Buying new vs used?

How many miles are you talking? If you're using it for commuting, especially through autumn/winter, it WILL get covered in dirt and muck quicker than you can clean it (my bike is filthy after this weeks rain), so buying new just means a it'll get ruined by weather/rust etc very fast.

Going jap is a good idea for a reliable commuter - I've done a combined 15000 miles since April 2014 on 2 Honda's and (touchwood) never had anything go wrong that wasn't my fault.

My CB400 is 14 years old and never misses a beat, neither did my varadero 125.

Being your first big bike, you'll probably drop it. I did! And if it's something cheap that you use every day, gets covered in road salt/muck/grime every day, you won't care too much when you drop it and scratch it.

This was my bike after less than 2 weeks of commuting in January, just after buying it, it was clean when I picked it up!
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Anything nice will get ruined in a normal british winter I'm afraid. Suzuki's tend to fur up a bit over winter too, or so I've heard.

So, my advice, if you're doing upwards of 5000 miles just commuting and using it year round - get something cheap to commute on. Then do your time (2 years, it'll go fast!) on the A2 licence and put money away ready to buy a shiny weekend/summer bike to keep sparkly and clean :D

There's loads out there for under £2000, get something 600cc and under the bhp limit and restrict it.

There was a good graph showing the 150bhp mode and the 100bhp mode on the multistrada - the graphs were nearly identical up to halfway up the rev range, on a restricted bike it's only top end that is affected, you'll still get most of the bottom end power.

Start here and see what you can ride, maybe a fazer/cb500/xj6 or so on. http://a2bikes.co.uk/browse?filters=&categoryFilters=&manufacturerFilters=&ranges=%7B%221%22%3A%7B%22from%22%3A%22%22%2C%22to%22%3A%22%22%7D%2C%222%22%3A%7B%22from%22%3A%22%22%2C%22to%22%3A%22%22%7D%7D&page=1
 
IC3 said:
I see now, seems strange to me, its usually naked or with fairings. Suzuki went tard and fought lets offer a half-faired bike... :rolleyes:
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They originally never supplied a full faired, that's only 2007 onwards or something like that.

The fairing lowers were originally aftermarket then Suzuki cottoned on that they were missing a trick, and began producing their own fairing lowers for the Pointy model.

They released a SV650 Sport with full fairings, seat cowl etc.
 
I wouldn't worry about putting a new bike through winter. It's not going to fall apart on you and standards are higher these days. It's just a bike at the end of the day, it's meant to get dirty :D

Buying something and not using it because it'll get wet and dirty just seems mental to me :p
 
TallPaul_S said:
Going jap is a good idea for a reliable commuter - I've done a combined 15000 miles since April 2014 on 2 Honda's and (touchwood) never had anything go wrong that wasn't my fault.

My CB400 is 14 years old and never misses a beat, neither did my varadero 125.

Being your first big bike, you'll probably drop it. I did! And if it's something cheap that you use every day, gets covered in road salt/muck/grime every day, you won't care too much when you drop it and scratch it.

Anything nice will get ruined in a normal british winter I'm afraid. Suzuki's tend to fur up a bit over winter too, or so I've heard.

So, my advice, if you're doing upwards of 5000 miles just commuting and using it year round - get something cheap to commute on. Then do your time (2 years, it'll go fast!) on the A2 licence and put money away ready to buy a shiny weekend/summer bike to keep sparkly and clean :D

There's loads out there for under £2000, get something 600cc and under the bhp limit and restrict it.

There was a good graph showing the 150bhp mode and the 100bhp mode on the multistrada - the graphs were nearly identical up to halfway up the rev range, on a restricted bike it's only top end that is affected, you'll still get most of the bottom end power.
Click to expand...

ATM I can only afford to buy 1 bike, still studying... So it's either buying a brand new bike or going 2nd hand which I don't mind as long as it'll be reliable.

Scythe said:
They originally never supplied a full faired, that's only 2007 onwards or something like that.

The fairing lowers were originally aftermarket then Suzuki cottoned on that they were missing a trick, and began producing their own fairing lowers for the Pointy model.

They released a SV650 Sport with full fairings, seat cowl etc.
Click to expand...

You always learn something new, Suzuki should have done it since day 1 imo.

