Contemplating taking out a loan for a bike, Harley iron 883 or a xb12s...hmmmmmm

[Joemargrave]

I'm having trouble making my desicion.. I was going to buy a 2012 883 iron for $8000 of the dealership but I don't think that's a good idea considering I'm 19 and making minimum wage... I want a completely stock buell xb12s with around 5000 miles that'd be amazing to find,
Unfortunately in my area that's nearly impossible. It seems everyone is holding onto their buells and I don't blame them.

 

[netty2424]

Hang around the site for awhile, youll find them come for sale that fit your criteria. I'm guessing if EBR comes to market with an affordable production line, there will be plenty!

Good luck

 

[anrkizm95]

I'm guessing if EBR comes to market with an affordable production line, there will be plenty!

dec 6

 

[bikepilot]

Of the two def the buell as I said in your other thread... Also, I'd suggest not taking out a loan for a bike. Bikes are huge fun but debt sucks. Buy a simple old bike and have fun with it. Riding is all about the rider and ride, the machine has relatively little to do with it, especially when you are new. Find a $600 bike, pay cash and ride the wheels off it, you'll be much better off financially.

 

[rockerphotographer]

At 19 what is more important? Financial responsibility or the women that wanna ride on your nice new harley or buell?

Now the serious note, you really need to plan out your finances on this. Moto insurance is NOT cheap for teens or early 20's males. A financed bike requires full coverage. You need all the protective gear which is not cheap, maintenance is not cheap.

Do you have a bike right now and want to upgrade?

 

[ct1200]

Ins on a harley or buell is not that bad, as long as you have a clean record.
Now a Jap I4, you'd need a loan just for the ins alone.

Basically Bike loans work like a credit card.
Do you have any credit yet?
If not you may need a co-signer to begin with.

And the iron may be a good learner bike to start with if this is your first street bike, but don't buy a new one.
Used Sportys are everywhere, I found mine a yr old with 1k miles on it, that was 6yrs ago, and I saved like $3k over buying a new one.

Oh and the sporty is much easier to do 2up riding, especially if the girl as never rode before.

 

[snrusnak]

I'd straighten out the financials, and wait for an affordable EBR to come out. Get one a year old for half price...I love my xb, but will probably buy an EBR bike if they are around the pricing that the XB's were. I'll do the same thing to and get one used, save a bunch of money. Still keep the XB though, of course...

 

[vroom]

I would suggest you not get into the habit of taking out loans for things you don't need(and not at all if possible). If you swear off debt while you're young enough for it to matter, you'll have a much easier life.
That's what I did anyway. I'm 30 and my house is already paid off. Getting started on that path was not easy, but ask me if it was worth it. What do you think?
So take your pick.

 

[snrusnak]

I would suggest you not get into the habit of taking out loans for things you don't need(and not at all if possible). If you swear off debt while you're young enough for it to matter, you'll have a much easier life.
That's what I did anyway. I'm 30 and my house is already paid off. Getting started on that path was not easy, but ask me if it was worth it. What do you think?
So take your pick.

What he said ^

I'm only 24 and due to my good spending habits I have more paid off on my mortgage in just one year than most people do in ten years. I'm on track to being mortgage and student loan debt free in about 10 years Notice I still got the buell I always wanted, just pushed it back a couple of years...

 

[vroom]

Feels pretty good doesn't it?

I had an idea a few years ago that I'd like to share, since you are on a similar path. Once you get your mortgage down to a certain point, somewhere under halfway, see if you can't get a home equity line of credit for the amount that you owe. Then take that money and pay off your mortgage. Doing this, I went from a $900+ house payment to somewhere around $250. I owed about 40k at the time I came up with the idea(it came out of a dream believe it or not). The best part about the heloc is that as you pay it down, the payment reduces. The interest rate was lower and I didn't have to mess around with escrow. You can even use the heloc to get your mortgage deduction for property tax purposes even if it's totally paid off.

My largest expense these days is preschool for my two kids. $220 a month, which will be cut in half next school year and drop off completely the next. My expenses add up to squat. It's a ******' joke. I could support my family flipping burgers. And I'd do it if I needed to.

Sorry for the thread jack.

 

[snrusnak]

Feels pretty good doesn't it?

I had an idea a few years ago that I'd like to share, since you are on a similar path. Once you get your mortgage down to a certain point, somewhere under halfway, see if you can't get a home equity line of credit for the amount that you owe. Then take that money and pay off your mortgage. Doing this, I went from a $900+ house payment to somewhere around $250. I owed about 40k at the time I came up with the idea(it came out of a dream believe it or not). The best part about the heloc is that as you pay it down, the payment reduces. The interest rate was lower and I didn't have to mess around with escrow. You can even use the heloc to get your mortgage deduction for property tax purposes even if it's totally paid off.

My largest expense these days is preschool for my two kids. $220 a month, which will be cut in half next school year and drop off completely the next. My expenses add up to squat. It's a ******' joke. I could support my family flipping burgers. And I'd do it if I needed to.

Sorry for the thread jack.

Sure does! Got a great deal on a foreclosed house, my mortgage plus electric, water, cable, and internet is less than any of my friends' rent alone. What sucks is my student loan debt is about the same amount as my mortgage! lol. I'm very fortunate for what I have and not that I'm happy the economy sucks right now but it enabled me to get a nice house for cheap. When I found out the first 10 years of the mortgage are all interest I got pissed off and started making double payments haha.

My biggest expense is my wife !

