What used naked bike?

[croyde]

LunarOne said:

Went to a Triumph dealer earlier today to have a look at the speed twin 1200. It's got the sort of look that I like but the exhaust note wasn't anything to write home about. I'll have a look to see if I can find any examples of a partially unmuted bike. I don't want a stupidly loud exhaust, but a nice exhaust tone is what really gets my blood pumping when it comes to anything automotive.

I also went to a BMW dealer and had a look at the R12 nineT which seems like a stupid name. But that bike with the option 719 with gold and accents and gold spoked wheels really does it for me. But I was thinking of finding a bike for £3-6k and now I'm going mad and looking at a £17k new bike. I suppose I could spend £17k if it were my primary transport, but it's really not going to be anything like that. Just a toy for sunny days when I need a bit of escapism.

I'm going to see if I can find a Ducati Monster for sale somewhere. I think they look great, but for some reason I am looking at twins when I sort of decided I wanted a four cylinder. Should I be looking at an old Bandit 1200? Right price, right look, but maybe a pile of rusty bolts by now.

I think I really need to narrow down what I really want and then hunt for that..

I tested a Bonnie 1200cc and then the Speed Twin 900. It was the exhaust sound that I fell for on the smaller twin. Almost surpringly legal.

[romft123]

I bought an old, 1970's bike.....big mistake, didnt brake, corner, accelerate etc. Get a newer naked bike

[ChocolateFrog]

There's always the X-11 if you want a naked Blackbird.

Personally I've always fancied a K1300R.

[Stevemr]

If you thought a GSX14 was bland, you won’t want a bandit!
B king?

[Factualist]

A bike not often mentioned, the Kawasaki z900, I have the SE Performance model which comes with Ohlins and a Akrapovic slip on to give some sound bite. I love it, and insurance came in a lot lot cheaper than any Triumph.

[Kawasicki]

Bob_Defly said:

Go and test ride a Speed Twin 1200, the torque is great for overtaking, and it's less wristy than a Thruxton.

I rode one recently. It reminded me of a nuts Connemara pony that I piloted as a kid. I really liked it.

[LunarOne]

Stevemr said:

If you thought a GSX14 was bland, you won’t want a bandit!
B king?

Except I had a Bandit 600 and loved it. Maybe the lack of power meant I could pin the throttle often and listen to the revs build without ending up at silly speeds. Only it didn't love my weight and I constantly bottomed out the non-adjustable front suspension and then ended up doing unintentional stoppies. Which would be fine if that was something I was intending!

The GSX1400 was neither fast accelerating, nor did I feel like it handled well. It just felt unnecessarily slow and heavy. It was brand new and I didn't want to rev the nuts off it as it wasn't even run in, but I didn't get the feeling that revs were the answer on that bike. But I did like the way it looked and from memory it was on the more comfortable side of things. But then it was more than 20 years ago and my memory is clouded by the passage of time.

[the-norseman]

Hitchcox exhausts are the place to go for the 1200 Triumph's. I've got one of their exhausts on order for my Bobber 1200.

[bunchofkeys]

OP have you considered a Suzuki SV1000 Classic?
They sound bloody great. I had one a few years ago, wish I didn't sell it.

https://www.visordown.com/news/general/suzuki-anno...

[Stevemr]

I would try a gsx1400 again. I had a bandit 12. Which was boring. I have a 1400 now and love it.
It’s not slow at all on acceleration. Google gsx1400 v Yamaha R1 watch the YouTube video.
Back when they were new one of the magazines, put an admittedly very light pro drag racer on one. 0-60 mph was 2.54 seconds!

[stang65]

OP, are you sure you're not confusing performance with the feel of performance? A lot of the bikes you don't like, Hornet 900, GSXR1400 etc. have quite linear power delivery. Yet you liked a Bandit 600 which is quite peaky. Are you saying you want a certain power delivery, that top end hit? I hated my VFR800FiX (the first 800) as it had no low down and a lot less mid-range than the VFR750, but it did have a top end gain...so same thing, but you've kept yours.

