I would like a motorbike - help me

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I would like a motorbike - help me

43 posts & 18 voices | Started 9 months ago by samuri | Latest reply from bikebouy

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samuri - Member

From sixteen I had a motorbike. 50cc first,. then 125, moved onto 250, then 350 (RD350 YPVS - the most fun anyone can ever have, ever), VF500. Terribly dangerous and all that. I was mental back then, it's astounding I'm still alive. Twenty years on, I want another one in typical MLC form.

But my plan is, cool, sounds good, looks ok and is quite cheap. Help needed from the STW motorbiking community.

So I'm looking for suggestions in buying a motorbike. Up to 500cc. Mostly for messing about on but the odd commute (easy 15 miles on A roads), nipping up to the biker cafe with my wife on the back. All middle aged bollocks. Nice to ride, not too fast, crap handling to keep me in check. Most important is sounding great. Big solid V2 or something.

Go on then, advise me.

Posted 9 months ago #
hopefiendboy - Member

sv650

thread closed

Posted 9 months ago #
hopefiendboy - Member

oh didn't see the crap handling bit- Enfield single then.

Posted 9 months ago #
TandemJeremy - Member

Honda CB 500. Faster than anything you rode back then good solid reliable bikes. Kawa er 600. suzi SV 650 are two other options

Ducati monster - one of the smaller ones perhpas?
Modern triumph bonnie?

Posted 9 months ago #
samuri - Member

The Sv650 owners club website worries me. They have a fallen friends section, it seems to have a lot of ex-people in it. That's exactly the sort of behaviour I don't want to get back into.

Posted 9 months ago #
iDave - Member

Attack a w650 with a bit of duc tape and a few zip ties?

Actually the smaller Monsters are nice to ride, not so mental etc

Posted 9 months ago #
TandemJeremy - Member

Motorbikes are not dangerous people are.

BMW 800?

Posted 9 months ago #
Kato - Member

Hornet 600. Nice and easy to ride but you can scream the bollocks off it

Posted 9 months ago #
samuri - Member

I like the CB500 TJ, that's been pretty much on the top of my list so far.
The w650 looks massively awesome but I suspect will be a little too crazy for me.
Don't like BMW's.

Posted 9 months ago #
TandemJeremy - Member

BMWs are riders machines - not for posers. BMW 800 in two different flavours

teh w 650 willbe slower than a cb 500 - nicve bike by all acounts or go for a modern bonnie

Posted 9 months ago #
yunki - Member

you might have trouble getting your wife on the back... but who cares..? she can take a bus and meet you there later..

Posted 9 months ago #
samuri - Member

That's exctaly why I don't like BMW's, the crazy colour stuff is bonkers.

That Bonnie looks fantastic though. Exactly what I fancy, just way out of what I want to spend. Very cheap is another driving factor. This is a toy.
We've already got two cars with a third no doubt due when my son turns 17. The bike will have to come cheap and will be funded by sales of cycles.

Posted 9 months ago #
samuri - Member

I love that bike yunki. Dirty great single cylinder, tiny tank, ridiculous brakes. That's what motorbikes are all about.

Posted 9 months ago #
yunki - Member

it's just motorbike.. nothing else added.. nothing uneccessary.. just grrrr and metal..

there's a huge custom xs650 (twin cylinder BTW I think) scene..

I love 'em cos my godfather had one in the late 70s and early 80s.. a low.. mean.. dirty.. noisy minimalistic thing with big apehanger bars.. well as mean as it could be in bright pink

Posted 9 months ago #
Rusty Spanner - Member

Most important is sounding great.

Went looking at Enfields a year or so ago.
The guy who owned the business (D & C Classics in Cowling) had a demonstrator with an open pipe - Jesus H Corbett, it sounded like the apocalypse.
Nice bike too.

If you don't mind the image, you could always get a Sportster, the new ones look quite nice:

Modern Bonnies are lovely:

As are Kawasaki W800's and some of the newer Guzzi's:

But, if you've ridden LC's in the past, why not buy another one before prices get totally out of control?

Go on, you know you want another one:

I know I do. An LC with a powervalve motor, Allspeeds, a Pro Am bikini fairing and a bellypan please, in Roberts speedblock yellow.
And I promise not to destroy it this time...

Posted 9 months ago #
totalshell - Member

second that about dave at d & C classics in yorkshire.. great guy to deal with he ll set you up with a nice low mileage indian RE no probs.. and cheap

Posted 9 months ago #
TandemJeremy - Member

Enfield india are very slow indeed. I have one

Posted 9 months ago #
Rusty Spanner - Member

TandemJeremy - Member

Enfield india are very slow indeed. I have one

Which one do you have TJ?

The newer alloy, 5 speed, fuel injected bikes are a totally different experience to the older iron engined ones.
QC has improved massively too.

