Motorbike help!

amx

amx

amx

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2 Dec 2005
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I've had a car license for 3 years and I have 4 years no claims, but it isn't practical to drive the car to work. The daily commute is becoming a real pain as I have to get a bus, a train and use the dlr.

The company I work for provides bike spaces, so i'm going to do a DAS course at the end of May and hopefully get my full motorbike license. The bike will also be used for long motorway journey's (150 mile+) every couple of weeks as I visit friends.

I've been getting a few insurance quotes to make sure it's a reasonably cost effective alternative to public transport, but the cost seems quite high.

I've been looking at getting a Suzuki GSX-R 600/750 on a 98-00 plate (is this a good first choice?) and I have got quotes between £800-£3300, but none of these places seem to take consideration of my car license and that I have had 4 claim free years.

I'm with Norwich Union for my insurance, but they won't entertain the idea of doing me a 'deal', which is a shame as they've been a good insurer until now.

Does anyone know of any other insurance companies that may consider the driving experience i've had in a car and discount accordingly? or suggest a bike which may be more insurance friendly, but is still suitable for my needs.

I don't really know much about bikes, so any help would be appreciated.
 
I had a 99 GSXR600 as my first bike after doing my DAS.. however, I had plenty of previous biking experience on Trials/125's...

I thought it was ideal as a first bike, due to it's reasonable docility when in the lower rev range, and only went mental above 8-9000 RPM...

But when a mate just did his DAS, he got a GSXR600 K2, and crashed it 3 times, all due to inexperience of riding a bike..

So if you haven't had plenty of experience riding 125's etc, I'd say the GSXR may not be the best.. also 150+ Miles on the 99 Model will be uncomfortable, but just about manageable..

I'd really look at something slightly softer, and cheaper on the insurance, the GSX750F is cheaper to insure, but almost as qick, although the styling is marmite..

Ideal learner bikes if you want something 'big' include
1. Suzuki SV650S
2. Yamaha Fazer
3. Honda Hornet
4. Suzuki Bandit 600

Dont' be fooled into thinking that anything non-sports isn't that fast, if you haven't been on a big bike, they have extremely high power to weight ratio's and I think you will be surprised..

Only go for the sports bikes if you have some experience, they can easily catch you out..
My mates first accident was coming off a T-Junction, he accelerated to beat the traffic, as he had filtered to the front of the Junction, but the power caught him out, and as the front lifted, the inevitable happened, as he was thrown backwards, he opened the throttle even more, until it looped.. Ouch!
 
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the reason your quote is so high is that you've picked the best/fastest 750 and one fo the fastest 600s.

If its a commuter you want, a GSXR anything isnt the ideal bike. I have a ZX6R and again its a sports bike, not a commuter - higher running costs etc are due to the fact its a sports bike, with sports equiment.

I guess the question is do you want it to save you money or give you a huge grin?

if its the money saving aspect, try looking at a Suzuki 600 Bandit. Not everyones cup of tea, but they're cheap to buy and should be a heck load cheaper than a GSXR 750 to insure i'd have imagined, and still reasonable to have a blast on when you feel the need - would also be new rider friendly.

if its sports bike that can commute then you wont do much better than the GSXR 750, but imo its probably a bit too much for a new rider. The GSXR 600 is an uncomfortable beast through city and town (if you're tallish anyway) and will have your wrists cramping up after a few miles.

So personally i'd say if its the sports bike you're after look into the ZX6R. They're amazingly comfortable bikes as they adopt a more sit up feel as opposed to the sit over the tank feel of the GSXRs - but the insurance will still be high as, like the GSXRs they're still a supersport 600.
 
If you're going to be doing long trips you'll want something a bit more comfy IMO than a sports bike, however the GSXR is a fantastic bike. However as Demon says sports bikes can be quite hairy if you under judge them, and even a touring bikes will be quite thrillingly quick. :)

Getting a dual insurance can be quite tough, you'll be better getting a separate insurance policy.
 
Yeah, agree with the above, try a a quote for a different bike. It'll still be damn fast, even a 125 feels fast when you first start riding it.

Choppers can be quite cheap to insure, if you don't rake it out too much it wioll be ok to ride too.
 
Thanks for the suggestions!

A friend of mine at work has suggested a Honda CB 500 and the insurance is very reasonable at £440 (fully comp) with axa.

Does anyone have any experience of this bike, is it a good choice?
 
I’m probably in a good position to comment in these thread, I passed my DAS and my first bike was a 99 SRAD GSXR600 which I had no problems with as a first bike. Just respect the machine and what it can do and pace yourself, ie no silly speeds straight away.

This was then replaced with a K2 GSXR600 which I'm still riding today, over the past six years I've done somewhere in the region of 50-60K commuting on these two bikes without issue (well a couple of offs but nothing due to the bike itself).

