Buying new vs used?

IC3

IC3

IC3

Soldato
Joined
3 Dec 2011
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Mostly buying 2nd hand was fine for me or my dad, but lately everything that I buy which is 2nd hand breaks... I'm thinking whenever it would be a good idea to buy a brand new bike in winter, could possibly search around for a good deal.

On the other hand I was also considering buying something that has been out on the market for longer and is known for its reliability, I'm not going to buy a fairly new model like my duke as 1) Parts are hard to find, 2) Reliability isn't usually best in the fairly new models. In Duke's from 2011-2012 the stators are dodgy, this is a common issue from what KTM have told me when I called them. :(

I was thinking of Yamaha MT07, as Yamaha are offering to restrict it to A2 without any additional charges and once you want that restriction taken off within your warranty time you can just simply go to Yamaha and it's out of charge.

My other idea was to get a cheap commuter bike e.g. Honda or other Japanese bike and just pile miles on that and possibly save up for something with more power once I pass my DAS.

What are your opinions on this, how did you choose whilst buying your bike? Would you buy new if you could go back in time?

BTW
Any A2 compatible commuter bikes that are reliable and dirt cheap (to run)? I tried Google but I couldn't find anything that would answer my question fully...
 
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I'll be getting a SV650 for my A2 bike when I get the last few bits of cash together; can take off the restriction after passing A and be fine with it unrestricted for a few years after that.
 
RyanF said:
I'll be getting a SV650 for my A2 bike when I get the last few bits of cash together; can take off the restriction after passing A and be fine with it unrestricted for a few years after that.
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New or 2nd hand? You can still actually get them brand new, shame it doesn't have ABS tho...
 
buy Japanese then it don't matter howmany hands its been through:D

take my zx6r 65k miles and its still going strong,only one engine/valve clearance check in all that time
 
wazza300 said:
buy Japanese then it don't matter howmany hands its been through:D

take my zx6r 65k miles and its still going strong,only one engine/valve clearance check in all that time
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I'll, no more bikes/cars which are non-Japanese, I would probably go for a korean bike thou.

But seriously, what bikes which are suitable for A2 would you recommend, mainly to pile miles on as it'll be used for commuting?
 
I wouldn't go new for your first bike but I'm sure plenty of people have.

I spent £2.3k on my 2005 z750 with 9k on the clock as I didn't want to drop loads on my first big bike just to get used to it etc. Bikes not suitable for you as its 105hp but you can pick up loads of decent bikes that will be ultra reliable for around £2k easy. Especially if its restricted, would be annoyed spending that much but then bring restricted :p

I'm considering going PCP on my next bike though, dunno.
 
I wouldn't go new either on your first bike. My Hornet was a pain when I had to fix it (saying that, I never had to fix it, I only ever did consumables, but they took me ages because I didn't know what I was doing & everything seemed to get stuck), but I learnt loads and can now do most basic services and maintenance myself pretty easily. It also keeps you a bit safer as you can spot potential problems, worn consumables, etc. rather than just waiting until MOT time or your next service.

If you're interested in maintaining your own bikes, then get something older to start, play around with it, change stuff yourself. Then, when you get a new bike, it'll be easy to do the basic maintenance stuff like chain, brakes, etc and more importantly, mods :D

You're also limited now so your choice for a new bike would be smaller. Best to get DAS, then get anything you wish in a year or two when you want a change.

TripleT said:
I'm considering going PCP on my next bike though, dunno.
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Same here. Part of me wants to see if they would swap my finance to PCP (no idea if that's possible or if they would), just so I can upgrade bike every few years. I LOVE having a new bike - nothing to worry about, feels amazing, you can modify it, etc. But, in the same sentence, even after the few little mods I've done to my Speed so far and especially after taking it around Scotland, I think I want to keep it forever :D
 
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Older workhorse bikes you can ride em through rain/winter and not worry so much,when they are new you have to treat them like fine China

Would be a crime to ride them through the winter and salt roads aswell tbh
 
The way I see it is I do at least 6k a year so would probably swsp every 3 years to stop them becoming almost worthless. I know 20k is nothing really but it does put buyers off. I'll see how long I keep mine.
 
The modern fairings are poor aswell compared to late 90's early 2000 bikes,they are very thin in comparison

The frame and swingarm paint also seems thin

You also get to the stage when you have to weigh up the cost of spending on maintaining an older machine aswell,when the cost of repairs/worn out parts are more than the bikes worth
 
wazza300 said:
Would be a crime to ride them through the winter and salt roads aswell tbh
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Hah! That's exactly what I'm going to be doing this winter :(. It should be alright though, I've hopefully built up some protection over this summer, plus there isn't much on the Speed that isn't painted or coated, so nothing really to rust.

wazza300 said:
The modern fairings are poor aswell compared to late 90's early 2000 bikes,they are very thin in comparison

The frame and swingarm paint also seems thin
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Guess it depends on the manufacturer. You can really see where all your money goes on a Triumph, not one piece of crappy plastic or fairing, all top quality stuff - better than my Hornet. Saying that, I've never had a 90s or older bike, so can't compare to those!
 
Craig321 said:
Yup, it does look very weird, part faired makes the front look really weirdly skinny. I'd go for fully naked or fully faired
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That was exactly my thought when I started looking at them, it just seems like there's something missing from the S, N or SA is the way to go.

BTW

I don't mind getting an older bike, its just like Wazza said that once the bike starts to break or wear out. Once you add up all the costs and possibilities of what can possibly go wrong, adding that 1.5k more for a brand new bike with 2-3 year warranty doesn't seem like a stupid decision. You don't have to worry about anything, somethings wrong? Just get it back to the dealer which will most likely give you a courtesy bike for the time your bikes gets repaired.

I'm not going to do any finance or anything along those lines, so since I could potentially pay with cash and pick the bike up at the same day, this should motivated the sales person to give me a better deal (especially in winter.) Or is my way of thinking wrong? :confused:

.one. said:
bikini fairing, works on some bikes.
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I personally dislike that kind of look, its either full fairings or none. Although on bikes such as BMW GS this kind of fairing does look ok, but that's not the case with SV...
 
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It's only if you hang on to the bike a long long time,if you update every 3 years or so then there's nothing to worry about going wrong on them,

Mine now is fine engine wise,the brakes and suspension could do with an overhaul tbh but its 17 years old,
 
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