First Bike Thread #4534

Bollocks it is.

Look, I'm willing to prove how good this bike is by selling it for a
knock-down price. '98 model SW, 25k, has seen a bucket of water now and
again. Lets say ?1800 and I'm robbing myself. It's a member of the
family, and my granny will be heartbroken. But it's the principle of
the thing - if I don't sell it, then how will the world know how good
it is?

 

Sean Hamerton emerged from their own little world to say

Engine capacity is no indication of running costs. You have to take the no.
of cylinders into consideration too.

The 400cc bikes you refer to are 4 cylinders. They are sports bikes with
expensive plastic fairings which are expensive to replace and they have to
be removed to service them. They will make more power than the 650cc single
cylinder bikes and probably be more expensive to insure. A pair of tyres
for a VFR400 will cost £150 and last half the time of a set of tyres on an
F650 which cost about £100 a pair.

The 600cc bikes I've recommended are far more novice friendly. They deliver
their power in a more user friendly manner. They have more torque than the
400cc fours which is much easier for a novice to control than a bike that
needs to be revved over 10k to make progress. They will be much cheaper to
run than a 400cc sports bike. They are more resilient to minor mishaps as
they do not have vastly expensive plastic fairings to break.

Spend some time checking insurance prices at somewhere like
http://www.bennetts.co.uk/

Don't buy a Bros: they are cheap for a reason.

 

wessie says...

Ignore all this, just buy the most expensive bike you can find and scare
yourself silly on it. Bugger the running costs cos you won't be around
to pay the credit card bill.

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, serf amazed us all with this pearl of wisdom:

I'll give you twenty five quid for it and I'm cuttin' me own froat.

 

I was pretty sold on one of those, but I think I'm gonna have to find
another favourite. BGN does have a lot of fun on his ER-5, and I'm
sure all those 500s are alright. If I can save a lump of cash, I'd
love a bikini faired early SV650, or an unfaired one. I know about
fairings not liking to be fallen on. I'm not really feeling a tourer
or enduro thinger.

 

Done.

But only if you reverse the sequence of the two events.

 

Sean Hamerton emerged from their own little world to say

Pass your test and perhaps BGN will let you have a ride

 

Yes, he did offer. Uninsured-me-do though. I notice that the Honda
NTV650 is the same as the bros. Is it the UK version of this bike?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1993-HONDA-NT...4575880806QQcategoryZ9806QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

Sean Hamerton emerged from their own little world to say

No. The NTV (Revere) is a shaft drive bike. Bros has chain drive. AFAIK
there is no UK equivalent.

All I know about NTVs is that they were (perhaps still are) a favourite
with despatch riders which throws up a bunch of caveats.

Honda reinvented the NTV as the Deauville.

The engine is excellent. Same unit as fitted to the Transalp I recommended
earlier.

 

Speaking solely from recent experience.

I got a CB500 straight after my DAS because it was cheap, reliable and very
forgiving of a bod wot has only ridden a bike for 5 days [1] previously. I was
also very lucky to buy it from a friend who'd had it from brand new, and it had
never been used by a riding school or courier firm.

It put up with all my initial "granny wobbling", and was very forgiving of the
odd <often!> wrong gear incident. In addition, it was just about at the limit
of what I could haul upright again without dropping it after a severe bit of
"oops" style slow speed wobbling over. [2]

Over the recent months, I've found that it is, indeed, quite a hoot once you get
to be more confident. The revs actually *like* going over 7000 and you can't
half fling it round nicely. I've found that, with the growing confidence that
the bike can take the crap I've thrown at it, I'm now leaning over properly and
nailing corners and bends.

I've had the chance of riding a couple of much larger bikes this year (both over
1100cc), and yes, the CB 500 seemed very little and much more boring after them,
but really that's to be expected.

So, for a first bike post CBT and DAS it does exactly what it said on the tin, a
reliable as anything workhorse that you can indeed have a right old laugh on
once your confidence grows.

