Ok, test on the 4th of next month.

Don't tell me to get a CB500 because
a) I hate the things with a passion, even a CG125 puts a bigger smile on my face.
b) That style of bikes gives me a bad back.

After years of riding road bikes and XC bikes even my not so niche long travel steel hardtail has no spacers under the stem and a significant stem drop to get the bars as low as possible. Tall bars and upright bikes just dont work with me.

>500cc on a sporty bike and the insurance is prohibitive.

Soooooo, before I get tempted by the mixture of chrome, nostalgia and jap reliability that is the kawasaki W650 (even if it is uncomfotrable I could forgive it for looking good), is there a 'bigger' alternative to an VFR400 NC30/RVF400 NC35?

SV650 8)

Perfect for you I reckon.

Be careful with the 400cc bikes as spares sometimes are expensive and/or difficult to locate.

My neighbour sold his CBR400 racebike because it was getting dear to maintain and run.

He bought an SV650 and now races that instead.

I think you'll find the insurance is cheap as well 8)

Might get a test ride on one of those, there's absolutely no appeal in them to me, but everyone raves about them so there must be something worthwhile about them.

I had one for just under 12 months and thought it was fantastic.

Fitted a Quill exhaust to it and it sounded like a right little racebike 🙂

I had a GSXR1000 k6 at the time as well.

I did double the mileage on the SV, when I could have been out on my k6; that speaks volumes on good they are.

There are loads of bits available for them as they are a very popular racebike, so you can always spice one up a bit 8)

Have a look at this link for an idea on what you can do to one 8)

Mini twin

Have you shopped around for insurance? I bought a GSX-R 600 as my first bike at the age of 24 and insured it for under £300.

I was loaned a SV650 while mine was in for a service once and couldn't wait to give it back.

Get what you like the look of! CB500s look a bit boring, rode a couple when I passed my bike test (in 2000) and they didn't inspire me at all. I bought a jap import 400 at the time – the Honda CB-1 (looks a bit like a Hornet but with the gear driven cam engine from the CBR400RR.

I was always concerned that a small capacity bike would look a bit small to ride (I'm 6' 1") but it was great to ride.

Paid £1,200 from a dealer but even then it was 10 years old. Sold it 4 years later for £1,000 and wish I still had it. Looking at any of the jap 400 imports they're going to be getting on for 20 years old now, so it might be a struggle to get anything that's not knackered…

I mistakenly thought that the best first bikes had no fairing to damage if you dropped it (I never did with the 400, but obviously watched my CBR600 keel over a week after buying it….) and to keep your max speed down a bit (that bit was true, but always unsure if there's any benefit to crashing at 110 instead of 140 – you'll be dead either way!).

Just get something you fancy and can afford, chances are you'll change it after a couple of years anyway – and there's always a demand for cheap bikes so you shouldn't lose too much on it. If you're really hung up on a bigger looking bike there are big trailies like the Honda Transalp etc that are cheap to insure, but they're a bit remote to ride. I've always preferred sporty bikes – had a go on a pal's 2009 Fireblade the other day and it's titchy!

Triumph Speed 4. Low bars & rearsets. Cheap-ish now. Fast, reliable, good build quality, fantastic handling and brakes and quirky looks. Even cheaper is the earlier TT600 – more or less the same but with a full fairing and slightly more power (but less torques). Never popular, therefore cheap to buy. I've had one and an SV650. TT600 was massively superior handler, but the SV motor is lovely, especially with a race can 8)

Kwak ZXR 400?

Well, when I use to race supersport 400 I tried a few bikes and could never fit on a Honda, just felt too cramped, I'm 6'2".

In the end I raced a Kwak as it felt more natural.

Sounds to me like you need to go sit on them all and see what feels good for you 😉

Weren't you complaining that trial bikes were too samll for you?
And now you're asking about a pocket rocket!

I passed test at 41 & got a 1998 kawasaki ZXR400 for £1K off ebay – it was like new condition wise & £112 fully comp to insure & went like a rocket. With a double bubble screen the wind protection was great.
As for spares there was a bloke in Leeds that made a living out of breaking & specialising in ZXR400's so spares were cheap & a plenty.

Sold it last September for 03 Honda CBR600RR which is too fast, unconfortable & the wind protection is rubbish, insurance is hundreds – there's plenty of times I wish I still had the ZXR

AJP 125 supermoto. best fun ever.

Kind of depends on your size. Race rep 400's then to be very small. If you've 32" inside leg, then they're going to wrapped around your ears. However if your 5ft 6, then they'll be fine. Most if not all 400's are going to be grey imports. So, spare can be costly, although there are loads of places selling new and used parts. As per usual Honda NC30's are a good buy. Often owned by ladies due to low seat height and come with Honda build quality.

Yup, then discovered that trail bikes are built to scale, so the 125's I tried were built for midgets, and the big ones were a bit too intimidating. Why cant they just make motorbikes in multiple sizes? Even a small+large would be usefull, I cant be the only bloke in history to want an NC30, but simply not fit.