/end TJ

 

[Macbuell]

I put my bike on a credit card (15k limit, I took $6k). 6.24% interest, no interest for 6 months (brand new credit card I opened only for the bike)

It took me 1 month longer than expected to pay it off, so I paid 1 month of interest on the $750 I still needed to pay off. Then closed the credit card.

I have 0 debt, and a decent amount in a savings account now. I rent, don't own.

Just be smart about it. I thought what I did was a nice "screw you" to the bank. We talked about a 9.5% interest motorcycle loan... laughed at them when I opened this credit card and then wrote myself a $6k check which I put into my normal checking account to pay for the bike. I had my title in my hands the whole time.

 

[Burton]

Just keep saving man. Debt takes the fun out of owning things...especially at minimum wage. Things tend to come up when you dont have money and being in debt makes it impossible to make ends meet.

Mo money, the mo manageable yo problems is!

 

[snrusnak]

I put my bike on a credit card (15k limit, I took $6k). 6.24% interest, no interest for 6 months (brand new credit card I opened only for the bike)

It took me 1 month longer than expected to pay it off, so I paid 1 month of interest on the $750 I still needed to pay off. Then closed the credit card.

I have 0 debt, and a decent amount in a savings account now. I rent, don't own.

Just be smart about it. I thought what I did was a nice "screw you" to the bank. We talked about a 9.5% interest motorcycle loan... laughed at them when I opened this credit card and then wrote myself a $6k check which I put into my normal checking account to pay for the bike. I had my title in my hands the whole time.

That's good as long as you're careful. If something comes up and you can't make the payment you have serious interest accrual with a credit card. Not the smartest decision IMO but to each their own, if you know you can make the payments it'll work out.

Really though none of us know your financial situation, just use your head and don't get in over it I wanted a buell BADLY when I had my first bike (POS) and would have never guessed that two years later I'd have one, and a house to boot...I'm sure if I would have financed one then I would have paid much more than it was worth when it was all over...

 

[vroom]

Got a great deal on a foreclosed house, my mortgage plus electric, water, cable, and internet is less than any of my friends' rent alone

Back when I first bought my house, I used to do all kinds of crazy stuff to save electricity. I got my bill down to $14 one month. Since I had kids, I've slacked off on that, but still do pretty good. One thing I recently did to save money was cancel my directv service in favor of netflix and hulu plus over the ps3. That switch alone saved me about $1000 a year. I also use a prepaid t-mobile phone and don't have a house phone. That's only $100 a year for me. If you can figure out things to do like that, and your income keeps going up, I'm willing to bet it won't take you 10 years to get that stuff paid off.

I really got lucky on buying my bike, at the misfortune of the company shutting down. I saw the video Erik posted on buell.com and made the decision to buy a buell within 2 or 3 days. I was going to go in and pay full price, at a dealer that was kind of far away. Then I noticed the local dealer had an 08 model for $4k less. Scooped that sucker up in a hurry! That was 2 years ago. Haven't regretted it for a second. Had it hurt my finances, that'd be another story.

 

[BRatigan]

Deduct what your expenses of life are from what you actually bring in. Be honest about it when you do. Then figure what you can do with the rest after you pay yourself first, small amount always being saved for emergencies, wants, etc.

Avoid dept at all costs, I know it sounds hard, but, if we save first and delay our gratification till later, then we save money.Plus it feels awesome to have made your purchase in cash, bikes yours free and clear.

Now, if you have a garranteed income, I mean really garranteed, then you could go the loan route to build a credit history. Three years would be the absolute longest time frame to go for, anything longer and it will feel like slavery and it will cost you more overall.

Good luck and make good choices.

BR

 

[snrusnak]

^ we need to get away from instant gratification...

 

[bikepilot]

^ Its so hard to get out from under debt, don't burden yourself when you are just starting out. Bikes are fun, I get that completely. I've had at least one since I was 11yrs old. Paid for every one with cash - the first dozen+ were really cheap

My approach is that I don't take out any debt for anything with a negative ROI. Basically that leaves education, business ventures and housing (even if it doesn't go up in value, the tax write-off is huge) as things that I'd take on debt for, but bikes, etc. nope, not me except for really special circumstances. As an example of "really special circumstances", last summer I took out ~$10k on a zero-interest-for-one year card 'cause I had two months till I started a high-paying job, no money and lots of free time. I rode all over this country and the one south of us, got 5th overall in the biggest off road race in the US and had an absolute blast. Paid the card off within a month of so of starting work - that was well worth it (and a year later I haven't had a real vacation yet so it was a good thing I took advantage of the free time)

 

[Stevenc150]

Dave Ramsey: - The Story of Ben and Arthur

Both saved $2000/year and averaged returns of 12% on mutual funds.
Ben puts in at age 19 and stopped at 26 (7yrs.) - $14,000 Total
Aurthur starts at age 27 and stops at 65 (38yrs.) - $76,000 Total

At age 65, both pull their money out of thier mutual funds.
Ben ends up with $2,388,996!!!
Aurthur, who saved for 31 MORE YEARS, ends up w/ $1,532,166 (Almost a MILLION less!)

Moral of the story....stay away from debt, save while your young and you won't suffer when you're older. It's not a hoaky get-rich scheme - it's stuff you can do with a calculator. Also, 12% long term isn't that hard - I've averaged 14% over the last 5 Rocky Years. Google Dave Ramsey and dig in. It Changed my Life - you get a chance to Start Out with Yours.

 

[twobuells]

If your thinking of using your new bike to save on fuel costs. If you live in a northen state you wont be riding much for the next four months but still be making payments.