What bike? Help needed

[BG1980]

I’ll give a bit of background first. I last owned a bike in 2005. It was a Yamaha FZS600s and I used it as my main mode of transport for 2 years. I rode it to work every day in all weathers until I crashed it on a cold January day, totally my fault as I was riding far too fast for the conditions.

After that crash and the gubbed knee and general pain it caused i decided to go back to the car world as I didn’t have the most self control at the time and didn’t want a repeat incident lol. I now have the itch to get a bike again as I have far more self control now, and a car for the rubbish weather. I’ve been looking at 2003-2010 VFR800’s as I’ve always liked them.

To decide if I still really wanted to do it I hired out an SV650 for the day. I was on the bike for all of 10 seconds before I was kicking myself for not doing it sooner!. The dilemma I have is that I have completely fallen in love with the SV650. It was just a great bike to ride and so easy to manoeuvre at low speeds. So should I be sensible and get a nearly new SV650 or an older VFR800? My only concern with the SV650 is will I get bored of it too quickly. I realise they are completely different types of bike.

I won’t be buying till the end of February or start of March next year so not in any rush.

 

[BG1980]

Thanks for the replies. I’ve got a budget of £4.5k so would be able to get a fairly new one. I am leaning towards the SV as I just loved the character of the engine. It’s got a decent amount of low down grunt which I liked.

 

[BG1980]

Not sure of your location but I know of a black 2016 within budget that's available

In all fairness they are great bikes and a reason many people go down the sv route, whichever generation you pic along as its been looked after you should be good.

If it’s still around at the end of February I’ll give you a shout

 

[BG1980]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I’ll definitely try to get some test rides when the better weather comes back then. I’ll add the MT07, MT09 and Street Triple to the list of possibilities.

If I could stretch the budget to the new MT09 then that’s what I would probably go for but I don’t think the wife will go for that one

 

[BG1980]

Well after looking at probably hundreds of bikes I finally bought one today. I reserved it last week but made a 500 mile round trip today to make sure it was right for me. It’s a 2008 Honda VFR. Has 23k miles with a full service history and 2 previous owners.

It gets delivered on the 18th as I didn’t want to ride it back in this lovely weather. I only have a picture I nicked from the dealers website at the moment.

Now I can’t wait for the good weather.

 

[BG1980]

500 mile round trip and still had it delivered?

I reckon that would have been a decent ride back depending on where you’re living.

It would have been, but the weather was horrendous. It was heavy rain, windy and freezing so didn’t fancy it lol.