Which sporty road bike (was bike consolidation)
- dern
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Which sporty road bike (was bike consolidation)
Instead of swapping out bikes for a single bike I'm going to chop in my 950SM for a single bike. The use will be mainly weekend play and occasional track use. I have an adv for distance, a cbr1000rr for a trackbike and a drz for mud. I've got the next couple of fridays off and get paid soon so which of these would you choose to take out to play on. I'm 6ft 1in tall btw, just in case that matters. It's got to have a bit of punch, be fun on the road and rideable for more than an hour without crippling me.
The most important things to me about how a bike feels in order are... throttle feel (hate jerky throttles, had a 990 superduke and it was the worst), smooth gear changes and chassis feel (hate pushy numb front ends). I have a budget of about 9k but I'm not after the newest bike for that, just the most fun and happy to buy an older bike that costs less.
The bikes in the list are the ones I've considered so far. There's no cbr1000rr as I already 'av one, there's no R1 as I've had one and I don't want another, there's no bmws as the one I've had was unreliable and I hear a lot of stories to say that they still are.
Sorry if you're bored of the question but I need a distraction today. Cheers.
The most important things to me about how a bike feels in order are... throttle feel (hate jerky throttles, had a 990 superduke and it was the worst), smooth gear changes and chassis feel (hate pushy numb front ends). I have a budget of about 9k but I'm not after the newest bike for that, just the most fun and happy to buy an older bike that costs less.
The bikes in the list are the ones I've considered so far. There's no cbr1000rr as I already 'av one, there's no R1 as I've had one and I don't want another, there's no bmws as the one I've had was unreliable and I hear a lot of stories to say that they still are.
Sorry if you're bored of the question but I need a distraction today. Cheers.
- Yorick
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- weeksy
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- Skub
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Re: Which sporty road bike (was bike consolidation)
Of all of those,the Gixxer will be a great road bike and track bike.
I haven't ridden any modern ZX10Rs,so I can't say,but the rest of them will not be comfy for the road.
I haven't ridden any modern ZX10Rs,so I can't say,but the rest of them will not be comfy for the road.
"Be kind to past versions of yourself that didn't know what you know now."
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Walt Whitman
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- dern
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Re: Which sporty road bike (was bike consolidation)
I used to have a 748 senna and it was the most disappointing bike I've had. That doesn't reflect any other model but when I came to sell is the experience of these ducati people coming to my house being the most irritating, prissy, picky, beardy tossers has pretty much put me off the brand
- Skub
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Re: Which sporty road bike (was bike consolidation)
Sounds like a BMW GS rider's day out.
"Be kind to past versions of yourself that didn't know what you know now."
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- dern
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Re: Which sporty road bike (was bike consolidation)
I was thinking about going to see this one in the morning... https://www.moto-line.co.uk/stock/2016- ... p-edition/
- dern
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Re: Which sporty road bike (was bike consolidation)
Oh christ, another bike that was massively overrated based on my experiences.
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Re: Which sporty road bike (was bike consolidation)
I have a soft spot for the Aprilia, very nearly bought one. Loved the way it rode but the riding position killed my wrists (didn't know I had Carpal Tunnel issues at the time).
Had a Falco for a while, very under-rated bike. No idea what the spares situation is now, it was pretty dire when I had the Falco.
Had a Falco for a while, very under-rated bike. No idea what the spares situation is now, it was pretty dire when I had the Falco.
- Skub
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Re: Which sporty road bike (was bike consolidation)
@mangocrazy could tell ya. He has a really tidy example.Hairybiker84 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 17, 2022 11:00 am I have a soft spot for the Aprilia, very nearly bought one. Loved the way it rode but the riding position killed my wrists (didn't know I had Carpal Tunnel issues at the time).
Had a Falco for a while, very under-rated bike. No idea what the spares situation is now, it was pretty dire when I had the Falco.
"Be kind to past versions of yourself that didn't know what you know now."
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Re: Which sporty road bike (was bike consolidation)
I really liked the RC8 I rode too, the most razor sharp handling bike I've ever ridden, sort of like a telepathic 916. Overall package was a bit lacking though.
- dern
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Re: Which sporty road bike (was bike consolidation)
This was the R1 I chopped in against the GS...
