[Closed] Recomend me a ...................MOTORBIKE 😀

and a triumph bonneville from the 70's. I like the feeling of having my walet violated to pay for extortionately priced spare parts, honest!

anything shiny and noisy that overtakles me in the morning.

Practical - a twist and go scooter!

A 70s bonnie is very nice but expensive and unreliable - you cannot rely on one for work - get a new bonnie instead if you want to commute on it.

How about a Suzuki SV650 nice twin growl to it.. fun when you want it to be and practical when it has to be..

Missus has got one and I rather ride that than my R6 🙂

twist'n'go and the sv650 both miss out on the looking good aspect!

twist'n'go's arent reliable either, the clutch's last 3k miles and the engines blow up as they spend 90% of their lives with the throttle pinned open to keep up with trafic. Had one when I was 16, never again, the CG 125 which replaced it was better in every concievable way, it went round corners without feeling like a blomange for a start .

I should mention my other mode of transport is an MG Midget, practicality and reliability aren't a priority 🙂

A 70s bonnie is very nice but expensive and unreliable

Expensive? yes
unreliable? not really with modern electronics on them

How much are you wanting to spend? I've had a Harley street bob for three years now, bought it from new, and it's been everything I hoped it would compared to some of the older Harleys I've had in the past. Some of the new Buells are quite saucy, and reasonably priced too. They no longer use Harley motors, so (dare I say it) are more reliable than the older models, and madder than a bag of monkeys as well. I've owned a couple of Triumphs, both new models and old, and to be honest, the new Bonnie's are far more reliable and will cost you a lot less to buy, run and maintain than a 70's model. One good point about Harleys is that provided you keep them in good condition and dont go overboard with the accessories (not everone appreciates tassles and 'live to ride' shi*e) you should always make your money back if you decide to get rid.

Budget's whatever I want to spend (within sensible reason). My outgoings are significantly less than my income at the moment and 'stuff' is more fun than a savings account.

If I realy wanted soemthing, £5k-£6k, but It'd have to be monumnetaly good to be 4x better than a 5 year old WR.

Practical - a twist and go scooter!

The OP if you can wait, Norton is coming back on the market apparently 😉
I'll try to get some pict done of angela this week end if you want.

i like this but then i'm a bit odd
[img] [/img]

I did have a quick spin on a KTM 450 recently & couldn't believe how much fun that was [around a racetrack at least]
Can't remember the model but I think it was Supermoto something or other

Norton's coming back? With a rotary or a comando? TBH I'd buy either, one for the luncay and one because its a comando.

If you fancy the looks of a Bonnie but want something that's reliable enough to commute on then how about a Kawasaki W650?

They (the new Nortons)were on the cover of MCN. Dont hold your breath.

Maybe a Suzuki DR400 would be more civilised as a road bike if you want an enduro machine?

I am a big fan of the old XT500 if you find a nice one at a good price.

Harley is not my thing at all but they sure hold their value well and more non-bikers seem to appreciate their 'style' than anything else bizarrely.

I commute on a R1150GS ADV but my journey is rather longer 🙂

Are you only commuting 3mls to then from work each day? Engine wont like that much in winter months.. + what weight / size of bike can you deal with, & do you want to use it for longer trips in coming years? Having traded down from a TL1000s due to knee ache / speed boredom, got an Africa Twin last year & haven't enjoyed a year as much since my first bike (+ another great [url= http://www.xrv.org.uk/index.php ]forum[/url]). The 'big trailies' have superb comfort, general reliability (/legendary, in the Africa's case), touring ability etc., but are much down on power & fairly hefty. With salt going down soon, you'll be worked hard keeping corrosion at bay, which may mean a 'hack' bike if your not OCD with the cleaning.

[url= http://www.nortonmotorcycles.com/bikes/norton-commando-961.php ] here :D[/url]

Luuuuurvely.

The KTM is a smr, but not road legal. For commuting duties not sure a ktm is a good option (plus you'll loose your license as fast as you'll do with a 1098)

v-strom 650
dual sport /do everything
[IMG] [/IMG]
loving mine

Well i will be having one of these when i scrape the cash together, a nice starter commuter that i dont think looks too bad.

