Big single cylinder motorbikes

I know I'm being fickle, but………..

Big displacement single cylinder motorbikes, anyone recomend some/any?

After discovering that one size does not indeed fit all my enduro bike ambitons took a knocking, there's no way I could ride with the bars arround my knees!

So far…….
Honda Dominator 650 (cheep as chips for an early one)
Armstrong MT-500
Yamaha XT/TT 500 (seem to be apreciating rapidly, I remember when they were essentialy scrap value!)
The slightly mental suzuki/honda RGV 650 single cylinder GP bike thing on ebay.
Moto-Guzzi 500-II le mans, in red, with wire spoked wheels, mmmmmmmmmmmmm (ok, so Twins are acceptable)

Sugestors of the Enfield Bullet will be shot!

Budget £1500, more (upto £6k for something a bit special) or less (for a rolling restoration/project)

Power 45bhp+ (650cc, 4-valve, 7500rpm, teriotory)

Ducati Desmo 450,beautiful.
Ian

I enjoy tinkering, but the Ducati reputation scares me!

It's a pain in the butt having to number all the shims.
Ian

ohh, and is it just me or is the ducati styling reputation being applied retrospectively, there's nothing beutifull about that bike, or any other pre 996 ducati IMO

Each to his own,I like it,wish I had one,only ever managed the 250.
Ian
P.S. This is even nicer

mmmmmmmmmm Ducati twin, they look good purely because you know they'r just a little bit mental! Bit like Britney Spears, not the best looking person in the world, but I'd put money on her being absolute filth in bed!

Guy I used to work with took an MT500 round the world, nothing went wrong in a year of riding! Though he fitted a transalp tank once he got to australia 'cos the stock one didn't hold enough fuel.

Didn't envy him kickstarting the bastard though!

yea, my dad has one for sale, engine is noisy so potentialy the camshaft needs looking at, I'm tempted to buy it off him as it doesnt half get a lot of attention, and apparently it great on back roads, potholed lanes and green stuff, prety much what they were made for (Falklands).

Hang on – I think you really need to qualify what you actually want the bike for. You are a newbie are you not?

Is it a commuter? a greenlaner? an enduro race bike?

I would go for one of the BMW singles myself. comes in commuter / greenlaner / expedition bike flavours. Pick which flavour you want

Are you after a trail bike or a road bike, modern or retro? Tripping back 20 years or so Honda XL500's are to be avoided but Yamaha's SRX 600 is an ace little bike once you get the starting technique sorted.

In terms of mental a Lavera Montjuic trumps any old Ducati twin hands down – and would probably be as difficult to live with as Britney Spears too!

KTM 690 series (Duke III, SMR, SMC)

KTM – great bike but for a commuter for someone who has just passed their test?

Look at either a Yamaha Tenere 600 or a Honda XR650. Look at Dave Lambeth overland site. If you can find a DR Big that would be fun. A mate just bought an immaculate KTM 640 Adventure off of e-bay loaded with Touratat 😉 for £2,300 i am still crying.

Please leave that RGV framed thing alone, it may be pretty but would be a nightmare to own.

mz baghira (or whatever) it's the yam engine
(they did a couple of other mods on yam engine)

Honda Xrs are possiblty better than you think (supermotod)

I fancied an srz660, then I rode one (after a KR1s and gsxr750 – ou est le horsepower), good handling though.

Not a single but the KLE etc type kwak things get surprisingly good reviews (inc from personal friends, style limited, function not so so)

see ccm on ebay – lots R30 (later ones suzi 650 engine)

BMW Funduro if you can find one, they tend to get kept forever and not sold on…

KTM – great bike but for a commuter for someone who has just passed their test?

Power wise it has only got 15-20HP more than the bike someone would have done their test on. Very friendly to a new rider in that respect 🙂

I've owned a Yam Tennere,and an Armstrong mt500,both at the same time as it happens,the Yam was crap off road (too top heavy) but very comfy on longish trips ( birmingham to Bournemouth in an hour and a half!)
The Armstrong was capable off road,but a little slow on dual carriageways,M ways etc,handled well enough,and would go through walls (literally !)toughest bike I've ever owned,the Rotax engine is legendary,and can easily give you 60php with a bit of work,unbreakable.

Which would I choose ? Depends where I wanted to go,Europe the Yam. further afield,the MT.

Hang on – I think you really need to qualify what you actually want the bike for. You are a newbie are you not?

New(ish)bie, I have covered a good 16,000 miles on various bikes, hardly green.

I have said what I want, I wanted a trail bike without the engine re-builds every other week, eg yamaha wr250r, but after sitting on a few over the last week decided that they are clearly built for average proportioned blokes and just don't fit me. The bars were somewhere down by my knees, felt like riding a BMX only 3ft higher.

So now I'm looking at big singles, preferably older and cheeper ones but open to suggestions. This inevitably includes mid/old-skool 'trail' bikes like;

XT500 (have ridden one, loved it), even works well off road with some tweaks, I've seen plenty that have been raced, and theres the guy who's done the Paris-Dakar multiple times on the same bike!

and more modern ones like;

Dominator (apparently useless suspension, easily rectified by an expensive trip to ohlins/showa/WhitePower),

MT500 (have access to one, but engine needs work).

And other big thumpers like the TT500.

