Owning vs renting a track bike

[MOzZereLLa]

Gobert - that's a feck load of track days!

It sure is, you would have thought riding improvements would have taken place.......

Nice, let's get 2 threads going on the riding inability/ability of you chumps

The more the merrier....

And go and buy trackbike and be done with it....

[whoopee]

I've done the sums a few times over the years, & based purely on cost (not pleasure of ownership etc....) it's a complete no-brainer for me.
It's all about the number of trackdays per year.
At 4 per year renting is MASSIVELY cheaper than buying - I've done trackdays with mates that own their own & they've sneered at renting costs, only to be stunned at how much they actually spend with ALL of the costs incurred with ownership.
Don't already own a van for your job? - you'll be renting 1 then.
Hourly paid? - you'll be losing time off work picking the van up & dropping it off if you live as far as I do from a track.
Tyres, chains & sprockets, servicing, de-valuation - all expensive.
Plus, my bike owning pals are stuck with their old bikes whereas the lease companies keep pace with the latest machines fairly well.
Starts raining? - you'll need wets-on-wheels AND all the gear to change them yourself in the peeing rain in your leathers - Focused events will put wets on for you while you have a brew.

So many things to consider and each to their own - if you enjoy owning, fettling, tweaking your own trackbike then good on ya - great hobby.
If its more about the riding & you only plan on 3 or 4 per year - cost wise, owning doesnt add up.

[MOzZereLLa]

I've done the sums a few times over the years, & based purely on cost (not pleasure of ownership etc....) it's a complete no-brainer for me.
It's all about the number of trackdays per year.
At 4 per year renting is MASSIVELY cheaper than buying - I've done trackdays with mates that own their own & they've sneered at renting costs, only to be stunned at how much they actually spend with ALL of the costs incurred with ownership.
Don't already own a van for your job? - you'll be renting 1 then.
Hourly paid? - you'll be losing time off work picking the van up & dropping it off if you live as far as I do from a track.
Tyres, chains & sprockets, servicing, de-valuation - all expensive.
Plus, my bike owning pals are stuck with their old bikes whereas the lease companies keep pace with the latest machines fairly well.
Starts raining? - you'll need wets-on-wheels AND all the gear to change them yourself in the peeing rain in your leathers - Focused events will put wets on for you while you have a brew.

So many things to consider and each to their own - if you enjoy owning, fettling, tweaking your own trackbike then good on ya - great hobby.
If its more about the riding & you only plan on 3 or 4 per year - cost wise, owning doesnt add up.

Great reply.

[Stuno1]

I've done the sums a few times over the years, & based purely on cost (not pleasure of ownership etc....) it's a complete no-brainer for me.
It's all about the number of trackdays per year.
At 4 per year renting is MASSIVELY cheaper than buying - I've done trackdays with mates that own their own & they've sneered at renting costs, only to be stunned at how much they actually spend with ALL of the costs incurred with ownership.
Don't already own a van for your job? - you'll be renting 1 then.
Hourly paid? - you'll be losing time off work picking the van up & dropping it off if you live as far as I do from a track.
Tyres, chains & sprockets, servicing, de-valuation - all expensive.
Plus, my bike owning pals are stuck with their old bikes whereas the lease companies keep pace with the latest machines fairly well.
Starts raining? - you'll need wets-on-wheels AND all the gear to change them yourself in the peeing rain in your leathers - Focused events will put wets on for you while you have a brew.

So many things to consider and each to their own - if you enjoy owning, fettling, tweaking your own trackbike then good on ya - great hobby.
If its more about the riding & you only plan on 3 or 4 per year - cost wise, owning doesnt add up.

Thanks chap. Spot on. Most I would ever do is 6 so renting still looks my best bet. Thanks very much

[whoopee]

Thanks guys - glad that wasn't taken as criticism of anyone who enjoys their track bikes.

