What would you buy? (Criteria inside)

[garth]

My criteria;

£3k budget
All day comfy, good for distance
Good for a pillion
Capable of taking luggage, camping gear etc
Decent suspension
Grunty without being spastic fast – not an IL4 600.
Decent tank range / mpg
Light enough
Trackday-able
Not vibey
Fun at road speeds

And if possible, for my inner tart, good looking enough.

I want a bike that I can commute, tour, scratch and do the odd trackday on. The TD is primarily not of importance, I could buy something else for this purpose. Would be nice though.
Luggage and being good 2-up would be nice as I’m planning on doing a few more touring/camping trips.

Top of my list at the moment is a gen2 Versys, and no, chris-red I don’t want a TDM. I currently have a Hornet. Have also looked at ST2/4's but they're a bit, er,

What would you buy?
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[kotachi]

Tcat. Although the suspension may be the only part of that list on which it'll let you down.
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[Rob W]

Late 90's Blade.
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[killa]

You’re asking a lot but I reckon the Kawasaki ZX7R would do you.
The only issue is, big trips require some consideration for pillion. I did a tour in Europe on mine and it ended up being a great tool for the job.
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[garth]

[Kris]

Bandit 1200 / 1250

£3k budget - yep
All day comfy, good for distance - yep
Good for a pillion - yep
Capable of taking luggage, camping gear etc - yep
Decent suspension - er.... 1250's do
Grunty without being spastic fast – not an IL4 600. - yep
Decent tank range / mpg - yep (I get 45mpg commuting)
Light enough - hmmm
Trackday-able - absolutely
Not vibey - well...
Fun at road speeds - yep
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[Rob W]

[DrDonnyBrago]

Same sort of bike I was looking for, I had it narrowed down to:

CBF1000, Fazer 1000, Bandit 1200, VFR800, SV1000 with suspension mods.

[D O G]

F800S

[Kradmelder]

[Matt-]

[Teflon-Mike]

I'd be rather tempted to split the budget between a ZZR100 for grunting out road-miles, and then a 1991 round-lamp seven speed mito for sunny sundays and track-fun.

But... I'd probably be wincing at the high running costs of the big kwak in every day commuter use.... and the high maintenence of keeping a mito 'on best form'.

Thunder-Ace would probably get a good looking at, but in every day use the big litre bikes can batter the wallet.

Old 750's make a good compromise... and my CB750 is a pretty useful all-round every day work-horse. Could get a nice one for less than half budget, likewise a 750 zephyr.

Would leave a healthy chunk of budget for the 2nd 'fun-bike' and maybe an older ZX6R or something.

Trying to pack everything into one bike? hate to say it, but.....

VFR....... sets the bench-mark for all you ask, doesn't it?
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[map]

VFR

Preference being for 800 non VTEC model with hard luggage fitted.

Can tour and then take luggage off for fun/track day.


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[daemonoid]

Ducati 750ss/900ss. Hits nearly all your criteria, about half of your budget so plenty left over for a decent service and luggage racks...

https://www.timskipper.net/images/stories/bikes/Ducati750SS-side.jpg
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[Clanger]

[Zen Dog]

This is what VFR750/800Fi's are for.

Zen Dog
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[BigDan1190]

Lol, OP was asking for a bike with decent suspension, and was offered a BANDIT lol...


I was looking for a new bike with these exact criteria, but a bit of a higher budget. I went for a 2007 Triumph Sprint ST which is bang on for the money.

You could get a 2005 one for 3k-2.5k.

[pinkyfloyd]

I'd vote for the VFR. Either the last of the 750's or the first of the 800's. The epitome of sports touring bikes and the 750 is considered by many reviewers to be the best bike ever built.
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[Moxey]

^*Starts jotting down notes*

Definitely saves me making a VFR 750 vs Bandit 1200 thread of my own, would have recommended both as worth a try.

Been looking for quite a bit of time at next bike which hopefully I can live with for a few years and quite a bit of my criteria matches yours Garth, based on my research those two have stood out the most though I'm leaning towards the Honda more so.

Both are said to have poor suspension but can be rectified by upgrading the components if willing to factor such in, VFR probably more suited for track use in stock format but from the Bandit forum seen a few B12's made competitive on trackdays for a bit of £.

Overall not many faults really come up as commonplace on either bikes (aside from suspension, electrical on the VFR and build quality on Bandit) so would suggest looking at those 2
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[Blackwolf]

Aprilia Falco?
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