Budget bikes with the best sounding engine / exhaust

[UncleFester]

Given that most of us have one bike to cover most duties .... if you had a max of £3k to spend on something fruity and frivolous for fine evenings / weekend jollies ( coke and hookers aside ) what would get your vote as that 2nd bike in the garage?

Genuinely interested in this as i want to get rid of a car ( no need for 2 ) and really want ( need ) a 2nd bike.

The VFR 800Fi i had for a short while with the Staintune exhaust was one of the best sounding things i've owned - just a bit heavy and not naked and really just a bit crusty / crumbly and not really different enough to the Z1000SX to warrant keeping it.

Seat height 810mm or under is the only stipulation.
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2017 Z1000SX

[bacon]

1000cc V twin such as the sv1000s (790mm from 2004 onwards), sounds amazing with some decent pipes.

Alternatively, SL1000 Falco, TL1000R, etc, you get the idea

[UncleFester]

Honda VTR Firestorm - does that count?
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2017 Z1000SX

[bacon]

With some decent cans I would imagine it to sound rather good

[Riejufixing]

What sounds good? The restrained reverberations of a well-maintained machine, the engine of which you can hear working, or something that shakes the air, turns heads, and sets off burglar alarms as you pass?

[G]

R6 if you want a bike that sounds 'sports' rather than 'tractor' .

Engine that wills you to ring every last drop out of it, rather than fools you into thinking you might as well change up early.

Alternatively - a KTM250SX with supermoto wheels?

[ThatDippyTwat]

[UncleFester]

For me ( at least ) it's something which would prove obnoxiously unbearable if you were riding all day.

Something that begs you to use all the power on offer but without so much power that it becomes a game of russian roulette with your license.

Don't think i'm really race bike build /shape

I quite like the sound of this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1qS5SETWXc just without any hipster type stuff.
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2017 Z1000SX

[Ste]

Be a man.

Get a two stroke.

[grr666]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-GQBrXpL14

That's not a bad quality recording. Pretty accurate. You can prob grab a Mt09 for 3k now.
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Currently enjoying products from Ford, Mazda and Yamaha
Ste wrote: Avatars are fine, it's signatures that need turning off.

[Shaft]

[stevo as b4]

A two stroke triple sounds much more incredible with a 3-1 pipe. If it's sound and not performance you want.

I like the shout of a VTR/TL or Falco too. All cheap now for a nice example and as said the bassey rumble setting of car alarms is a very 1990's sound! Then again a cheap scabby Ducati 748 will sound even more authentic to the era.

For me a second cheap bike not a huge engine and a great sound is not an easy pick, as none of my bikes are practical nor need to be.

An air cooled 400cc IL4 grey bike would scream nice if you want that going fast howl at less highly illegal speeds.
A Honda VT250Z would sound nice as does a GPX 250 on a nice 2-1. But then a 125MX bike for the road sounds crisp and GP paddock like from 20years ago.

Im not allowed to say Honda NS400R or Yamaha RD500 as they don't meet the cheap criteria. Fucking sound brilliant though, but in a totally different way so does a Kawasaki Z1300 on a 6-1 with open mega.

A cheap Triumph 885cc or 955i with a nice exhaust is a good compromise with great sound at a cheap price maybe?

Then again a big competition SM bike 500-650cc that'd be very antisocial and great too!

[chickenstrip]

[Teflon-Mike]

I'd discount anything in-line-four and probably water-cooled.
They don't sound much different to a Chav-Saxo to me, these days.
I'd discount Harley-esque V-Twins, they seem to sound like a bag of spanners in a washing-machine.. and are almost as annoying as a Peugot moped with an expansion chamber, subjecting you to it for the nest part of a mile, they take an eternity to cover!
Vee-Fours.... The VFR400 sounded like an electric sewing machine on factory cans; when the cam-gears make more noise than the exhaust there is something very very wrong with C&U regs. The 750's were much the same, and the 800's even worse. My old VF1000 however sounded pretty awesome on SuperTrapp drag-pipes.... at least until the circumfrential stove-pipe directed the hot gasses onto the paniers and melted them!

I HAVE to confess, that I have been going a bit gooey myself of late, though, when I have heard Skootah boy round the corner take out his latest resto creation... it's a Lamberetta 200 I think; the deep, un-jacketed, low-rev rumble of a larger air-cooled 2T single, definitely has a certain charm....

Top choice would be a Laverda 3C 180 crank, on open conti's.. actually road legal at the time.... modern Stripple, is just toooooo sanitised by comparison.... slightly more affordable though

But for £3K? As second funday bike, I think I'd have to go for another air-cooled two-stroke single; probably something piston-ported for the low-down grumble; Street-Legal KX440, perhaps? Maybe an MZ ISDT 'replica'.... possibly still a stretch on that budget, but an ISDT 'Replica-Replica' might be do-able.

