Buying a New Bike

When looking to buy a bike the consumer has two options, buy a brand new bike or search the second hand market for an older machine. Both of these options have their good and bad points but this series of articles will look at buying a new bike outlining a few of the pros and cons.

Buying a new bike is a big decision for any biker as new bikes can be up to 30% more expensive than a used bike of the same make and model.

Bike insurance for brand new models can also be more expensive than bike insurance for used bikes as the new machine is valued at a higher price and is therefore viewed as a higher insurance risk for bike insurers.

Another issue related with the purchase of a new bike is the depreciation that bike will see once purchased. These problems become relatively insignificant if the customer is looking to keep the bike for a few years and the full manufacturers warranty goes some way to cancelling out these issues.

The positive aspects to buying a new bike are not to be discounted and buying new gives the customer a greatly received security. This security comes in the form of a manufacturer's warranty, which often don't come with used vehicles. This warranty means that the customer won't have to pay for costly repairs to the bike for parts covered under the warranty.

Competition between the suppliers of new bikes is good news for the consumer as it forces the prices of new bikes down. This means that it is very easy to shop around for a good price on a bike and it gives the consumer a good bargaining tool.

The biggest positive related to buying a new bike is the specification of the machine. Not only will the machine be the most up to date bike in the range but you don't inherit bad modifications associated with the second hand bike market. Most manufacturers also offer bolt ons for the bikes and when big amounts of money are changing hands its easy to negotiate money off these additional features.

Once you have looked at the positives and the negatives associated with the purchase of a new bike and have understood the implications of increased bike insurance, where is the best place to buy a new bike? The next four articles in this series will look at the four main places to buy new bikes franchised dealers, non-franchised dealers, import dealers and online sale rooms. These articles will discuss the positives and the negatives of each.