Best of the bike bargain basement...

[Iang84]

crofty1984 said:

Jazoli said:

What's the theoretical budget? £1500 like on the car side?

I nominate this GSX650F I've just picked up to fettle over the winter, cost just over a grand, 15k miles, on an '08 plate, £200 on powder coating and service bits should give a decent return come sale time.

Edited by Jazoli on Monday 25th December 23:04

What's it like?
From the reviews I've read they look like "small sports tourer" to me. Perfect mix of a fairing to hide behind unlike a naked, not physically massive like a full-on sports tourer/adventure bike, reliable with enough power to have fun and not all cramped up like a full on sports bike.

They are a decent bike I've had mine since new its now at 50k with the only works needed are routine servicing and fork seals mainly due to all the speed bumps in London. Suzuki recommend servicing every 3.5k miles but pushing to 4k is considered normal valve clearances are every 4th service ie 14k or 16k depending on what interval you follow, mine hasn't needed any adjustments in the 3 checks I've had done. They are a bit lardy at 215ish kg and feel top heavy when pushing them about but lose that feeling when riding, the suspension is on the plush side of sports touring and if you like to push hard you will feel the bike wallow a bit, they crash well and if you do break something all the running gear is based on the bandit of the same year so parts are readily available and service parts are cheap. It certainly wont set the world alight at 84hp iirc but they have plenty of torque available low down and mine rarely goes past 8000rpm because of this, tank range is between 170-200 depending on how hard you thrash it with first reserve (5 litres) coming on about 45 miles before that.
Anything else you wish to know just ask

[Jazoli]

Iang84 said:

They are a decent bike I've had mine since new its now at 50k with the only works needed are routine servicing and fork seals mainly due to all the speed bumps in London. Suzuki recommend servicing every 3.5k miles but pushing to 4k is considered normal valve clearances are every 4th service ie 14k or 16k depending on what interval you follow, mine hasn't needed any adjustments in the 3 checks I've had done. They are a bit lardy at 215ish kg and feel top heavy when pushing them about but lose that feeling when riding, the suspension is on the plush side of sports touring and if you like to push hard you will feel the bike wallow a bit, they crash well and if you do break something all the running gear is based on the bandit of the same year so parts are readily available and service parts are cheap. It certainly wont set the world alight at 84hp iirc but they have plenty of torque available low down and mine rarely goes past 8000rpm because of this, tank range is between 170-200 depending on how hard you thrash it with first reserve (5 litres) coming on about 45 miles before that.
Anything else you wish to know just ask

Still not ridden mine yet I've been too busy at work to get an awful lot done but it is all back together, just needs a set of pads for the front then I'll ride it and decide whether to keep it for the season or move it on.

[Iang84]

Jazoli said:

Still not ridden mine yet I've been too busy at work to get an awful lot done but it is all back together, just needs a set of pads for the front then I'll ride it and decide whether to keep it for the season or move it on.

I've always used ebc hh and find they give a good enough balance on longevity and power and if you can be bothered change to braided hoses as they really do help with this bike plus its nice and simple as anything before 2010 model doesn't have abs, but from what I remember of the bikes I've seen you put through the forum I think you might find it a bit dull

[Jazoli]

Iang84 said:

I've always used ebc hh and find they give a good enough balance on longevity and power and if you can be bothered change to braided hoses as they really do help with this bike plus its nice and simple as anything before 2010 model doesn't have abs, but from what I remember of the bikes I've seen you put through the forum I think you might find it a bit dull

I also use ebc HH usually, although I like Brembo pads on the quicker stuff, as for dull, we'll see, thought the Versys was going to be dull but was anything but.

[Iang84]

Jazoli said:

I also use ebc HH usually, although I like Brembo pads on the quicker stuff, as for dull, we'll see, thought the Versys was going to be dull but was anything but.

I don't think the bike warrants Brembo pads unless you can get them relatively cheap, also I have a haynes manual if you want to check any torque setting when you are planning on some spannering

[Chongwong]

She's done big miles, but the newest bike in the thread so far.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[Jazoli]

Chongwong said:

She's done big miles, but the newest bike in the thread so far.

I like that SV, high miles wouldn't worry me, it looks well looked after. I reckon that will sell really quickly to a London commuter.

Iang84 said:

I don't think the bike warrants Brembo pads unless you can get them relatively cheap, also I have a haynes manual if you want to check any torque setting when you are planning on some spannering

Thanks, I have a copy of the manual on my pc, torque settings are very similar for most bikes anyway, they are only nuts and bolts, all the spannering has already been done