Best 600 to 900 naked bike?

[Baldchap]

I went R6 to Brutale 800RR. Phenomenal road bike and the best noise ever.

Plus, that exhaust.

[MrGman]

TheCommuter said:

and what's wrong with a 4 cylinder bike? honest question

For me most of them are just a bit boring, my track bike is a jap IL4 and that’s fine as its a nice power delivery and you can scream it everywhere, for a road bike though I like something that sounds good, and something that’s a little more characterful with its power delivery.

[7w7]

TheCommuter said:

7w7 said:

4-cylinder though.

and what's wrong with a 4 cylinder bike? honest question

Nothing, but in this case he is looking for a bike that is fun at low speeds. 1-3 cylinders sounds ideal

[7w7]

7w7 said:

TheCommuter said:

7w7 said:

4-cylinder though.

and what's wrong with a 4 cylinder bike? honest question

Nothing, but in this case he is looking for a bike that is fun at low speeds. 1-3 cylinders sounds ideal

Not saying you can't have fun on a 4-cylinder of course, but I have one at the moment and I just find it quite dull, even though I am riding faster. On my previous bike (KTM 690) I could hit the redline in every gear and still be doing sensible speeds.

That bike was hilariously unreliable though...

[Dodd90]

TheCommuter said:

7w7 said:

4-cylinder though.

and what's wrong with a 4 cylinder bike? honest question

I must say I’ve recently left an in-line 4 for a V-twin, and also tried other engine layouts and don’t think I’d go back. Especially some of these 3 cylinders. The noise a street triple makes with a nice can on is almost un-beatable!

[Grindle]

My B King has 4 cylinders and is certainly fun, most recently showing a Lamborghini Gallardo owner who's boss (20-110 ish) in Cumbria. (That was kms/hour officer...)
But i'd forgotten how heavy it and my Hayabusa actually are, you get used to lugging them around the driveway. Lighter can be better sometimes.
Anyway a mate has suggested a Ducati 1100 Hypermotard or Monster, now they could be about perfect. 1078cc of old fashioned 2 valve heads and plain old air cooling. No radiator or water hoses and a simple exhaust system so less cluttered than the 916/996 4v Monsters. A useful 100 bhp and a quite light kerb weight.
Brembo brakes on the Evo version, ABS and traction control. Jeepers that's a lot of great gear, Italian classic oomph and sublime noise for 5 grand.

[yellowstreak]

I currently have a KTM 690 SMCR. With lower gearing, exhaust system and power commander its a crazy little bike - for 60-70 miles of A and B roads anyway. The 990 SMR would be a good compromise between the single cylinder supermoto and the 1290 superduke.

[dibblecorse]

If not going new, look at the Hyperstrada with the 821cc engine in it, proper hoot ....

[Volant]

Bloody love my MV Brutale 800 RR. It’s hard to make a naked pretty or different, but it is. Trellis frame, single sided swing arm, triple exhaust. Its been completely reliable (far more so than my 990 KTM) Dealers are few are far between, but the two I’ve dealt with (bought from the one in Barnsley and dealt post purchase with the one in Worthing) have been excellent, really excellent.

I have always had sports bike but this feels like the perfect road bike for me. Still sporty, but better for the road 99% of the time. Had to get the suspension set up, mind. And 140bhp certainly feels quick enough.

I like the fact it’s rare and slightly leftfield too.

You’d struggle to get one for £5000 though, they’re more £7000-8000.

Can pretty easily get onto a base 800 (or 675, although don’t know why you would...) for £5000 though.

Edited by Volant on Friday 13th December 14:19

[TheCommuter]

7w7 said:

Not saying you can't have fun on a 4-cylinder of course, but I have one at the moment and I just find it quite dull, even though I am riding faster. On my previous bike (KTM 690) I could hit the redline in every gear and still be doing sensible speeds.

That bike was hilariously unreliable though...

Yes I know what you mean. I currently own a Ninja 650 which is a twin and a 1400 which is a 4 cylinder motorbike. They're both fun but the 650 is so much more accessible as the redline is not at crazy speeds and there is a bit of character to the twin.

Having said that the warp speed mid range and top end on the 1400 is fun also; just not quite as accessible as you're in go to jail speeds

[Pegscratch]

Duke 790. Great little bike and a winner over the MT which is chastised for it's suspension.

