pinchvalve wrote:
A coworker has one of these (non-PP version). Really nice looking bike. Fast and efficient too - he gets 50 mpg on his ~50 highway commute at 80+ mph. Downsides: not cheap (he bought it new for over $20K) and it has more computers than some cars... He bought the extended warranty mainly for that.
pinchvalve wrote: The funny thing is that the conditions that you desire fit a range of 600 - 1000cc cruisers. I understand not wanting one, but once you decide one something else, your options get pretty limited. We need a "sport-cruiser" category!
There is some truth to that, though I know I have sat on a few cruisers that seemed to over correct in the other direction. I like tall bars (short of anything ape-hanger-ish), but having my feet way out in front of me is no better that way behind me like on a sport bike. I want foot pegs to be due south of my butt. To get this it seems like you need to find and old UJM, a BMW, a dual-sport/"adventure tourer", or a new-school standard like the SV650. This is just where pegs should be imho.
$3000-4000 will get you a Buell S3/S3T (I like the later wide seat 1999-2003)
How many of you blast haters have actually ridden one?
ShadowSix wrote: ...I find the noise and buffeting at 70 mph gets old really fast.
A simple add-on windscreen takes care of much of that. And ear plugs help tremendously with the noise.
Let me suggest my VFR again.
It's heavy. That's the only downside. You, too, can make it turn - you just have to adopt Casey Stoner's body positioning, even on the road.
Being able to effortlessly accelerate out of a turn or away from a tailgater or tollbooth is fun and makes freeway riding a pleasure rather than a dangerous chore. I can go from College Station to Dallas or San Antonio on one tank and without beating up my body too badly. It gets around 40 mpg around town, about 60 on the freeway, and about 30 on track.
Unfortunately, any modern 600 will burn it, badly. It's about as fast as a faired SV650 (SV650S), which is far lighter and if I weren't selling mine that's the bike I'd recommend.
Modern 600's are also pretty comfortable. Try sitting on some. My 2003 SV650s was about as comfortable as my RC51.
My old 98 YZF 600 was a very comfy bike, at least by my standards. I'd roadtrip on it and ride until I ran out of gas, fill up, and repeat again and again. It had close to 90HP, so was quick, and was super reliable. I put 50k miles on it and the only think that actually broke was the speedometer gear....a 5 minute fix.
Weather wasn't very cooperative for test rides, but I did at least get to sit on some bikes over the weekend.
The new CBR250R is definitely a more aggressive seating position than I am looking for. I'm sure the wind takes pressure off the wrists at the highway, but stuck in traffic that bike would bother my wrist pretty quick (I have an old wrist injury.) According to cycle-ergo.com (thanks ddavidv!) this would seem to disqualify the VFR's as well.
I really like the seat height, weight, seating position, etc. of the Suzuki V-Strom 650, Kawasaki Versys, and Honda NC700X. Unfortunately the NC is brand new and seven grand, and the only Versys('s) around are close to five grand. Is there anything else in this class that I'm missing (obviously I am aware that BMW invented this segment, they seem pricey but I am keeping an eye out.) I felt very comfortable with the V-Strom, narrow, not too tall, not to heavy, perfect handlebar placement.
Also, I identified a Buell Blast at a local dealer but they were closed when I rode by. They're very close though so I'll check back.
+1 for V Strom, I've been itching to try one. Well kept early examples have been falling under the $4k mark as of late.
Very tempting.
I still think that your best bet would be a SV or VFR with some mods to suit your needs. You can get riser bars for a lot of bikes. My monster came with bar risers that fit under the bars on the stock triple clamp. they are under $100 on ebay and didn't require new brake lines and really transformed the riding position. you can also convert clip ons to superbike bars, there are kits for lots of bikes.
You can get aftermarket screens and fairings for most bikes, and a lot of these items can be bought used on ebay or web sites like svrider. In the past I have bought mods from people on these web sites and even craigslist, I look at bikes for sale and offer to buy items people have on their bikes. A lot of times they don't even think about selling them separately and you can convince them that they will make more money parting them out.
In reply to ValuePack:
Yeah, the $3-4k range is where most of the early V-Stroms seem to fall now. I'm hoping to find someone anxious to clear out a garage or something and snag one for $3k.
