Bike musings

[Seeker]

Next year I will have been riding for 50 years and as much as I avoid thinking about it I realise the end of my riding days is approaching. My dream bike debacle, the Kawasaki H1F, certainly dampened my enthusiasm for a while.
Each time I buy a bike I wonder if it's the last but, so far, there has always been 'another' which segues nicely into my new bike purchase.
Choosing a new bike this time proved more difficult than ever. I wanted a bike with fully adjustable suspension to see if UK roads could be made to feel smoother. I had started to pursue upgrading the SV but the suspension place I visited couldn't remove the forks and, at the time, I didn't have the correct stand to do it myself and by the time I did, I'd moved to plan B; a new bike.

It had to be light which excluded the Triumph T100 (pity, I like the look but 500lbs and non adjustable suspension?) with a reasonable seat height and preferably with a local dealer so it came down to 2 bikes; a 765 Street Triple R or an MT-09 SP. I used to have a 675 Street Triple, liked it but never fully trusted it because I had many electrical issues with switches. My nearest Triumph dealer is 40 miles away and is untrustworthy, the next closest is 60 miles away. Having said all that if the Triumph was made in the UK or still had the high pipes, I would have probably gone for it, but in the end I went for the Yamaha. Since I can't support a British made product I'll support a local dealer. Aesthetically, neither bike had the "wow" factor for me - I found the Triumph's colour options boring, I don't like matt finishes and black means they just gave up (imho). The MT09 SP only comes in 1 colour option (SP = special paint? j/k) fortunately I like it, but why is the instrumentation offset to the right? Maybe the insectoid look will grow on me - or I'll just keep approaching the bike from the back (but then I see the cow catcher).
Is this my last bike? Dunno, watch this space. I am keeping the SV - if Suzuki made an upmarket version of the the current SV with high spec'd suspension I would have bought it in a heartbeat, I have ridden more miles on that bike than any I've previously owned. Anyway, here's a couple of pics of the MT-09 SP with 4 miles on the odometer.



This one shows the cowcatcher - shouldn't that be at the front though?

[Adam Ef]

I'd be interested to see how you find the ride compared the Street Triple, particularly the 765 if you've ridden one. I was hoping the 765 was a marked improvement in ride to the 675, but forgot I was on a newer one when I was riding it. I loved my Street Triple 675r but didn't quite click with the ride feel of it. I never felt daring enough or trusting enough of it to ride it properly. Possibly as it was valuable and that led to me letting it go. I have thought about getting one again as I loved the triple engine, but also loved the triple engine in the Tracer 900 when I had one. Often been tempted by the Street Triple again or a naked MT09.

[shiftin_gear98]

Nice bike, you HAVE to get that cow catcher off sharpish. What the **** were they thinking.

[garynortheast]

I always think those cow catchers look like the rear mudguard has broken and fallen down the wheel!

[Chris_SVS]

If you take that off in one piece, some moronic Tracer 900 owners buy them to help it look like a GS when added to the £15 chinese front beak

[Grant66]

Nice, worth the extra for the better suspension. It's the one regret I have about my MT09, not getting the SP version. Have fun keeping the front on the floor in A mode

Cow catcher is a bit Marmite, be careful which "tail tidy" you replace it with as some need the undertray trimming.

Sent from an S20 using Tapatalk with that kin cr4p blocked

[NedSVS]

Nearly 50 years of motorcycling; I'm only at 45 years. I ride with a small group of IAM advanced riders, several of which used to train new IAM recruits. The oldest of our group is 84 years old and rides an MT09, still very well, on which he had Ktech sort the suspension. Another, a mere 70 something, has just purchased an MT09SP. I've sat on the MT09 and it felt beautifully balanced, carrying the weight low. In comparison my SV felt top heavy. If the looks don't offend you too much I think they are a fantastic bike but a little short on fuel range.

[Red Herring]

I get to ride quite a bit with a reasonably competent bunch of mates who between them have both and MT09SP and the latest Street Triple R. Both of those bikes are pretty good at everything they are asked to do but my K5 SV650 is quite capable of living with them until the speeds get well into licence shredding territory..... In fact on the tighter bumpier roads it's quite capable of dropping them. My SV is tricked up in that it's got a GSXR front end and a ZX10 shock, but apart from a PC3 and exhaust the engine is stock so still only making around 75bhp. I know some of the GSXR bits are getting harder to find these days but you could still easily build my bike for under £4k, probably nearer £3k with a little ingenuity, so bang for buck it's still the best bike in my garage......

[Craig380]

Very nice. Have you polished those downpipes already?

[Seeker]

Originally Posted by Craig380

Very nice. Have you polished those downpipes already?

No, of course not, they came like that.


(I have experimented with polishing the catalytic converter though)