Maintenance cost vs. car?

[panamaniac]

I always assumed it was a lot cheaper to own an old cruiser than a car (we always have like a 10+ year old sedan) if I do my own work, but with components wearing out faster on MCs and with maybe a bit of luck that we've had to do very little work on our cars over the years, I'm starting to question that assumption and am curious about others' thoughts on the matter. Thanks!

[hillsy]

I always assumed it was a lot cheaper to own an old cruiser than a car (we always have like a 10+ year old sedan) if I do my own work, but with components wearing out faster on MCs and with maybe a bit of luck that we've had to do very little work on our cars over the years, I'm starting to question that assumption and am curious about others' thoughts on the matter. Thanks!

IMO it depends on the age of the vehicle for two reasons:

First off - the age of the vehicle will dictate the level of wear and tear on components. Sounds obvious, but even a really low mileage vehicle that's 40 years old will have deteriorated parts compared to the same vehicle when it was only a few years old but with more mileage. Vehicles sitting unused simply deteriorate.

Second - parts durability and general reliability has taken leaps and bounds over the past 40 or 50 years for both cars and MC's. A new bike or car can expect to run for well over 100K miles before ANYTHING needs attention in the engine (apart from consumables). Things like spark plugs don't get changed now for 100K miles or more....coolant pretty much doesn't need changing ever...see what I mean?

But I think you are right - cars in general are cheaper to maintain nowadays than they used to be.

[Herb]

I think that the bikes actually come out a little ahead if you don't insist on OEM parts and chose lower-cost alternatives. If you use the bike the same way as the car, always purchase the least expensive alternative and don't spend a lot on bling it can save money over a car.
for many years I used the bike as my main transportation and it did save me a lot of money. The last 10 years I worked I drove a cage to work 3 times, 1 when I went out in the morning and the front tire was flat, 2 when I had to stop and pick up something that was too large to get on the bike, 3 after I sprained my right foot and shifting hurt like a mf'er, it happened on a Thursday so I drove on Friday and was back on the bike Monday.
Of course, going Darkside was a good part of the savings, getting 30K+ out of a $65 tire instead of 9-10 K out of a $90 tire made a huge difference. Buying used parts, doing all of my own work, and not replacing parts for the nice to have stuff all make a huge difference.
Doing a head gasket change or replacing a trans in a car will eat up a lot of money real quick, even if you do your own work.