My commute is 50 miles a day over a mixture of local roads, large carriageways and the occasional country lane to which the 600 handles with ease. I’ve never found it uncomfortable but then again I don’t have anything to compare it too. I’ve also used the bike for longer journeys (upto 250 miles) and again never found it to be uncomfortable, a quick stretch of the legs whilst re-fuelling is all that’s needed.

If your journey involves a lot of traffic that you will be filtering through then I’d recommend the 600 over the 750 as many people seem to think these handle better in these conditions. Oh and if you are doing motorway/carriageway miles I recommend a faired bike, it makes a whole world of difference once you get up to the higher speeds.

If I had to choose those bikes again I would probably do the same but for any reason I couldn’t of had a full sports bike I would have opted for a faired SV650 as a compromise.

Hope this helps. :)
 
Sorry to be a noob but what does 'faired' mean?

With regards to the Honda, it probably be a 2000-2003 model, depending on what I can pick up at the time.
 
amx said:
Sorry to be a noob but what does 'faired' mean?
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Plastic bits on it. :p

EDIT: Around the front and sides normally which aid aero dynamics and pass air around/over the rider as opposed to getting a face full at high speed. Bikes without a fairing are often referred to as naked bikes.
 
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Example:-

Naked SV650

SV650-Blue.jpg


Faired
bp_sv650s_blue.jpg

Although this is considered half-faired as it's missing the lower fairing.
 
Having come back to bikes recently after a 5 year break i decided to get summit abit more sedate untill i racked up some ncb again and got used to more modern machinery .

I agree with a lot of comments above . Although i would avoid the CB500 .
The SV650/Hornet or if you need somthing a little bigger the Z750 are all top bikes with more than enough power to have fun and cruise on the motorway .
The wife is looking at doing her DAS soonish and i will probably look at getting her a SV .. Atm i have a Hornet 600 and i cant fault it although i do fancy a RSV1000 Factory although i will probably wait till the winter and pick one up cheap .

When i dod some quotes the sports bikes were £500 more than the Hornet (£350 FC for hornet £700 for most 600 sports ) and tbh the performance difference is very small . Btw im 37 clean licence and had a full licence since i was 18 . I recently done some photos which you can find here

Good luck with whatever you chose .

Persil
 
amx said:
Thanks for the suggestions!

A friend of mine at work has suggested a Honda CB 500 and the insurance is very reasonable at £440 (fully comp) with axa.

Does anyone have any experience of this bike, is it a good choice?
Click to expand...

I've had one of these for two years since passing my DAS and there isn't a single thing I can call it on. It pretty much does whatever you ask of it, it will take you to work every day if you want, then make you grin like a loon when you go out with your mates at the weekend on it. It's cheap to tax, insure and juice and keep in tyres, and simple enough that you can do most of the servicing yourself if you're half-minded. The best first bike you could buy in my opinion.
 
Seems that most people are positive about the CD500, and it would be useful if I could do some servicing myself.

I don't have much experience, but i'm sure I can follow some instructions from a decent manual to do the most common things.

Is there haynes manual (or similar) for bikes?
 
Yes, I have the haynes manual for mine, a CB500-R. (unfaired one) About £15 I think and you save that much on labour the first time you use it :D
 
I'd seriously look at the 500cc bikes, the insurance is a lot lower than the 600's the performance is lower by a fair bit but you will still 100mph+ and 0-60 in under 4 seconds, not to mention recieve 45mpg.
They tend to cost less to service too.
If your thinking of price factor in the fact that most bikes want servicing every 5000 miles or sooner and most tyres wont last past 5000miles either...

Theres no harm having a smaller bike for the first year then getting something bigger, a 2000 model wont lose much value in a year, condition and milage is much more importatnt at that stage.

Saying that the Honda translap is a good 600 thats cheap to insure and run.

Also consider where you are going to keep the bike/park it as the finish on hondas stand up to the rain much much better.
 
i was gonna garage it next to my grandad's car, but he said no :/
so it's gonna be chained up in the front garden with a cover :/
 
I had a GPZ500s as my first "big" bike. It was great. Was pretty quick, 60 in around 5s (not many 500s will do it much below 4 (max) really), was light, handled pretty well, and had a bullet proof engine, as well as being comfortable on long blasts as well as sweeping country roads. I used to get a lot of MPG toom and it didn't look too bad. It cost me £200 FC to insure too! :D People wouldn't want to nick it either.
 
amx said:
i was gonna garage it next to my grandad's car, but he said no :/
so it's gonna be chained up in the front garden with a cover :/
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Don't sweat it, that's precisely how I keep mine and it still looks mint due to a decent cover and Honda finish. I live in a rough area too, and I don't think a Gixxer would have lasted a week tbh.
 
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