What is the average cost per mile on a motorcycle?

Answer 1

about 30 dollars a mile on average

I'm not sure where the original poster got his $30/mile figure from, but in truth the $$/mile rate is so wide that an average probably isn't what you're looking for. An inexpensive, easy to fix bike bought used for 1/2 it's MSRP with only a few thousand miles on it might come out to be about 40 cents per mile after 20,000 miles. A nice Harley could run over $1.50 a mile. High performance bikes can be even higher. A 20 year-old junker could cost more/less than a slightly used bike after 20k miles (based on luck/make/parts) but likely never less than 35 cents per mile.

If you get something very solid, like a shaft drive BMW and you take REALLY good care of it, you might be able to ride it for 60k-200k miles, (Honda goldwings and some others can last forever as well) but very few people use bikes in such a way as to let them live so long. If you're one of those people, your operational costs will be trivial.

Insurance costs are interesting. As a guy in my early 20's, a month of bike insurance was about 1/6th the cost of car insurance. At 30, it's still lower, but not by much.

From Capsar:

I once had much the same question. That was 40+ years ago. As stated so well above, your cost is relivant to cash outllay. Not staying within your criteria will dramaticly lower any cost savings you may have garnered. a general rule of thumb is what the monthly payment is + 1/3 the cost of travel by auto for a small/mid size bike to 1/2 the cost for a bike big enough to run the freeways. A full size cruser is usualy near break even. Go biger such as a trike or dresser and you have a luxury item where savings are not enough to count against the expence. Factors as to how you ride and what type of bike you need are also major concerns. As always... a loose nut on too much horsepower is never cost effective.