FWO?

I managed to Nige the R1100RS out on ebay for a respectable £1485. But now
what to get for its replacement? I saw a Suzuki RF600 at Biker Dean for not
a huge amount of money with less than 30k on the clock. Are these any good?

--
Malc

Rusted and ropy.
Dog-eared old copy.
Vintage and classic,
or just plain Jurassic:
all words to describe me.

 

It's a Bandit engine wrapped up in plastic - good solid and dependable
bikes but the plastic hides all the corrosion.

 

Might be worth a punt then. http://www.bikerdean.co.uk/page3.htm £900 with
18k miles. I'll have to take a torch and a mirror with me if I go to look at
it.

--
Malc

Rusted and ropy.
Dog-eared old copy.
Vintage and classic,
or just plain Jurassic:
all words to describe me.

 

Blimey, I'm surprised BD is still going. Seems they must be doing well as
they have opened a 2nd shop.

Is it the blue one here? http://www.bikerdean.co.uk/page3.htm
Compared to some of the colours they had that is not too bad.
From what I remember they were a worthy bike but not as good as the FZR
pictured above it or the CBR6.

Some of those AJS bikes on http://www.bikerdean.co.uk/page2.htm are
gopping. The NAC125 twin looks okay though.

 

They appear to have a showroom full of commission sale customer bikes.

 

Looks tidy, certainly worth a viewing at under a grand.

 

(SteveH) wrote in

Not a bad business model. Used vehicle dealers usually fail as they have
too much cash tied up in stock. If something doesn't sell before you need
the showroom space for a nicer bike then there is no panic auction to worry
about, just tell the owner to collect their heap of shit.

 

Fair point - especially if it means the shonky old shed isn't your
responsibility when it blows up a week later.

 

Yes that's the one. I need something that will soak up motorway miles yet be
manouverable enough in traffic (commute from Gloucester to Southmead
hospital in Bristol). Looking at a few reviews of that bike it seems a bit
gutless under 4k revs so might not really be the thing for filtering round
Filton.


--
Malc

Rusted and ropy.
Dog-eared old copy.
Vintage and classic,
or just plain Jurassic:
all words to describe me.

 

They are fine, there's nothing wrong with their ability to filter and I
never found my Bandit lacking when filtering below 4K revs. It's just
some sad twats demanding more than a 600cc budget bike is capable of
delivering. An RF/Bandit 600 is an ideal choice as there's not too much
power but enough torque to do all you need it to.

 

Point of Order, Spiccy: unless you know of any watercooled Bandit 600
engines - the RF motor was a GSXR derivative.

As others have said - the RF isn't as plush as a CBR6, nor as fast as
the ZZR6, but it doesn't hang about and should be a bit cheaper than
either of its better-known and more numerous rivals.

Personally, I find the RF riding position less than comfortable - bars
too low, pegs too far forward, that sort of thing. Bit of a bargain,
though, and very unusual in the looks department.

 

I've not done any real mileage on an RF6, but enough to establish it
shares many characteristics wwith the 9 - which was, frankly, an
uncomfortable town bike for me, but then I guess any sporty bike would
be. The worst part was the heat in Summer, as when the inevitable
traffic light holdup occurred, the damn rad fan would cut in and blast
hot air out of the side fairing vents and cook me swiftly.

Nothing at all wrong with slow speed balancability and manoeuvrability,
though - quite handy as a filtering tool: if the mirrors go through,
the rest will follow.

 

You know I'd always thought the RF600 was oil-cooled, my mistake.

 

Waste of fucking time that was. I phoned up at 1pm asking if I could have a
look at the bike. No problem come over. So I drive the 20 or so miles there
only to find the bike's in bits because it wouldn't fire up that morning.
Couldn't even sit on it to try it for size.

--
Malc

Rusted and ropy.
Dog-eared old copy.
Vintage and classic,
or just plain Jurassic:
all words to describe me.

 

take it as an omen to walk away

Haines in Cinderford have a tidy looking Thundercat - twice the price,
mind. Should last you a few years more than the RF600 though.
www.hainesmc.co.uk/acatalog/Haines___Co__Used_Bikes_from_Haines___Co_1.html
Anthony is a nice chap to deal with.

 

I already have.

Yes that's where I bought the BMW from. Trouble is I don't have twice the
amount to spend. I only have what I sold the BMW for and I don't really want
to spend all of that.

--
Malc

Rusted and ropy.
Dog-eared old copy.
Vintage and classic,
or just plain Jurassic:
all words to describe me.

 

Ebay/classifieds then. A dealer bike for about a grand is going to be poor
value.

Did you not like the RS or was it about to be a money pit?

 

It was ok. But it was bloody heavy and having a dry clutch was not ideal for
commuting in heavy traffic. The recommended way to use a BMW clutch is more
like a switch, in or out, and a lot of starting and stopping would make it
wear too fast. Then I saw someone's how to change an oilhead clutch on a BMW
forum [1] and realised that I really didn't want to spend 3 or 4 days
changing the clutch when it finally went. BMW can charge up to £900 to do
the job, an independant specialist can charge £500 and as the bike had done
50K without a clutch change........

[1] http://www.bmbikes.org.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=10534


--
Malc

Rusted and ropy.
Dog-eared old copy.
Vintage and classic,
or just plain Jurassic:
all words to describe me.

 

So you're basically saying it wasn't really very good at the job it was
designed to do, clutch wear was bad, dealer servicing and repairs were
prohibitive and Japanese bikes are a more sensible idea.

I really can't understand why people still buy the useless pieces of
shite

 

I've been commuting 35 miles to Cardiff on my R-GS. Although, only the last
mile is stop/start as the lanes are too narrow to filter. The rest of the
route is either rural A road or urban dual carriageway.

IMV, the R-GS clutch is very user friendly and happy to be slipped. When
traversing Alpine passes the best way to get up 1 in 3 hairpins is to keep
the revs constant and control the speed using clutch and rear brake. I've
had the bike over 8 years, it's approaching 40k and my clutch hasn't been
frazzled yet and one trip over the Stelvio must give a bike more stick than
a summer commuting through Filton!