Retro ish Bike, beginners question, what to choose

92 on cbr 600
98 on suzuki bandit
600 fazer
600 hornet - biased as have had 4 and done 150000 kms on them - these and bandit v cheap honda better built

500 km trips on a 250 esp a 2 stroke nooo and being tall you wont fit - did manchester to copenhagen on a hornet and as long as you keep under 160 kmh your neck will be fiine

vfr 400 ace but not cheap and they are complicated to fix/service

aprilia pegaso
bmw f650

honda cb500
gpz 500 kawasaki

First Bike ?

'disposable' is a word that comes to mind.

I am an instructor here in the US, we teach a fairly intensive 20 hour class to take someone from 'clueless' to 'clued in', and the majority of the students pass the course and get a test waiver, which means that they are able to legally ride anything they want to.

Sadly the majority of younger riders want 1000cc cutting edge bikes, 'because 600's are so slow', the majority of born-again bikers want Hardleys 'best bike in the world' and the rest are split over various 'standards'.

My advice is always the same.

As a new rider, you will make new mistakes.

Often these mistakes include dropping the bike at the lights, in your garage, on gravel, in the parking lot, in the middle of a low-speed bend etc.

Anything with a lot of plastic fairing is going to be expensive - current GSXR's are about $800 / side to replace.

Next up you are going to make throttle errors - chopping the throttle mid bend on a sports-bike will highside you, so will grabbing a handful of throttle prior to the exit. That is on 'only a 600' on a litre bike the highside may be very high indeed.

Sports-bike brakes are evil too - insane power - I can stoppie a modern sports bike with two fingers, imagine what a fist-full of panic brake will do ?

So, what do I advise ?

If you are set on Retro ?

I'd be looking for a Honda CB400, they have made them forever, they are bulletproof, inexpensive to fix WHEN you drop it, you can learn a lot fixing it and maintaining it. They look great are comfortable to ride and they are impressive at covering distances. I managed a 4400 mile round-tip on mine (1977 400/4) back in, ahem, 1984, cruising at 70+ with camping gear and taking in the twisties as I found them.

Much more modern would be a Suzuki SV400 (or 650 if you cannot find a 400). Fine handling, plenty of power for a new rider. Big worldwide forums of riders and the 650 is the track-day weapon of choice for many riders (including me)

Suzuki Bandit 400/600 - the 400's are hard to find, but great fun, kinda retro too, the 600 is probably one of the absolute best all-rounders on the planet. Cheap to fix, very modable, no plastic (to smash when you drop it) and wonderfully forgiving.

Would highly recommend a pre-injection (also known as curvy - as opposed to the pointy injection ones) SV650.

I've had my K2 model since new and love it. Will do anything, looks and sounds the nuts doing it. Can suprise the superbike boys as well....

Handaling is excellent as are the brakes and engine. Mine hasn't missed a beat in near 40k.

Downside... the suspension is basic but it does the job and the build quality isn't the best.

And just a hint at what the best colour is....



Would go for a K2 as they have adjustable pre-load on the front and rear suspension. This give a degree of adjustment to taste.

The K3 onward (pointy) models have fuel injection and are still great bikes. Build is slightly better, as is the suspension but I don't find them as fun as the curvy ones.

Suzuki tamed them a bit to increase the appeal....

Both the faired and un faired are good. Depends on how you like you bikes...

SV650 has a massive amount of 'bits interchange' potential.

I have an early SV650S in my storage unit that has seen more track day miles than most road bikes see road miles. I bought it with a salvage title a few years back, the original owner had low-sided and trashed the clutch cover, tank, pegs, levers, seat unit. I have put over 40K miles on it mostly riding to, then around various tracks, then riding home.

it originally cost me just $1800

I swapped the entire front end (forks, wheel, levers etc) with GSXR bits from e-bay ($600) using an easily available set of triples ($300) . This gave me way better suspension and brakes than stock.

The rear shock was sent off to race-tech for new internals ($600 ish) but may yet get upgraded to an Ohlins unit. rearsets are aftermarket and bulletproof ($400) , clutch and stator covers are also aferrmarket ones ($400) that will (and have) survived a high-speed get-off, the seat unit is a bodged GSXR sharskins thing that barely fits. Exhaust is a full Yoshi full system, again sourced on e-bay for about $600 subsequently I had to replace the can as it got fairly mashed at Willow a year ago when I low-sided.

The engine has only seen regular oil/fliter changes and critical maintenance, valves have stayed in spec for years and apart from sprockets, chains, tires and brake pads I have spent nothing on it.

I rode it on the street for a couple of years before getting a Ducati monster, then Triumph Speed Triple for street duty. it is a better bike than the Monster by a very long way, but the Speedie will eat it for breakfast on anything other than a super curvy road. The Speedie is also five tiems the price and twice as powerful, plus maybe ten times scarier....

Ducati ST2 is a brilliant, but high maintenance bike. It is also not a good 'first bike'.

Again - SV650 is a brilliant all-rounder, easy to own, easy to ride and above all easy to fix WHEN you drop it and the upgrades are dirt easy.

/me wanders off to find some pics of his.....

insurance is less of a problem in the Netherlands than in the UK..

especially bikes are quite cheap to insure, so I guess that won't be a problem..

high maintenance and I guess cost of parts is an issue though.. like everything I own (exept the company car off course) i like to do maintenance myself and source parts where i can get them cheap.

had a sv650 offered yesterday.. but prices are a bit steep over here..
heavily modded ones are cheaper, but i'd like to keep away from them (maybe unnesesary?) but reasonable miled ones from 2002 fetch the best part of E4000...

Y'know what? Don't listen to a word from all the posts above. Not a single solitary word.

Instead, get your licence and become a bikewhore, ride as many bikes as you can, blag rides from your mates, blag test rides, buy old bikes and shift 'em on when you get bored, but most important, ride everything you can twist a throttle on, from a C90 to a Goldwing and everything in between.

Then you'll know what YOU like, not what other people wish they'd had.

However, if you want to try what I wish I'd had, find an Armstrong MT500. Fantastic bikes, you'll never be uncomfortable or have any mechanical issues with one of those!

I had an ER5 as a first bike. With some suspension fettling it handled reasonably well, but it was a bit of a dog so ....having spent a lot of time repairing it, I sold it on....

I now have a Mk2 TDM 850 which is a superb bike that is pretty good at everything (again, fettling the suspension can make a big difference), cheap to run and fun to ride.

Can i say its horses for courses and bikes, find one that suits you.................somewhere above you mention Ducati ST2 and someone replies with 'comfy'

i cant agree I'm 6ft and have ridden plenty of machines over the years and found the 120 odd miles i did on an ST2 were the most wrist hurtingly unpleasant ever. So try before you buy

Am with the above.... always ride a bike before buying it.

T'was me who found the ST comfy... am only 5'8"!! Is all down to individual opinion... a friend has a new Fazer which he loves and finds great to ride... I find it odd and not my cuppa.... not a vbad bike but not for me! All down to opinion and what you are used to.