What Bike

Author
Discussion

raceboy

Original Poster:

13,448 posts

295 months

Wednesday 7th April 2004
quotequote all
The 125 screamer is serviced, MOTed and ready for a buyer
Now what do I replace it with?
I thought I was decided on a 600 Bandit but the more people tell me it's a bland boring not the fast bag of nails the more I'm undecided
I only use the bike to commute, about 15 miles of windy single carrageway A & B roads with quite a bit of traffic. Everyday whatever the weather, sits outside in company carpark and garaged at home
Budget of about £2500 and the Bandit insurance was going to be £100 so I don't want to be paying a great deal more, 1 years riding experiance on the screamer but I'm no Foggy
So whats my options?

Incorrigible

13,668 posts

276 months

Wednesday 7th April 2004
quotequote all
Quite a rare one but have you considered the Honda CBR600

raceboy

Original Poster:

13,448 posts

295 months

Wednesday 7th April 2004
quotequote all
Incorrigible said:
Quite a rare one but have you considered the Honda CBR600

I'm after something a little newer really, and don't really want anything to 'sports bike' ish I like the naked, sit up and beg riding style,

stooz

3,005 posts

299 months

Wednesday 7th April 2004
quotequote all
a bandit is a good capable machine, but dull. for £2500 your going to get an older model that requires regular valve checks. services therefore are generally more expenses compared like for like on other "commuter"

not sure on pricing, but consider a fazer or an older triumph speed triple 900/955

barry sheene

1,524 posts

298 months

Wednesday 7th April 2004
quotequote all
raceboy said:

I thought I was decided on a 600 Bandit but the more people tell me it's a bland boring not the fast bag of nails the more I'm undecided


compared to the 125 it's rather fast

raceboy

Original Poster:

13,448 posts

295 months

Wednesday 7th April 2004
quotequote all
barry sheene said:

compared to the 125 it's rather fast

Downhill with a tail wind (on private land) it used to top out at 90mph always used to look faster as the speedo was in kph

Incorrigible

13,668 posts

276 months

Wednesday 7th April 2004
quotequote all
raceboy said:
I'm after something a little newer really, and don't really want anything to 'sports bike' ish I like the naked, sit up and beg riding style,
There are 98 ones for that kind of price. only reccoemnd the CBR6 'cause I had one for commuting and general hooning for a few years

It was absolutely faultless, and the fairing makes a big difference in the rain. Definately not too "sporty" for a commute

barry sheene

1,524 posts

298 months

Wednesday 7th April 2004
quotequote all
top-end is rather meaningless, it's how you get there that's important

tycho

11,969 posts

288 months

Wednesday 7th April 2004
quotequote all
I'd go with the Speed Triple suggestion, I love mine, it's the '95 885 model and they can be picked up quite cheaply now.

raceboy

Original Poster:

13,448 posts

295 months

Wednesday 7th April 2004
quotequote all
Ease of getting service/replacement/fancy bits is a consideration, I'm not going through the Cagiva nightmare again

Dunc B

196 posts

288 months

Wednesday 7th April 2004
quotequote all
What about a 600 Hornet then,should get a 2000 one for about that money.
Speed triple very nice but a bit heavy straight from the Cagiva

pesty

42,655 posts

271 months

Wednesday 7th April 2004
quotequote all
SV600? supposed to be very good

want to buy a GSXR750?

Leadfoot

1,910 posts

296 months

Wednesday 7th April 2004
quotequote all
raceboy said:

I like the naked, sit up and beg riding style,


Are you sure? Things will be a bit different on a faster bike & you might soon tire of the constant wind blast.

iguana

7,194 posts

275 months

Wednesday 7th April 2004
quotequote all
Bandit bland! you gotta be kidding, fair enough comparison vs say a Speed triple or a Duke but against other budget stuff nah- ever heard one & ridden one with a race pipe??

Pretty much indestructable engine although suspension is a bit soft as standard & gets worse with age, but a Hagon or similar shock & upgraded fork springs & new oil make a massive improvement- although to be fair its never going to handle as sweetly as say a Duke monster- murder a monster 600 on power tho.

Yes its outclassed by a Hornet or Fazer on grunt but you do have to be a pretty good rider to make that advantage stick, & coming off a 125 its gunna feel like a flippin' R1 for a long while!


Having said all of that I would personally probably go for an SV650S over a Bandit given a £2500+ budget.

barry sheene

1,524 posts

298 months

Wednesday 7th April 2004
quotequote all
A chap at work has an SV with an oem zorst.

Sounds rather lovely for a rice-burner

>> Edited by barry sheene on Wednesday 7th April 20:17

cinqster

1,057 posts

294 months

Thursday 8th April 2004
quotequote all
Has Sir tried the Kawasaki Drifter?

www.mc-kompaniet.se/bilder/nya%20hojar/kawa-01/vn%20800%20drifter%20r%F6d.jpg

>> Edited by cinqster on Thursday 8th April 00:22

barry sheene

1,524 posts

298 months

Thursday 8th April 2004
quotequote all
cinqster said:
Has Sir tried the Kawasaki Drifter?


strangely enough , yes, a few days ago.
The place I get my Trumpet fettled at had one for sale and some chap came in and took it for a test ride, only this one had straight through pipes, sounded absolutely awesome.....grin inducing just watching it with the engine running.

raceboy

Original Poster:

13,448 posts

295 months

Thursday 8th April 2004
quotequote all
cinqster said:
Has Sir tried the Kawasaki Drifter?

Not really my cup of tea
And theres no way I'll get it round the back of the house.
Think I'll be spending the weekend looking in the local bike dealers and seeing what I like the look of
beats joining the thousands at Ikea/Garden Centre/M1 traffic Jam

Tim2100

6,287 posts

272 months

Thursday 8th April 2004
quotequote all
Bandits are only bland depending on what you are comparing it to.

It will be far faster than your screamer!

I had 135mph quite regular on mine, it is slightly down on power compared to the hornet but, the hornet engine is based on the CBR600 engine so all the power that the bandit is down on is all top end.
I had no problem keeping up with anybody on the rideouts i have been on, the only place where people went past me were long straights and those bikes that were quicker than me were 900ninja's and firebades etc. But at everystop i was far more refreshed than any of them.

End of the day if the bandit is so bland then when Bike did the top 100 bikes of all time last year, was the Bandit 600 the ONLY bike to get 3 pages to itself, only the top two had 1 page to themselves the rest all shared.

Ignore peoples opinions who haven't owned a bandit, nearly everybody who has owner a bandit will have loved it. I had a brilliant time on mine, I only changed it cause I wanted a sportsbike.

The only reason people think the bandit is bland is because the magazines compare the bike to Fazer's and hornet's, yes the idea is similar but both those bike have sportsbike engines and are a lot newer.

If you want a bike that is easy to ride, stable, confidence inspiring, fun to ride, reliable hack, sit out in the rain all winter, tour, take lugage, tackle country lanes, commute, take pillions etc etc, then the Bandit is an ideal, nah perfect, bike.

Sorry for the longish post but the constant Bandit bashing on the forum really me off!

Tim.

BU5T4

185 posts

263 months

Friday 9th April 2004
quotequote all

BLAND??? hmmmm!!!
I think not!