Posted 9 months ago #
TandemJeremy - Member

An older iron one - with a gas flowed head, bigger concentric carb, open exhaust, electronic ignition - much faster than stock - still a sub 30 bhp slug.

Posted 9 months ago #
Rusty Spanner - Member

Sounds perfect.

Let's have a picture then!

350 or 500?

Posted 9 months ago #
TandemJeremy - Member

500 - In a sort of trails trim with half a tonnne of pig iron removed from it, laid up in the lockup for years. Needs a bit of wiring to run again. I must get round to it
enfield 2 by TandemJeremy, on Flickr[/img]

Posted 9 months ago #
Rusty Spanner - Member

That's actually pretty nice, in a ratty kind of way.

I like the kits that Hitchcocks produce for the older Indian models:

1950's style:

Fury:

Continental:

Still quite fancy one of the new ones, but the prices have got a bit much recently.

Posted 9 months ago #
chopperT - Member

Kawasaki KLR650 is about as cheap as bikes get. Kind of like a hardtail MTB in that it's OK to ride offroad and on. Sitting up nice and high for the commute, tons of torque from that monster single, and gets 4.4l/100km. I'm loving mine.

Posted 9 months ago #
anagallis_arvensis - Member

I was going to suggest a single cylinder trailie as above or a Honda Dominator. I have a 1995 BMW F650 which meets all you requirements

Nice to ride, not too fast, crap handling to keep me in check. Most important is sounding great.
The bike will have to come cheap

Ok well its cheap, has crap handling and is slow.

The Dakar versions look nice but cost more

Posted 9 months ago #
MrSparkle - Member

Jon - another alternative is a SuperMoto style jobber. There's some nice lowish cc 4 stroke single versions about. Suzuki do a 400 that looks schweet.

Posted 9 months ago #
don simon - Member

I was going to suggest a single cylinder trailie as above or a Honda Dominator. I have a 1995 BMW F650 which meets all you requirements

I would go along with that, or even the BMWs mentioned by Tandem. My personal choice would be a bit bigger and the BMW 1200 GS as my back informs me sports bikes are not the way forward.

Posted 9 months ago #
MKCHRIS - Member

SV650 as has been mentioned but might handlle a bit too well (that has got me into trouble)
Not good if you're tall either.

650 Transalp(v twin,rides like a big mtb) or XT660 (3 versions currently)

Have fun

Posted 9 months ago #
molgrips - Member

Motorbikes are not dangerous people are.

Yeah, people on motorbikes I think the OP recognises this though given the requirements he mentions..

Personally I like BMWs.. OOPS what am I saying..!?

Posted 9 months ago #
PeterPoddy - Member

Why on earth would anyone specifically want a 'crap handling bike'???

Believe me, you're a LOT less likely to crash a good handling bike!

I do love those Enfields though. I want one with a sidecar. Phutphutphutphutphutphutphutphutphutphutphut....

In the end though, bikes are all about WHAT YOU WANT, not what you NEED, or what anyone else says you need. Look until you find one that makes you want it, makes you need it badly. One that you can look at and sit on that makes you feel good, one that has you checking your reflection in shop windows. Bikes aren't logical, cold decisions. Go with your heart, not your head, then and only then will you be happy.

Posted 9 months ago #
PeterPoddy - Member

Ahh. Mr Molgrips on a bike thread again!

When are you gonna let me take you out for a ride, now that I have the appropriate bike for the job?

Posted 9 months ago #
epicyclo - Member

Enfields can be made to go indecently fast.

Don't know if the scrambles cam can be got or replicated these days, but with that, some inlet port work, and a Wal Phillips fuel injector an original Bullet can be made to fly. At least as good as the contemporary Bonnie. The brakes were best replaced though.

Posted 9 months ago #
molgrips - Member

Next time I am down in F'boro

I presume the OP meant handling aimed at comfortable cruising, rather than sporty razzing.. but I could be wrong. That's the kind of bike I'd like anyway if I were in the market for one.

Posted 9 months ago #
nbt - Member

Kind of falls down on the "cheap" criteria, but it would fit right in at Top Barn. They'd be throwing themselves all over you

Posted 9 months ago #
bikebouy - Member

My father in law has an old Enfield, ugly POS. Why would you go all retro or even a Bonnie???.. Gawd they're ugly, break down, fall appart, crash into pieces, rust, smell, you'll look like a nob (and old nob at that), I could go on..

Simple 4cyl 500ish roadbike, like one of those seventies styled things they all produce these days, it'll work well, go well, not breakdown, be clean, tidy, do decent mpg, be comfortable.. I should go on...

Or go senenties/eighties retro on one of these things (I very briefly had the 250cc version, it was mental )

Posted 9 months ago #
yunki - Member

Why on earth would anyone specifically want a 'crap handling bike'???

same reason that some people prefer the driving experience in an ancient Triumph Dolomite to that of a Ford Focus maybe..?

Posted 9 months ago #