Long distance commuter options

[Rockburner]

Erm, yes, it's been a while. Though in my defence I've been a tad busy at work over the last two waves of Covid. Anyways, I've been offered a job in the smoke and it will involve a 100mile each way commute a couple of times a week - the rest of the time I can wfh.

Head says Tmax, Dullville or NC700something. Though for some reason Tmax's have 3k service intervals and higher annual service costs than "normal" bikes.

Heart says KTM890 Adventure or Ducati Multistrada. Might as well ride something that is fun to ride, especially when not commuting. MPG wouldn't be wildly different from Tmax.

Thoughts, suggestions and piss taking ideas?

Apart from the added expense and servicing, I'd agree that 'riding something fun' is HUGELY important. You don't want the commute riding to become something you hate - you have to enjoy it: a) to keep riding fun, and b) to make sure that you stay alert while doing it.

A lot of making the commute fun is taking different routes - so see what the routes are going to be and gear your choice around that somewhat.

Something easy to work on makes a huge difference as well - racking up the miles means keeping on top of maintenance so make it easy on yourself because you won't always be able to get it into dealerships.

Add some extra lights to improve the full-beam (not dipped-beam, dazzling other road users can only lead to problems for you) if you're doing any evening/night riding.

Invest in decent, dry, warm gear - there's nothing worse than freezing your bollox off when you're still only half-way home.

Above all, enjoy it. Congrats on the new job!

[Rockburner]

NC something

NC21 , NC30 kinda thing ?



Bit cramped i thought

I used to do 45 miles each way on a ZXR400: it handled it very well, mind you, I was a lot younger then...

[Rockburner]

Do you have secure parking when you get there? Unattractive to scrotes might be an important feature.

That is a good point.

One of the advantages of the Mirthcycle* was that is was utterly unattractive to thieves. IIRC I even left it somewhere in Central London with the key in it for a whole day and it was still there at 6pm.




* 550Zephyr - actually quite a fun bike to ride once the handling was fettled. Comfy too.

[Taipan]

Hi Mate, Currently using a NC700X DCT as my daily hack. Not a particularly exciting bike obvs, but does the job very well. 8k service intervals and mines returning 72mpg. If you're doing those sort of miles you'll want a shad seat or the original one repacked with a gel insert as its not a comfortable seat and slopes forward.

What sort of costs are you looking at for servicing? Online suggest £700 pa for a Tmax???

I'm sorting out terms and conditions, but hoping to only go into the office 2 days a week, or in extremis when we have flaming bags of dogshit to deal with.

Not serviced it yet, but i'll do it myself anyway. I only buy good oil, but even Honda filters aren't dear. Air filter will get a cleanable one, probably a K&N. Air filter is a bit of a PITA to get to as you have to remove a few panels to get to it, but no real biggie. DCT transmission has an extra filter as well.

I get why some traditional bikers wont like the DCT, but i love autos for commuting work and the DCT is the next level. It has a button version of flappy paddles and is ridiculous easy to drop a gear with a quick thumb press, so it works out really well in traffic. You can actually set it to manual selection only to if you want to, but I've never bothered with it.

As you know London's heavy stop start traffic gets tedious with changing up and down, so having all the advantages of an auto, with the added benefit of manual control is brilliant imo. They also have D and S mode with S mode hanging onto the gears longer as in D mode it changes up stupidly quick. But again, flicking between the modes is just a press of a button. Once you get used to this it all becomes very fluid in operation. You can see why they are the dispatchers hack of choice!

[Mr Nozzle]

Shaft drive, fairings, tall screen, heated grips, top box and panniers for storing kit when you get there and picking up shopping on the way back, comfy riding position, good headlights for commuting in the dark... gotta be an old ST 1100 Pan Euro

[Beancounter]

Shaft drive, fairings, tall screen, heated grips, top box and panniers for storing kit when you get there and picking up shopping on the way back, comfy riding position, good headlights for commuting in the dark... gotta be an old ST 1100 Pan Euro

An ST1100 will bring with it additional daily ULEZ charges.

Hawkman, if you're thinking maxi-scooter, what about the Honda X-Adv? I'm with @Rockburner, you need to enjoy and want to ride your commute bike, otherwise your commute will become something you hate.

[G.P]

I put 40k miles on my Triumph Tiger doing long commutes. A big screen and heated grips go a long way to making the journey more pleasant

[The Spin Doctor]

Hawkman, if you're thinking maxi-scooter, what about the Honda X-Adv? I'm with @Rockburner, you need to enjoy and want to ride your commute bike, otherwise your commute will become something you hate.