As your budget is limited, remember that bits and bobs for the CB500 are, in my
experience, fairly cheap and plentiful.. and that any wee niggles can be usually
sorted by being chatty with a local courier or two. Most of them know the CB500
in and out.

I'm certainly looking at getting a different bike next year, I will probably
hang onto the CB500 once I get the bigger bike, simply because it is so blinking
reliable, and, to be frank, I've quite enjoyed the past 12 months on it. Some
jolly good mates even showed me how to do a basic service myself, and I both
learned a lot, and saved a lot of dosh in the process.

I never would have believed that, 12 months down the line, I'd actually enjoy
riding a bike quite so much. I think I owe some measure of that to the CB500
itself. It forgave a lot of novice mistakes without scaring the bejeezus out of
me too much, and is nippy enough to be quite good fun now.

[1] Ever, in my life, the whole 40 yrs leading up to DAS. A novice, yet at the
same time an Old Burd!

[2] The pratty "running out of petrol in the middle of a turn" tale!

 

They worked perfectly until they were fixed. Now the brakes are more
questionable. I will take it to a Kwak to get the brakes looked at in
a few thousand miles.

It's all the fault of that fucking ditch, I tell you.

 

<snip>

My experiences were identical to yours (i.e DAS at 40, CB500 from mate, etc
etc)

The CB500 was for me, the perfect post DAS bike as it had a split
personality (as others have said).

It's quite happy to bimble about in a docile, forgiving manner, but wind it
up and it'll really go.

Finish on mine wasn't bad, although the silver engine paint had started to
flake a bit.

Good tyres (BT45's), a fly screen and a race can made a difference to it
too.

I would have kept it if I could have, but unfortunately not enough room in
the shed for 3 bikes.

--
Dan L (Oldbloke)

My bike 1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr
M'boy's bike 2003 Honda NSR125R (Going)
Spare Bike 1990 Suzuki TS50X (Patio Ornament)
BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005), X-FOT#000, DIAABTCOD #26, BOMB#18 (slow)

 

However, on t'other ER-5 I used recently the brakes feel the same as
mine does now, so perhaps that's how they are designed to be, and the
ones I had on originally were just a bit too good.

 

Dan L says...

Buy a bigger shed

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, Dan L amazed us all with this pearl of wisdom:

Wait six months and bung it on eBay?

 

Unfortunately not enough room.

Maybe when the NSR finally goes I'll get a stablemate for the Zephyr, but no
bugger seems to want it.

--
Dan L (Oldbloke)

My bike 1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr
M'boy's bike 2003 Honda NSR125R (Going)
Spare Bike 1990 Suzuki TS50X (Patio Ornament)
BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005), X-FOT#000, DIAABTCOD #26, BOMB#18 (slow)

 

Zero bids on last ebay punt, and MOT is due in April.

Lazy little sod should have sold it months ago.

--
Dan L (Oldbloke)

My bike 1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr
M'boy's bike 2003 Honda NSR125R (Going)
Spare Bike 1990 Suzuki TS50X (Patio Ornament)
BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005), X-FOT#000, DIAABTCOD #26, BOMB#18 (slow)

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, Dan L amazed us all with this pearl of wisdom:

Will probably get more bids with no MOT if some of the vehicles there
are anything to go by!

Well quite )

 

On Sun, 2 Oct 2005 01:10:08 +0000 (UTC), Skip

<Huge snippage>

I'm thinking now, having passed my CBT ("with flying colours"), I
shall be booking DAS VERY soon. I think I'll stick with a cheapo
thing. Either CB500 or ER5, as they both seem cheap as chips on
fleaBay. Such as:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1997-KAWASAKI...4579713392QQcategoryZ9807QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Also, BGN is visiting tomorrow. Should I be scared?

 

Sean Hamerton emerged from their own little world to say

No. Depending on which mood he's in it will be like a visit from one of
these:

http://www.btinternet.com/~acbarrett/geo.htm
http://www.btinternet.com/~acbarrett/bun.htm