[img] [/img]

I really liked the new Triumph Bonnie went i went to the NEC bike show last year. as well as several of the more classic styled Triumph bikes.

those and the Royal Enfields were nice and comfortable, but as an everyday prospect a RE, with its single cylinder, and 27bhp would get annoying/tiring after a while as a daily commuter if your on motorways.
Tho 6 miles you'll be ok.
£4000 new or so

You're right about Harleys. People (generally non-bikers) always want to tell you how theyve always wanted one, and owners tend to either be a bit up themselves or wannabee Hells angels. My wife is forever taking the proverbial, insisting on calling them 'Harley Gayvidsons', but still, I wouldnt want to ride anything else, unless I could afford something like a KTM supermotard as well, just for hooning about on for short distances.

That fat-tyred Suzuki is horrible.

I'm coveting a triumph street triple at the moment. Just need to find 6k down the back of the sofa so I can buy one!

Brother_Will

I hope you are joking ?

If you want commuter you want a CG125.

We have a shiny black VTR-1000 FireStorm and an Aprilia RSV Mille for sale at the mo.
The fit into the look nice/shiny/noisy/pass you in the morning catagory.

Both twins so fun to ride and sound nice. And to be fair, they only go as fast as you twist the handle - but they WILL go fast if you want them to.

If you want fun though, I can HIGHLY recommend a Honda XBR500, if you can get hold of one. A 500cc single based on one of their old trail bikes. Sound fantastic, excellent fun to ride and parts are cheap should you need them and they are a comfortable riding position. Lovely, lovely bikes - I really miss mine...

Speed triples are horny, Street triples ditto, and a fair bit cheaper. Sometimes regret getting rid of my street triple, but I dont think my license could have taken the inevitable kicking.

Weird stuff - Yamaha - SR500 (thumpertastic), TDR250, V-Max.

But really? Have a look at the current stock list on [url= http://www.madeinitalymotorcycles.com/Stock%20List%20.htm ]MadeInItaly's [/url] website- they've got a nice Ducati 450 for 5k, and an SD Darmah for 3.5k- you're not going to lose money on something like those.... theres' some really nice kit on there....

I know the engine wont like it, but realisticly its no worse than doing the same number of longer trips, it just means more wear than you'd expect for a bike of any given milage.

Any my knee hates those miles even more at the moment! Knee op £2k, engine rebuild £600.

Not too keen on the big trail bikes, my dad's had a few and I never saw the point, the only time they came into their own was on a roadtrip to scotland where they were big enough for the motorway but smaller than the 1150gs on potholed the b-roads.

Damit now I want three bikes! A cheep t'n'g scooter for destroying on the commute, a 400cc trail bike for the weekends, and a bonnie for the summer 🙁

If you want fun though, I can HIGHLY recommend a Honda XBR500, if you can get hold of one. A 500cc single based on one of their old trail bikes. Sound fantastic, excellent fun to ride and parts are cheap should you need them and they are a comfortable riding position. Lovely, lovely bikes - I really miss mine...

I've got one of them - an SJ with wire wheels:
[img] [/img]

they've got a nice Ducati 450 for 5k, and an SD Darmah for 3.5k- you're not going to lose money on something like those

You will if you commute through the winter on one.

If you look toward the SR500 you can always get a srx 600 as I said above very nice, thumperastic noise 😀
etc etc
Have a look on srx600.net for galleries...

Great little bike that can go for cheap o the beay...

they've got a nice Ducati 450 for 5k, and an SD Darmah for 3.5k- you're not going to lose money on something like those
You will if you commute through the winter on one.

aah, I glossed over that bit.

thisisnotaspoon - Member

Damit now I want three bikes! A cheep t'n'g scooter for destroying on the commute, a 400cc trail bike for the weekends, and a bonnie for the summer

Therein lies your problem. a suitable bike for the commute will not be much fun at weekends.

The only bike I ever see that makes me think I'd like a go on it is a Harley V-Rod

Therein lies your problem. a suitable bike for the commute will not be much fun at weekends.

Mehhhhh.................

Might just go for the trail bike, modern reliability, noisy, fun, quick enough, and easy to fix (only one set of piston rings to replace, etc) and I can piss off ramblers to an even greater extent at the weekends 😀

thinking about buying myself at the mo ...

Ducati Monster doing it for me, but also like the look of the Street Triple

want a low seat and high bars - brother in law has a street bob, nice bike.

a HD though, nee offence, like ...

Suzuki still do those SV650 jobs ?

