What's my next bike?

[ottoatom]

Hi everyone,

I have been riding a bike for a few years and have done about 20k miles up until now which means I am neither a newbie nor an experienced driver yet.

As of today I had a street triple, a Honda vtr1000 and currently a monster 696 and have loved each one of them.... ...too much. What I mean is that I never pushed myself to further my skills and learn new ones. As an example, I don't do eights or u-turns for fear of dropping the bike, I don't lean on twisties as much as I would like for fear of low siding etc. I know, I should have started with a small cc bike first but I had my eyes on the triumph for ages and couldn't wait.

So, I'm looking for my next bike and could use some help. I'm looking for something that follows the following criteria:
- affordable. I don't want to stress too much about dropping the bike.
- light. I want to be at ease to learn new things.
- FUN!! I know bikes a bit by now, I don't want a gutless boring bike.

I had some thoughts already. KTM 690SM is a great bike but not really affordable and high seat height. The Honda WR250x is fun but Is it gutsy enough?.. cb500 was a good school but a bit old school now.

I would love to have some other ideas. Maybe someone has been where I am now?

Thanks for any help!
Otto

[M.C]

The Striple and Monster are fairly light as big bikes go. I can only think of KTM's which are lighter, without taking a fairly big hit in power (with something like a DRZ400SM). The newer Duke 690's (2012 onwards) aren't as big as the older models, but they're too expensive not to worry about throwing it down the road.

[thx1138]

Think you mean Yamaha WR.

Unless you off road, don't bother.

[Kentol750]

Striple.....the current r1/fireblade/z1000/s1000r beater, that didn't float your boat? So you went v twin ....OK.
Cb500? Why mention it...refer you back to striple..
690sm or wr250...hardly similar...
____________________
Some bikes.

[andyscooter]

you have passed your test

why do you need to do figure of 8s or u turns without putting your feet down?


think the last time I did a figure of eight was on my cbt



if you have ridden 20,000 miles without being dead you must be doing something right
____________________
gilera runner vxr200 (chavped)
if its spelt wrong its my fat fingers and daft auto correct on my tablet

[Conzar]

ZX6R B1H very nice flickable quick bike
____________________
Current ride: ZX6R 636 ------- Previous:KTM EXC 450 Supermoto --- ZX6R B1H --Hornet 600--CBR 600--SV650
11:05:35 Rob Fzs: i just wanna own an rd350 valve before they send us to war with durkadurkastan

[Snowdonia Rider]

You can have my SV for £1400, light, good poke and affordable!
____________________
I want your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle.
Suzuki GP125 Suzuki GSX600F Suzuki SV650S KTM EXC250F SkyTeam Bongo 125
My YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/SnowdoniaRider

[arry]

Maybe a cheap Shiver 750 and a track day or two.

[Ste]

What are you going to use it for? Commuting 100 miles each day come rain or shine, purely a leisure toy for evenings and weekends when it takes your fancy, is it your only transport, etc etc etc

We need some idea of what you'll be wanting it to for us to be able to give meaningful suggestions. A vague indication of your budget would also be useful.

Just as an example, if you had a CB500 then the chances are you'd be much less worried and cautious about the possibility of throwing it down the road.

[ottoatom]

Hey Guys, plenty of opinions here, thanks!

I commute to work, around 30 mi per day. Sometimes I go for a longer ride, 80-100 mi but not more than one every two months or so.. So its leisure commuting lets say.

All the bikes I had so far were amazing. Why change? because I want to try as many bikes as I financially can.. Always second hand bikes and I sell them for almost as much as I paid them. That's one more reason why I fear dropping them, the bike loosing value or having to pay an arm and a leg for a bit of scraped fairing is not cool..

Would i be less careful with a more affordable bike? not to the point of endangering my life. I would for example try to learn how to make U-turns that dont make me look like an idiot or use counter steering for tight turns. Having better riding skills is my goal for now. A track day is definitely something I'd like to do!.. Need to get leathers for that, right?

My budget is 2000-4000£.

The aprilia Shiver would be another monster like bike. The SV for 1400£ is actually not a bad option. In what condition is it? do you have some pictures you can post? The ZX6R is a cool bike but again not affordable to fix.

