Be honest--how is it sleeping on school buses?

[nat_ster]

In my personal opinion,

No way I would ever buy a gas powered bus.

The 5.9 Cummins is the lowest powered engine I would settle for.

Good thing gas is cheap right now.

That bus will not have the power to pull anything behind.

It was about the worst choice of bus he could have gotten for your needs.

Nat

[capnron]

Originally Posted by nat_ster

In my personal opinion,

No way I would ever buy a gas powered bus.

The 5.9 Cummins is the lowest powered engine I would settle for.

Good thing gas is cheap right now.

That bus will not have the power to pull anything behind.

It was about the worst choice of bus he could have gotten for your needs.

Nat

I would agree that diesel is the way to go if you can get one. However, our band had a 10 window length skoolie and we had a 366 GMC truck engine with a highway ratio rear end. We could cruise at 60 to 70 mph easily and fuel economy was quite good. I think you can get good service from gas if you have the right engine and proper highway rear end. We did 150,000 miles with only tune ups and oil changes (Oil changes are even more important in a diesel).

[crazycal]

Originally Posted by nat_ster

In my personal opinion,

No way I would ever buy a gas powered bus.

The 5.9 Cummins is the lowest powered engine I would settle for.

Good thing gas is cheap right now.

That bus will not have the power to pull anything behind.

It was about the worst choice of bus he could have gotten for your needs.

Nat

Holy cow! Look what the cat dragged in. How have you been.

[charles_m]

Ive done exactly what you are talking about before--built out a school bus for touring in and took it on an 8000 mile tour with my band. It was fun. And I'd never do it again.

Unless your group is very large (over 8 ppl), it makes almost no economic sense. I know it's less fun, but there is a good reason why bands stick with the standard 15 passenger van setup. It's cheaper to drive, faster, easier to drive, cheaper to maintain, and easier to deal with if it breaks down. Are you including conversion costs? How long is the tour?

Have you done the math for fuel costs in a vehicle that gets 7mpg on diesel to a vehicle that gets 15 on gas?

The money you save can cover hotel rooms.

What kinds of guarantees are you getting on these shows? I've got a lot of experience here and unless you're really getting high guarantees, and have a huge band, a bus doesn't make sense.

We now drive a 1997 E350 Econoline with the V10 and still get 15-16 mpg while traveling at 75-80mph with AC in a quiet, easy to drive van. If we need more room, we can tow a trailer. The van has 117k miles and we paid $3200 for it. Just something to think about.

Fun as it may be and romantic as the idea may seem, be prepared for it to become a bad business decision if all factors are not weighed carefully. Like I said, I'd never do it again. And I'm super experienced working on buses, rarely break down, and can almost always get things going again if it happens. Do you have someone in the band who can work on a bus? Canceling gigs due to breakdowns is very crappy--you lose the show, the money, and then you have to make up time to get back on schedule.

Not tryin to take the piss outta ya, I just hope someone can learn from my mistakes!

[charles_m]

Whoops! I missed your post about already having a gas bus! Not my first choice but parts will be easy enough to find. I Hope its got highway gears!
Well, looks like your on the bus now
I wish you all the best!

[rockmomma]

... well, pooh. I had these lovely visions of gently swaying hammocks, cradling these angelic sleeping rock stars as we rumbled down the highway. You're saying it would be more like a Three Stooges or I Love Lucy episode. Oh, well.

[rockmomma]

The thing is, we all like the idea, we have a free driver and maintenance guy, and there are 7 of us (2 gals, 5 guys), and we are SUCH tightwads. The driver dude is actually splitting the cost with us 50/50 for the bus AND the conversion, because he's a free wheeling hippie dude and wants to live in it himself when the band is not in the US.

Did I mention that the band is from Iceland? It's kind of expensive for them just to GET to this country, much less tour around it.

We're all hoping like mad that we won't lose our shirts on this crazy venture, and it's kind of hard to beat the price of half a bus + conversion, no hotels, etc.

[EastCoastCB]

If Icelanders are like the Europeans I know, that bus will be the biggest room they've ever slept in!
Seriously though, my bus is bigger than some apartments!

Oh, and BTW- wheres the link so we can see (and hear) the band???

[rockmomma]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

If Icelanders are like the Europeans I know, that bus will be the biggest room they've ever slept in!
Seriously though, my bus is bigger than some apartments!

Oh, and BTW- wheres the link so we can see (and hear) the band???

BWAHAHAHAHA! It's funny because it's kind of true. At least they're not Russian. Then it would be the biggest whole APARTMENT they'd ever slept in.

They're called Arstidir. https://soundcloud.com/arstidir

I'm kind of overly proud of them, BTW, so thanks for asking.

[EastCoastCB]

Cool, thanks for sharing, I'm smoking my evening pipe to it just now.
Let me know if you folks ever get into central fl.

[rockmomma]

Aww, thank you! Not this tour, I don't think--Fla. in July is just, well, NO. But I grew up in Naples and I'd love to bring them down to the old neighborhood... in the winter, as the good Lord intended.