[R1ch]

I've done the sums a few times over the years, & based purely on cost (not pleasure of ownership etc....) it's a complete no-brainer for me.
It's all about the number of trackdays per year.
At 4 per year renting is MASSIVELY cheaper than buying - I've done trackdays with mates that own their own & they've sneered at renting costs, only to be stunned at how much they actually spend with ALL of the costs incurred with ownership.
Don't already own a van for your job? - you'll be renting 1 then.
Hourly paid? - you'll be losing time off work picking the van up & dropping it off if you live as far as I do from a track.
Tyres, chains & sprockets, servicing, de-valuation - all expensive.
Plus, my bike owning pals are stuck with their old bikes whereas the lease companies keep pace with the latest machines fairly well.
Starts raining? - you'll need wets-on-wheels AND all the gear to change them yourself in the peeing rain in your leathers - Focused events will put wets on for you while you have a brew.

So many things to consider and each to their own - if you enjoy owning, fettling, tweaking your own trackbike then good on ya - great hobby.
If its more about the riding & you only plan on 3 or 4 per year - cost wise, owning doesnt add up.

i think you've ignored resale value of owning a track bike ?

4 days a year for one year.... massively cheaper

... doesn't this depend what you buy and sell the bike (and equipment) for ?
(mate brought a cbr600 steelie at the start of the year for x, used it all season, sold it for x , hiring not massively cheaper)

4 days a year per year .... increase either the number of days per year or the number of years and owning makes more financial sense

number of trackdays ( ignore period of time ) / purchase price of bike (and equipment) / resale value

4 track days per year over 2-4 years.. owning a bike starts to make sense .. depends if you want to tie up some cash in a track bike (and equipment)

a gsxr 600 k1 for around 1-1.5 k would pay for itself in 4-6 trackdays in saved hire costs .. running expenses you offset against re-sale value of the bike for the first year.. so say £500 running cost.. your still £500 up on a £1000 bike in the first year (granted your not £500 up until you sell the bike on for £1000)

the more expensive the bike, you either need to do more track days per year or over a long period of time to justify owning

taking the 600k1 example for £1000
year 2, you only have running costs, bike has paid for itself in saved hire costs already..so year 2 you only have £500 running costs against £1000 hire costs.. £500 up (on just 4 days) .. (thats £500 towards a euro trip for the same yearly spend)
running cost are cheaper than hire costs.. so with each track day after the hire cost=purchase price point, you benefit financially by owning
(and this doesn't take in to account resale value which would be hire cost=purchase price - resale price)
a cheap bike has no devaluation... often worth more broken as spares tbh
you may want wets on wheels.. these actually cost nothing in real terms ... because you'll sell them for the same money you paid for them (tyres are covered in the £500 running costs)

i decided to own two years ago as didn't fancy throwing my road bike down the tarmac, my rough figures :

hiring
hire costs for this year would have ~4k (and ~2k in trackdays)
last year ~2k hire costs (and ~1k in trackdays)
so 9k
one off in 23 trackdays - mostly kit replacement and medical fees ~1k
ignoring other costs which would be similar very similar
hiring would have cost
~10k

owning
buying a road bike, converting to track, bike mods ,trailer, tow bar, tent, gazebo, generator, tyre warmers,paddock stands, trackday tools, plastic boxes, spares, gaff tape..etc..etc.. the list of trackday stuff can be as long as you want it to be
actual cost of ownership over the last two years
~12k

not looking good for owning 




but factor in all the stuff i can sell if i give up the habit ...   
4k-5k of bike / equipment
so the ~12k is really only ~8k .. so i'm 2k up by owning

(and I could have brought a cheaper bike than was already track prepared)

so for me owning was the right decision.. and as each year passes it'll make even more sense

anyone fancy snett on the 29th ?   

[whoopee]

Cheers for backing me up on that Rich.

As he says - if you plan to do 23 trackdays in 2 years consider owning.
If not - I'd hire.

[Stuno1]

Cheers chaps. I wasooking at 3-4k bikes and as above max if 6 days per year so hiring makes sense for me I think. Things may change but until then I'll see how I get on next year and take it from there.

If the extra cost of hiring over maintaining a bike is £500-£1k per year I can swallow that for a bit.

Stu

[LewisBeGoog]

You selling the trailer Neil?

[Stuno1]

You selling the trailer Neil?

If Neil isn't i have an erde single trailer with loading ramp and wheel stow plus. Also have handle bar tie downs and a great rear wheel tie down.

Pm me if you don't hear from Neil.

Stu

[MOzZereLLa]

How mcn for your Erde Stu???

I need a trailer for my enduro bike for competing plans.