Spec me a replacement commuter

CGrieves · 30 Jun 2017 at 16:24

Short story: KTM990 SM-T (which I loved) got nicked, so looking for a replacement for a 40 mile-a-day commute. Also have a '15 S1000RR in the garage for track/sunny-weekend fun, which also got nicked on a sunny commute, retrieved thanks to a tracker.

Insurance will pay out £5950 after excess. Whatever I get will have a tracker fitted, so budget £400 for that, and a topbox, budget £150 or so, which leaves me roughly £5500. Not all of that needs to be spent- any leftover will go towards another secure-a-bike shed.

Non-negotiable requirements:
750cc or above, 100bhp+ and torquey
ABS
Euro3+ compliant
No singles/parallel twins- V twins, Boxers, triples and all types of four welcome

Comfort is irrelevant, would happily commute on a 1000cc sportbike no problem
Not afraid of high mileage if the underlying platform is known to be reliable
990 SM-T prices seem to be buoyant, so haven't found any around in the condition I want within budget, honestly I fancy a change anyway.

Currently on the shortlist:
High mileage ABS Fireblades
MT-09 ABS
BMW K1200S/K1200R
VFR1200F

Any suggestions greeted with interest

Daftbrown · 12 Jul 2017 at 12:57

Hi

Surprised this is the first post here...

You might be able to pick up an early Z1000SX for that money.

CGrieves · 13 Jul 2017 at 09:09

Daftbrown said:
Hi

Surprised this is the first post here...

You might be able to pick up an early Z1000SX for that money.

Cheers bud- ended up with a low mileage 2015 MT-09, picking up early next week.

Daftbrown · 3 Aug 2017 at 12:25

CGrieves said:
Cheers bud- ended up with a low mileage 2015 MT-09, picking up early next week.

Good choice. How are you finding it? They're supposed to fun. I considered one for a while before I got the Versys 1000.

CGrieves · 3 Aug 2017 at 14:06

Daftbrown said:
Good choice. How are you finding it? They're supposed to fun. I considered one for a while before I got the Versys 1000.

Really good as a fun commuter- really punchy motor. Was expecting the gearing to be too low but it's spot on.

Have tweaked the fuelling slightly via a hidden diag menu, which has improved if not fixed the throttle sensitivity. Rear shock maxed out on damping and nearly maxed on preload has given it some needed rear ride height, cured the weird floaty/light-handlebar feeling and improved the wobbly rear end. Still not great, but it'll do for the moment.

Just bought a brand new stock exhaust to gut and weld. Somewhere in the future there will be a rear shock, fork springs and a remap with quickshifter/autoblipper.

Really enjoying it to be honest. Just have to make sure tealeaves don't get their hands on it now.

jigger · 3 Sep 2017 at 16:54

CBR 1100XX would be on my list too. 4-5k would get a really nice one.

IC3 · 3 Sep 2017 at 22:44

jigger said:
CBR 1100XX would be on my list too. 4-5k would get a really nice one.

He bought na MT09 ages ago... lol

CGrieves · 4 Sep 2017 at 09:45

Also- no ABS on the CBR11 anyway, so wouldn't have made the shortlist.

Freeman · 4 Sep 2017 at 12:11

CGrieves said:
Also- no ABS on the CBR11 anyway, so wouldn't have made the shortlist.

What do you need ABS for?

CGrieves · 4 Sep 2017 at 22:20

Freeman said:
What do you need ABS for?

Avoiding locking the wheels under heavy braking mainly

Freeman · 5 Sep 2017 at 08:04

CGrieves said:
Avoiding locking the wheels under heavy braking mainly

Planning doing some track days then?

CGrieves · 5 Sep 2017 at 17:22

Freeman said:
Planning doing some track days then?

Not on the MT- I have an S1000RR for that. Having the backup of ABS on crap-strewn unpredictable London roads is a no-brainer in my book.