Best winter hack?

[mr.z]

Maybe one or two of us ride what would be widely regarded as a "hack"
but assumeing you had a thundering moster of a summer bike, one that never sees rain and is cleaned evey night with the finest goathair bush money can buy and polished untill it blinds anyone you pass.....

say you have £1000 what would you buy, it had to cope with rain and road filth, it has to be cheep and relyable, dosent need to be fast, dosent need to look even remotely good it just needs to go through winter and not explode or fall appart.

3 choices and why...

Cx500 - What i have now... shaft drive, cheep and solid
Gl500/650 - Same but with a big faring
Kawazaki GT550 - Another courrier fave (not z, dunno why i put that!)
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>RidingSkills<->Tech Tips<->MyBikes<

[iCraig]

How about a Kawasaki GT550 or Honda NTV650, if there good enough for couriers to use all year round then there good enough for winter bikes

Or you could get a GS500 .

[Dr Nick]

Crunchbox 90
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is that it

[M1ke]

What about a fiat uno? At least you stay dry, warm and don't crash when you hit some ice.

[tatters]

honda CB350SG, cheap, reliable, couriers bike, though eats chains l,m told (auto chain tensioner problems)



honda CB250/400N superdream, bullet proof




kawasaki GPZ 1100, powerful, reliable, and pretty cheap nowndays
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Past:NRG50,AF1125(x2),NSR125RR,ZZR250,CX500,VFR400,KR1S,ZZR600(x2),CB400N,YZF1000(x2),KH125,Z200,FX400R,CBR954RR(x2)GPZ500S,GT550,VFR750F(x2),RD350N,XR650R,CBR600F,CB250,KDX250,YZF750R,CRM250,400EXC,KLR650,TTR600RE,DR350S,R100GSPD,RGV250,VMAX1200,DL650,KZ750 Present:G650XC,C12,CRF450X,1190ADV

[stinkwheel]

wetdream
any MZ 2-stroke
Maggot
Brick-engined Bimmer
CB250RS
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Kickstart]

Hi

£1k would buy you plenty of bikes. For that money you could easily pick up an FZ750, and they are very solid and reliable (expect 100000 from the engine), low maintenance (28000 mile service interval on the valves) and will go about 200 miles on a tank of petrol.

A winter hack is a fine idea, but get something that you still enjoy riding.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[aqualung1]

£1000!! hardly a hack almosyt the main bike

any of above and maybe an enfield
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"still no idea where poohsticks bridge is"
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[mr.z]

[Robby]

cb250rsa. no power, and fun to slide around. Particularly good playing for playing on loose gravel.

cpl_redbaron. gpz1100. In winter. Are you insane?

[Lee_367]

[Tarmacsurfer]

I'd go with the GT550. The NTV is good, but tends to be terminal when they do start developing problems. The GS500 isn't a bad bike, but there is just something totally uninspiring about the ride.
The GT I ran was great, reliable, comfy, light enough to pick up easily if it did go over and oddly enough it used to handle pretty well. Suprised a number of 'faster' bikes on a few runs down to the waterman
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I'm immortal. Well, so far.

[Danny]

GT550 or the slightly better GPz550 are good cheap winter hacks.

[iCraig]

[Tarmacsurfer]

The GPz doesn't make as good a low maintenance 'hack' anyway. Admittedly it is better for a primary machine, but for a work horse where reliability and lack of maintenance are the main concerns then the GT is far, far better.
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I'm immortal. Well, so far.

[tatters]

[kev]

Cars are the way forward in the winter.
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20:02:36 Jammy-R6: any holes a goal
20:02:48 kev: even if its a hairy mans arse
20:02:56 Jammy-R6: hell yes