Buying advice

While negotiating the M25 and inevitable queues for the tunnel and bridge today I was thinking about this.

Ellory is a new rider (as in never really ridden before new!). My thoughts are that however docile the Sprint/1050/800 are they are all powerful and physically big bikes with a relatively high centre of gravity and most likely a bit much for a first bike (note, that's first bike not even first BIG bike). Similarly although the America/Speedy are a doddle to ride and low enough to feel secure at a standstill they are also very heavy and powerful if you've little experience.

It's going to be down to you Ellory in the end and you're going to need a few test rides to see what you think you can and can't handle.

I'm wondering whether a Kwak ER-6 would be a better bet initially. You'll probably be riding one (or something like it for your test) so you'll be familiar with the feel. Bullet-proof motors, relatively cheap to buy/run/insure, will just about cope with motorways, light, easy to handle and just the sort of bike to see if bike commuting is for you. Also you won't feel quite so bad if you should drop it. A good hack for the winter. Should be possible to sell it on and not lose too much money. OK, it's more blow-up doll than Uma Therman but won't cost as much to keep :wink:

 

I must say that if you have been riding for just over 30 years (started when I was 12 and full licence at 15 and a half) then you sort of forget that some of the big bikes are quite intimidating power wise and also weight wise (as everything feels light compared to my Daytona 1000)
I still think that the Trident Sprint is a great big bike to start riding on and the set height is less than alot of modern bikes along with enough but not too much faring.

Which ER-6 do you mean folkbloke as the is the N and the F models and I always thought that they were quite high seat heights along with the usual rock hard suspension.
(not a fan of that make of bike)

If you are going down that route then you are also looking at the Bandit, Hornet and Fazer 600's which are solid and dependable bikes but have as much character as an Austrian tax collector.

The triumph 900 triple engine on the other hand has it in spades and I would guess is putting out about the same hp as those bikes but does not need to rev the guts out of it to get anywhere.

The other benefit of these bikes is that you can get a very good low milage one for around £2000 which you can not with the other bikes.

As I said before have a try on as many different types of bikes as possible to see what you feel the most comfortable with.

Cheers

Steve

 

Quite right Steve, he needs to try out as many as he can.

The Sprint is indeed a very nice bike but imo at least, it's a step too far considering it's a first bike. I know when I started riding 40 years ago it was a moped then we moved up to a 175 or 250 and rode them until we passed the test. I remember one guy going from his 175 to one of the original 750 Hondas (woefully underpowered in today's terms) yanking the throttle open and running straight into a wall.

The reason I suggested a ER-6 is that it's a popular bike amongst riding schools and Ellory may well have ridden one. It may not have any street cred but it'll be a decent start

It'll be down to him in the end and what he feels he can cope with but I see nothing wrong in starting with a light, easy to handle bike before moving up to something more substantial.

 

My first bike was a Honda CB750KZ. (Well joint first: I had an XS400 at the same time for work and the Honda for "best"). The early DOHC 16v variety but the pretty maroon coloured curvy version not the Superdream lookalike a la CB900. It was respectably quick actually. Too quick for the brakes. A massive great fat wallowy thing on skinny tyres. It seemed to handle better than it had any right to. Maybe that's why 70's bikes had such thick padding on the seat: so you couldn't feel what was actually going on.

 

Kaneda
Those were my thoughts exactly - the America was a great way to get used to biking or in my case, get back to biking. As per the comment that cruisers are bad motorway bikes... take that with a grain of salt. Here in Canada, the only way for some of us to get to the really neat twisty's is to take a motorway. Both the America and the Thunderbird handled the speeds and the turbulence very well. I ride two up with a medium height windshield (I can see over it) and my wife and I feel very comfortable and secure on the T-Bird (and on the America before the trade) on expressways at 110 km/h

 

Wise man :wink:

One other thing you ought to consider that I don't think anyone has mentioned yet is earplugs.

If you don't want to end up with tinnitus or be half deaf by the time you get to my age you'll need to protect your hearing.

Wind noise is very deceptive (especially with any kind of screen). No matter how good your helmet is it'll be there and it'll be doing you damage (even more so on the extended rides you'll be doing).

Cheap disposable plugs like on this page might suit you or you can get custom made ones. Try out some cheap ones first. Some folks don't like them and go for the custom ones. I have both but tend to use the foam ones as my custom made plugs are 20 years old and and either my ears have grown or they're slightly worn as they don't fit me properly anymore :frown:

Good luck :smile:

 

I've heard good things about Ultimate Ear although I've not used them. The company that made mine have long since gone but they were very good.

If you're training to be a sound engineer then you'll need to keep those ears in shape. You don't want to lose the top end as I have (from bikes and rock bands). I should have started wearing them about 10 years before I did!

 

Don't want to upset you but and it's a big but....... Dealers will not allow you to test ride any of their bikes being a newly qualified rider, most will insist on two years riding experience. My wife had the same problem, in the end I test rode some for her and she went for the Street Triple which she still loves two years later.

 

What??? What????

Sorry I cannot hear you :biggrin:

 

Lol guess it just makes the decision a little harder. In the end many people buy bikes using their heart and not their head, choose a bike you like the look of, one that you can get both feet flat on the floor on and just go for it. If in the end you don't get on with it, sell and move on.

 

Test rides are great but they're rarely the end of the story. If you've convinced yourself that this is the bike for you then unless it turns out to be an absolute lemon a test ride will probably only make you want it even more. On the other hand if you haven't fallen for a bike on paper you may be hyper-critical on a test ride and rule it out for trivial reasons that might evaporate on ownership. You have to live with a bike to assess it. Some bikes have to grow on you and some niggles take time to register.
Forums and the good old press - especially long-term reviews - are an invaluable resource. When I bought my Speed Triple I'd made a short list of bikes that fitted the bill on paper and then read every press review and scoured the forums for long term views before a test ride. I was leaning towards a V2 Tuono before I'd properly considered the Speed. It was all-round ability that turned me on to the Triumph after reading forum comments and press reviews. And it has turned out to be the right decision. When my heart had been saying Tuono, had I rushed out there and then and had a hoot of a test ride without properly considering alternatives, I'd have bought the wrong bike.

Mind you if I win the lottery, there'll be a V4 Tuono sitting next to the Speed in the garage. And a 1290 Superduke, and a Ducati of some species, and an Indian Chieftain, and, and....