Cheap motorbikes……..ideas?

Curiosity, poverty and optimism leads me to believe it may still be possible to buy a reasonable bike for a grand or so, maybe £1500.

There don’t appear to be any abandoned MZ’s in sheds anymore, people collect old Honda CB250RSs (possibly my very favourite bike) and the Jap 2 strokes and unbelievably awful old Brit bikes I used to buy for peanuts are now collectors items.
Even dispatched Deauvilles are a couple of grand.

So, I reckon I’m looking at basic, unfashionable Jap 4 cylinder bikes or mega-milage old Hinckley Triumphs.

I’m willing to change oil, bearings, chains and sprockets exhausts etc.
I can rebuild forks (as long as the legs aren’t pitted) and can strip carbs if I really have to.
I draw the line at electronics, cam chains and rebores.

So:
Bandits.
Diversions.
Mega mileage ZZRs, GPZs etc.
Possibly a TDM,Thunder Cat/Ace, Fazer.

Cosmetics unimportant.
Image even less so.

Any other ideas?

SV650s?

Suzuki sv650 v twin. X. £1200

Kawasaki versys? Or Er6?

Ive owned all the above and they were cheap and fun

GPZ500?

Old jap import 400’s. They’re rev-the-nuts-off fun

5th Gen Honda (98-02) VFR800
Triumph Sprint RS (99-04)
Yamaha Fazer 600 (98-04)

All are now deeply unfashionable, but were actually pretty good bikes… I’ve been tempted a couple of times by cheap Sprint RS’s but never committed, and the Fazer 600’s I’ve seen a few of those REALLY cheap (like well under £1k) with only a couple of minor niggles for sale recently…

I do however have a fair bit of experience personally with 5th Gen VFR800’s, having bought two of them in the past in very good condition with low mileages, the first cost me around £1300 and the second was £1500… A better motorcycling bargain is hard to find than this era VFR800! They’re decently quick too, albeit the brakes and suspension are of their time (relatively easily upgraded mind). Because of the gear driven cams, you’ve no chain or belts to service. Valve clearances are supposed to be done at 16k miles, but nobody does. I’ve only heard of one or two bikes out of spec at 32k miles.

I’ve got a lovely 21 KTM 1290 Super Adventure S right now, but if I had to get rid of it and other toys for financial reasons, I wouldn’t hesitate to get another 5th Gen VFR800… Most comfortable bike I’ve ever ridden too, which is a bonus!

Another for SV650, I absolutely loved mine. though £1500 will only buy the bottom end of them I think. The old carbed (curvy) model is just as good a bike as the pointier, more recent ones and tends to be a bit cheaper, but they’re all 20 years old now so you’ve got to be pretty careful. They crash magnificently well, though- I chucked mine along the track at knockhill at about a hundred, watched it slide into the gravel… Changed the clutch lever and rode it home. Very skinny frame and engine so nothing expensive even touched the ground.

(I was surprised to look at prices just now, the curvies are exactly as expensive as they were when I got mine and that was 16 years ago! Really need to get mine out of the shed…)

It’ll just about get you into Hornet 600 territory and they’re awesome too… I’d sooner have a really old, fairly tired sv or hornet than just about any bandit tbh.

binners
Full Member
GPZ500?

Old jap import 400’s. They’re rev-the-nuts-off fun.

Sweetie, if I could find a Jap import 400 for the cash I’d be delighted.
Xherbivorex’s old Mrs had an immaculate RVF400 in bits.
Seen the prices now?

SV1000s appeal.

An extremely **** ZZR
1100 would be a good bet, no?

Avoid the divvy, you’ll just want rid of it.

I always regret selling my TDM850, loved that bike, had an akra 2-1 system on it, sounded so good. Remember crapping myself when I accidentally popped a wheelie over a hump back bridge. If you can get a TDM900 in budget that would be a good call, my 850 didn’t really like cold mornings with the manual choke.

<True STW, recommend what you’ve got> Not sure what prices are like over there but I’ve now got a BMW R1150R, really nice bike with some character what with it being a boxer.

Had a bandit 600S as my first big bike, they ride nice, could maybe get the 1200 (or 650 / 1250 for a bit more refinement if in budget)

Loads of cheap firestorms over here in Aus too, they’re always good for a Jap version of an italian twin!

Also second the VFR800 and Sprint mentioned above, I keep looking at cheap Sprints and wondering if I should…

Another +1 for the trusty SV650.

