Street Bikes
- Thread starter Doran
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"Street bike" is a bit of an American phrase, but basically just a multi-purpose bike designed to be used on the road. In comparison, a sports bike has been designed to go fast around a track, then compromised for the road to make it usable.
SV650 or SV650S? I have the latter and it's basically a street bike trying to look a bit like a sports bike. Both have very budget suspension (which is why I upgraded all of mine on my bike, <£200 spent and it handles superbly now) and are good for day to day use with a usable engine (V-twin) without too much power for newer riders. Lots of grunt at lower speeds but run out of puff higher up. Also have their own amateur race series.
Bandit is just designed to be a good all rounder that costs very little. It's budget, but functional. It will never be the best at anything, but it can have a go at most things. Inline 4 engine needs to be revved hard but makes "ok" power. Not up to the speed of a sports bike, but a bit more than the SV. Lots of people customise them, very rare to find a completely standard one and this is/was part of their charm.
SV650 or SV650S? I have the latter and it's basically a street bike trying to look a bit like a sports bike. Both have very budget suspension (which is why I upgraded all of mine on my bike, <£200 spent and it handles superbly now) and are good for day to day use with a usable engine (V-twin) without too much power for newer riders. Lots of grunt at lower speeds but run out of puff higher up. Also have their own amateur race series.
Bandit is just designed to be a good all rounder that costs very little. It's budget, but functional. It will never be the best at anything, but it can have a go at most things. Inline 4 engine needs to be revved hard but makes "ok" power. Not up to the speed of a sports bike, but a bit more than the SV. Lots of people customise them, very rare to find a completely standard one and this is/was part of their charm.
Get a Triumph Street Triple R
This, awesome engine and now it's got the suspension from the Daytona I'd imagine it's awesome. (Rode the normal Street Triple and Daytona, Street Triple did lack in the suspension department when compared to the Daytona but that was it)
Or just get the Daytona, Sports Bikes > Streetfighter-style Bikes
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I was wondering when Streetfighters would crop up.
On twisties you would have to be a damn good sportsbike rider to loose a ST-R, I have kept up with R1's on some sections of the 272 (for those who know it ), the triple engine's punch out of corners is sooo fun 
and thats only on a standard Street Triple.
Hurts your neck at even 120 though, even with the fly screen on the front it does bugger all lol.
), the triple engine's punch out of corners is sooo fun and thats only on a standard Street Triple.Hurts your neck at even 120 though, even with the fly screen on the front it does bugger all lol.
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I have kept up with R1's on some sections of the 272 (for those who know it
I've done that on my Bandit before now, it's easy during rush hour though
Mine is totally standard still
They're fun bikes and I've never felt the need to get something bigger, though the fact that you have to work the gearbox a lot does sometimes make me wish it was a bit better down low. It'll happily break any speed limit and while it's slow compared to a lot of bikes it is more than enough for road use where it is a very forgiving bike.One of my mates had a Daytona a few years back and was constantly asking to swap bikes as the bandit was 'Just a lot more fun', his words.
I've done that on my Bandit before now, it's easy during rush hour though
Haha! the fastest things down there in rush hour are maniacs on motards
On twisties you would have to be a damn good sportsbike rider to loose a ST-R, I have kept up with R1's on some sections of the 272 (for those who know it
Hurts your neck at even 120 though, even with the fly screen on the front it does bugger all lol.
I know, performance wise the Daytona and even the non-R Street Triple are very very close, it was more of a personal preference, the Street Triple seating position is better when going slowly/through traffic but when pushing on a bit I much prefer the Sports bike seating position, hence going for the Daytona rather than the Street Triple R.
I felt very little difference in power between the Street Triple (R has the same 'detuned' version) and the Daytona really, there's about 15hp on paper but in real life they seemed pretty much identical
Bandit and SV650 are quite different, Bandit is a inline-4 engine, so rev-happy, SV650 is a V-Twin so less revvy, but much better low end. Not sure on differences between suspension etc between the two though.
As for a generic Streetfighter-style Vs Sports bike, in some cases (like the Triumph Daytona Vs Street Triple) there really isn't much in it, same frame, sometimes slightly cheaper suspension but overall pretty similar. But in other cases like say comparing a Bandit with a GSXR, completely different animals really.
Yep, apart from the obvious differences in engine type and fittings it's more a question of styling that makes them different, for example you could easily take an R1 and strip the fairing off, make a few other adjustments and hey presto have what would be classed as a street bike.
