NEC

Good call. I'd possibly have had one of those if they were out when I
was looking... then again the GT tdi 140 was exactly in budget.

 

I currently have a Mondeo TDCI Titanium estate & it's a really nice car
apart from the engine & gearbox are utter shit. I can't get more than 45 out
of it at all.

--


Nige,

BMW K1200S
Honda Transalp XL600V
Range Rover Vogue

 

Have they got the Mazda diesel engines?

 

AFAIK, the TDCIs are PSA HDIs.

 

Bloody awful, no low down guts & all over in a second or two. VW diesel
engines are so much better. The gear ratios are shite beyond shite too.

--


Nige,

BMW K1200S
Honda Transalp XL600V
Range Rover Vogue

 

That was my experience of the 1.6TDCI. Absolutely awful despite having
the same power of the VW 1.9TDI.

 

I'm not unimpressed by my 1.6 TDCI Focus. It picks up cleanly enough
though it does require a bit of slipping the clutch to get the boost up
before it'll move off the line rapidly. Once it';s spinning up it's gt
enough poke to overtake comfortably and will pull 125 on the clock
given the right road.

Handling is quite good too, but the brakes are pitiful

 

Hmmm... well I've had something of an epiphany where biking is
concerned, over the last few months.

I too had become rather bored with it all tbh, or at least the actual
act of slinging a leg over a bike and riding it.

Fettling bikes has conversely become more of an interest than it used
to be.

In terms of actually riding bikes, my saviour has come from unlikely
sources; the current incumbent, the GSX, being one of them.

About a week or so ago when it was pissing really hard and stormy, I
went out for a ride on it round the coast and loved it despite it
quickly revealing my kit needs updating pretty sharpish if I'm going
to continue with this anti-fairweather affair, as I got soaked.

Point is, I've had much more capable bikes in the form of things like
the Thundercat, but couldn't even be arsed to ride them when the
weather was nice.

At the moment, I've also got my dads VF500 sat in my workshop... needs
a bit of TLC, and I'm going to give it plenty of that, (and maybe a
bit more), over the winter, so it's spot on for the spring.

When he bought it earlier this year... I shook my head, and muttered
'What the feck were you thinking???'... and I maintained this line
right up until I rode it from his place over to my workshop a couple
of weeks ago.

It might not stop as well as things like the Thundercat I've just got
rid of and it might not be as quick (1), but it's a lovely bike to
ride, and something I'd personally take out for a ride over said
Thundercat (2) if they were both sitting there.

Don't get me wrong... I've had other older shite like the XBR500s
which I never did really gel with, despite so many others wanking on
about how they're a nice bike, but maybe you need to start looking to
the past rather than the future to find something which makes you
think 'this is why I ride'.

(1) But it's a lot quicker than I'd expected, and extremely smooth
power delivery wise.
(2) Nowt wrong with that bike at all either by the time I'd finished
with it, but it was like so many other 600s I've had, as in very
capable, good all rounders but ultimately, boring as **** and
characterless.

 

Been looking around some more and a BMW 118d M-Sport also attracts.
Mainly for the 80 quid a month tax, but I'm also one of those few
weirdo's who actually like the 1 series.

Plus I can chip it to 200bhp for 400 quid

 

I won't get offered something like that. The car scheme is new for
next year, and all we've been able to wrangle out of the boss so far
is that the car list will be Golf/A3/Focus/1 series type hatchbacks, 2
litre diesels, and the senior staff will have the option of the higher
spec models.

 

See my response to BMWs

Does that include the one in my lockup that's about to become a boat
anchor?

"Bikerlifestyle" types are tools - I've been in Birmingham this weekend
doing union stuff and there were sidepatch bikers in cut-offs in a
fucking Jurys Inn hotel.

 

well, yeah.

sort of. that was a nice enough old shit bike (fucking great fun to
ride, actually), but not worth any effort to "make good".

hah - but Jury's Inns are for wannabees of all sorts anyway.

 

I looked at those, but the boot and interior space were both smaller,
which put me off.

 

I need a bike that inspires me to ride more for next year. I'm 99%
certain that the Sprint ST is going to go.

At the moment I can't decide between something big, comfy & fast[1] or
some thing small, flickable and fast.[2] I'm fairly certain I won't
use it much for commuting, so need something that I really want to ride
for weekend use.

[1] Hayabusa, K1300R
[2] ZX-6R or the like.

 

K12

 

)

 

I wouldn't go for the 1300, not different enough to justify the cost.

 

Yes, but I'd want new. Or at least, very nearly new.

 

Well, if I decide to go the 'busa route, I'll be in touch. )

But **** me, we had some rain yesterday! There's no way I'd have
ridden in that, out of choice. I got soaked just chucking some stuff
in the back of the car and taking it too the tip.

 

Fair enough, they are great bikes. I prefer mine over the 'busa I had,
but it's a personal thing.

BMW insurance is well cheap too.