What A road commuter bike? A few criteria.

[Benbay001]

Im looking for a bike that i can use daily to commute 5 miles to and from work. I leave home at 5:30am, and intend to ride throughout winter (done it before when i was 16, 17 and 18. Im now 22, so still young enough to fight frostbite )

• cheap to insure
• fuel injected
• an achieveable average fuel consumption of 55mpg would be good.
• fantastic weather protection (almost crutial)
• good luggage
• a good turn of speed would be a plus, but doesnt neccesarily have to be fast 30hp is the minimum.
• alluminium would be a plus so the gritters dont knaw my bike.
• reliable!

The criteria can be ignored, but the more boxes ticked, the better.
Budget is somewhere between £1000 and £2500. The less the better.

Current winners are
Suzuki Burgman 400
Yamaha Majesty 400
Honda Silverwing (may just about slip one in budget)
Yamaha YBR 250 (worried its a touch underpowered and under faired)
BMW F650 of some description
Vstrom 650 if i can get one within budget.
Honda Deauville.

I await your replies.
Thanks.

ETA a Varadero 125 would be ideal, if it was a couple hundred cc bigger.

[DuraAce]

SH125/300. Cheap as chips to run, fix and insure. I did 10k miles on mine and it cost me almost nothing.

[mopman94]

Honda CBF600?

[Benbay001]

mopman94 said:

Honda CBF600?

Carbs

DuraAce said:

SH125/300. Cheap as chips to run, fix and insure. I did 10k miles on mine and it cost me almost nothing.

Dont know why, but i have a mental block to scooters under 400cc I also dont think the fairing on the SH300 is anywhere near as big as a burgman or majesty. Its also definately a town scooter. My commute is mostly a roads.

[DuraAce]

The 300 will do 80mph easily. How fast do you want it? You're only doing 5 miles as per your OP! My 125 was fine on dual carriageways and A roads.

Scooter is the way forward IMO for such a short trip. Lots of storage under seat and a top box, good weather protection and lots of plastic that doesn't corrode, no chain to worry about/adjust etc

Not much image admittedly but that's not why I bought it.

[RicharDC5]

Suzuki SV650 + a bigger screen + heated grips + many cans of acf50

or

a bicycle and a classic R1

[Tall_Paul]

Benbay001 said:

ETA a Varadero 125 would be ideal, if it was a couple hundred cc bigger.

What's the traffic like on the A roads you use? Unless you're stuck behind dawdlers or lorries doing 45 in a 60 limit, (and I can't see there being much of that in 5 miles!) then a 125 will be more than adequate. Plus with a varadero you'll be able to do a over a months work of commuting on a single tank 80+ mpg, 260+ miles to a 15 litre tank (before reserve) with ease. Obviously if it's going to be used for other riding too, then forget it, but for a 10 mile a day commute, it's worth a look.

I do a 200 mile a week, 40 mile a day commute on mile, and I'm glad I can now ride a big bike, but the 125 only hits it's limitations either in town traffic (getting away from the lights) or in the 40-70mph range, where a glacier has faster acceleration. It'll sit at 70-75 on the motorway with ease (did 60 miles of motorway at the weekend, no bother).

[Benbay001]

It will also be used for other bits n bobs. I intend to insure it for 10000 miles per year.

[Hooli]

What's so bad about carbs?

[Tall_Paul]

Benbay001 said:

It will also be used for other bits n bobs. I intend to insure it for 10000 miles per year.

Ahh, in that case, don't even think about a 125. for 10k a year I'd want around 50bhp minimum. CBF500? No fairing, but when you drop it in winter on an icy road you'll be glad of no fairing.

[Benbay001]

Tall_Paul said:

Ahh, in that case, don't even think about a 125. for 10k a year I'd want around 50bhp minimum. CBF500? No fairing, but when you drop it in winter on an icy road you'll be glad of no fairing.

I did 10000 miles in a year on an rs50. Hard work but doable. I then got a gsx650f 33bhp restricted. It was heavy because it had panniers and top box but still was quick enough. 30hp is the minimum for me I think. I don't want carbs because they use unnecessary fuel. Any make starting the bike hard. My DD car uses carbs.

[bgunn]

Benbay001 said:

I don't want carbs because they use unnecessary fuel. Any make starting the bike hard. My DD car uses carbs.

Only when they're not set up correctly. Previous owner of my VFR was clearly 'putting up with' the bike running like it was - float heights all wrong, cold start valves stuck partially open etc. Point I'm making is, anything will be bad if it's not right.

[Mr OCD]

Yamaha Thundercat ... nothing wrong with carbs btw... mine used to start quicker than my current fuel injected R1!

[Tall_Paul]

The main issue you'll have is getting FI for that price. A few bikes around 2000-2005 have it, but not many. Old beemers, Honda CBR600F, erm... not sure what else. Hornet maybe. I'm also in that situation and you really need to go to £2k minimum to get a FI bike.

[Dannaz]

Mr OCD said:

Yamaha Thundercat ... nothing wrong with carbs btw... mine used to start quicker than my current fuel injected R1!

^^^ This, I run a Thundercat and so far been spot on in all weather, starts no issues in the cold, I get over 200 miles to a tank, which is only around £21 to brim. Well within your budget, I bought and insured mine for £1800.

Easy take top box and bags (pillion seat as wide as a scaffold board).

[Tribal Chestnut]

^^^ that.

[powerstans]

MCN Review of CBF 600 says fuel injected. 2007 model with full luggage advertised £2,250 with 17000 on clock, you may be able to talk the seller down to your budget..

Described as bullet proof and has the aluminium frame you are after.

Worse thing I have read is they are bland, not necessarily the worst discription for something that will need to do 10,000 a year and in all weathers (exciting on a summer sunny ride could be read as damn scary on a wet, blustery, dark morning!)

[powerstans]

Just re read review and realised older model may be carb, and is described as even more boring, having said that reliability and staedfastness on wet windy days still stands.

[Benbay001]

On alot of this insurance becomes a factor. I was 17 when i passed my bike test. im still only 22. And because i havnt ridden for just over 3 years my NCB are well and truely gone.
A burgman 400 is £350 fully comp. A Deauville is £550. Everything else 600cc is about £6-700.

[Mastodon2]

My SRAD has carbs and starts no problem in any conditions. The coldest I've ever started it was at about 2 degrees after a freezing night, the garage was absolutely arctic. A bit of choke, hit the starter and it's away.

My bike instructor told me not to be scared if carbs, if something goes wrong they're not hard to sort if you take your time and learn what you are doing. If the fuel injection system on a bike starts playing up, it's not going to be as easy to fix at home.