View Full Version : Top selling bikes
The top selling bikes in the UK are:
10 Bmw s1000xr
9 Mt10
8 Mt09
7 Tracer 900
6 765 RS
5 Africa twin
4 Bonneville bobber
3 Kawasaki Z1000SX
2 Bmw R1200GS Adventure
1 Bmw R1200GS
I've hardly seen any of these bikes in NE Lincs, the Kawasaki is probably the exception. I've seen more MVs, KTM's and Aprilias which I always thought odd as the nearest dealers are some distance away.
What's it like in your area?
only thing i have seen is bloke across the back got a new bobber.
looking at the new 765 they do a low version from factory :-) pity it will be welll out my pocket fluff.
Chris_SVS
28-10-17, 04:10 PM
1200GS series is big here as is the Tiger, lots of ZX10s and S1000RR's***
***I don't quite understand the need for a superbike on the road, at what point on the road is anyone using anything like the potential of the bike and legally??? Looks good in a carpark eh?
SV650rules
28-10-17, 05:19 PM
Organ donors ride superbikes on the road. Way too much traffic and too many drivers messing with phones these days to carreer around at those kinds of speeds, you can get into a world of trouble very quickly. The SV is pretty ideal in its power delivery and flickable handling, with decent mpg and as a bonus it sounds great.
SV650rules
28-10-17, 05:23 PM
1200GS series is big here
1200GS is big everywhere, it is just big....... designed by same bloke who designed their WW2 tanks.
Chris_SVS
28-10-17, 05:52 PM
1200GS is big everywhere, it is just big....... designed by same bloke who designed their WW2 tanks.
haha true
Organ donors ride superbikes on the road. Way too much traffic and too many drivers messing with phones these days to carreer around at those kinds of speeds, you can get into a world of trouble very quickly. The SV is pretty ideal in its power delivery and flickable handling, with decent mpg and as a bonus it sounds great.
Can get into plenty of trouble on a wee 650 if so desired, makes me chuckle when people who don't understand bikes ask what CC it is, the response is often "wow that big"
With the exception of my colleague who rides a 50cc moped on L plates and a Varadero 125, my SV is the smallest CC bike in the shed at work, but the most ridden
1200GS series is big here as is the Tiger, lots of ZX10s and S1000RR's***
***I don't quite understand the need for a superbike on the road, at what point on the road is anyone using anything like the potential of the bike and legally??? Looks good in a carpark eh?
its not about how fast it goes. there are a lot of other factors to consider. take the gsxr 750 for example, same weight as the sv but comfier, double the ponies for overtaking, better brakes and suspension. only problem is that people cant keep a calm head and its those that usually end up spare parts but that can be said about anybody riding any size of cc bike. put a fast bike in inexperienced hands and its a lethal combination.
i had considered getting a gsxr 750 then putting a comfort kit on it at one point.
Chris_SVS
28-10-17, 06:04 PM
its not about how fast it goes. there are a lot of other factors to consider. take the gsxr 750 for example, same weight as the sv but comfier, double the ponies for overtaking, better brakes and suspension. only problem is that people cant keep a calm head and its those that usually end up spare parts but that can be said about anybody riding any size of cc bike. put a fast bike in inexperienced hands and its a lethal combination.
i had considered getting a gsxr 750 then putting a comfort kit on it at one point.
Of course and fair point, It was mostly the superbikes with no wear on the outer 2/3s of the tyre parked up at tea wagons I was getting at :eek: ****
**** A gentleman who passed his test a few weeks before I did (Oct 24th 2005) spent his career on all manner of ZX6's and ZX10's all modded tastefully(usually with a power commander) He was a quick but not necessarily a safe rider, well known for his exploits on a particular local road, in fact very few riders could keep up. Until one day at a tea wagon, testicle size came into the mix and off he goes, he was buried 3 days later. One of those guys who'd never put a bike near a track because it would show up how terrible he actually was, no brains when a wide open throttle is all you need.
The bike was quicker than he was and much more capable, but the road he was killed on (I know it but can't remember the name) certainly isn't one you'd get comfortably over 60 on, like most in the general area, and an awful lot of NI
Adam Ef
28-10-17, 06:21 PM
I only ever see SV650s and BMW tourers around us. Might be a case of noticing the bike / car you own more though. BMW tourers with full panniers / tank bags do seem to be popular too though.
Talking Heads
29-10-17, 08:55 AM
I reckon that's just the bikes over 750cc category.
Adam Ef
29-10-17, 11:10 AM
I reckon that's just the bikes over 750cc category.
I'd agree. Aren't the top sellers usually 125s and commuter scooters?
Red ones
29-10-17, 11:45 AM
The list is of the top 10 registrations with DVLA in 2017 of bikes over 125cc.
The numbers are poor this year. Number 10 didn't even sell 500 bikes.
Chris_SVS
29-10-17, 01:02 PM
Spotted a number of tigers, a KTM adventure, a Bandit 600, a Curvy SV, a GN125 with a learnerist onboard (instructor was on a big toury BMW R1100RT kind of thing) and a Z750
No sportsbikes ;)
Red Herring
30-10-17, 01:24 PM
There was once a day when you had to buy a sports bike if you wanted plenty of power with decent suspension, that simply isn't the case anymore. If you are only going to have the one bike, and you're into track days and such like, then they still make sense but if you're only ever going to be riding on the road then there are better packages available now. Having said that very few riders who buy a bike do so because they need the performance it offers, and even less are actually capable of accessing it.
