Help with choosing my next bike - Heart or brain?

Should I follow my heart or my brain?

I've been riding for about 4 months now, having my curvey SV650S for a similar time. However I want to upgrade and get something a bit more sporty.

My budget is about £4500, maybe £5k -ish at tops including hopefuly about £2k px on my curvey. Ideally no more than 4-5 years old with no stupid milages.

One of the reasons I fell in love with biking was seeing how sexy the cbr600rr is. So in my heart I know I want that, I just don't know if it will be practical enough for me in how I'd use it.

These are the things I want it to be able to do, not in order:

• Be able to tour for a week or 2 inc some luggage but no pillion required.
• Do the 10 mile each way comute and filtering into Nottingham
• Look sporty/sexy
• Have rideouts and short fun on at evenings/weekends.
• Trackdays are not a priority, that might change, not tried one yet.

Can anyone help me out here with advice and suggestions?

Also, does the price drop by much in winter? As I'd have no problem waiting till then.

Popped into the Triumph shop near me, the Daytona looks nice, but just not as sexy as the RR in my eyes.

Thanks,
David

fireblade?

seems to tick all the boxes IMO

i would say " what ya playing at"

4 months and u want more sportyer than a SV!

i think you need to keep you SV ...... your on a big learning cure here ....

Originally Posted by suzsv650

i would say " what ya playing at"

4 months and u want more sportyer than a SV!

i think you need to keep you SV ...... your on a big learning cure here ....

+1

And I reckon you'll be disappointed if you think you'll get 2K px on yours. There are people on here having trouble selling 06 pointies for 3K privately.

[Biker Biggles]

I would keep brain engaged for a good while yet.The SV can teach you a hell of a lot about riding if you let it,so I suggest spending a bit of that money on a Bikesafe day,some cheapish suspension upgrades,and then some additional tuition either on road or track.Commuting into town and even out and about on real roads there is not much that a well sorted SV can't do pretty much as well as a CBR6.(Contraversial opinion alert)

Think with your heart or head?

I was in this position after passing my test in July - My heart wanted a Gixxer 600 and with Suzuki offering cheap insurance it was very tempting.

My head said take it slowly, get a bigger bike with low insurance, sporty looks and preferably with 0% / Suzuki offers. Since hearing all about the SV from a worker at Dobles (Honda) I found this site, read lots and my head was fixed on an SV.

I pick the new bike up on Saturday. Give it a couple of years and if Suzuki make some vast difference to the 2008/2009/2010 Gixxer I will have the experience and the money to go for it satisfying my head and my heart

[mattSV]

If you want a a very nice CBR RR then have a look at this:-

http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=95821

It is a minter, at a very good price

[fizzwheel]

Your SV meets all those criteria.....

OK how old are you, and how many miles roughly have you done on your SV in your 4 months riding. Is the SV your first bike ?

Nowt wrong with wanting to change to a different bike and the RR is a fine choice. Lots of people choose that sort of bike for a first bike, and get on fine.

But....

If your young and your SV is your first bike, and you've not done many miles, then personally I'd keep your SV another 6 months at least till you've done a year on it..

Heres why, in my opinion.

Your 4 months into a long biking career, you're at that stage where you've mastered the basics by now, but still learning, heres where the SV is a good bike, you can ride it and make mistakes on it and its pretty forgiving to a litlte more corner speed than your used to, etc etc. Where as the RR with another what 40bhp, better chassis, better brakes, can in certain circumstances leave you with less room for error, I found it deceptive on the GSXR when I first got it, you could easily come up to a corner 30 or 40mph faster than I was used to and it took time to adjust the extra power the bigger bike had, it can be intimidating, I know riders who had a similar bike to the RR and scared themselves silly on it, and lost confidence, and now dont ride because of it, ( not saying you'll do this )

Personally I think a bit more time on the SV, will see you be able to extract more fun from the RR when you do get one, I was certainly glad of the 2 years on my SV before I got my GSXR, the experience, confidence and respect for a bike I'd built up on the SV I think stood me in good stead and I know I wouldnt enjoy the GSXR as much as I do if I had got on it with only a short time in the saddle prior to purchasing it and also my insurance would have been a whole heap more expensive to...

But I'm not you, you gotta do what you think works for you, if you can have a bit of patience it'll be rewarded in the long run. Saying that, I'd agree with Matt, Scoobs' RR is very tidy and at that price its a bargain as well.

Have you ridden an RR ? perhaps a test ride would help you make your mind up, leave it a few more months and you'll probably find you'll get a better deal once the clocks have changed, but then you wont get as much for your SV either then...

Hope that helps.

ooo get a daytona!! i got one a few weeks back, i got 2000 for my 02 SV with 15000k on the clock, i still cant get over the power its greati tryed to wheelie my sv and couldent really do it but the daytona does it all by itself in a non scary way, im sure mine is a transformer so much charater it even talks in bike talk when its turned off! i chose that over the cbrr and there doing 0% for 2 years!!!

I think fizz has given some decent advice and i can only echo the majority of what he has said.

I only had my SV for a little over 6 months before i got a SS600, so in that respect the SV didnt last long. I did however own two RS125 and a Mito before that.

I dont think you will be able to get the best out of an RR, but that doesn't mean you should not get one. If its what you really want and you can afford it then go for it!

I like to give conflicting advice