Rather than spam up every other thread on here I thought I'd create my own to jot down some ideas, suggestions and candidates for my choice of bike which if all goes well, will be mine for next summer. Any input is, as always, greatly appreciated 
A few things I need to take in to consideration:
I haven't ridden in anger in well over 10 years and even then the biggest bike I rode was an XT600 so I'm going in to this with the mindset of being a complete noob.
I don't want anything big or mental, the main point of the bike will be commuting and weekend fun, but still fairly frugal and not too uncomfortable. Low insurance group helps too.
My wife is still very slowly warming to the idea of me riding (keep in mind that this is someone who has a very nasty experience of how badly cars can go wrong, so I'm not forcing anything) which again is another reason I don't want to suddenly come home with a litre bike.
With that all in mind, I also need to think with my head and not with my heart so things like Aprilia are for the mean time, out of the question. If it breaks, I need to be able to fix it pronto as I'll be using it to get to work. It'll be parked outside at home, off the street, and exposed to the elements and sadly where I live, there are many, many loose fingers. At work it'll be in a private underground car park so that's not something I need to concern myself with.
So far I've come up with a few ideas, top of my list right now is a Duke 390 (2017 model). This however seems to suffer a fair bit from Aprilia Syndrome, as in parts aren't always available, but I'd probably get a brand new one with warranty anyway to combat that a bit. It's also a great bike for hooning and I'm sure the local teefs around me will know about it, so it'll be fully comp and have loads of anti-theft systems put in place. Great bike, glowing reviews all round, bursting with new technology and a blast to ride even at sub-licence-losing-speeds. @Kreeeee is also considering one, so I'm posting this vid here as this is probably the best review I've seen of them so far. Great camera work and editing too, just skip past the music in the beginning:
Another idea is to go with old faithful and get something like an SV650 for the very many obvious reasons everyone knows about already: cheap, indestructible, fun, parts are everywhere and mechanics with no knowledge of them simply don't exist. Thing is, I've never been the biggest fan of the SV. No idea why, I think I could think of it (rightly or wrongly) as being bland. I'll have to take one for a ride and shake those preconceived notions.
Then there are the 400cc 4s. I've always loved these because you can wring their necks over and over and still have a blast at under a ton whilst the little inline 4 screams past 10k RPM. Fairly reliable too, although they're getting a bit long in the tooth so will probably have to fork out a bit more for a good one.
And last but not least, something like a VFR 800. Jack of all trades, does everything you could want it to and won't break ever. Can still be had for a pittance and that V4 sounds the dog's danglies with a decent pipe on it. Only problem is I'm now getting to the larger end of the scale and truth be told, I don't want to get such a powerful bike until I've gained trust in my abilities to contain myself should I get a little excited or affected by the red mist (big thing for me).
I'll keep posting my thoughts in here, obviously this is a boring thread to most who have ridden but I'm now feeling like I'm getting a bit of my old self back, it's a very liberating and exciting time for me and although it's still baby steps at the moment, I'm making progress and even getting my wife on board and that's all that matters to me right now.
Cheers!
A few things I need to take in to consideration:
I haven't ridden in anger in well over 10 years and even then the biggest bike I rode was an XT600 so I'm going in to this with the mindset of being a complete noob.
I don't want anything big or mental, the main point of the bike will be commuting and weekend fun, but still fairly frugal and not too uncomfortable. Low insurance group helps too.
My wife is still very slowly warming to the idea of me riding (keep in mind that this is someone who has a very nasty experience of how badly cars can go wrong, so I'm not forcing anything) which again is another reason I don't want to suddenly come home with a litre bike.
With that all in mind, I also need to think with my head and not with my heart so things like Aprilia are for the mean time, out of the question. If it breaks, I need to be able to fix it pronto as I'll be using it to get to work. It'll be parked outside at home, off the street, and exposed to the elements and sadly where I live, there are many, many loose fingers. At work it'll be in a private underground car park so that's not something I need to concern myself with.
So far I've come up with a few ideas, top of my list right now is a Duke 390 (2017 model). This however seems to suffer a fair bit from Aprilia Syndrome, as in parts aren't always available, but I'd probably get a brand new one with warranty anyway to combat that a bit. It's also a great bike for hooning and I'm sure the local teefs around me will know about it, so it'll be fully comp and have loads of anti-theft systems put in place. Great bike, glowing reviews all round, bursting with new technology and a blast to ride even at sub-licence-losing-speeds. @Kreeeee is also considering one, so I'm posting this vid here as this is probably the best review I've seen of them so far. Great camera work and editing too, just skip past the music in the beginning:
Another idea is to go with old faithful and get something like an SV650 for the very many obvious reasons everyone knows about already: cheap, indestructible, fun, parts are everywhere and mechanics with no knowledge of them simply don't exist. Thing is, I've never been the biggest fan of the SV. No idea why, I think I could think of it (rightly or wrongly) as being bland. I'll have to take one for a ride and shake those preconceived notions.
Then there are the 400cc 4s. I've always loved these because you can wring their necks over and over and still have a blast at under a ton whilst the little inline 4 screams past 10k RPM. Fairly reliable too, although they're getting a bit long in the tooth so will probably have to fork out a bit more for a good one.
And last but not least, something like a VFR 800. Jack of all trades, does everything you could want it to and won't break ever. Can still be had for a pittance and that V4 sounds the dog's danglies with a decent pipe on it. Only problem is I'm now getting to the larger end of the scale and truth be told, I don't want to get such a powerful bike until I've gained trust in my abilities to contain myself should I get a little excited or affected by the red mist (big thing for me).
I'll keep posting my thoughts in here, obviously this is a boring thread to most who have ridden but I'm now feeling like I'm getting a bit of my old self back, it's a very liberating and exciting time for me and although it's still baby steps at the moment, I'm making progress and even getting my wife on board and that's all that matters to me right now.
Cheers!