SV650rules
30-10-17, 02:33 PM
These days I want a bike that is not too expensive, pretty quick up to legal speed limit, reasonably low seat, decent tank range and mpg, does not require me to keep swapping cogs to keep in the power band and is fun to ride and reliable. A secondary consideration is that it sounds nice but does not **** my neighbours off. Guess what, I have an SV AL7...............
The truth is I think that millennials don't do motorbikes, and motorbike rider stats are same as farmers in UK, the average age of a rider is probably over 50.
timwilky
30-10-17, 04:47 PM
I realised a little sports bike was right many years ago when I had a numpty pull out on me on a country lane. I was able to grab a big handful with my right. control the suspension dive and the attempt to lift the rear. lose enough mph to flick it behind him and get round.
Had I still been on an SV, I would had been either in the side of him or sliding down the road towards him. Unfortunately, budget bike do not have the brakes, suspension and thus handling that you sometimes need when it goes all tits up.
Only having 29" inside leg also means a lot of bikes are also a non starter.
SV650rules
30-10-17, 05:41 PM
I realised a little sports bike was right many years ago when I had a numpty pull out on me on a country lane. I was able to grab a big handful with my right. control the suspension dive and the attempt to lift the rear. lose enough mph to flick it behind him and get round.
Had I still been on an SV, I would had been either in the side of him or sliding down the road towards him. Unfortunately, budget bike do not have the brakes, suspension and thus handling that you sometimes need when it goes all tits up.
Very rare situations make bad examples (like hard cases make for bad law), did I mention my SV also has ABS and a couple of 10watt LED spotlights and an 80watt (equivalent filament wattage) LED bulb in the headlight, I believe in being seen well in advance of where my bike is - it makes me shudder when I see blokes doing stupid speeds in inappropriate places and relying on a glow-worm in a jam jar for a headlight (or no headlight on at all) and no DRL or auxiliary lighting.
Toooldtodie
30-10-17, 07:06 PM
Was looking at the Tracer 900 to replace my old SV. Just decided to go with a new Nitron rear shock, Ohlins front springs and a full service on every bearing that bears. See if in two years time I still want to upgrade...
No matter what you’ve got,never ride faster than you guardian angel can fly.
Talking Heads
30-10-17, 07:29 PM
Had I still been on an SV, I would had been either in the side of him or sliding down the road towards him.
If you had been on an AL7 with ABS you would probably have been fine.
Its amazing how hard you can pull the brake lever and stay upright.
The fact that the 10th-5th best selling bikes sold less than 600 units in a year is the most shocking part of this. The average litre sports bike has almost doubled in price over the last 10 years while average wages have pretty much stayed the same would go some way to explaining that. Especially when you pay the best part of 20k on a bike and it comes with basically nothing to stop it being stolen.
Red Herring
01-11-17, 06:28 PM
Especially when you pay the best part of 20k on a bike and it comes with basically nothing to stop it being stolen.
What would you like to see on a bike to stop it being stolen, because as far as I am aware there is pretty much nothing on the market short of a 24hr armed guard standing next to it that will achieve that.
The days of thieves coming along, sticking a screwdriver in the ignition or twisting a few wires together and then riding off are long gone, these days they simply pick it up or push it off to somewhere they can van it to the disposal point. You can add deterrents such as Datatag or smart water that will make the parts harder for them to get rid of but these won't stop them taking it in the first place. Fitting a tracker will help you retrieve it providing you can react fast enough and intercept it effectively, but you won't have very long to do this against the professionals (we're talking minutes here) although you get a bit longer with the amateurs who will park it up somewhere for a few hours for this very reason.
Basically if you have a valuable or desirable bike that you don't want stolen then don't leave it in high risk areas unattended, and definitely don't do it repeatedly (see recent thread on here from some poor Orger who had his GSXR stolen....). I do feel for those that live in urban areas and don't have a secure garage, but the reality is you're a complete mug if you spend 20k on a bike and then don't expect someone else to want it.......
Adam Ef
01-11-17, 11:42 PM
if you spend 20k on a bike and then don't expect someone else to want it.......
I think if I had 20k to spend on a bike I'd definitely have a garage, and would more likely have a 17k bike and a 3k hack / runaround that was less desireable.
Actually I don't think I'd ever spend 17k on a bike either anyway.
While you're never going to stop all bike theft there is a lot more the manufacturers can do and it wouldn't cost them much. Proper factory fitted alarms and trackers, places on the frame where you can put a chain through, proper immobilisers which not only stop the engine being started but also lock the brakes on or lock it in gear.
Although you can never stop the bike being lifted into an insulated van (although BMW are helping by making bikes that weigh as much as a small moon) a lot of theft is opportunists who break the weak steering lock and use another bike to push it away.
Look at the improvements made in car security over the last 30 years, on bikes it's pretty much the same, or with some manufacturers, worse.
SV650rules
02-11-17, 10:57 AM
Although you can never stop the bike being lifted into an insulated van (although BMW are helping by making bikes that weigh as much as a small moon) a lot of theft is opportunists who break the weak steering lock and use another bike to push it away.
Look at the improvements made in car security over the last 30 years, on bikes it's pretty much the same, or with some manufacturers, worse.
Yes BMW are certainly doing their bit for security by making their bikes weigh more than the average van can carry LOL
If a bolt cutter does not do the job a battery angle grinder with a cutting disc will make short work of any chain or ground anchor (hardened or not, makes little difference) and not that noisy either. If I lived in a city that had clamping I would carry one in the boot of my car.
https://www.bikerandbike.co.uk/this-is-the-only-way-motorcycle-theft-will-be-significantly-reduced/
Off topic, but interesting article.
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