[Rubin215]

I would strongly suggest having a look at a Triumph Sleed Triple.

Nice noise, plenty of power, decent handling and brakes, more than comfortable enough.

Loads of quality bling available for them too if you want to make it more your own.

[LunarOne]

stang65 said:

OP, are you sure you're not confusing performance with the feel of performance? A lot of the bikes you don't like, Hornet 900, GSXR1400 etc. have quite linear power delivery. Yet you liked a Bandit 600 which is quite peaky. Are you saying you want a certain power delivery, that top end hit? I hated my VFR800FiX (the first 800) as it had no low down and a lot less mid-range than the VFR750, but it did have a top end gain...so same thing, but you've kept yours.

If I've given the impression that I didn't like the CB900, then I've done so mistakenly. I really DID like it and in fact I'm still scouring autotrader bikes and MCN classifieds daily for a nice unmolested one within a reasonable distance. I don't mind aftermarket cans but I'm not a fan of weird headlight arrangements. All I said was that it didn't feel nearly as fast as I expected. Perhaps you've hit the nail on the head and that the linear power delivery tricks my senses. But I alone am the weight of two fully grown adults, so that's going to blunt the performance of any bike. As you guess, I enjoyed the revvy nature of the Bandit 600 and I like it on the VFR, along with that sound.

Maybe if I can find a GSX1400 I'll try one again. The Australian video of the GSX1400 beating the R1 off the line is impressive and someone above mentioned a naked version of the Super Blackbird, the X11. I'd forgotten those existed and I really like the idea.

How does buying a bike from a private seller work? My bikes both came from dealers who were happy to let me take a test ride. If I were a private seller, I'm not sure I'd want to give a stranger the keys to my bike - at least not without a deposit. And then there's insurance. Am I right that test-riding a bike from a private seller is a rare thing?

[ChocolateFrog]

The last bike I bought privately he let me take it up and down the street

Dodgy ground though if the buyer does drop it.

I think it's not unreasonable to ask for the asking price in hand before a test ride and if you drop it you bought it.

[croyde]

Last bike I sold privately I took the potential buyer pillion on a test ride.

He was good and wanted me to really go for it.

It was such an enjoyable ride out that I nearly didn't sell it to him

[Fitz666]

If you like a V4 have you considered a Vmax?

[LunarOne]

Fitz666 said:

If you like a V4 have you considered a Vmax?

I have. But it seems more of a cruiser and less of a muscly naked bike and I'm not looking for anything so laid back. I heard they don't go round corners, and I rather like going round corners! Honestly no idea if that's true. Having said that, I used to ogle one that was parked up near my hotel in the south of France many years ago and I was baffled by the baffled exhausts. I have a vague memory of the VMax being the fastest accelerating bike on the planet, but if that was ever true it would have been back in the days before modern bikes existed.

So probably not in contention. I'm looking for something good at converting traffic in front of me into traffic behind me. So decent manoeuvrability is as much of a must as a decent turn of acceleration.

[LunarOne]

ChocolateFrog said:

The last bike I bought privately he let me take it up and down the street

Dodgy ground though if the buyer does drop it.

I think it's not unreasonable to ask for the asking price in hand before a test ride and if you drop it you bought it.

I don't think that's unreasonable at all.

[KTMsm]

Old Speed Triple 1050 - personally, I like the twin chrome headlights but if you want a more classic look, there are quite a few single headlight conversions which look good too

I originally had the short tail - made the mistake of reading all the reviews and upgrading to the later model with a steel tank and brembos and then again to the later R with ohlins (that are stupidly stiff) - I should have kept the original

They all sound great with the arrow lowboy, with loads of power, everywhere

Edited by KTMsm on Monday 1st July 11:38

[Krikkit]

LunarOne said:

How do Monsters and Triumphs cope with not being ridden 8 months of the year?

As long as you can trickle charge them (or disconnect the battery before storage), no bother at all.