I did pass my test and am still alive. I just want to feel more confident when I go on a ride. Like, I hate moving the bike around. I have no grasp on its weight/balance at all. I see ppl moving their bikes totally unworried and I want to be able to do that.

The striple is not a superbike. Go ride 120mph without fairing and let me know how you like it. I am not giving similar bike examples. The yamaha WR250 is a great little bike. Have you seen Chase on two wheels riding it? it looks like a real fun bike. But then, an everyday bike? meh.. definitely not a motorway bike.

Is there something in between a KTM 690SM and a yamaha WR250 other than the DRZ400? A supermoto might be what I want.. but then again, I am only 5'8

[tom_e]

I think you need to get over your fear of dropping your bike, unless you're riding like a complete twat for the conditions it's not actually that easy to do.
Bikes a designed to be leaned, flicked and generally given a bit of spirited abuse.

U turns well I've never done one in the wild, actually that's a lie I do a wide one into my parking space at work every morning but if I think I've overcooked it then I stick a foot out because well I can and no ones going to take my licence off me.

Get a cheap beater, a naked SV650 would be perfect older ones can be picked up in good nick for a grand and just take it out and abuse the shit out of it. If you drop it it's not the end of the world slap some duct tape on and go again.

[Conzar]

[garth]

Buy a cheap offroad bike. Embrace falling off.

It's not even really a crash if you're still touching the bike.
____________________
You ain't a has been if you never was

[thx1138]

[garth]

Won't get one in budget.

You mean 404?
____________________
You ain't a has been if you never was

[Dr. DaveJPS]

[chrisdubya]

Go and buy an old Hornet for £1200, make sure the tyres arent 10 years old and dead, then go and have fun learning to ride.

Nice riding position, well weighted, if you topple off you can fix it for a fiver. Suspension may be a bit soft but unless you do trackdays (which these bikes are very capable of) then its perfectly fine. Put some wider Renthal bars on for extra leverage. Drop a tooth on the front sprocket and +3 on the rear if you find it sluggish.

Lower your budget, get something you're less precious of and go and have fun hooning around. Then when you've learned how to ride without over-thinking, go back to a fancy bike. Mind if a street triple hasnt cut the mustard you might be struggling to find something that does...

[AshWebster]

just me whos thinking you should maybe go do a trackday? diff bikes, nice wide track, runoff areas, the list goes on

[stevo as b4]

I don't really get you serial bike changers at either the bottom or top end of the market, and why you want to try them all and keep changing bikes as much as you can in the name of keeping some excitement in your life.

Once you accept what kinds of bikes you like, and what brands you feel most into, and then accept that there's so many possible great bikes you'll never ride or own, then it really doesn't matter IMO if you don't ride many bikes or try new things. You'll never ride them all or get to try every new thing going.

Build your own bike I say as a long term project and money pit, that when it's done you will be stuck with forever because it's never going to be worth a fraction of what you spent on it instead. I'd have much more respect for anyone who does this and also becomes a one model nerd/expert or spends 10years developing out all the weaknesss of their chosen bike or making better or massively more capable or faster than it should be.

Also when you die and people want to put something on your stone that symbolises you it needs to be a one name dedication, not just because of a lack of space to write, but if you had, Suzuki, Yamaha, Aprilia, Ducati, KTM, Triumph, Husqvarna, Lambretta written on there people would think your a cheap filthy 2dollar whore who's been with everything going.

[chickenstrip]

[Bozzy]

Get yourself an old Bandit 1200 and get used to maneuvers with that. If you drop it it won't be such a big deal, and when you're confident with it you'll feel like Dougie Lampkin when you get back on your Monster.
____________________
2004 SV650S >>> 2009 Street Triple R

[M.C]

[thx1138]

I need to stop "crashing" and start "dismounting".

try and make it look like I meant to just kinda jump off

like this;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLX-GkNdyeE

[M.C]

Its not great for your shoulders hanging onto a bike as it goes down (or your fingers if it's a slidey one), kinda hard not to though.

[Shaft]