones, but much less likely to suffer life threatening injuires. Also cost a lot less to buy, keep and run and, easy to learn on, become good at. Smiles for miles factor also much greater.

[SS_Fury]

yeah your prob right, thinking i will just keep the SS, gotta teach the misses to respect it a bit more, to her its just another car.

[OPPYLOCK]

yeah your prob right, thinking i will just keep the SS, gotta teach the misses to respect it a bit more, to her its just another car.

You really do have to make the decision as to whether you want to be a weekend rider or everyday biker.
The everyday biker choice is a big one, do you really want to ride a motor bike in freezing cold rainy weather, take an hour a day to get in and out of your riding attire? It doesn't sound that bad but try it for a while.
I did and decided that I was merely a weak weekender without the intestinal fortitude to become a daily guy. Only sunny weekends for this black duck.

[NefariousVX]

i just started the whole everyday rider thing, new to bikes only been riding for about 4 weeks now. Great for the first week then the rains hit here in brisbane, a week of getting to work damp and then putting on damp riding gear after work. Not so fun but all in all i enjoy it, means i dont have to spend an hour a day each way on public transport, and get to keep my ss for weekends. All i haver to say is if you are going to ride, do it as much as possible because the more you are out there the more scarey shit you see happen and then the more aware and safer you become. Have fun its a totally different kind of freedom, its addictive too!!!