Recomend me a bike?

Question

Someone help me with picking a bike.

I have a full unrestricted licence so any cc is fine.
Having said that so long as it is motorway legal and can do 70 comfortably I am happy.

Right, basically I need something that is reliable and not prone to breakdowns. I won't be doing much mileage (it will be an occasional thing, just for the odd trip really so I'm not bound by buses/trains) but I want to know that after a few weeks of non use it will still start and run fine.
I'm not bothered if it looks nice particularly, so long as it is functional. I had a Virago 535 which looked nice but was a fortune to maintain and was very unrealiable, never again!

Needs to take a pillion in reasonable comfort, and the cheaper the better!

So to recap:
Cheap to run and maintain
Reliable (I'm not expecting miracles or 100% of course)
70mph without becoming dangerous
Reasonable pillion
Needs to cope with low use
Can be ugly :)
Cheap as possible

Anything suggestions?

Wow Scully you're... strange. I have a full car licence and a fork lift truck one too, but that doesn't mean I want to drive either of them particularly.

I'm leaning towards a Bandit as I have heard that they are good and rugged, will have to make some further enquiries.

Answer 1

My H-D Softail gets 50 mpg and will do 0 to 70 in about 5 seconds.

Answer 2

I have owned Honda and Suzuki, I prefer the Honda brand. I would not recommend Harley- too high a price to get one and their required maintenances are too expensive. Every Harely owner I know have had their bike in the shop 3 or more times compared to one visit for my Honda Shadow1100. And my bike is 21 yrs old vs their 0-2 yr old Harley.
Go with a Metric (aka rice burner) instead of a Harley. The Shadow line is a good one. Look for the cc range of higher than 500. I'd advise the Suzuki Intruder starting at the 800cc and the Shadow line above the 650 range. Get a Vtwin instead of a single piston. They are smoother running Also look for shaft drive, smoother and lower maintenance!!. My mother in law has an 05 s40 (650cc single piston) quick little thing but tops out and strains a bit at 70 mph, vibrates too much at highway speeds)
The Shadow seats are more comfortable than Intruder.. but you can always have the seats redone to add more padding, or get a gel cover.

Answer 3

I used to run an old Kawa 550 it had shaft drive, oil cooled and all the normal stuff but it did have the most comfortable seat I have tried. Not sure if they still make anything similar to the model I had but it would cruise all day at 70-80 good miles per and never needed anything more than an oil change and a good wash in all the time I had it and I was using it for courier work in and around London and the home counties

Answer 4

2K will get you a really good starter bike, like a Honda Rebel which I think is one of the best starter bikes out there. Every one says 600 or 750......Bull Sh...... for a first bike anywhere from a 175cc to a 450cc is all you want, most are fairly light, low to the ground, and forgiving. I would stay away from the sport bikes, they go threw the corners and stop well but the low speed handling is not good. You will wreck it so save your money and buy something used, over 95% of riders wreck there bike within the first year of riding (actual statistic given out when I went threw the MSF course and that was over 20 years ago), most are not that bad and are done at relatively low speeds but there enough to cause ether injury or damage to the bike. If you get a bigger bike you will be spending more $$ fixing it when you do drop it, and you will be more likely to get hurt and bend the bike up beyond the fixing stage if your involved in a more serious accident which means you will not be riding at all. After you have a couple of years of riding under you belt then you can sell your starter bike to another beginner and get something bigger which will now last you allot longer.
If you really want to know what bikes NOT to get, go down to a motorcycle salvage yard and see what type of bikes are the most commonly wrecked, I guarantee a lot of them are the 500-600cc "starter" sport bikes.

Answer 5

It comes down to price, a new Honda CB500 which can be picked up at the same cost as a nearly new 600 Bandit. If i had 2 choose i would go 4 the bandit as its a more capable machine but running costs (fuel & insurance) would b lower on the Honda.
Good luck & ride safe
Michael

Answer 6

You just have to find whats out there, have you checked http://craigslist.org or ebay.com for used bikes? You can get some good deals if you are careful, Don't pay until you check it out.

Probably start out with a cruiser, under 700 cc, (for lower insurance) but a HD 883 is good too. Like the man said, they're cheap and hold their value. Plus, when you are ready, you can upgrade them by putting on the 1200 barrels.

Answer 7

Kawasaki gt550.
Its cheep to run, decent sided pillion seat, rack built in, cheep to buy off ebay, around 100 upwards, depending on age, condition,location etc.
Millions of despatch riders used them, so that shows thier popularity. But also a need for you to be warey of buying an ex fleet/courier one.
Ive boght one with 80,000 miles on the clock and the engine is still good and strong.

Answer 8

I have to agree with MICHEAL R on the cb500 good reliable bike used by lots of bike training schools because of the easy ride and very good reliability either that or a Kawasaki ER 5 not as reliable as the Honda but a good all round bike

Answer 9

I would truly be holding out if i didn't mention a Harley Try looking into a sporster (1200) 883 is ok but small. I feel they are affordable . Myself I have "05 heritage softail classic. (a bit more)
You may also think about the honda shadow or Suzuki. The very best advice i can give you is try thrm out and go for what you truly enjoy. There is NO guarantee on life so live it up now and enjoy. Throw your knees to the breeze and do what you want. It doesn't matter what you ride it's that you ride.

Answer 10

i would recomend a vulcan 1500, that's the bike i am riding at the time. i absolutely love everything about it. it's got lots of power, comfortable, and fun to drive. ideal bike for a passanger with it's 1500 cc motor. but this all depends on what ur idea of cheap is.u can probably pick one up for less than 10 grand canadian (2003 or older). beautiful bike.