In principle valid points, except that I've just done quotes for both of those bikes and TPFT they're both coming in at the same amount as my Triumph was i.e. no extra premium. Whereas if I were to to "regress" to my previous Suzuki GSX650F, my insurance providers would have to pay me back £50 or so.

Whatever demographic/risk profile you fall into is not comparable to mine it seems, although it would be nice to get it cheap like you! For the sake of a couple of hundred quid a year on insurance, I'm just going to have to go with what floats my boat, life's too short! My hobbies/pleasures in life are backpacking, cooking and motor vehicles and I'm making sure I enjoy them while I can, thieving scum are not going to ruin it for me

You're not really comparing apples with apples though.

A non fault claim means the insurer recovers all their indemnified outlay and just bears the operational cost of processing and reclaiming the money. This is often offset by the provision of a hire bike or injury referral where appropriate anyway.

In a theft claim the insurer bears the whole cost with no recoverable aspect. Effectively you've paid them your £2k premium but they now pay you c£6500 for the lost bike so they're massively out of pocket and you look like a poor risk to reinsure.

It would actually have been better if you'd written the bike off in a single vehicle accident. That way the insurer gets your trashed bike off to salvage and recovers c60% of the pre accident value depending upon damage.

Does your policy cover you for a new bike if written off or stolen in the first 12 months? Many policies do so worth looking although it's not as common on bike policies as it is on car policies.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but don't forget youust declare this claim when renewing your car insurance too.

London is not a good place to ride there's just too many thieving scumbags. I know it's a bitter pill to swallow but your experience multiplied by thousands of others does go some way to explaining why your premiums were so high to begin with.

Buy a KTM 990SM. Make sure you have a lock for it though....

RC8?

Okey dokey, having spent hours last night literally trawling through every model of bike on MCN that rated 4 or 5 stars that looked remotely interesting/fun, and doing insurance quotes on them, I've found quite a few possibles to replace my Street Triple R. I've decided that I'm going to get raped anyway with insurance, so decided I'm willing to fork out up to £600 extra on insurance for the next bike (after that, no matter what there seems to be a mahussive jump of a further £500 ), giving me the following list:

Make..........Model...............Year...........Additional premium for rest of year in £
Ducati..........Monster 796.......2010...........140
Honda..........VFR 800i............2001...........541
Honda..........VTR Firestorm.....2005...........591
Honda..........VFR 800.............2006...........591
Honda..........VFR 750F............1997...........0 check out that zero!
Aprilia..........Shiver 750..........2010...........129
Ducati...........ST3...................2003...........592
Triumph........Sprint ST 955......2005...........551
Triumph........Speed Triple........2005...........551

Out of those, what would the cognoscenti here get? Bearing in mind from my point of view I'll enjoy any of these in all probability - you'll notice a theme whereby none of the are I4s I've got some ideas of frontrunners but am unlikely to be able to test ride more than 2-3 on this list given that bikes are scattered round the country so opinions would be appreciated as there's a good chance I'll buy one unridden.

On an interesting side note, there were some odd premium results e.g. difference between a 2010 Street Triple and the one above was £500. Difference between a Sprint 955 and 1050 in from adjacent years was about the same amount, and a 2009 Shiver was more expensive (albeit only by a few quid) than a 2010 one!

Sorry, just catching up with this thread only now.

Fitting a 14T front sprocket helps slightly, and fitting full system 50mm Termis with DP ecu helps even more so with better fueling at low rpms. But overall the issue with the S4RS (specifically) is that the 998cc Testastretta engine is a high strung and crude engine that prefers living above 4k rpm. Combined with the dry clutch, and you do not have a pleasant experience around town. On an open road, however, surfing between 4-7k rpm, and the S4RS is a fantastic bike in its element.

Interestingly, since picking up the 1098R, the 1198cc next generation twin is far better mannered than the 998cc Testastretta engine, whilst producing more power/torque everywhere. There is about a decades worth of technology difference between these engines, and it shows in the way they ride.

does changing the fron sprocket really make that much difference? If going from 15T to 14T is what I think it is, then that 15 teeth to 14 teeth which is only a gear shortening of about 6.5%. If you're doing 2000 rpm normally at say 25mph, it means you'll now be 2130 rpm, not aaaall that much difference. Or are they just incredibly sensitive below a specific rpm? And if so what rpm is it?

Others will no doubt give their views on the bikes, as none of them really appeal to me, nor do I have any experience of them, although I would say a 1997 VFR, no thanks. Bikes have moved on a long way in the last 15 years to say the least!

On the shiver quote, it just means that not many people have claimed on a 2010 model compared to 2009, possibly becuase they haven't sold that many!