Sprint ST 1050, V-Strom 1000 and FZS1.

[Paul the 6th]

Budget around £3.5k (but may stretch upto £4k). Tourer or sports tourer brief - ideally for tonking around scotland or across Europe. Help meh.

V-strom strikes me as a decent all day comfy grunty tourer.. Fair enough it won't win any awards at the beauty pageant but it's an awful lot of bike for the money. Only drawbacks are the most basic of suspension and pipe & slippers digs at the bike meet. Also might be a bit gutless at the top end.
http://images.motorcycle-usa.com/PhotoGallerys/Suzuki-V-Strom-1000.jpg

Yamaha FZS1 - again, a lot of bike for the money and bonkers fast with the r1 motor de-tuned (only 150bhp) with fully adjustable forks and preload/rebound adjustable shock.. Reports of crap mpg (even against the stock r1 motor) and snatchy fuel injection are the main negatives.
http://pictures2.autotrader.co.uk/imgser-uk/servlet/media?id=110434205

Sprint ST - always wanted one, perfect bike for the job, great range in terms of mpg and tank size, lovely looking bike, not mental fast like the fazer but fast enough with a silky smooth 1050 triple. Just find myself constantly looking at the other available options thinking "hmmm but what about those?"....
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/418438_10152028239280366_1870128765_n.jpg

Gonna try and grab some test rides asap but have been busy with work/moving offices. In the meantime please feel free to help me discount or pinpoint one of these beasties. Starting to lose sleep over it a little bit lol..

[Jackie_Black]

Lob a few hundred quid at a V-strom and you will not be disappointed. I have the new baby one now, but wished i'd kept hold of my sorted V. Great bike if you are tall. Motor needs a little tweak on the yoshi box to remove that god awful emissions shiz and then its just power everywhere. Lovely road bike especially when you put de-baffled leos on it. Very ugly though, but who cares.

[andrewsmith]

Paul if you go for a FZ1 look at the last Carb'd Fazers which a slightly neutered R1 engines
They do 160 ish on a tank going some (I know how quick my neighbour was on his, and the street triple was the tame bike)


Paul you do need to look at the VFR800, F800GS/650GS (with the chain drive), even the bargin basement GSF1200 as the touring versions are steals (compared to the rest)

Left field suggestion Ducati 1000DS or a ST2/ ST4

[Paul the 6th]

Cheers Jackie :)

And Andy - cheers dude, yeah the FI sounds a bit snatchy by all accounts. Wikipedia seems to suggest they were carb'd til 2005. Found a 2003 with full luggage within budget, gonna try get a test ride this weekend :) ridden luckypants vfr800 on the isle of man, silky smooth but despite being 100+ bhp it felt a bit like riding an sv650 after years on bigger bikes, bit limited on the top end. Like the looks of the f650 and 800, again, lack of power would see me bored quite quickly. Would consider a bandit but still like a bit of sparkle in my riding.

Thanks muchly for the tips though :)

[andrewsmith]

Paul definitely up to 2005 with the carbs and blue spot 4-pots (and a 298mm disc).
I'm sure the majors 16k on the motors for your haggling purposes. I'm sure my neighbours still got his trick parts in the garage off his Fazer

[Paul the 6th]

Deluxe :D Will get back to you post test ride. If you can find out what your neighbour has/thinks etc. let me know :)

[andrewsmith]

Was a Micron Can, full ohlins rear, renthals when I helped him strip it. Don't think he's sold out of it yet

[davepreston]

Paul let me know about the vstrom as im looking at one, have a butchers at the tiger too

[Paul the 6th]

Tigers look good and fallout seems to love his.... they're just out of budget :) will give you a call dude

[Jackie_Black]

The V-strom is more than the sum of its parts as far as i'm concerned. It's a bit like the SV in that respect. If you are going to hoon about properly on one it can be improved a lot. Continental do sticky tyres for it so grip will never be an issue again. SV racing do brackets so you can fit GSXR brakes so it will stop on a penny and I found lifting the rear 25mm was a great help for making the beast turn quickly. Only thing that annoyed me was the wind buffett so i fitted the small sports screen and this solved it. If you are going 2 up anywhere it will just pull, overtakes are fine and it'll do 175 miles to a tank so stops aren't too frequent.

[NTECUK]

Gsx r man in age accelerated program.
Fazer if you must
R 1 will do the job and make you smile Old Man lol

[Paul the 6th]

Lol cheers Martin, I can assure you that time travel is indeed possible as long as you're carrying enough corner speed ;) I've lost the urge to go everywhere fast since I went to Scotland... now I just want to go further & ride for longer. I looked at gs1150's for about 2 minutes but then closed the browser and slapped myself across the face :)

[Fallout]

It's got to be the Sprint mate. You're doing the sensible thing looking at the other options, but right now you have the Sprint up on a pedestal and you're looking in vain to find something that appeals to you more in your price bracket. I don't think you will. If you actually saw a bargain and bought something other than the Sprint, in a year or so time you'd be thinking about trading it out for the Sprint again I reckon!

Buy a Sprint. Get those rosey specs removed so you can say you've had one and used it with a vengeance and then flog it for something else next year if it isn't right for you.

That's my thinking batgirl.

[NTECUK]

Big trailies are all the rage at the moment.
If you buy sensible you can suck it and see if it works for you.
If not sell it later and it shouldn't take a big depreciation hit.
Being sensible for a bit the Bavarians have that corner pretty sorted.

[robh539]

Whatever feels right for you. I brought mine as I could get on it, looks good and shifts but above all felt right. Get one Then time to kick the tyres and light the fires :)

Ps didnt you slap me for looking gs1150? Payback ;)

[Owenski]

I dont think anyone would be gutted with a sprint.
If by chance you go for a Fazer give me a shout as I know someone flogging one.