Bike for inter city trips?

[damnas]

Hi - I'm looking for a bike that can take me from outskirts of london to central if need be, and also to Coventry in particular from London.

Powerwise - I know 125 is out the question - would I have to start looking at 500cc for that sorta thing?

What bikes would you reccomend? Cheers.

[Steve - RS125]

I would suggest somthing like a Bandit or a hornet, quite cost effective very powerfull and quite easy on the eye especially the hornet.

If you need somthing where you can carry luggage the Bandit 600s are easy to fit with the boxes (Called paneers i think??)

[G]

A 125 2 stroke would just about handle the longer distances, but not so ideal.

A 250 2 stroke would easily have enough power, but again not ideal.

What sort of riding you expecting to be doing?
Just geting from A to B, some more exciting 'fun', Sunday rideouts, etc .

[colin1]

id suggest getting something with at least a half faring as if you dont have a wind screen the wind blast will be a bit annoying

i use a big 250 scooter with a big fairing on motorways. a 400 scooter wd probably be better if you were doing motorways all the time

fazer/hornet bandit are a bit more expensive and you will have plenty of power

comfort on a big scooter is much better than 500 twins like er5 cb500 gpz500 etc

but comfort on a budget 600 will be better if you have a fairing
____________________
colin1 is officially faster than god

[damnas]

whats the difference between a bike with fairings?

Is it just the screen? I honestly have no idea.

cheers for the feedback, I'm looking at a 500cc commuter, in the shape of an kawasaki er5, hondacb500 and suzuki gs500, as I'm looking to also do some courier work in the future, as well as these long arse trips and of COURSE, fun sunday rides

[G]

[colin1]

[G]

[Scorpius]

No bike is too powerful if you take your time learning to ride it m8. Why dont you check out something like an ER6. Good commuter bike like the 5 but a bit more juice. As mentioned above a Bandit or Hornet would be ideal as well imo. Just make sure that whatever you get it has a broad range of torque. Peaky, top-end bikes can be a real pain in stop-start city rides!
____________________
Cagiva Mito 125 (sold)
Honda CBR400RR NC23 (sold)
Currently riding: Honda CBR600F

[map]

Looking at it from what you require.
1. Something to do distance on.
2. Something to filter and deal with traffic when you get there.

One query, do you need to carry any luggage?

Depends also if you want something to have fun on at weekends or it'll just be used for the commute trip. Also depends how new you want it. If you're going to be using it as only form of transport and/or all year I'd also consider shaft drive model for low maintenance.

Certainly as said something with a half fairing. A full fairing would make the distance work more pleasant, particularly in bad weather.

For the commute an old Honda NTV650 would fit the bill. Many 2nd hand come fitted with fairing and panniers. Popular with couriers so it'll handle traffic ok. Having said that I wouldn't recommend buying one used by a courier. A newer alternative is the Honda Deauville.

Ok, those 2 can be considered not that exciting but they will do the job fine. You just might like something else for weekend 'fun'. Remember, just about any bike can be shoehorned into a role. It's just a matter of how much comfort, practicality, performance, etc. you want to compromise on.

HTH
____________________
...and the whirlwind is in the thorn trees, it's hard for thee to kick against the pricks...
Gibbs, what did Duckie look like when he was younger?

[colin1]