$57.00 to fill a freakin' Toyota Camry!!

Good Lord!!

How do people driving those huge SUV's do it?

We have a station by our house that has gas at $3.89/gallon, but I have seen it at $4.00 at a few stations.

Unbefreakinglievable...

once a month, which works out to about $25 a week. No joyriding, but we never did. And, before the SUV freaks come out, I bought the thing off my dad after my mom stuck him with it (he hated it) in the divorce. So, if anyone wants to slam on me, shut up already.

I spent $10.20 to fill the tank on my Harley Sportster!! I pumped 2.72 gallons and it was over 10 bucks....outrageous :grr:

She says that worry that I will cause her is not worth the money we would save on gas!!

bikes aren't for everybody, but they can sure get some great gas mileage. Just about all of my commute is open highway and I generally get better than 50mpg.

One thing that I cannot stress enough though, for new riders is DO NOT buy a motorcycle and then feel pressured to start commuting on it immediately. If you're just starting out or havent ridden in years, it is crucial to build your skill level in quiet areas where you're comfortable riding before tackling the task of riding in heavy traffic etc. You can find yourself in way over your head before you know it.

I've been riding over 30 years and probably over 200k miles and I still have to think about my riding skills. :hi:

huge cars and trucks driving next to me!

I won't get a bike -- no sense putting my wife through the worry. My best friend rides a Harley and he has been riding for 20 years...he has had a few close calls, as well. He has talked me out of getting one.

when you add traffic into the mix. I grew up on dirt bikes, lived on them when I was a kid, The skills I learned riding in the dirt have really helped from time to time on the street.

I'm sure you are aware of this :)

Good website and some video for others...something they don't teach at the training courses, and if they do bring it up advise against it...amazingly...

http://www.obairlann.net/reaper/motorcycle/beginner/countersteering.html

It's something I do sometimes subconsciously. I've been riding so long that lately when new bikers have asked me how I do certain things, I have to go ride the bike and pay attention to how I'm doing what they're asking about,lol

:shrug:

As the price keeps going up, I'm considering it more and more (plus, I've always wanted one and I'm in a position now with no wife to tell me no!). My daily commute is about 25 miles each way- a good bit of interstate, but I can bypass it if necessary).

I've looked (online) at the Buell Blast bike- which looks like a possibility. It's cheap, anyway. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable on the "rice-rocket" style of bike.

How large or small of a person are you? A smaller person can get away with a smaller bike.

Anyway, some of my favorites for a beginner bike, that you can get a good deal on are:

Yamaha Virago 250 (Vstar 250 for later models, same bike)
Kawasaki Vulcan 500
Suzuki Boulevard S40 (formerly called the Savage 650)

All of these get great gas mileage and are pretty docile machines. If you want to run the interstate, you'll get sick of the 250 in a hurry. But, in any case DO:

Wear a helmet and protective gear
Take the MSF skills course
Only ride where you are comfortable until you build your skills to a level of proficiency that won't have you exceeding your limitations.

Feel free to ask me anything, anytime. :hi:

I like my brains INSIDE my head, thank you! And I've already priced out the MSF course put on by the local Harley/Buell dealer.

I'm not big- 5' 10" and about 180 lbs give or take.

It's not a definite yet- I might have to sell some other toys to justify this purchase... My 1966 Fender Bassman may just have to be sacrificed... :(

tell me more about this 66 Bassman :evilgrin:

1966 Fender Bassman- No mods. Original Tolex and grille cloth (that has aged beautifully and evenly and is tight as a drum). Only a handfull of small (sub dime-sized) blemishes on tolex and grille. Small-form 2X12 cab with tilt-back legs and original brown-label Jensens. I DID have the original covers, but the ex "lost" them. I do have the original speaker cable, however- with the flat-headed plugs and the old style "F" emblem. Caps have been replaced within the past several years with high-quality Spragues. My amp tech is one of the guys behind Komet amps (http://www.kometamps.com/overview.html) and professes this to be one of the cleanest blackface Bassmans he's ever seen.

She's a beaut, and I'm totally smitten by her, but damn, she's loud. I don't have the need for anything this powerful anymore. I wish I had some pics- I lost all that I had in a recent PC crash, so I'm going to have to take some more.

I'm looking for a blackface or silverface 50w Bassman head. We have a local tube amp guru that does a couple of mods that will give a bassman the rock tone of the gods. I have a Marshall 4x10 cab that it would just sit on top of perfectly :D

but with this one all original and pristine as it is, I resisted the urge for the past 10+ years. I had a Super Reverb that I used more often, and kept the Bassman in the stable.

you don't want to chop up a mint one...I'm looking for an old war horse to have modded. My best friend has one of his modded bassmans and it's just too incredible to describe :thumbsup:

You is a fool if you doos. Really.... that fucker isn't going to depreciate in value any time soon. That's the kind of thing I'd hold on to unless I was in absolutely desperate straits and in danger of being homeless.

But if you really want to get rid of it, I'll give you a hundred bucks for it.

A hundred bucks is exactly what I paid for it back in 1995. I'm the 3rd owner...

