Ever bought a bike you're not sure you actually like?
Discussion
So i've had an 899 panigale for about a month now. However, this is my first sports bike after having ridden a number of street naked bikes and I'm not entirely sure I really like it. Obviously love the looks, and the sound. It's got a full akra system which is too loud really but with DB killers in it's fine. What I can't really be happy with at the moment though is how it rides. I feel like I'm horribly compromised about 80% of the time, then the other 20% of the it's brilliant fun. It's bent over, hard to observe the road properly, constantly looking up, round town is clumsy, heavy clutch, jerky big twin anything below 3k etc etc. I've done about 400 miles on it so far, which i've liked, but just not loved.
So the question is, have you ever had similar. Did you stick with it, get used to it and enjoy it more? Or shop it in and change to something a bit more all round?
So the question is, have you ever had similar. Did you stick with it, get used to it and enjoy it more? Or shop it in and change to something a bit more all round?
An Aprilia Mille R back in 2001. Tried hard to love it but struggled. It went well enough and sounded like thunder (SP piggyback exhaust) but we didn’t gel. I bought it new after a few years on a R1, a bike I truly loved but it was tired and needed quite a few quid spending on it. The Mille just felt like hard work to ride. I sold it on and hardly lost any money so all was well in the end.
whatleytom said:
So i've had an 899 panigale for about a month now. However, this is my first sports bike after having ridden a number of street naked bikes and I'm not entirely sure I really like it. Obviously love the looks, and the sound. It's got a full akra system which is too loud really but with DB killers in it's fine. What I can't really be happy with at the moment though is how it rides. I feel like I'm horribly compromised about 80% of the time, then the other 20% of the it's brilliant fun. It's bent over, hard to observe the road properly, constantly looking up, round town is clumsy, heavy clutch, jerky big twin anything below 3k etc etc. I've done about 400 miles on it so far, which i've liked, but just not loved.
So the question is, have you ever had similar. Did you stick with it, get used to it and enjoy it more? Or shop it in and change to something a bit more all round?
I dont know what you expected from a Panigale, they are all the same, the bigger ones being even more chore in any traffic. So the question is, have you ever had similar. Did you stick with it, get used to it and enjoy it more? Or shop it in and change to something a bit more all round?
I rode 899 and to your comments I would add that I personally found it too loud even stock (always loud, which on longer trips is pita) and literally very hot through the seat.
I bought a modified 2003 GSXR1000, did not jell with it, could not get used to it (probably due to the mods) and sold it 3 months later. No point keeping a bike you are not happy with.
Yes, loads, where to begin...
MT09SP, my thoughts are well documented on here, it was my first brand new bike (of 50 odd) and was a huge letdown.
5VY R1, I'd wanted one for years, it was awesome, but when I got it I realised I didn't want a sportsbike on the roads and hated riding it for the same reasons the OP doesn't like his 899.
Bandit 600, I thought it'd be a gentle introduction back into bikes after a few years off, it was f
king terrible, I sold it within the week and bought a VFR750.
I have lots I've sold fairly quickly, I just got into a routine of buying them cheap, sorting them out and then selling them, looking back there was a few I should have kept.
MT09SP, my thoughts are well documented on here, it was my first brand new bike (of 50 odd) and was a huge letdown.
5VY R1, I'd wanted one for years, it was awesome, but when I got it I realised I didn't want a sportsbike on the roads and hated riding it for the same reasons the OP doesn't like his 899.
Bandit 600, I thought it'd be a gentle introduction back into bikes after a few years off, it was f
king terrible, I sold it within the week and bought a VFR750.I have lots I've sold fairly quickly, I just got into a routine of buying them cheap, sorting them out and then selling them, looking back there was a few I should have kept.
yeah I owned a 2006 R1200R for 2 years, never really liked it that much. Uncomfortable seat, horrendous buffeting on the motorway, gutless 1st gear and top end (very punchy mid range though). It was flickable. It got good mpg. it sounded like a box of nails being dropped on the floor repeatedly and had some truly awful vibrations in the pegs. It was a very competent jack of all trades, and very dull to ride and very unsexy. It was just incredibly mediocre.
it was my first big bike and I was very naive, didn't do enough research.