Elsewise..... I'd probably decide to bite the bullet and do a Mito; early round-lamp seven speed example; full resto, by me, from the ground up, to make 'good' to start with; then it's got the handling to demand making the most of it's meager power, it's real-world performance you can get the thing singing on the-pipe before loosing your licence, and I could pretend to be 19 again, dreaming of Rainey & Schwantz and co... NOT so sure that my back would appreciate it these days though.. or if I could bend my legs that far up under my arm-pits any more.... but can but dream!
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My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[winz]

I'd say an RSVR if possible. Or another sporty twin. A triumph triple might also fit into this too.
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Current Bikes: BMW K1200S
Previous: Honda CBR929RR, Honda CBR1100XX, Honda CB600F

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

Very slightly over 3k if you really look, but ktm 990 on akros. Sounds like a hemi. So much boom - but "refined". Also, but less refined, Buell xb12s on remus. Trouble with that is it doesn't rev as such, whereas the 990 actually does - so is a lot more expressive.
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"Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."

Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125

[DrDonnyBrago]

Another vote for the SV1000, or any open pipe, big V twin that isn't a cruiser.

Mine sounds like Thor gargling his hammer. Pops and backfires on the overrun. It is embarrassing to ride it into work with the baffles out but it sounds brilliant at the red line.

[DrSnoosnoo]

I quite like the sound of my 1100 ... it's just deeper and barkier than the 600. probably aided with the 50p hole in one of the link pipes ... I can't imagine what it would be like with some open pipes.
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I'm Sam; Northern, Ginger, Lover
Did have: '95 ZZR600 '83 CG125 '97 ZZR1100 '15 Hypermotard 821 SP Do Have: '10 ZX10R

[Shaft]

[kgm]

An early Tuono is what is go for. Great bike to ride, tons of torque and sounds great with aftermarket cans. The KTM 990 is a good suggestion too but just a touch over budget.

[thx1138]

Vertemati Supermoto it would be the stupidest purchase I'd ever made, but you did say frivolous.

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/bike-reviews/vertemati/supermoto/2002/

Overall Rating
3 out of 5
Vertemati is not alone amongst its fellow Italian factories in bobbing helplessly between solvency and insolvency. And on that basis alone it’s a tough call to recommend them. However, the range of bikes they did make in-between crises are powerful, stiff, hard bastards that need an expert’s hand to get anything like the best from them. The Vertemati Supermoto is no exception


Ride Quality & Brakes
3 out of 5
Dutch suspension experts WP supply the Vertemati Supermoto's suspension, including the upside down forks. You need to be very aggressive or the chassis feels too stiff and the rate of turn terrifyingly quick. The four-piston Beringer brakes work brilliantly, with plenty of power and bite. The Vertemati Supermoto is so vibey bulbs blow and bolts shake loose.

Engine
3 out of 5
The most popular Vertemati Supermoto engines are the 450, 501 and the 570. The SOHC motors use gear-driven cams, rather than a camchain, for greater reliability. There’s no rev limiter and they grumble on a steady throttle with intrusive surging. These are race bikes, raw, rough and meant to be held wide open. Early Vertemati Supermoto engines have a problem with over-pressurised crankcases. The 450 kicks out about 45bhp, the 501 about 47bhp and the 570 about 55bhp. Very late Vertemati Supermotos have fuel-injection.

Build Quality & Reliability
2 out of 5
You shouldn’t even think about buying a Vertemati Supermoto unless you’re a confident mechanic who’s not afraid to make what they can’t buy. It is essentially well-made, but sourcing bits that snap, like the stupid kickstart, requires acts of dogged perseverance to make Sisyphus blanche.

Insurance, running costs & value
1 out of 5
You’ll never be able to your Vertemati Supermoto again unless you find a racer with a penchant for fettling and a loathing of following the herd. But since the herd ‘sensibly’ plump for the extra availability of, say, KTM and Husaberg spares, you’d be mad not to follow suit. But then if you were sane you wouldn’t buy a Vertemati Supermoto in the first place. Find a Vertemati Supermoto for sale.

Insurance group: 10 of 17 – compare motorcycle insurance quotes now.

Equipment
3 out of 5
With your Vertemati Supermoto you get a kicker and an electric start, a cassette gearbox, Renthal bars, a virtually useless headlight and a transparent tank.

[thx1138]

[chickenstrip]

[UncleFester]

Off to go look at / listen to ( full Micron system ) / sit on a VTR Firestorm today
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2017 Z1000SX

[bacon]

It's all subjective at the end of the day.

Find what you like and fill your boots. I love the sound of big twins. Hence my suggestions. Hopefully the firestorm will sound epic with some Microns.