Man.... how you got that deal, even in '95 is amazing. I kick myself now for all of the great shit I could have had cheap in the early 90's and didn't buy. I remember thinking about getting a fretless Fender P-bass around '92 that was from the 60's or 70's (post CBS, but still nice), and I didn't because it was really buzzy/hummy in the electronics end. Now I feel like a fool. Older things like mustangs and musicmasters were friggin' dirt cheap. I am an idiot.

He was an odd sort- almost a transient. He was about to run off on some adventure and needed cash. The amp had been sitting in his Mom's house for close to 20 years without ever being turned on. He knew I played guitar and asked me if I was interested in a bass amp. He didn't know the brand or name or anything, but said he'd bring it by for me to inspect, and that if I wanted it- $100 cash. Man, when I saw what it was, I couldn't dig that C-note out of my pocket fast enough!

I took it to the amp tech to get all of the tubes and caps replaced, and to let them bring it up to power on a variac to be sure everything was OK.

So it was pretty much a "right place at the right time" situation...

Around that same time I did get a Korg MS-10 (a nice anologue mono synth from the 70's) virtually for free. I used it loads for years, but now it's in desperate need of being serviced. I was thinking about selling it when I was tight on cash last year, but now I'm glad that I didn't.

The Gibson L6-S Deluxe, for example... My first "good" electric guitar bought at a pawn shop for about 200 bucks in the early 90's. Came with Fralin's, too. Kept it for about 7 years, and sacrificed it to buy my (then) girlfriend a birthday present. Still kicking myself over that (and looking for another to buy).

I passed stations with everything from $3.53 to $3.69 this morning (we're typically a little lower than the national average here).

As for the SUV's- No kidding! I'd be mortified if I were paying $100 or more to fill my tank! And I'm SO sick of the argument from freeper-breeding Moms who say that they NEED an SUV to cart their brood around. I'd wager that 90% of the SUV's I see on the road are occupied by only the driver.

:eyes: Thanks,

A non freeper-breeding Mom.

then you don't fit into the category that I'm talking about...

I'm NOT anti-SUV, per se. I just don't understand how or why people will still buy them as regular passenger vehicles when they seldom have another person in the car with them. If I had something to tow, or equipment that needed to be hauled, perhaps I might own one. But I'd never want it as my only means of transportation if I could help it.

would have the impression of me. That's all I'm saying. There are quite a lot of "good liberals" who drive them. It rankles me a lot. I once had an hold hag (I say that because that is what she was and if she can label me than I am free to label her) call me a tank driving bitch who voted for Bush. I would love to see those stereotypes done away with.

I go by truths. The "freeper-breeders" I spoke of were people that I actually know and have interacted with, and have point-blank told me that they NEED their SUV because of their 2 children (which is highly debatable) and then RARELY have them in the car at all. I don't make assumptions of drivers I don't know- I just make observations.

The other comment I made was an observation- that almost all SUV's I see on the road only have a driver in them. Perhaps some of them fall into a category of usage like yours, but the fact is that I live in freeperland, Louisiana so the odds aren't all that good.

Obviously, you've had some negative experiences because of what you drive, which certainly isn't fair to you. I assure you that I have never called anyone a tank driving bitch at the pump, and never will!

And, it will cost me >$400 to have TM's car rekeyed after her keys,ID were stolen Saturday night.

Her car is a Toyota Camry as well, 2004.

We had to rekey the house also. Gah.

My jeep needs about 10 gallons every 2 weeks, less than $40 to fill up.

I was just about on "E" this morning.

I just bought a 09 Camry on Saturday. I love this car!

I am going to drive this car into the ground!

I'm just about to hit 80,000 on it. I have no plans of getting rid of it. This is the first car I ever bought brand new.

I loves me my "Catfish".

Ha Ha -- it does look like a catfish!!

Had to replace the CV boots, that's it.

a * b = c

I got gas the other day and whoever used the pump before me paid $97.00 bucks to fill up.

Our Camry (we have a 2005) costs closer to $60.

Well, that's the way it's going now. Pretty soon, it'll be $4+ per gallon.

It's getting older now, it's still reliable but I'm keeping a close eye on my options for when it's time to replace it, and mpg is a huge part of the decision making process.

the cheapest gas (at least yesterday) was $3.53, which wouldn't be so horrible if i weren't driving a car that got about 10 miles to the gallon. before anyone flames me, it's the family backup car because my car (which gets about 23 to the gallon) is out of commission right now.

i'm not doing much driving right now

Mr. Bush was critical of Al Gore in the 2000 campaign for being part of “the administration that’s been in charge” while the “price of gasoline has gone steadily upward.” In December 1999, in the first Republican primary debate, Mr. Bush said President Clinton “must jawbone OPEC members to lower prices.”

to be the norm again... :scared:

It cost me €78 which is about $125.
Gas is about 1.4 euros to the liter here.
Figure 3.7875 liters to a US gallon makes 5.3 euros for a gallon.
The euro is about $1.55 today (down from 1.59!!), so that's about
$8.21 per gallon (down from $8.50 last week).

My tank empty holds about 65 liters or about 17 gallons, so a completely
full tank would run me about US$140.

We use a LOT of public transportation around here!!