I now own a honda blackbird and holy fk is all I have to say about it 
it was my first big bike and I was very naive, didn't do enough research.
I now own a honda blackbird and holy f
k is all I have to say about it Funny enough after the mt09 tracer which I loved for the engine alone, I reallyu really thought I wanted a fazer 1000.
I have a fazer 1000 and I now after the 1st trip around the connamara mountains realize what I really want is a small light 600 again so once the fazer goes through its mot its gone.
I have a fazer 1000 and I now after the 1st trip around the connamara mountains realize what I really want is a small light 600 again so once the fazer goes through its mot its gone.
Going back many years after 3 or 4 RD Yamahas I bought a Kawasaki Z650 C2 in 1981, mainly because a mate had bought a new Z650F1.
But it handled like a blancmange and I only kept it a year or so.
After a couple of years without a bike I got an RD250LC and realised what I had been missing!
If it doesn't feel right after a few months, then it probably isn't what you want.
But it handled like a blancmange and I only kept it a year or so.
After a couple of years without a bike I got an RD250LC and realised what I had been missing!
If it doesn't feel right after a few months, then it probably isn't what you want.
Funnily enough an 899 Panigale. I enjoyed a test ride on one and later had a really good ride on a 959. However couldn’t stand the looks of the exhaust on the 959 and picked up an 899 instead. Although I liked it I never loved it and even with earplugs the noise of the exhaust was annoying. Wasn’t sad to sell it off. Replaced it with a GSXR 750 which was much better.
Yamaha 660 Tenere
Nice bike 1 up, but bought it as a mid-weight tourer for my (now) wife and I to knock about on. We wanted to go away for weekends and found ourselves jumping on the bike on a Friday afternoon and heading somewhere on the motorway. Playing over the weekend and then motorwaying back home.
It got tiresome with the throttle pinned for a while. Shame because it was fun knocking around.
Replaced it with a 1200GSA which was and is amazing! On which was our first journey was a last minute trip to the Isle of Wight. Was night and day and within about 10 minutes, I knew it was the best money I’d spent in quite some time!
Nice bike 1 up, but bought it as a mid-weight tourer for my (now) wife and I to knock about on. We wanted to go away for weekends and found ourselves jumping on the bike on a Friday afternoon and heading somewhere on the motorway. Playing over the weekend and then motorwaying back home.
It got tiresome with the throttle pinned for a while. Shame because it was fun knocking around.
Replaced it with a 1200GSA which was and is amazing! On which was our first journey was a last minute trip to the Isle of Wight. Was night and day and within about 10 minutes, I knew it was the best money I’d spent in quite some time!
I have a few bikes in the garage, along with a Triumph Sprint 1050 and an Aprilia RSV1000R Factory sites a 1983 Yamaha Rd350LC and most of my miles this year have been clocked up on the 36 year old Yamaha.
Every mile is a smile despite it still being run in.
Maybe a bike I owned back in 1985 is a right now as it was back then for some strange reason.
Every mile is a smile despite it still being run in.
Maybe a bike I owned back in 1985 is a right now as it was back then for some strange reason.
Esceptico said:
Funnily enough an 899 Panigale. I enjoyed a test ride on one and later had a really good ride on a 959. However couldn’t stand the looks of the exhaust on the 959 and picked up an 899 instead. Although I liked it I never loved it and even with earplugs the noise of the exhaust was annoying. Wasn’t sad to sell it off. Replaced it with a GSXR 750 which was much better.
Interesting to hear. I find going up into the upper rev range brilliant, but it's an absolute chore doing any constant 30-40mph speed. Can't help keep looking at street triple 765 Rs's now...Thinking about putting the bike back to standard, flogging the bits and potentially even getting a bit of money out of it.
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