TripleT said:
I wouldn't worry about putting a new bike through winter. It's not going to fall apart on you and standards are higher these days. It's just a bike at the end of the day, it's meant to get dirty :D

Buying something and not using it because it'll get wet and dirty just seems mental to me :p
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That's exactly my thought, its not a HP4 or some other fancy looking bike. It's only a budget MT07, I could probably get one brand new for 4400 if paid by cash in winter! Possibly could even pay less than that...

tom_e said:
I love my SV 650S great commuter, nice enough place to spend 3.5 hours on a motorway or 5 hours round Wales.

Have a look at http://forums.sv650.org/forumdisplay.php?f=113 for used bikes, quite a few with the lower fairings included seem to pop up on there.
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Hows the seat? On my KTM after 40-50min your bottom feels like you were sitting on a piece of wood.

BTW How tall are you and how well are those fairings doing during higher speeds?

wazza300 said:
if only you'd have bought a jap 125 to begin with,you would still be rolling
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If I could only go back in time, the bike was looked after though. I don't blame the bloke who sold it since I've done over 1500 miles since, so if something was about to go wrong, it would have came up earlier than that. right?

But yes wazza you won't see me on anything else that's not Japanese for a very long time. :p


Edit

Going back to the older bike and being able to tweak around with it, the tweaking wouldn't be such a problem if I could leave the bike overnight in a 'garage' which I don't have. Last time when I took side panels apart it took me 50 min to take them off and 35-40 min to put them back on, but the amount of time I've spent looking for screws between those stones that are in my garden is ridiculous... I was thinking of spending 4.7k on KTM Duke 690 anyways, so I might as well go for the MT07 which just seems like the right bike for me apart from it doesn't have fairings. :(
 
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Thing is a Japanese machine wouldn't have burnt its stator out like that

I like the Yamaha wr125's could have seen u on one of those
 
wazza300 said:
Thing is a Japanese machine wouldn't have burnt its stator out like that

I like the Yamaha wr125's could have seen u on one of those
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In KTM's burning a stator seems like a normal thing... :rolleyes: :p

You'll most likely see me on a MT07 or MT07 Tracer (should be out when I pass A2.) I actually prefer tracer's front, the naked MT07 front lamp reminds me of an orcs 1 eye (ugly af.)

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I like the look of the MT09 Tracer but pointless as I'm more than happy with mine for the next few years.

Buying a new house in a couple of years so once that's done I'll look at new bikes
 
It's rare though,all the bikes I've owned havnt done that,Inc a crappy cagiva mito

Current bike 17 years old and stator is fine
 
TripleT said:
I like the look of the MT09 Tracer but pointless as I'm more than happy with mine for the next few years.

Buying a new house in a couple of years so once that's done I'll look at new bikes
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The MT-09 Tracer is like a mixture of a sporty naked that has the positives of a tourer. I don't usually like tourers, but the Tracer series looks alright its like a cheaper version of the S1000XR. :p

I'm still young and most people at my age sometimes even older don't have a job and ask their parents for cash. I'm quite lucky with my job, as I do what I like, the pay is good for my age. Previously I've worked in shops, warehouses at the age of 16-17... it was horrible. I could probably be another teen spending all that money on a car, but I really don't want to as the car would most likely not be used as often. With the age the priorities change, so in your case its buying your own house is the higher priority. I'm planning on saving up for a house when I get into the profession I want, once I get the qualification and experience. So for now, its time to have fun and spend money on something enjoyable. Most of my mates spend their income on alcohol, expensive clothes (spending £200-300 on a jacket or £150 on jeans is a bit stupid imo.), holiday (sitting next to a pool drinking alcohol)... That's just boring, I would rather go on a euro trip on a bike. :)
 
IC3 said:
Hows the seat? On my KTM after 40-50min your bottom feels like you were sitting on a piece of wood.

BTW How tall are you and how well are those fairings doing during higher speeds?
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Seat's absolutely fine, even after 5 hours straight I was still comfortable.
I'm a proper short arse 5'6 if my legs were any shorter I wouldn't be able to get my feet anywhere near the floor when I'm sat on it :D

The fairings are good, get nicely tucked down and even at a little over 70mph *ahem* the wind isn't that noticeable.
 
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