What cheap first-time bike for big bloke?
Discussion
I passed my UK licence in 2018 (29 years after my car licence), and then almost immediately moved to Los Angeles. I've put about 4000 miles on a few different rental bikes while I work out what I like. I'm 6'5" and 16 stone, so I need a bit of room and I'm pretty comfortable with 225kg+ bikes. I ride slower than I drive, and I'm perfectly happy to pootle along and enjoy the scenery, so long as the bike can handle an hour or two at 80mph+ on the freeway to get out of LA.
I enjoyed a V-Strom 650 and BMW R1200RT for 750ish mile roadtrips around Ireland and California respectively, while a Harley ElectraGlide felt very clumsy on a 1200 mile trip down the West Coast. Yamaha's FZ8 and FZ6 were both fun for a weekend, while the FZ07 (MT07 over there) felt oddly sluggish on the freeway under my weight. I tried a new Kawasaki Z400 at a dealer day and it was lovely on back roads, but there's no way I'll ever get my wife (5'10", 11 stone) to spend more than 15 minutes on the back of it.
I'm finally in a place to spend a little bit of money on a toy, and mostly I'll use it for daytrips to the beach/mountains, and occasional weekends away with my wife to go camping in the desert. $2000-2500 over here will stretch to 1100 and 1150cc BMW Boxers, older V-Stroms (650s and 1000s seem to cost the same), 955i Tigers/Sprints, and a very few FJR1300s.
Honda ST1300s, BMW 1200 Boxers with sub-100k mileage, BMW parallel twins and Ducati ST4s are essentially out of budget at this time.
Any thoughts or advice on buying and owning a 10-20 year old bike, and have I missed any good optionsfor a big lump like me?
I enjoyed a V-Strom 650 and BMW R1200RT for 750ish mile roadtrips around Ireland and California respectively, while a Harley ElectraGlide felt very clumsy on a 1200 mile trip down the West Coast. Yamaha's FZ8 and FZ6 were both fun for a weekend, while the FZ07 (MT07 over there) felt oddly sluggish on the freeway under my weight. I tried a new Kawasaki Z400 at a dealer day and it was lovely on back roads, but there's no way I'll ever get my wife (5'10", 11 stone) to spend more than 15 minutes on the back of it.
I'm finally in a place to spend a little bit of money on a toy, and mostly I'll use it for daytrips to the beach/mountains, and occasional weekends away with my wife to go camping in the desert. $2000-2500 over here will stretch to 1100 and 1150cc BMW Boxers, older V-Stroms (650s and 1000s seem to cost the same), 955i Tigers/Sprints, and a very few FJR1300s.
Honda ST1300s, BMW 1200 Boxers with sub-100k mileage, BMW parallel twins and Ducati ST4s are essentially out of budget at this time.
Any thoughts or advice on buying and owning a 10-20 year old bike, and have I missed any good optionsfor a big lump like me?
Edited by NNH on Wednesday 19th February 17:43
BuzzBravado said:
A993LAD said:
Early vfr1200 with dct
Cheap as chips, fast, comfortable and great for pillions.
I've often thought these have dropped in value more than expected. Is it just because of its looks? Cheap as chips, fast, comfortable and great for pillions.
Edited by BuzzBravado on Tuesday 18th February 10:02
I think the main issue was that Honda spent ages saying they'd basically reinvented the motorbike, then revealed something that was slower than the Blackbird, held less fuel than the blackbird and was much the same weight (I think) as the Blackbird.
Essentially it didn't live up to the hype or the bike it was replacing. Even though they said it wasn't a replacement. Looks were also somewhat challenging but the fairings were extremely effective.
Bloody good bike though, I loved mine. 150mph has never felt so sensible, like it should be allowed everywhere!
Thanks for all the suggestions so far!
VFR1200 - very interesting, but they don't seem to be in my price range yet
FZ1 / ZX10R - there do seem to be a few around, so I've added them to my shopping list
Caponord - very tempting, but not many around here. There do seem to be some Futuras, but the very short build run makes me wonder about getting parts.
V-Strom - I did like the 650. Is the 1000 much heavier to ride?