The Bandit and SV are fairly comparable on paper, they have similar acceleration, top speed and share the same suspension and brakes with a similar new cost.
Bandit is an inline-4 so needs to be revved more with less low down torque. The SV engine is one of it's main selling point, it's a peach with a torque curve that's lovely to use and just enough power to have some fun. Unfortunately it's suspension and brakes let it down in the long run but they are upgradable for not too much money if you really want to keep it after your first couple of learning years (it's all perfectly fine as a first proper bike).
Street bikes are usually a bit lower geared, have no fairing or small bikini ones. Usually a more upright sitting position with flatter bars which is much better for town and slow-mid speeds. Sports bikes are full-faired with lower clipon bars that are much better at speed as it all gets you out the windblast.
Bandit is an inline-4 so needs to be revved more with less low down torque. The SV engine is one of it's main selling point, it's a peach with a torque curve that's lovely to use and just enough power to have some fun. Unfortunately it's suspension and brakes let it down in the long run but they are upgradable for not too much money if you really want to keep it after your first couple of learning years (it's all perfectly fine as a first proper bike).
Street bikes are usually a bit lower geared, have no fairing or small bikini ones. Usually a more upright sitting position with flatter bars which is much better for town and slow-mid speeds. Sports bikes are full-faired with lower clipon bars that are much better at speed as it all gets you out the windblast.
Bandit: Inline-4 engine, rev happy but makes a bit more power than the SV, poor suspension, not great finish, cheap to buy and lots of parts available to mod' it with.
SV650: V-Twin engine, lots of low down power, doesn't have to be revved as hard, poor suspension again (rear shock swaps easily for a GSXR item), again not great finish and cheap to buy.
Both are considered "budget" bikes. I have an SV650S which has a riding position similar to a sportsbike and a fairing with screen etc. Having the lower "clip-on" style bars puts more weight over the front wheel which helps handling when on the move but makes it uncomfortable at slow speeds. I spent £90 on new (stiffer, but progressive) fork springs and new (thicker) fork oil and £60 on a second hand rear shock (from a Kawasaki ZX10R) and it handles like a dream now
. All installed within a few hours. Brakes are still standard but they're fine for the road (I just put some decent pads on). You can even swap the whole front end for a GSXR one, but that will cost in the region of £400 and I didn't want to spend that much.You could probably do similar to the front fork springs on a bandit but I don't think the rear shock swap would be so easy. I have no experience of riding/owning one though.
If your comparing the bandit and the sv then the SV will be torquier and you can afford to be lazy with it, say third gear in the sv you can just roll on the throttle and the power will be instant, whereas do that on the bandit in third and it will have to get into the rev range before pulling hard.
Some people prefere the revving of the 4 and some dont, you have to try both and see which you prefere really.
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Rev-Happy is both a good and bad thing, basically it means the engine wants to be revved high (usually 14,000+ rpm), this is addictive, usually sounds great, and does put a lovely smile on your face.
Problem with engines that are too rev-happy (and the sports sub-750cc inline-4's all seem to be like this) is that they don't really do much at lower revs, which makes them 'awkward' to ride normally, if very good fun to thrash.
On the other hand with engines like the V-Twins, the V4 in my VFR400 and the Triple's in the Triumphs you've got an engine that has lots of torque at lower revs, this means you can sit on the Daytona in 6th at low speed and when you accelerate it's far far better than something like an R6 in 6th at low speed, this isn't noticeable when pushing but when going through traffic that extra torque really is very very nice, makes it a more usable bike.
But these engines are generally less rev-happy which reduces the ultimate smiles somewhat, the Triumph Triples are good in that they happily rev (albeit without the surge of the inline-4's) but they are also torquey, it's the perfect mix imo
Problem with engines that are too rev-happy (and the sports sub-750cc inline-4's all seem to be like this) is that they don't really do much at lower revs, which makes them 'awkward' to ride normally, if very good fun to thrash.
On the other hand with engines like the V-Twins, the V4 in my VFR400 and the Triple's in the Triumphs you've got an engine that has lots of torque at lower revs, this means you can sit on the Daytona in 6th at low speed and when you accelerate it's far far better than something like an R6 in 6th at low speed, this isn't noticeable when pushing but when going through traffic that extra torque really is very very nice, makes it a more usable bike.
But these engines are generally less rev-happy which reduces the ultimate smiles somewhat, the Triumph Triples are good in that they happily rev (albeit without the surge of the inline-4's) but they are also torquey, it's the perfect mix imo