My petrol price protest.

[XmisterIS]

This was my attempt at motorbiking.

Harley Davidson FXSTB Night Train, it was only good for about 40mpg at best with its 1450cc Vtwin. Added to the £2000 insurance it wasn't very economical to run.

£2000??!! My SV costs me £180! I'm surprised there's so much difference between a 650 and a 1400! Even when I got quoted for a Speed Triple (1050cc), it was about £300 - and the speed triple is a beast of a bike!

 

[aoj]

I once rode a Honda 90 from Nairn to Dundee via all the very minor roads including the Lecht and Glenshee ski centres, the engine was shagged, burning oil and it still managed to do a 140 MPG!

I also have an SV650 on which I've managed 70 mpg by just slowly pottering around the lanes. It can also return as low as 39 mpg if used in "sports mode".

Since I started cycling two years ago I've done more miles cycling than motorcycling. I find wearing the gear and full face helmet stifling now plus you are sitting just sitting there, whereas cycling is liberating.

I don't use a motorbike to commute any more or a bicycle, I'm bad I do around 30,000 miles for work, though with a low C02 car.

I think the time has come for a small personal vehicle for maybe one or two people, something streamlined with a small engine that would be cheap to buy and run.

I know various devices have been seen, the Swiss ECO that had 2 wheels with automatic stabilizers etc but they are £25000 or something like that.

It is the same for all electric small vehicles apart from the electrically assisted bicycles, apparently they are hugely popular as transport in the far east.

At least for now they are free of VED and registration.

 

[Coco]

Back to the OP, the whole point of increasing tax on fuel was to discourage people from using so much of it. Not so much a protest, more like compliance 

 

[ufkacbln]

With beer at around £2.80 for a measly pint ( £4.76 per litre) and set to go ever higher, my evening out is costing about £50 in beer alone per day! I am getting really sick of being held to ransom by successive lying politicians who see drinkers as the easy option for fund raising.


.. and don't start me off about by 60 a day fag habit!


Sorry, I apologise to anyone who does smoke or has an issue with drink, but a little perspective?

This present cost increase is due to the increase in the raw materials, so should the Government subsidise the cost of Hops or Barley?



The problem here is global, we are all being hit harder by ineass in VAT and costs, and the bleating of motorists is being given a priority and news coverage it does not justify.

More important would be to look at the increases in public transport (far greater than the cost of motoring) that affects the poorer, elderly and most vulnerable far more.

The shouts by motorists for yet more subsidy is risible.

 

[MarkF]

How is it Mark?

I was up for buying one last year but due to job changes we had to get another car instead.
I still want one, but simply cannot justify one at the moment on cost grounds.

Dreaming has to be enough for now.

It's great. I have a vintage '62 Vespa GL, it's way faster than that. It is also much faster than a 2001 PX 125 I owned, which IMO was borderline dangerous in modern traffic, especially uphill! It beats most things away from the lights, it's v.quick to 40mph, so safe. The quality is very good indeed, it's overseen by the Italian company rather than arriving direct from India as before. It cruises very comfortably at 50/55 whereas my GL is stessed at that speed.

TBH I think the company has missed a glaring opportunity by aiming this machine at a tiny market, scooter aficionados who want a metal bodied tradtional machine with gears, fair enough, I do, but surely an automatic version, marketed properly would sell far more? It makes most modern scooters and electric vehicles look daft, an inexpensive purchase cost combined with good residuals, £15 tax and 160-170mpg cannot be beaten!

 

[ASC1951]

the bleating of motorists is being given a priority and news coverage it does not justify.

Particularly the tosspots who buy all the available houses in the villages they have moved to 'for the quality of life' but still work 15 miles away in the nearest town, then drive there in two cars, do all their shopping in the supermarket on the ring road and have the brass neck to expect us to give them a 'rural subsidy' on their fuel.

 

[ufkacbln]

Over the last 10 years, travel by bus, train and car have all become cheaper in real terms. See section 2.6:

http://www.dft.gov.u...ection2ptbm.pdf

Look at graph Trend 2.6a – Changes in the real cost of transport and in income: 1997 to 2009, United Kingdom

The only two falling below the reference are the total cost of motoring and the price of a vehicle!

These two show an increasing and drastic reduction, whereas the bus coach and rail fares increase


At the end of the graph, the "All motoring costs" have reduced by by 15 points and the cost of a vehicle by 50 points whereas bus and rail have both increased by 20 and 15 respectively

This is why the bleating is so pathetic - assuming the points on the scale are percentages, then an immediate 15% increase in the cot of motoring and 50% increase in vehicle purchase costs would be justified to maintain the 1997 comparison!

 

[buggi]

the government will never get people on public transport because:

(a) it's (have you been on a bus or train lately?)
(b) you I always get a pervert sitting in the next seat
(c) you're more likely to get mugged, raped or just beaten up

no matter how much petrol costs, people will still buy it. they will just get a car with a smaller engine. (or maybe a bike if we're lucky)

 

[gavintc]

the government will never get people on public transport because:

(a) it's (have you been on a bus or train lately?)
(b) you I always get a pervert sitting in the next seat
© you're more likely to get mugged, raped or just beaten up

no matter how much petrol costs, people will still buy it. they will just get a car with a smaller engine. (or maybe a bike if we're lucky)

OK, I will rise to this. Sadly, your 3 points are what many believe is true. But, this is simply not the case. I regularly take public transport; both here in Italy and at home in UK. I have lived in a range of places in UK, and nowhere do I recognise your description of public transport.