How about a Yamaha MT-03? I think it's a great looking little bike which is meant to be great to ride as well. I quite fancied one as a 2nd bike to play around on but sadly at my height i can't comfortably ride most motorbikes. You can pick them up pretty cheaply now as well.

I'd recommend a Vmax like i ride but for commuting it would make no sense as the fuel tank is small and the mpg not exactly frugal either. Lots of fun though - at least until you come to a tight bend..... Mine took a brand new Porsche 911 Turbo off the lights twice in a row the other month (childish i know but lots of fun) so it's still got some grunt despite its age.

Anyone know anything about yamaha xt-250's from the 80's?

Ticks all the boxes,
- classic (well its a twin shock with wire wheels, close enough)
- thumper (although not a big one)
- simple
- off roadable (possibly???)
- get the frame PC'd, rattle can of heat proof paint on the crankcase and voilla, its ready for winter 🙂

and dirt dirt dirt cheep 🙂

Oooh, epicsteve. Nice. Mine had the nasty modular wheels, rather than the spoked ones and it was black.
Like this, in fact:
[img] [/img]

So, how much fun do you have setting car alarms off as you ride past? 😉
(The guy who used to do the MOT *always* asked if the exhaust was legal because of the noise it made. It was, of course...)

The Micron 2-into-1 on mine isn't all that loud. Nowhere near as loud as the supposedly road legal Motad on my CBR600 anyway!

I used to lust after the electic start CB125TDC when I was a youth (I had the ealier and faster, but lest pretty CB125TB) so I've always liked the look of the alloys that your bike had, however on the XBR the spoked wheels do look good. Mine need a good clean-up/rebuild though.

Anyone know anything about yamaha xt-250's from the 80's?

Ticks all the boxes,
- classic (well its a twin shock with wire wheels, close enough)
- thumper (although not a big one)
- simple
- off roadable (possibly???)
- get the frame PC'd, rattle can of heat proof paint on the crankcase and voilla, its ready for winter

and dirt dirt dirt cheep

Not great. Not twin shock, monoshock. Even is it's day it was stone slow, 2 valve SOHC. Crappy automatic compression release. Be surprised if the shock was still working correctly. Forks iirc were really bad. TT250 from same years was quite a bit better suspensionwise, but still the same slow engine.
XT/TT200 from about the same time was a far better bike.

ahhh, I'll forget about that one then 🙄

Still looks reasnoble (IMO)

[img] [/img]

The XT500's are now really climbing up in value.
Always fancied one of them.

RD350LC? the same situation though, either dogs, raced, wanted for racing, or mint restorations (expensive). Mind you the powerband makes up for all that....

XT225 Serow is a good bike if you're looking for a small 4-stroke traillie. Good round town and quite capable off-road and not desperately awful on A-roads.

MZ.

Great fun. A whole world of MZ geekery awaits.

See, I mention MZ and everyone buggers off thinking "freak".

RING A DING RING A DING RING A DING RING A DING RING RING DING A RING A DING.

How about a Yamaha MT-03? I think it's a great looking little bike which is meant to be great to ride as well.

Honda VFR would be my choice. Fast, comfortable and reliable.

I do have a sneaky admiration for those BMWs though.

The WRs are a bit full on for the road. A DR would be a bit more road friendly.

I used to commute on a DR350, which was a good workhorse. I recently bought a mint 2005 Ducati 749 for £3500, which is a great bike for the money. You could get both for your budget then have an everyday bike and one for 'best'.

hmmmmm, the ducati is probably my dream bike, but they do say you should never meet your heroes, so I should probably never ride one! Would be nice for track days though 🙂 Maybe in a few years time.......

Righty, here's my foolproof plan..................

Pass test at the end of October

Buy DR-350, thrash the pants off it off road and see if I get hooked.

Then its either the Ducati which ticks the noisy/gorgeous boxes and a hairdryer for the commute. Or a WR-400/426/450 which would hopefully tick the fun to ride box if nothing else.

Then its either the Ducati which ticks the noisy/gorgeous boxes and a hairdryer for the commute.

Try a WR on the road before committing. Race bikes on the road are utterly horrible.

Hence getting the dr-350 to see if its workable/livable, I recon the 15-20 more hp and 20mph on the top speed should make the odd trip on the motorways a bit more palitable (I live in Reading so N/S/E/W are all motorways)

I'm not planning on getting a YZ anyway!

Multistradra it is then

I use mine as much as possible.