Or a deeeply unfashionable choice; a VFR750.

I bought and sold one during Lockdown for just over a grand each time. G reg; 50,000+ miles, pulled like a train and ran like a dream. The motor on those was an absolute masterpiece.

Riding position was a bit sporty for my aging and rotund form to hack around Galloway’s potholed back roads these days so I shuffled it off and replaced it with a KTM EXC (the least practical machine I’ll ever own, it’s ridiculous.)

I picked up a sprint RS for £1000, I had the owner down to £950 which was less than £1 per CC but his wife kicked off at him. He just wanted rid of it to a good home, she wanted to make a profit – even at £1k it wasn’t close to that.

It’s a solid bike, really solid, like tank. But it handles ok once one has put the correct sized tyres on. The engine is a bit agricultural in terms of being noisy on the top end but I heard a few when I was on the iom this year and it’s just the sound they all make.

People will sniff and say “they’re not very quick” but second gear sillyness will get you a ban, and third gear plus sillyness will send you to prison, so they’re fast enough!

CB500 or a Bandit600 are good shouts…

A mate has just picked up a tidy old Fazer for £500.
His plan is to put it in my garage and get me to make it into a cafe racer.

YZF600 Thundercat is a good shout – I got one for under a grand in summer
GPZ500
CB500
SV650
Yamaha Fazer
Suzuki Bandit
CBR600
Kwaka ER6
Yamaha XJ Diversion

Look on Gumtree or similar, max price £1500. See what comes up…..

something like this

My sprint RS came off of facebook marketplace, if you can stomach the awfulness of facebook there seem to be a decent amount of unpopular bikes for not much money to choose from on there.

Make sure you come back to us with what you actually bought 🙂

With pics !!!

I seem to think you are over this way so these might be of interest.

https://www.gumtree.com/p/honda-motorbikes/honda-cbr1000f-1988-999-cc-/1446534704

https://www.gumtree.com/p/yamaha-motorbikes/yamaha-xj900/1446136518

https://www.gumtree.com/p/kawasaki-motorbikes/2002-kawasaki-gpz500s/1415230511

https://www.gumtree.com/p/honda-motorbikes/honda-cbr600-f4-y-2000-/1445043072

Unfashionable is a good shout. CBR__F , GSX__F

I’ve got a CBR1000F 1996. Swims through its MOT every year, starts on the button even if it’s been left for a bit. Comfy and quick. Price per mile has gone up a bit with the cost of petrol, so that’s worth considering if it’s budget transport you’re after. And if central London is on the cards, older bikes won’t be ULEZ compliant so that’s another £12.50/day.

A mate has just picked up a tidy old Fazer for £500.
His plan is to put it in my garage and get me to make it into a cafe racer.

😀 What are his chances?

Fazer’s seem to be pretty cheap.

Had an ER6 that cost £1500. was decent if a little dull.

His plan is to put it in my garage and get me to make it into a cafe racer.

How generous.
Possession is 9 tenths of the law 😉

A bandit 600, that takes me back 20 years. I am so very tempted with a cheap project, despite having no space, cash or spare time at the moment.

CB500.
I just picked one up for £950 with MOT and 12k miles.

I also really like SV650s but doubt you’ll get a decent one in budget

ER6-F seem to come up around that sort of price. And based on doing my training/test on CB500’s, ER500, whatever the suzuki was, and an ER6, the ER6 was a substantial step forward (although it may just have been newer too).

Bad time for buying motorbikes, like push bikes they seemed to go silly during covid.

I’ve been looking for a KLX250S/WR250R to get back into bikes on and any magazine review of them 2nd hand will tell you £1400-£1600, yet all you’ll see on ebay is absolutely thrashed examples for £3k+ (or £4.5k for the yamaha). The Kawasaki was <£4k brand new a decade ago!

On the upside (kinda, if you’re a buyer and can wait a few months) there’s signs the market has slowed/crashed. There’s a private CRF300 with ~1500 miles on ebay for £6250, and one at a dealer for £5300 (both with a couple of upgrades), presumably ones still optimistic, and the others struggling to shift bikes from the showroom as it’s been there a couple of weeks. Ridgeway is closed now until next spring so I’m going to wait and see what happens.

Got a 94 Sprint 900 with a fair few miles on for less than £1k pre lockdown when prices were high. The engine is lovely, it may sound a bit agricultural but the midrange is very addictive.

Handling is on the comfy & stable side of things rather than exciting.

