Best New or Newish Bike for up £3500 that isn't below 300cc?

[Scaramoosh]

Does it exist?

I've tended to buy Used Bikes but they constantly have issues that the original owner has hidden. I've ended up in a cycle of buying one until the MOT date and then selling it, and I'm just fed up of losing money each year. I'm only using it to get to work, so I don't want anything flash, besides I only have £3500 spare cash and nothing more.... and I don't like Finance.

I've been trying to find a Bike that is New or Ex Demo or something with warranty from a garage, but I cannot find much for up to £3500. Im not interested in 125s or anything on the really small side as they aren't safe when you cannot keep up with the traffic.

I'm not really fussed about the type, I mean I have ridden Sports bikes all my life.. but I'm up for a change.

[linuxyeti]

You've picked the wrong time to hope to pick a bargain 2nd hand bike oe even new bike, with imports delayed, due to covid-19, with staff only just returning from furlough, with demand increasing, as, people are all the more keen to avoid public transport.

Anyhow, no reason why you can't go below 300cc, as, even most 125's are safe on dual carriageways and other nsl roads, but, that's by the by.

For new, under 3500, you are pretty limited. There's the Imperiale 400, just over 3500 new, you may get a deal on a Mash 400 if you're lucky. I had 1 for 4 years, cracking little bike. After that, you're looking at some of the 250's around. There's also the possibility of finiding a Royal Enfield Bullet, go for a E4 version if you can, or, even a 2nd hand Himalayan, that's a fun bike to ride.

Other than that, you're just going to have see what's about on ebay, facebook marketplace etc, and, be ready to make an offer quickly, should a good bike for the price be listed.
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[ThunderGuts]

I think you're going to struggle; that price point you're looking at the Chinese/import market and they tend to be all 125s and below.

If you can expand to allow a bike that's 1 year old that'll open up plenty of options and most bikes will still have a year of warranty on, plus buying from a main dealer it should (in theory) be easier to take them to task should a bike have hidden issues, although I think that it's pretty unlikely to be the case with a nearly new bike.

This would keep up with traffic:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202001035763294?year-to=2020&radius=1500&price-to=3500&seller-type=trade&postcode=m46bb&sort=price-asc&advertising-location=at_bikes&year-from=2019&cc-from=200&page=1
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[MarJay]

Closest would be a Mash Roadstar or an Enfield Himalayan. Both around 400cc, and both around £4000. Neither is fast. A friend of mine had a Himalayan and he loved it, but it was a bit cheap looking and it was most definitely not fast.

I have also found (in the back pages of this months Bike) a thing called an SWM SV440R Silver Vase. Again 400cc single, 30ish bhp. Weird Cafe Scrambler Bobber Brat styling. £3620 new. Whether it'll be more reliable than your second hand bikes is a different matter. And whether you want to tell people you ride a Silver Vase is also a different matter!!

https://www.swmmotorcycles.co.uk/storage/app/uploads/public/5c6/aa8/a73/thumb_747_1170_654_0_0_auto.jpg


SWM 440R offer

You're REALLY restricting yourself with £3500 new nowadays, however £3500 will get you a REALLY really good second hand bike of some type.

You could get a 2000 mile MT03 for that easy:

MT03

You could also get a 5000 mile ER6N (my GF has one, and it's a great bike - hers cost £2500 a few years ago with 2000 miles, so you may be buying at the wrong time of year).


ER6N
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[linuxyeti]

[linuxyeti]

Also have a look at the Zontes (310) range, just slightly abouve your budget, they get good reviews as well.

https://www.zontes.co.uk/new/models/5619/Zontes/models.aspx

https://images.medialinksonline.com/imagestream/268450/2485644x1200x800_FFFFFF_E.jpg
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[Amber Phoenix]

Sure I saw news that the Husky Vitipilin 401 was being reduced to around £3.5k at some dealers. May have been 2019 models, can't recall. Essentually a KTM Duke 390 in funky designer cafe racer guise. Could be worth chasing down.

https://images.clickdealer.co.uk/vehicles/1428/1428403/large1/34003889.jpg
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[MarJay]

Ah yeah my local bike shop has a Zontes thing that looks like a little mini GS! I had a close look and it looks quite nice. No idea about reliability though. Also list price of £3999, £500 quid off is quite an ask at that price point.

MCN Review T-310R

To be honest, some people just seem to have bad luck with reliability of bikes. I think I've had a bike strand me properly maybe six times in the 22 years I've been riding?