[img] [/img]

It's not even close to standard but it is reliable, more than fast enough, great fun, handles very well, smells brilliant and sounds even better.....

😀

If you're interested in WR's you could go here to try them out (mostly offroad stuff though). Plus they've usually got a few in that they want to sell off.

http://www.yamaha-offroad-experience.co.uk/

I was there on tuesday & it's a proper good day out.

Just come back to this thread to realise that teh OP does not have a license yet.

Please please please do not buy a powerful bike A middleweight commuter / tourer will be easier to learn to ride on - which is what you will be doing for the first 10 000 miles.

something like an ER6 or CB500 is a much better bet for a first bike than some of the things you are talking about.

I don't know how old you are - but check insurance costs as well.

Honda Hornet.

Nuff said.

+1 to what TJ says.

You could buy my Bros. [b]Honda NT650 Bros Mk.1[/b], restored last year, reliable, sounds great (V-twin), simple, light, comfy, easy to ride.

[img] [/img]I bought this after passing my test in late July and it immediatly went to the garage to be fixed after a kind car driver rear ended me as I was waiting to join a roundabout. Its now fixed and I am commuting on it. Its not pretty but was cheap and seems like a good first bike as its fast enough without being stupid and nice and upright. Would prefer a bonneville scrambler but then I'm not rich and dont have a garage so it has to live outside.

As it's coming up to winter I wouldn't be spending that kind of money yet.

I'd get a yzf600r thundercat and pay around £1500. Then in April (by then you'll prob know if mb's are for you) look for something different (if you want). You then will of had the experience of a 'big' bike which is comfy/reliable and quick + you prob won't lose any money on it. When I passed my direct access when I was 21 I only paid £400 to insure it - I then moved on to bigger/faster and more exotic bikes as my experience grew.

I wouldn't bother with an enduro style bike IMO as you prob will get bored/frustrated. Good fun as a second bike though!

AA - nice first bike - fast enough to keep you amused for a couple of years, upright riding position for easy learning on etc etc.

Always rather fancied one myself - I have had big BMWs

Got to be a KTM Superduke!

(Or an...SV!)

Best thing about it TJ is it cost £900!

The modern Triumph retro twins are pretty nice... Decent enough handling, sensible amount of power, they don't make good economic sense compared to an SV650 or similiar but they work surprisingly well considering what they are.

I'm going to recommend an SV650 as well, mind, because they're cheap, fun, and hard to kill.

Honda XR400 is a good off road bike and also super reliable.

6 mile commute? Why bother with a motorbike at all? Just get a scooter and if you want to move to a motorbike for fun just buy something else. Commuting just 6 miles on a 'big' bike is abit pointless imho.

If you do want a bigger bike just search on what's locally available in 600cc'ish. ER6, SV650, Hornet, CBF, ER5, CB500 etc...

Honda NX650 Dominator

[img] [/img]

If you like the looks, then this is the perfect bike for you.

Learner friendly, but still great fun to hoon about on once you get a bit of experience. Great build quality which means it should last a few british winters (unlike some of the suggestion above). More like a bicycle with an engine, so easy to throw about and if you do drop it, there's very little on it to break. Single cyclinder 650cc engine, so it's got a bit of character (for a honda) and easy on the pocket come service time.

If you like the looks

Then you are bonkers, its even uglier than mine!!

Nah man, if you left the dommie too close to the fire, it would look like yours 😉

My first 'proper' bike was the italian version of the F650 (Aprilia Pegaso). Great wee bike - let down by dodgy electrics, but loads of fun on the backroads and somehow invisible to the plod.

I've had motorbikes before, a tiwanese built hairdryer when was 16 and a honda 125 when I was 17, just let my CBT expire while I was at uni and now have the spare cash to get back on bikes. Done about 18,000 miles on those two bikes, so I've had plenty of experience on small bikes, anyway, nothing I've suggested has more than about 35-40bhp, hardly big bike teritory.

The 6 mile commute bit is hopefuly only temporary while my knee heals up (again). I used to ride it but would rather spend my life destrying an engine on a short commute than dosed upto my eyeballs on painillers and saving the environment thankyouverymuch.

Remember to get a decent helmet and gear as well.

I got knocked off this afternoon and they big crack on the side of the helmet is quite sobering to how lucky i was. Aches and pains and a woozy head but seems like i'm ok.

My beloved Vmax has not faired so well though and i'm gutted. 🙁