...Or Other Personal Transportation

When the Ford Model T was first sold in 1908, it cost $950. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' inflation calculator only goes back to 1913, but even then that $850 translates to over $21000 today, so the car wasn't "cheap" by any means. But Henry Ford introduced the moving assembly line and completely interchangeable parts to his factory, and the price began to drop. Ford also discovered that cutting the profit per car resulted in more than making up for that cut in sales, and in 1914 48% of all cars sold in the U.S. were Model Ts. At their lowest price they were only $280, perhaps $6400 in today's dollars.

 For comparison's sake, a 1912 Henderson 4-cylinder motorcycle sold for $325, $45 more than a model T. This spelled the end of the "motorcycles as primary transportation" era in the U.S. and Canada, though in Europe two world wars kept motorcycles "relevant" until the early 1960s, and in many places in the world motorcycles are still used to carry entire families.

But this is a blog about commuting via automobile. What's this about motorcycles? Well, I bought a one, primarily for commuting. I don't go riding around on weekends, and don't expect to take a trip on it. I've seen ads for used motorcycles where the owner says "I don't have time to ride anymore", to which I am tempted to fire off an email asking "don't you go to work 5 days every week?" No time to ride -- bah!

I want to say that this is an economical thing to do, but I can't. I won't be selling my car, so it can't be justified economically, and during yesterday's afternoon-commute rainstorm I was glad I wasn't one of the two people I saw on motorcycles. No, I bought it because I wanted it, but to not ride it to work would be silly. And boring.


What this is, is a 2011 Royal Enfield B5, descendant of a British make, but made today in India. It's inexpensive for a motorcycle, listing for $5495 new, and has a modern fuel-injected engine and a catalytic converter. So far I'm averaging 61 mpg, though I suspect it would do much better than that if I weren't riding at 65-70 mph. (It seems happiest at 45-55.)

I'll write later about the advantages of commuting by motorcycle, and the drawbacks as well.