To buy, or to modify?

Ok, I'm in need of some advice.
I am nearly at the end of my restriction period and would quite like a new bike. I'm thinking either a buell xb9r or a duke 748. Both very nice bikes, and within my price range. However. I cannot think of a single reason to get rid of the SV, other than im fed up of it being called a girls bike by my lecturers and friends (im on a motorsports course at uni) and thats a crap reason. My friends point our that their R6s and ZX6Rs have more power but as of yet neither have overtaken me on the track. I use my bike frequently, all year round. it does the 70 miles from uni to home carrying my washing, it does trackdays(my latest hobby) and it does sunday blasts.

So, the choice is this. New bike or improve the SV with better suspension, tyres etc.

What do you guys think? And if your opinion is to modify, could you such mods and estimated costs please! i am on a students budget after all

I had the exact same decision to make, i put GSXR suspension on mine and now i can't fault it at all!

Im toying with the idea of GSXR forks and a decent rear shock, but im a bit scared by the cost. How much did it cost you in total, if you dont mind my asking?

if your faster than them round the track race for there bikes, problem solved, how can you afford to buy and insure a 748 on a student budget and worry about the price of gsxr front end swap????

Well im not sure how much these parts cost. For all I know it could be stretching into the thousands. And as for affording the duke, well thats what student loans are for! besides, you can pick up a tidy 748 for less than 3 grand

its nearer a few hundred i would say. what about insurance on a 748?
one question how are you keeping in front of gsxr's and zxr's on the sv?

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by Liam9188

you can pick up a tidy 748 for less than 3 grand

Now I'm going to eat my previous words a little here. Whilst Ducati servicing et all in my experience can be reasonable, it can also be fricken expensive, especially if you start running into trouble.

Now whilst you can afford to buy the bike, can you afford to maintain it. Everything I have read about 748 suggest that if you get a bad one it can turn into a money bit quite quickly.

Do some research, have a read of the ducatisti forum, theres a specific section for the 748, do your homework make sure you understand what it is you are getting into...

I reckon you should try your SV without the restrictors in once your restriction is up and then make up your mind whether yuo want another bike or not...

Indeed, what fizz says!

Besides if you are looking at the £3000 bracket you can get the other italian brand (well one of them) Aprilia RSV or maybe even an RSV-R. More reliable than a 748 pretty much anyway you look at it, cheaper to run and probably to insure as well, with more power (than the 600's as well) and better bits (well if you go for the R, the standard has pretty much the same suspension and brakes as the 748 and arguably better looking... Im not a big fan of the early 916/748 Duc's 998's are damn fine though.

I keep advertising these but thats because imo they are a great bike going for cheap!

Ofcourse, there is the question of why change at all?

Originally Posted by Liam9188

Im toying with the idea of GSXR forks and a decent rear shock, but im a bit scared by the cost. How much did it cost you in total, if you dont mind my asking?

If you shop around it doesn't need to cost too much to do the front end. I have a pointy and wanted black forks so that limited me to newer forks and brakes but if your not too worried about that I would suggest you could do the whole front end for less than £500.

By the sounds of it you would be able to do the work yourself and then remember you might get £300 or so for your old front end. Shop around, E-gey is a good place to start.

Have you rode the Xb9r? I got the dubious pleasure at a Buell day and its terrible!!! Apart from the really clunky gearbox and the twitchy handling its heavy and slow.

As for the 748 I'd love one to look at in the garage and the occasional trackday but the servicing is expensive and very short intervals, new belts every 3000 miles, no thanks

3 grand says Tuono to me