[Janluke]

Pegscratch said:

Duke 790. Great little bike and a winner over the MT which is chastised for it's suspension.

And getting quite close to 5k now, great buy for that money

[V8RX7]

Volant said:

Its been completely reliable (far more so than my 990 KTM)

What went wrong with the 990

(I'm thinking about buying one)

[NNH]

I had a weekend on an FZ8 earlier this year. It's a bit hefty, but made a lovely noise.

[Volant]

V8RX7 said:

Volant said:

Its been completely reliable (far more so than my 990 KTM)

What went wrong with the 990

(I'm thinking about buying one)

While not reliability per se, overall fit and finish was poor, the bolts in particular are very very mild steel, they can rust if you don’t get the bike properly dry after a single wash, let alone let the elements at them.
Also not reliability, but had to get it remapped as the 990 fuel injection is super snatchy (and I like a ‘direct’ throttle) Mine was an SMT, but I believe the carbed 950s are much better.

The frame round near the rear shock was starting to lose its powder coating in a big way (2013 bike, 18,000 miles)

Got stuck when the clutch slave cylinder failed, so was stuck in gear, but bike turned off (couldn’t start the bike) Had to be recovered. Oberon slave cylinder went in, vast improvement.

Had 3 different oil leaks from the engine, one of which I was somewhere in mid wales, miles from anywhere, left me with oil all over the rear tyre. Spent A LOT of time and money chasing those oil leaks around.

Coolant leaks, All. The. Time.

Died on me twice, total power loss at speed. Pretty unpleasant trying to coast to a stop on a busy dual carriageway. New battery fitted (old one only a couple years old and well looked after) Never got to the bottom of the second cut out, electrical gremlin somewhere.

Fantastic bike when it worked, rode so well and a great compromise between performance/fun and practicality, but didn’t love it enough to forgive the looks or the reliability. I had it 2 years and had to be recovered 3 times.

For me the last straw was when I was the mid wales oil leak. I was enroute to the Isle of Man, really starting to gel, thinking maybe I was actually falling for the bike and had got its niggles sorted, I stopped after a ‘squirm’ from the rear to find my boot and tyre absolutely covered in oil AGAIN. I had it sorted, again, and I’d sold it within a fortnight.

Great bike, poor build quality....

[Birky_41]

MrGman said:

For me most of them are just a bit boring, my track bike is a jap IL4 and that’s fine as its a nice power delivery and you can scream it everywhere, for a road bike though I like something that sounds good, and something that’s a little more characterful with its power delivery.

X2

My track bike is an IL4

[Wildfire]

hureciamirl1935 said:

Sorry, you realized late after selling it. I hope you get another soon since you love it.

To be honest it was part of a larger co*k up in life. I moved jobs, traded the 821 in for a 1200S and 6 weeks in I am so busy that I haven’t managed to pick the 1200 up and really want to get out of the job.

Annoyingly the 821 was a great ride, had some nice parts on it and I owned it outright!

Made a great noise too, with shotgun Termis!

[J50N WA]

I've just bought an older low miles Monster S4r, love the character (I owned one 10 year ago but let it go as I was killing the milage). Enough grunt, nice torque band, Good support network for the Ducatis's, loads of custom bits available.

Hornet 600 F7 +, easy bike, 100hp screaming engine, great handling, super reliable, never ever break, but margarine boring. And anything over 60 a chore as the gearing is so low.. 60mph = 6k rpm in top, always searching for another gear..

[V8RX7]

Volant said:

While not reliability per se, overall fit and finish was poor,

Great bike, poor build quality....

Thanks, sounds like a TVR I used to own

[Krikkit]

Grindle said:

Anyway a mate has suggested a Ducati 1100 Hypermotard or Monster, now they could be about perfect. 1078cc of old fashioned 2 valve heads and plain old air cooling. No radiator or water hoses and a simple exhaust system so less cluttered than the 916/996 4v Monsters. A useful 100 bhp and a quite light kerb weight.
Brembo brakes on the Evo version, ABS and traction control. Jeepers that's a lot of great gear, Italian classic oomph and sublime noise for 5 grand.

Have to say that's exactly what put me on my Monster 796 - light, air cooled, Brembo brakes, great noise, looks good to me (YMMV), and the quality is sublime. 85 hp is enough for me on a 170kg bike.

Also agree about IL4's, they do nothing for me as something to enjoy, but on a track bike I wouldn't want anything else.