The maxi-scooters are all London theft magnets, with the X-Adv at the top of the list. I wouldn't go near one if I were leaving the bike parked up.

[Beancounter]

Hawkman, if you're thinking maxi-scooter, what about the Honda X-Adv? I'm with @Rockburner, you need to enjoy and want to ride your commute bike, otherwise your commute will become something you hate.

The maxi-scooters are all London theft magnets, with the X-Adv at the top of the list. I wouldn't go near one if I were leaving the bike parked up.

That's a good point TBH. Maccecht's first one was nicked from his shed, the thieves really had to put some effort in to get the bike not just out the shed but out the garden and on to the road. It was clearly not an opportunist theft.

[Bigjawa]

K1200GT the across the frame one.

[Whysub]

After commuting 600 miles a week for over 20 years, having a bike for plaesure riding , and an older cheap bike for commuting.

That way I could always hate my choice of bike for commuting, and enjoy my good bike for pleasure or the odd commute when I had the combination of time and good weather to use the longer cross country route.

My last commuter was a £600 Piaggio X-Evo 400 scooter that I used for my last two commuting years. Fantastic weather protection in winter, 90 mpg, amazing luggage capacity and very cheap and easy to maintain.
I so enjoyed riding my RC8R after that piece of crap.

[The Spin Doctor]

After commuting 600 miles a week for over 20 years, having a bike for plaesure riding , and an older cheap bike for commuting.

That way I could always hate my choice of bike for commuting, and enjoy my good bike for pleasure or the odd commute when I had the combination of time and good weather to use the longer cross country route.

My last commuter was a £600 Piaggio X-Evo 400 scooter that I used for my last two commuting years. Fantastic weather protection in winter, 90 mpg, amazing luggage capacity and very cheap and easy to maintain.
I so enjoyed riding my RC8R after that piece of crap.

It was the courier way. A workhorse for... well, work... and something shiny for weekends and holidays.

[The Spin Doctor]

Considered this?

https://www.cfmoto.co.uk/motorcycles/650gt/

[Jody]

There was a zzr14 in the for sale section yesterday !

[Supermofo]

If I was doing that sort of thing I'd go for a maxi scoot I think. No idea on which flavour.

[Hawkman]

Do you have secure parking when you get there? Unattractive to scrotes might be an important feature.

I have something to chain it to - but will look for area closer to my office that is out of view and hopefully somewhere secure. Might have to cart a short almax or something around with me.

[Hawkman]

There was a zzr14 in the for sale section yesterday !

Cheers - Never really got into the sportsbike thing though.

[Hawkman]

Thanks for the all the suggestions so far. Been a bit of a mad week so not logged in much. Rode the route this week as I had to go in and thrash out a contract etc.

Couple of thoughts:
- Need new textiles, my Halvarrsons are over 8 years old and even after a Nikwax tech wash and reproofing there was still some leakage.
- Need a tall screen, or at least something the will keep the road spray off my visor. Reducing noise would be a bonus.
- Heated grips are a must
- Need 50mpg plus to make it reasonable (strangely the 990 SD did 47mpg?)

I'm going to test ride an KTM Adventure 890 soon to see what the fuss is about with the bikes that have electronic everything. Sadly dealer doesn't have a demoe 1290 SD, and apparently they aren't floggging 1290 GTs anymore. I'm with Weeksy on the paying for "bolt on" tech that's already on the bike (i.e £200 plus to switch on the cruise control). Though I see PH in Crawley are flogging them with the Tech pack included.

Not sure about big scoots - mostly dual carriageway at 70mph plus all the way. Do cars etc treat them differently to bikes on the road?

Looked at one or two NC750Xs (and a Triumph Explorer that Premier had). I suspect this is the real world option. I've decided to split the mileage between car and bike too (so car from Dec-March). So will chop my car for a frugal hatchback of some description.

[Whysub]

My ride into London was 3 miles of B-roads, then 57 miles split between dual carriageway and motorway right to the office door.

Most maxi scooters will cruise at 70mph easily. An added benefit of one is the weather protection, just never, ever got wet in the rain, so there is no need for 100% waterproof textiles.

See if you can borrow one, as they are not for everyone, but the benefits outweigh the negatives for commuting.

[Taipan]

I loved commuting on my Tmax, but the riding position isn't for everyone. Great fun though and the best balanced scoot with its centrally mounted engine.