It’s a bit tall and heavy but I can manage and I’m only 5’7″.

Things that are likely to need doing are fork oil, rear suspension linkages will at least need greasing if not new bearings, carbs will need a clean if it’s been sat, carbs need to come out for an air filter change. Crank Ignition sensor might fail but this is an easy job – 20 mins tops if the battery is old and tired budget for a new one as a tired battery can cause starter sprag clutch to fail which is an engine out job.

Lots about and lots with big miles on them too, loads of good advice on FB groups.

Find a Sprint Sport if you can as they have adjustable front forks.

Nice Sprint Sports and Tridents are starting to go up in value, Trophy’s and standard Sprints are less desirable.

Kwaka kle? Comfy and not trendy

Yamaha xj?

You might find a triumph sprint or trophy too

@binners

Grey 400s are mega cash now.

Try n pick up a nc30

I do however have a fair bit of experience personally with 5th Gen VFR800’s, having bought two of them in the past in very good condition with low mileages, the first cost me around £1300 and the second was £1500… A better motorcycling bargain is hard to find than this era VFR800!

This. So much this.

I had a 5th gen vfr800, in red, of course 🤣

It went to the Alps, did year round commuting, brilliant bike. And the sound with a nice exhaust! 😎 I think I bought and sold mine for about 100 quid difference, £1900 or thereabouts.

And if central London is on the cards, older bikes won’t be ULEZ compliant so that’s another £12.50/day.

If you can get manufacturers data sheet that shows the bike meets ulez standards you can get it okayd by TFL – got my 2006 BMW through by this route.

Old jap import 400’s. They’re rev-the-nuts-off fun

Aaaand I had one of these too! CB400 super 4 hyper VTEC!

Brilliant little bike, 50bhp, red line at 13k rpm, VTEC kicked in at 7k. Quick enough for most (0-60 in 5 secs, topped out on the autobahn at 115mph!).

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/bike-details/202210100586848?price-to=1000&advertising-location=at_bikes&postcode=bb32ln&radius=40&year-to=2022&include-delivery-option=on&sort=relevance&page=1

cheers dickyboy, I did look into this for mine a while ago. Honda don’t have the relevant data sheet for mine. Think I looked into likelihood of passing an emissions test, and either the test was so expensive or the chances of passing would be so low, I didn’t bother. Should have another look into it, at least to remind myself of the details.

which I’ve just done. googled, found https://www.nationalemissionstestcentre.com/, gave them a ring. 96CBR1000F usually test around 0.4 for NOx, vs threshold of 0.15. Getting mine to pass would need 2 cats installed (mine’s a 4:2 system; if I had 4:1 it would only need the one cat) work plus cats plus test = £500.

Interesting.

Always hankered after a VFR, but it was always the last 750 I wanted.

Always hankered after a VFR, but it was always the last 750 I wanted.

As an aside, like any bike with carbs, going to be harder to get a 750 to pass the ULEZ emissions tests…

For what it’s worth, there’s a number of 5th Gen 800 owners on the facebook groups that have had their emissions testing done and they passed with flying colours…

Wow, some great ideas there, thanks everyone!

Tempted by that Kwak 400……

Do it Pete! 400’s are bloody great fun. Revvy little bastards!

I had a ZZR400 that was a right laugh. The most fun bike I’ve ever ridden was a FZR 400 EXUP. The handling and power delivery was like a 250 two stroke. Perfect for chucking about on a nice twisty B road

Stop it! 🙂

Boiler’s getting serviced next week, if all ok I might just go for it.

Bloke down the road has a GSXR600 he wants £600 for. Streetfightered, looks good.

This is not going to end well. 🙂

Honda 400 four , that brings back some great memories from around 79/80.
ThunderCat or Fazer would be on my list .

Something cheaper and easier to maintain?
Enfield or a 644 CCM?

Will that GPX400 not be very difficult to get spares for?
I’ve seen the occasional ZXR400 in your price range. The ZXR400 seems to be the cheapest these days of the 90s hot 400s these days (think cos they’ve been/are raced)

I did the ULEZ test for my Honda c90, didn’t have the data sheet. £150 and it sailed through, it’s paid for that in commuting already. The place I did mine reckon they can get most things to be compliant but some need the carbs adjusted.

Bloke down the road has a GSXR600 he wants £600 for. Streetfightered, looks good.

Bloke down the road has a GSXR600 he wants £600 for. Been crashed and all the plastic trashed.

FTFY 😉