It was a massive mistake but I was looking for something a lot easier to ride. I'd been ill for a while with an inner ear balance thing and every ride on the R1 terrified me. I rode the R1 home the first day I had the problem and was so confused I tried to leave the A34 on a slip road that was joining the dual carriageway. I bounced over the kerb and came to a stop on the grass verge upright thankfully. Took me a couple of years to feel at home on a bike again after I got better. Still, fuck it, better now
It was a massive mistake but I was looking for something a lot easier to ride. I'd been ill for a while with an inner ear balance thing and every ride on the R1 terrified me. I rode the R1 home the first day I had the problem and was so confused I tried to leave the A34 on a slip road that was joining the dual carriageway. I bounced over the kerb and came to a stop on the grass verge upright thankfully. Took me a couple of years to feel at home on a bike again after I got better. Still, fuck it, better now
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Re: Which sporty road bike (was bike consolidation)
Only ridden one R1, when they bought out the 'big bang' version, lovely engine and power delivery but every Japanese four cylinder sports bike leaves me a bit cold somehow, not sure why. I'm not quite as tall as you but have long legs so find most of them cramped. Had a sorted ZX12r for a couple of years, regret ever selling it.dern wrote: ↑Thu Mar 17, 2022 11:24 am This was the R1 I chopped in against the GS...
It was a massive mistake but I was looking for something a lot easier to ride. I'd been ill for a while with an inner ear balance thing and every ride on the R1 terrified me. I rode the R1 home the first day I had the problem and was so confused I tried to leave the A34 on a slip road that was joining the dual carriageway. I bounced over the kerb and came to a stop on the grass verge upright thankfully. Took me a couple of years to feel at home on a bike again after I got better. Still, fuck it, better now
Your RX8 too?
- KungFooBob
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- weeksy
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Re: Which sporty road bike (was bike consolidation)
the 5VY was an awesome machine but devastatingly quick for me.... like insane quick !!!
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- dern
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Re: Which sporty road bike (was bike consolidation)
2005.
- weeksy
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Re: Which sporty road bike (was bike consolidation)
2004-2006 Underseat exhaust model as per his picture.
- mangocrazy
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Re: Which sporty road bike (was bike consolidation)
Never really had any problems getting spares. If Griff at AP Workshops in Tamworth can't sort you, then UltimateParts.net have very good stocks of Falco spares. I know in the early/mid 2000s things were rough with spare parts availability , but a lot of that was due to problems at Aprilia UK and in Italy. Since Piaggio took over they've sorted the spares situation. But the Falco has been out of production for over 15 years, so a lot of parts (bodywork especially) are NLA new. But that's the case with any old bike, to be fair.Skub wrote: ↑Thu Mar 17, 2022 11:03 am@mangocrazy could tell ya. He has a really tidy example.Hairybiker84 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 17, 2022 11:00 am I have a soft spot for the Aprilia, very nearly bought one. Loved the way it rode but the riding position killed my wrists (didn't know I had Carpal Tunnel issues at the time).
Had a Falco for a while, very under-rated bike. No idea what the spares situation is now, it was pretty dire when I had the Falco.
There is no cloud, just somebody else's computer.
- dern
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Re: Which sporty road bike (was bike consolidation)
It was pretty good but quite raw compared to my cbr1000rr. Quite comfortable and rode it to Lancaster and back to Newbury in a weekend and it was fine. I test rode a gsxr1000K5 at the same time and much preferred the suzuki engine but the yamaha was way more comfortable and I didn't really know about rearsets at the time so bought the r1.Hairybiker84 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 17, 2022 11:32 am Only ridden one R1, when they bought out the 'big bang' version, lovely engine and power delivery but every Japanese four cylinder sports bike leaves me a bit cold somehow, not sure why. I'm not quite as tall as you but have long legs so find most of them cramped. Had a sorted ZX12r for a couple of years, regret ever selling it.
Your RX8 too?
The rx8 was my wife's car for a while. Great fun to drive until the engine blew up so we had it rebuilt but the body wasn't great. So bought a really nice blue one with a dead engine and transferred the rebuilt engine to the blue one. At the same time I had a kit car with an rx7 turbo engine it which blew up and i had rebuilt for track days. I then sold that as I got fed up of only getting halfway through trackdays before something falling off. I then bought a red rx8 with a dead engine and had a ported engine built for that and stripped it for track days and then something gave out in that and we stepped away from Mazdas and I took up riding bikes on track instead. Good fun, high maintenance.