Basicly I want a 500cc-650cc version of the CG125, a big, preferably air cooled, single. As a first big bike it doesn't realy get much more sensible!

hmmmm, the armstrong is looking more and more tempting, might do the engine one day over christmass, if its anything like honda singles inside it'll be in bits in an hour, refurbished in 2 and back together in time for tea 😀

Yamaha XT,
But maybe a newer one than the XT500. I really like them too, but they are classic money now. XT600 has been going on in various disguises for a long time now. Green lanes ok, not sure about serious off road like you were talking about in your previous thread though. XT350?

Actually, considered a DR350? They are supposed to be actually quite good off road. Pigs to start when hot though. Old man had a DR600 when they first came out and it was a bit of a beast.

KLX650 supposed to be ok off road. KLR650 less so, but good fun on backlanes.

If you seriously want to trail ride and commute and you're a big bloke I'd go for a DRZ400 or a good DR350 if you can still find one. A 600 single won't be anywhere near as smooth as a CG125. I've never got on with big singles myself. Compared to a smaller motor you lose revs at the top end and low down they're too lumpy to ride smoothly so you end up with a useable rev range little greater than a 250 2-stroke. I know the paint falls off Suzukis but the above two are the bikes that would probably best suit your needs. An XR400 might do but wouldn't be so good on any bigger roads.

as I said, trail riding not realy an issue anymore, if I cant ride a propper compettative bike then it seems a silly sport to get into. It'd be nice to have a bike that could ride up stuff "because its there" but not fussed.

As for BMW's, call me shallow, but the brand just doesn't appeal to me, and whoever bought a motorbike to be sensible?

So ruled out so far:
Yamaha TW – it looks rubbish, it doesn't work on the road, it doesn't work off road, its rubbish at pretty much everything realy?
Enfield Bullet – looks nice, but rubbish
BMW's – Not quite ready for the pipe and slippers or Touratech groupie look just yet.

TJ, you know what I'm after, its fairly sensible as far as motorbikes go, its not a 1000cc superbike, its a 600cc single, preferably with some character, Either listen to what I'm after and suggest accordingly or keep quiet, something you seem incapable of doing.

In short, big, preferably air cooled, cool/interesting looking, comfortable for big blokes, some off road ability would be nice but not essential, sensible power to make some touring possible (50-60bhp ish).

just noticed that you don't want a BMW….

Thisisnotaspoon.

Maybe I have not followed you properly but so far you seem to have suggested that you wanted a bike for commuting, greenlaning and riding competitive enduros.

Even now you have narrowed your wish list down there is no bike that meets those criteria that I can think of.

The suggestion of a Enfield bullet was a joke BTW.

The Dominator sounds like what you need. Not massively fast, but a heap of fun. The engine is smooth enough, handling is fine, wheelies are easy, range is just about acceptable.

lol, I just presumed you were being facetious, I quite liked my dad's old one, but like nike trainers and McDonalds food the newer ones are just something I have absolutely no desire to own.

I had a Suzuki DR650 a few years back. Was a '95 model I think & it did everything could expect of it without any issue.

Not massively inspiring (which is why I changed) but functionally great.
Dominator / Teneré / DR650 all pretty similar I think.

The obvious choice is a Honda XR, choice of engine sizes, choice of price brackets as they have been making them a long while, absolutely hundereds of performance upgrades for every bit of them and will take a dabble into competetive enduro's too.. My choice would probably be the 400 with a few trick bits on it. edit, having re read your requirments maybe the 600, but reckon the 400 is still the best bet at your level of experience, especially if you going offraod, not because of the power, but the weight of it.

Standard.

A bit more trick

Knighter's[/url] a big bloke, and he seems to find that KTM's work best for him…..

I thought he is on Kawasaki now 🙂

an now after reading his site I know different.

mz baghira (or whatever) it's the yam engine
(they did a couple of other mods on yam engine)

I ran a MZ Skorpion Sport for a couple of years (until some scrot knicked it) and it ran the same engine as the Baghira. TEh only issue I ever had with it was carb icing when the weather was cold.

hmmm, didn't go looking at KTM's, maybe I should, I'm one of those people who has that little voice in the back of my head that says I can do anything If I try, I'm convinced I could be on the podium in Dakar given a bike and a couple of years training!

Looks like the domie is winning in the sensible corner (its a honda, it looks reasnoble compared to similar vintage bikes) and the Mt-500 the challenger form the mental(-y defficient) category, well it needs an engine re-build and could realy do with a set of forks off a more up-to-date bike, the front drum is next to useless with a bike that heavy!

The only thing a Dominator is really good at is going a long way without stopping for petrol, they are definately the last bikes I would be looking at for if I wanted to dabble in offroad, they will be an absolute nightmare, in fact all of your shortlist would be awful offroad.

KTM's are great, but I was looking at your low end of budget and would stay away from them unless you feeling flush.

That said and if your really not going to do more than a country lanes then I have always had a sick hankering for one of these, and you can really pretend your on the Dakar.. Though I couldnt reccomend it.

Take a look at the Husqvarnas.
I had a 2000 410 e and really liked it.
They do a 600 too but have to admit if I was buying again I would get something smaller for off road.
You might do better with two bikes rather than peeing about changing wheels and brakes etc for on/off road. Thats what I did.

ktm duke?

Slightly over your budget at £2k

On reflection, not sure I read all the posts on this thread correctly, as I thought the offroad bit was a requirment.

Bikes I have had that tried to do more than one thing were a pain hence sugesting the XR wich is much more offroad than on, but will get you to work when you fancy a spin, tourer's they aint.

BMW GS is still somthing that would fill your requirments, but probably not fully dakar trim like the pic I posted.

i'm guilty of not reading all the posts and I thought his needs was for a big single (similiar to a cg125)