Edit: In my neck of the woods you can find a REALLY NICE, heavily farkled Wee for $5k.
Rusnak_322:
Maybe I'm missing something, but according to cycle-ergo.com I would need a 4.5" (!) riser on a naked 2004 SV650 to get to a 10 degree forward lean. In XT225 circles it is common to put bar risers blocks on, but I've never heard for a 4.5" riser block, is this a thing? I would really like an SV650, but want to make sure it's going to work for me. Would it be completely idiotic to put some dirtbike bars on an SV to get some height and pullback?
I don't really know what amount of forward lean is going to be ok, but at the dealer I sat on both a CBR250R (19 degree lean for me) and a NC700X (7 degrees) for several minutes each. The NC was ok, but the CBR would clearly have become uncomfortable on my bad wrist.
As for the VFR, I don't think I can swing the price of a VFR unless I fly to Texas and buy Chaparral's (which seems unlikely since I don't have any real time off until Dec. 17th)
110,000 miles(!)
http://columbus.craigslist.org/mcy/3380197394.html
Looks good, but that seems like a ridiculous amount of miles. If I had to put a used motor in it I'd be close to the cost of a much lower mileage example. Worth checking out?
The mileage doesn't terrify me if it's been kept up, would probably be more reasonable at $1.5k. I've seen a few farkled DL1000s with 75k+ in good shape for $3.5k this time of year, I'd want the 650 at less than the asking money.
Go run it cold, it'll tell you if the engine is tired.
SV650n's have standard bar clamps that could easily accommodate higher bars (although I'm not sure about the cables--too much extra height would probably need longer throttle and clutch cables).
One other possibility is highly weight-dependent.
With a <150 lb rider, a Ninja 250 is good for high 5s 0-60 and over 100 MPH. That's definitely "freeway capable". It's light, nimble, easy to control, and fun.
With a heavier rider it's slower.
There is a guy in cleveland on the ADVrider forum who has a SV650 with over 100k miles on it. He put in a used engine around 105k because he said the original engine was getting a bit tired.
EvanB wrote: ADVrider
Damn that board. At least when I got here, I was already into weird cars nobody else liked.
They showed me a whole new world of possibilities on which to spend my non-funds. Also a great a resource on how to become partially or fully nomadic.
Well, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence on stromtrooper and advrider that these things are good to way over 100,000 miles, maybe 200,000 (though that's a lot of miles for an eight year old bike, I don't put 25k/yr average on all my vehicles combined!) so I'm going to go take a look in a few days.
ValuePack: when you say to run the bike cold, I should be looking for blue smoke? Oil burning past the rings or valves?
ShadowSix wrote: ValuePack: when you say to run the bike cold, I should be looking for blue smoke? Oil burning past the rings or valves?
Correct. Not so much a SV650/Wee-specific test as much as a general high mileage bike(or any other internal combustion engine) checkup. So sayeth the internet, the valvetrain in these is REALLY long lived, I'd just be more worried about rings and bearings. Shouldn't be all that bad off if the oil's been changed regularly.
Start it cold, listen for the normal tired and thus sloppy engine clatter, watch for blue out the pipe, etc etc. Mght be helpful to review some YouTube footage of a cold start on a healthy one so you know what they're supposed to sound like. I thought the first EX500 I'd heard run was halfway to the grave until I found out they predominantly ALL sound like that when cold, what a racket! lol
Honestly, for that money, the Wee would have to the be pretty tired for me to not buy it.
I ride a 2000 SV650N. Florida is warm - no issues starting w/choke in any weather I'd like to ride in (50F is about my limit with mesh jacket).
I like the upright-ish seating, fine even with my herniated L5/S1 disk. Its plenty quick for me as a relative beginner rider. I commute ~20mi on the highway on it at 80-90mph. My wife is happy to ride on the back for a day trip, I built her a backrest that bolts in where the handle was.
I've even worked up a design for a leaning sidecar so the dog can come along - maybe a project for this winter.
But given all that, I'm tempted to fly out to Texas to visit family and ride back on that VFR! Love those things too.
Good effort on the sales pitch. My miata only gets ~12mpg on the track!
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