Mid-Life-Crisis (Motorbike purchase)

At the moment I am very tempted to treat myself and get the latest 2020 ST RS 🙂

Do it! I’m on a 2018 and it’s a hell of a machine, the 2020 should only be better!

At the moment I am very tempted to treat myself and get the latest 2020 ST RS 🙂

Honestly, I’d pick up a new 2019 model and pocket the difference. By all accounts last years model is every bit as good a bike and you should be able to pick up a bargain. Probably the best all round bike on the road.

I actually spotted a 1000 mile old 2017/18 one for £6500 the other day. That’s a hell of a deal.

Honestly, I’d pick up a new 2019 model and pocket the difference. By all accounts last years model is every bit as good a bike and you should be able to pick up a bargain. Probably the best all round bike on the road.

Yeah, I’ve heard that advice from other folks as well. The latest model looks a bit better and has a quick shifter, but if the old model can be grabbed for a bargain it is also very tempting…

Honestly, I’d pick up a new 2019 model and pocket the difference.

Have spent most of the last hour or so trying to reply to this, but a browser issue (laptop keeps automatically going back to previous page after certain amount of time!) has been annoying the hell out of me! Anyway… Have fixed it now with another browser I hope!

So… Bought my 2018 SuperDuke GT for £5200 less than RRP, brand new on a 69 plate! The 2019/20 model is another £500 on top of that too! So for a £5700 saving, I can deal with the lack of TFT screen and a slightly less nice cockpit. That saving buys a lot of fuel and tyres! Anyway…

I actually test rode quite a few bikes, forerunner amongst which was the Ducati Multistrada 1260S. Superb bike, better all round than the SuperDuke GT for certain if not quite as brutally quick. But they’re staggeringly expensive! A 2yr old high mileage one is still £14k or so, a new one is £19k now before any extras! It’s a bloody good bike, but that’s a huge amount of cash! Same with the BMW R1250RS, which is £12k, except it’s not… It’s £12k before you add the electronic suspension package which you need, cruise control, and various other things that are standard on the KTM and the Ducati. Then you get to luggage etc. and it’s well over £17.5k, and good as it is, it’s nothing like as involving or as much fun as the Ducati or even the KTM!

What I think I’ll do is keep the SuperDuke GT for 12-18 months, during which time it will be relatively depreciation proof (there’s literally 2 2018 bikes left unsold in the UK now, they’ll go in the next 2-3 weeks, and when there’s only the 2019-20 bikes left new for £17k, 2nd hand prices will firm up nicely), I’ll do probably 6-8k miles on it in that time, then start looking for a nice 12-18 month old Multistrada 1260S GT in similar condition (but still with 2-3 years warranty remaining, as they now have 4yrs from Factory on all 2020 Multi’s) and PX my SuperDuke GT in against it for around a £5k upgrade cost (and save the difference in the meantime).

Mboy – Fowlers? Very nice..

It was the only photo I could find of the bike in the same colour scheme that wasn’t a stock website photo. I’m actually getting mine from Redline in Loughborough, they did the best price and I have heard very good things about them as a dealership (not so much my local which is AMS in Tewkesbury, who have a terrible reputation!), and I was passing that way with work one day anyway, so I popped in and did the deal… I pick it up tomorrow morning!

Something to think about when considering the SV and the ST as a first bike.

The ST has 140 bhp. That can get you into trouble real quick if you’re not used to it.

The SV is approx half that. It’s still fast (when having just passed your test you still don’t really know how to actually ride a bike) but it’s a lot less likely to kill you.

I had a toss up between the Tiger 800 and the DL 650. My artificial max budget meant I went for the DL (v-strom, same engine as the SV) and really glad I did. It took me approx 5000 miles to learn how to ride properly. And I felt that I was really pushing the bike (rather than the other way round). It forced me to learn how to overtake, etc. As it all had to be planned. A vee twin is a really nice configuration, engine braking is also useful. Sounds decent too. Only then did I succumb to the lure of more cubes…

A lot of people buy stupid fast bikes after passing their test and scare themselves shitless over cooking a corner and it goes into the shed/garage to moulder.

Also, it’s much more fun riding a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow.

By all means get a ST, but wait until you actually know how to ride it…

Just my tuppence worth.

The ST has 140 bhp. That can get you into trouble real quick if you’re not used to it

Nah it hasn’t! the RS only has 123bhp. the older ST’s are 97.6bhp as stock.

Nah it hasn’t!

Huh, well, that’s what googling does for you (wiki says 133-140, triumph website 148). Duh street, not speed. FFS, what a numpty!