Oddly, there are far more big bikes in the classifieds in San Diego and San Francisco than here in LA. There may be a short road trip involved...
VFR1200 - very interesting, but they don't seem to be in my price range yet
FZ1 / ZX10R - there do seem to be a few around, so I've added them to my shopping list
Caponord - very tempting, but not many around here. There do seem to be some Futuras, but the very short build run makes me wonder about getting parts.
V-Strom - I did like the 650. Is the 1000 much heavier to ride?
Oddly, there are far more big bikes in the classifieds in San Diego and San Francisco than here in LA. There may be a short road trip involved...
Can you stretch to a 1050 Tiger?, great all rounder (I traded mine for the VFR).
Blackbirds are still great bikes, and are mechanically tough. They may have a bit more go than you'd like though, depending on how you view speeding tickets.
I don't know if they did a Suzuki 1200 Bandit over there. Cheaply built but a good mix of power and comfort.
Early speed triples or sprints would also fit the bill, but again I don't think they were popular in the states.
Blackbirds are still great bikes, and are mechanically tough. They may have a bit more go than you'd like though, depending on how you view speeding tickets.
I don't know if they did a Suzuki 1200 Bandit over there. Cheaply built but a good mix of power and comfort.
Early speed triples or sprints would also fit the bill, but again I don't think they were popular in the states.
Speed addicted said:
Can you stretch to a 1050 Tiger?, great all rounder (I traded mine for the VFR).
Blackbirds are still great bikes, and are mechanically tough. They may have a bit more go than you'd like though, depending on how you view speeding tickets.
I don't know if they did a Suzuki 1200 Bandit over there. Cheaply built but a good mix of power and comfort.
Early speed triples or sprints would also fit the bill, but again I don't think they were popular in the states.
1050 Tigers are pretty rare in this price range, but when they are available they tend to have all the goodies. I gather that 75k+ mileage isn't a major worry for the Triumph triple?Blackbirds are still great bikes, and are mechanically tough. They may have a bit more go than you'd like though, depending on how you view speeding tickets.
I don't know if they did a Suzuki 1200 Bandit over there. Cheaply built but a good mix of power and comfort.
Early speed triples or sprints would also fit the bill, but again I don't think they were popular in the states.
NNH said:
1050 Tigers are pretty rare in this price range, but when they are available they tend to have all the goodies. I gather that 75k+ mileage isn't a major worry for the Triumph triple?
Umm.. to be honest that sort of mileage is pretty rare here. They should be fine (all bikes should really), I’d be buying on condition with a relatively low budget. The triumph motors were pretty noisy from new so don’t worry if it makes some odd noises.
I’d check the brakes (discs aren’t cheap), chain, suspension and consumables. If you need to do a suspension refresh and change the brake discs it’ll make a cheap bike quite expensive.
The Tiger is a really good all rounder though, and is sized more for the larger gent to tour in comfort
Speed addicted said:
Umm.. to be honest that sort of mileage is pretty rare here.
I'm noticing that US bikes often have big mileages on them (except Harleys, which often seem to be virtually unused). Used prices here also seem to stay higher for longer - there's virtually nothing under $2k that runs.NNH said:
Speed addicted said:
Umm.. to be honest that sort of mileage is pretty rare here.
I'm noticing that US bikes often have big mileages on them (except Harleys, which often seem to be virtually unused). Used prices here also seem to stay higher for longer - there's virtually nothing under $2k that runs.You would struggle to pick up anything decent here for similar money, that's about £1400? I'd maybe consider upping the budget to $3k if you can, you may find that it's a better part of the market.
Edited by Speed addicted on Wednesday 19th February 08:53
You mentioned BMW boxers in your first post, I've got a 2002 1150GS which was/is my first 'big bike'. Mines pretty tidy at about 36,000 miles, it soaks up the miles and is more sprightly than the size suggests. It causes me no fuss whatsoever and apart from servicing and normal consumables, all good over the last few years.
I keep looking at newer stuff but I can't really fault it for what I do so not been tempted to change (yet!)
I keep looking at newer stuff but I can't really fault it for what I do so not been tempted to change (yet!)
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