most durable allrounder

[leolion]

Whats the best do it all bike guys?
Able to laugh off winter crud, decent on a motorway, bearable summer b road scratcher, able to do the commute or your weekly shop,easy to handle at 15mph or 90mph,can manage a summer holiday tour, light enough to push round but heavy enough to not get blown around in gales,pleasing to the eye but not top of the thieves list.
Any reasonable budget acceptable.

Not swapping bikes yet but i know my mt07 doesnt cut most of these situations!

[kgm]

Vfr800 or crossrunner. There are more exciting bikes but these do everything well and despite being a little neglected over winter mine has come out showing almost no signs at all, and it was really caked in salt for a good portion of the winter. I had to chisel it off after a couple of longer rural runs. Build quality is superb. Fuel economy isn't so great thoigh.

[Alex A]

2008+ Fireblade. Seriously.

Accurate descriptors: Comfortable, civilised, extremely well built, lightweight, fast, nimble, stable, absolutely reliable. Fun.

Great fuel economy (55mpg+) on a steady run.

There are plenty about - excellent examples start at £5k. Bargain.

I've had VFRs in the past. I honestly don't see the point of those vs. the Fireblade. They're heavier, less powerful, less agile, more complicated, more difficult to home service, no more comfortable, no more reliable (possibly less), and no more practical (all you need is a Ventura rack).
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Current: Ducati Panigale R / Ducati Streetfighter S / Suzuki GSX-R1000 L5

[Kentol750]

+1 for crossrunner. Unless you want to go off road, bmw 800 or triumph 800 win. Forget Africa twin. It's a great bike, but a bag of shit when the going gets awkward..its off road setting doesn't match the bmw or triumph. As for the dct..no!.
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Some bikes.

[Kentol750]

Alex a... A cb1000r ..as much as I love the moody looks, comfort wins..fireblade is too sporty!
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Some bikes.

[ThatDippyTwat]

[MarJay]

I've never owned a bike that was built as well as my VFR is. It's getting on a bit now, but it's rock solid. I'll be sad to see it go.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[kgm]

[stevo as b4]

All rounder? Sounds both boring and just a series of bad compromises to me tbh!

Shaft won't believe I'm saying this, but if you want to commute to work or go shopping or carry your fishing gear etc, just go out and buy one of those 300cc scooters. It'll do all that cleanly easily and with simple maintenance requirements.

For those of you who are going to bitch moan about needing 100bhp+ to commute to work safely and in comfort, prove it! A scooter like a Forza etc will do the job just as well.

If you want a big comfy tourer for long adventures buy one. Same goes for a hooligan thrash tool, dedicated track bike, classic or retro, and off roaders etc.

There ain't a bike that's good at everything, never was! The ones that blurr the lines like a VFR are compromise bikes and will never get you excited or thrill. Worse still is that there's better bikes for most uses once you know what those uses are.

Only great thing about VFR's IMO is build quality and seeing the original and best mk1 beat those ugly nasty slabbie 750's on the track.

[ThatDippyTwat]

[Nobby the Bastard]

Sprint st.
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Sprint ST 1050

[Bhud]

I don't think there's a modern bike that does everything on your list. I could be wrong, but most of them are ugly, so there's that.
In your shoes I would probably opt for a big, old, faired bike (probably Yamaha FJ/FJR), but I couldn't say that would be an entirely rational decision even though it ticks most of the boxes...

Summer B-road scratching comes in many forms. Nothing but a dedicated sports bike will be able to keep up with the sports bike lot, if that's what you want to do. However, on an empty B-road with good conditions and visibility and sweeping bends, most bikes could handle 90-100mph in shortish bursts. OTOH, some roads are like the surface of the moon (ahem, Oxfordshire) and you would be in the best position with a supermoto and will be stuck to 125 speeds (single-track country roads). But you probably want an upright with straightish bars and stiffer shocks if B-roads are your thing. However, on long motorway journeys you want comfortable shocks and a fairing. A lot of compromises to make.

