Small capacity retro/naked/street bike?

[Pizzaeatingking]

I flogged all my bikes a few years back, once I went self employed I no longer had the time to use them and needed to divert funds to the business. The past couple of weeks I've been toying with getting another 2 wheel'd vehicle, my last two bikes were a XSR700 and a Piaggio BV350, I'd say I had the most fun on those over all the super fast bikes I had. Similar to the cars I guess, I have a riot in my Panda 100HP since I can make use of all of the performance on the road and not get in trouble. The Piaggio in particular I could fly about on, quicker than most traffic but also never in danger of a ticket.

I've been looking about and there are a good selection of 3/4/500cc bikes at the moment thanks to the A2 licence I'm guessing, has anyone got any experience with these sized bikes? In my head they'd be fun, bit more power than the scooter but with gears for engagement, less power than the XSR which while not ballistic but still felt quite quick at times.

I'm never going to tour on it, commute on it or use it for anything other than a play about round some backroads and maybe very occasionally visit family in London on it. I don't want something that will struggle to keep up with traffic or overtake the 40mph club else I'd just get a MSX 125 or something. There's also the consideration of build quality I know 125s often are built to a budget, while I'm not expecting BMW levels of fit and finish it'd be good to know it'll last a few years.

I'm just thinking one could make for a bit of cheap fun, if I can pick something up for £3k perhaps then I wouldn't feel guilty if it didn't get used much. My lid is well out of date and all my kit too big for me since I lost weight so I'll not be in a position to test ride just yet, thought I'd ask here in the meantime!

TIA

[66mpg]

When I passed my test four years ago yesterday (16/09/21) I got a brand new BMW G310R. 164Kg (IIRC), 34bhp. Capable of about 88mph, I averaged 79mpg over 7k miles. Radial mounted front brake, braided lines. Revs to 10500rpm. Nice gearbox. Handles well. Buy a 71 plate with LED lighting because it has a ride by wire throttle that fixed the stalling issues that plagued the earlier models.

I have no experience of the KTM 390 Duke but it’s worth a look.

Triumph Speed 400 is nice but with low gearing in first, second and third and a rev limit of 8000rpm I kept hitting the rev limiter trying to get away from the lights quickly on my test ride. Probably can be improved by going up one tooth on the front sprocket.

[Alex Z]

I’d find it hard not to go with a BSA or Royal Enfield.

On the BSA front, it’s either a used Goldstar or a new Bantam for £3.5k
https://www.bsacompany.co.uk/bsa-bantam/

With Royal Enfield there’s a whole range to choose from in budget, and even some big discounts on new bikes with a Continental 650 for £4K
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/bike-details/20250514...

Or a Scram 411 for £3k
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/bike-details/20250815...