1.) NS125R - hole in the fuel tank so all the fuel ran over my leg. Obviously dangerous to ride.

2.) SV650 - contaminated fuel. Refilled with clean fuel and it was OK.

3.) RD350 YPVS blew all it's water onto the road after I fitted a copper head gasket. I hadn't annealed it properly.

4.) Triumph Speed Four - weird wiring loom issue that needed the whole rear loom replacing.

5.) Street Triple R - stator died but made it home. A few years later the battery cables worked their way loose and I fixed it at the side of the road. Then yet a few more years later one of the main power wires burned out a pin in a 18 way connector under the tank. Re wired it, bypassed it with heaver duty wire and an inline fuse and all is now well.

6.) KR1S cut out a few times on a ride. Managed to re-start it and then found it was running despite wrecking it's entire top end.

All the other bikes I've owned (including 3, yes 3 Buells) have been fine. The Triumphs have actually been the worst as a brand, and I can't honestly remember a four stroke Japanese bike ever causing me hassle that was not my own doing.

I think the moral of my story is buy Japanese, buy a four stroke and avoid Triumphs.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[MarJay]

Also a factor worth considering...

Depreciation!

All the Chinese bikes will depreciate like a stone.

something that just occurred too... I'm going to be selling my very reliable VFR800 in the next few weeks. It has no bodges that I know of. It has a Nitron rear shock, heated grips, Oberon clutch slave cylinder, cleaned and rebuilt brakes and it's done around 35,000 miles, but still runs like it was built yesterday. It has nearly new Maxxis supermax touring tyres, a Givi wingrack with 2x Givi monokey panniers and a slightly battered Givi Maxia top box, and it has a Bagster tank cover, under which is a totally mint tank. I'm sad to see it go but I needed a more modern bike for the ULEZ.

I'd want £2k for it. I've just booked it in for it's MOT next week but am confident that it'll sail through.

https://cdn.bcf.44bytes.net/files/vfr_small_174.jpg
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[linuxyeti]

[MarJay]

[linuxyeti]

[Scaramoosh]

The VITPILEN401 doesn’t look half bad, but searching KTM 390s.... seems like you can get them almost new for cheaper.

[linuxyeti]

[Scaramoosh]

Is 3495 a good price for it? Or will it drop to 3000 soon?

[wr6133]

If you are buying used bikes for over 2k and getting issues all the time you are buying the wrong bikes. I never spent over 2k when using every day, year round.

[Tdibs]

For that price i'd imagine you are only going to be getting the sub 500cc bikes new/warranty ala

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2019-Honda-CB300R-Naked-Roadster-Petrol-silver-Manual/174207955716?hash=item288f9a7304:g:hXwAAOSw5PleVPjh

Should be able to keep up on NSL roads with 30hp and good mpg.


If you are willing to trade dullness for more reliability, lack of maintenance I'd be looking at

Nc700x/deauville/divvy 900/FJR

if you REALLY hate yourself, the larger scoots too.

Any of the midsize road bikes, I would feel comfortable turning into a work rat, with enough acf and budgeting for consumables.

cb500/cb650/er6/mt07/cbf600/gsx fa 1250/suzuki gsx650f/vfr


How bad have the MOT's been? Chopping and changing will keep bleeding you money I reckon. Learning to work on them yourself can also save a massive amount in servicing/repair costs.
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Previous : 09 Vanvan 125| 02' Sv650s || Current: 1999 Xj600n | 1992 DR650 RSE | 2005 Fazer 1000

[xX-Alex-Xx]

[Scaramoosh]

I don’t trust anything people say is bulletproof lol... it never is. I mean half the bikes I’ve owned I bought cause they were called bulletproof.... all died on me. I mean the so called bullet proof engine of the GPZ500, I’ve had five of them, three all had warped heads and pissed out oil.

My so called bulletproof GSXR750 and the valve on the exhaust broke.... they wanted £1600 for new pipes.... no thanks, what a stupid design.

[chickenstrip]

[wr6133]

[slowside]

I'd be tempted by MarJay's VFR if I didn't alread have the Sprint, but I get you just want the peace of mind of a new bike + waranty.

Maybe look at nearly new (~1000mile) offerings from dealers. Might get a Versys X 300 for the top end of your budget which seems like a pretty solid option.
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Triumph Street Triple R 675

[MarJay]

[P.]

[spottedtango]

Who says new bikes don’t have issues?

Is this some sort of unreasonable search for a bike in a price range that doesn’t exist?