Based on your figures (i .e. accurate) it’s still ~70 vs ~100 which is a significant jump. A third more power… which was the point I was trying to make…🤪

I’m curious about where you can ride all the behemoth bikes with phenomenal power.

Most roads have a natural limit well below the capabilities of them, and motorways and dual carriageways look like honey traps for fast bikes, and it’s pretty boring going fast on a road like that until you’re well over 120mph.

I’m trying to remember the last time I was passed by a motorbike going warp speed, most are going probably only 10-15mph faster than me in my car.

I always regarded tight winding roads with consequences (eg ditches, fences, drops, potholes etc) as more fun.

That said, I could easily be sucked in by one of those Rocket 3 ads. 🙂

I’m curious about where you can ride all the behemoth bikes with phenomenal power.

The only time mine gets properly pinned is over the mountain in the Isle of Man,it’s unrestricted.
The rest of the year the bike is more than fast enough for the roads & their speed limits where I ride.One of my workmate’s has a BMW S1000R & I asked him how does he manage to keep hold of his licence,he said he goes out on it in the middle of the night,he’s still in trouble if he goes past a speed camera…
The next bike I’m looking at buying is a Enfield 650 Interceptor & modifying it into a scrambler.

Most roads have a natural limit well below the capabilities of them, and motorways and dual carriageways look like honey traps for fast bikes, and it’s pretty boring going fast on a road like that until you’re well over 120mph.

I’m trying to remember the last time I was passed by a motorbike going warp speed, most are going probably only 10-15mph faster than me in my car.

That’s why bikes like the Street Triple are popular at the moment. Not silly powerful but sublime handling so it really shines on twisty but not silly fast roads, which is most. It’s probably why sportsbike sales have fallen from 38,000 units in the UK in 2000 to less than 8,000 last year.

Yep, the bikes may have silly amounts of power, but the way they’re designed to exploit it isn’t at the top end. Where they excel is whizzing along a quiet b-road in third, hovering around peak torque making the corners come alive. Even a 1290sas, with a ludicrous 160bhp, is pretty useless above 110mph. But between 40 and 80 it’s the most sublime way to waft along annoying the power ranger brigade.

OoooOOOooohh. I’m interested, tell me more!

That’s nice TTP – nearly got an xsr700 before I found my Guzzi – yours a 900?

Yep. XSR900. Just fitted with the Akra pipe so sounds amazing.

Best bike I have ever ridden.

The plan going forward is a Velocity Moto 900LC conversion to look like this:

Just a cool vid.

I picked this up at the weekend 🙂

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMVqHKK1tOvwd7dpVTsyUeWTqHEEKfCejI_-DnDJbS6VcgOk3mnMvOqzQJP0IiFgw?key=eE9LY012Q3Y3X3lUVTZyS3F5Uks1Nmx0eFV2QnZR

Grr why does the embedding not work !!!

Street Triple is a fantastic first big bike.

I have a 765RS in track trim, with a SC Project full titanium system it makes 132BHP at the rear wheel on the Powertech Dyno in Blackpool.

Ummed and ahhed about a SMR for a while but saw sense and I’m collecting this beauty on Sunday:

Took a while to find a decent one but I’m well happy. Low mileage, full Akrapovic system, all crash bungs and bobbins, remapped to get rid of the alleged rubbish KTM FI throttle response, lots of orange KTM bling. Just need the weather to perk up now.

Nice bike Flying Ox.  They sound lovely with Akra’s (mine pops and bangs gloriously on overrun, it’s a carburettored 950 SMR).

Nice nice nice love that!

Yeah, can’t wait to get out on it. Picking up from near Derby, was going to ride back to St Andrews via the Peak District, Pennines, A66, A7/703. Instead the weather is utter pish so it’s going in the back of the van and I’ll probably not get to use it until I get back from work in April 😔

I haven’t read all 12 pages of this thread but passed my cbt last year and bought a 125 scooter and loved it but now I am looking to swap it for a geared 125 bike as my commute jut got longer and I want to re-practise my gears. I don’t regret the scooter and twist and go has been a no brainer but its time to progress ahead of the A test in the summer.
I admit to not ‘passing’ the first CBT I did and am happy they didn’t, as a cyclist I didn’t get the fact a brake lever was a clutch, got it sorted second time but hence now wanting to get some miles in on a geared bike. I’ve now done the theory test so am slowly slowly, at my pace, progressing and staying safe. and loving it. 🙂 I hope the OP got sorted, haha.