[MarJay]

[chickenstrip]

[chickenstrip]

[chickenstrip]

[ocatoro]

zzr of any vintage and engine size would fit the bill.

as would vfr or blackbird.

mate has been running about on an aprilia futura for a couple of years now very merrily.

I guess if you need a bike for everything there's only a couple of questions... if it'll go off road at any time ever, you'll need an adventure bike of some sort. if it never will, a sports tourer is your ticket.

why are you struggling with the mt07? what is it not cutting?
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CBT - 17/09/12 * Theory - 23/10/12 * Mod1 - 05/03/13 * Mod2 - 25/03/13 * BOSH!
Current - None but shed project H100 (first bike )
Past - ER5, '93 ZZR600, '92 CB400 SF, ZZR600 (again), yellow Monster 620, Blackbird - black Monster 620ie - '96 ZZR600

[kgm]

[leolion]

[kgm]

[sidewinder]

Finding my vstrom 650 is a great all rounder
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"Nitrous is like a cheap hooker, you want to hit it but are scared of the consequences

[MarJay]

By the way:

I don't think that anything with long travel 'off road' style suspension can ever be an all rounder. Sure, you can go on a trackday if you want, but it will be awful.

The best all rounders I've seen recently have been the GSX-S1000F and the Z1000SX. The Zed edges it in the touring stakes for having panniers and a bigger tank range, but the GSX edges it in the sporting stakes for having more power and being something like 30kg lighter...

I rode a Zed the other day, and it was immense. Comfortable with good wind protection, but it went around corners and when you opened the throttle it was warp speed fast. I see one in my not so distant future...

Oh, and the brakes. Wow. I wanted to buy the bike there and then just for the brakes.
____________________
British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[doggone]

It depends on your intended uses, if you do one or two long tours most years e.g. Europe it's going to be different best option to someone wanting fast days out with mates and a couple of weekends away.
Also does it need to look smart or are you happy with a durable shit box if it keeps going with minimal maintenance.

Good suggestions so far including Vstrom and VFR, also the MT07 is a good all rounder.

[chickenstrip]

[stevo as b4]

The thing is though it also depends on how many bikes you want, are prepared to own, and have space for?

I suppose some people don't like or want a bike that's too good at any one thing, or maybe they see jack of all trades bikes as better value/less extreme/more comfortable and dependable.

Personally I'd not want a bigger or heavier than I need bike for commuting, off roading, or track days.

The only place I see a big cc and stable geometry, well faired and weather protected bike with lots of screen, room to move about on, or attach luggage to is touring.

I'd probably love a Pan European or FJR etc if I did 3-4 2000mile trips a year and nearly always had luggage and a passenger. If 70% of my use was touring exploring Europe, I wouldn't be seen dead on a Fireblade.

Likewise if 80% of all my riding was a 20mile commute 5days a week and I liked to be off bikes and in a nice big car all weekend, then I'd be much happier with a twist and go scooter and a top box.

I'd rather have the perfect machine for my primary use, and it be totally unsuitable for the 15-20% of any other use I'd have for it.

In fact I'd rather space and cost allowing have two cheap near perfect for each job vehicles than one expensive but never completely satisfying compromise bike.

So being the guy with a cheap used scooter, secondhand FJR1300 and say a Jaguar XF would be infinitely better for me than having a big expensive all rounder that I have to make wear many different uniforms.

Im not against a new vehicle or spending all of any available budget on one bike, but if I did that it would need to be the perfect vehicle for the biggest primary use.

I've never liked all rounder bikes or cars, and have always seen them as vehicles for people who want something dull, comfortable and never extreme.

It'd be like always buying say a shaft drive bike and paying loads more for it, if you only do 50miles a week, and the bike only weighs 100kg, and you have a centre stand. It'd be pointless, as would owning a GS1200S adventure bike, and off corporate Ewen&Charlie outfits if all I did was ride 5miles to the pub on bike night etc. Likewise riding 200miles down the motorway on a KTM Exc.