1. it typically saves on the problems of parking,
2. it is cheaper
3. it allows you to have a drink
4. etc etc.

 

[cookiemonster]

Not so much of a fuel protest, but I try and use my bike as much as I can and only really need the car for kayaking, fishing and to get the monthly heavy shopping, but I still have to pay the same VED as someone who's out 356 days a year how can that be right.

I agree. VED should be scrapped and put onto fuel. The more you drive, the more you pay. However, as fuel prices are heading up at a frightening rate of knots, I don't think this would be possible.

 

[cookiemonster]

I once rode a Honda 90 from Nairn to Dundee via all the very minor roads including the Lecht and Glenshee ski centres, the engine was shagged, burning oil and it still managed to do a 140 MPG!

My favourite motorcycling route as well as Ballater - Tomintoul - Grantown - Aviemore

 

[Night Train]

Petrol is cheap.

In relative terms it is.
There was a hint of governments looking at taxation, on CO2 grounds, for electric vehicles based on the whole supply chain for the generation of electricity. If that was applied to fuel oils then the cost could well be astronomical, depending how it is calculated.

£2000??!! My SV costs me £180! I'm surprised there's so much difference between a 650 and a 1400! Even when I got quoted for a Speed Triple (1050cc), it was about £300 - and the speed triple is a beast of a bike!

I think the cost was because I had just passed my test, it was my first bike, it was brand new and there were a lot of Harleys being nicked at the time. I kept it affordable by keeping inside the house. The second year it did drop to £1500. After that I sold it as it was a Friday afternoon lash up and HARLEY DAVIDSON IS A CRAP COMPANY WITH NO CUSTOMER CARE!
(Sorry, I am looking at getting therapy for the trauma Harley Davidson has caused me.)

More important would be to look at the increases in public transport (far greater than the cost of motoring) that affects the poorer, elderly and most vulnerable far more.

This is something I think is a greater issue. Occasionally I do use public transport and the deciding factor is usually down to carparking at my destination. However, I do end up weighing the costs, and I shouldn't have to because the cost should be negligable, the safety and the condition of the vehicles. I was on a tram the other week and the whole floor at one end was like a giant ash tray. I lost count of the cig butts on the floor. It wasn't just the foul smell of it but the fact that at some point earlier there were people on board who didn't care for rules or the law.
Debating this one could land me in P&L territory though.

 

[mcshroom]

Back to the OP, the whole point of increasing tax on fuel was to discourage people from using so much of it. Not so much a protest, more like compliance

That's a very good point often missed. The idea of the fuel escalator was to dissuade car use. Unfortunately this is not understood (either deliberately or not) by most drivers who just see it as a tax.

 

[thomas]

Is that downhill with the wind behind you ............
Or off a cliff ............


Luck ..................

LOL.... 100 miles per gallon MPG even LOL. The speedo only goes up to 60mph, and I've never managed that...so 100mph would be very optimistic haha.

So thats £6 for an hours riding, seems expensive to me.

I meant MPG, not MPH...but, I wouldn't do 100 miles in an hour even if the bike could. Top speed is nearer 40mph to 50mph, but a tank is £6 which does about 100 miles...which is much cheaper than any other method of motorised transport.

A bus from UNI into Norwich town centre costs about £3....takes about half an hour and is about 3 miles in distance. That's £1 per mile, or £100 for a hundred miles.

My motorbike does 100 miles per gallon. A gallon is what, about £6??, so that's 6 pennies per mile...or £94 cheaper than the bus.

Even at £6 at hour (which is wrong) it would still be cheap. A train to London from Woking takes an hour...costs about £13 to £20. A taxi into town or to the UNI bars from home costs about £6 (for a mile and a half).....and that bus would still be sat waiting at the bus stop to leave

Both journeys could be done on a motorbike for a lot less money, in around the same amount of time.

 

[Fab Foodie]

It's great. I have a vintage '62 Vespa GL, it's way faster than that. It is also much faster than a 2001 PX 125 I owned, which IMO was borderline dangerous in modern traffic, especially uphill! It beats most things away from the lights, it's v.quick to 40mph, so safe. The quality is very good indeed, it's overseen by the Italian company rather than arriving direct from India as before. It cruises very comfortably at 50/55 whereas my GL is stessed at that speed.

TBH I think the company has missed a glaring opportunity by aiming this machine at a tiny market, scooter aficionados who want a metal bodied tradtional machine with gears, fair enough, I do, but surely an automatic version, marketed properly would sell far more? It makes most modern scooters and electric vehicles look daft, an inexpensive purchase cost combined with good residuals, £15 tax and 160-170mpg cannot be beaten!

Sounds great, and there's a 4 stroke version now I understand.
I agree with their missing a trick. So much cooler than 'modern' style twist and go plastic scooters. I'm not sure though about having an automatic, I guess it would increase sales, but from my perspective having 'Real' gears would be an extra coolness factor!

My pal whilst out riding today was asking whether it would be suitable for his 25 mile commute from Abingdon to Reading which he now drives at about 45mpg or £2500 fule alone a year. To be honest I reckoned it too slow on a rolling, busy single carriageway route for daily commuting. What do you reckon, he's interested in reducing his fuel bill, maybe a mid-size motorcycle.

Sorry guys for the OT stuff, I guess it's about saving fuel...