Commuter bikes, which is your favourite?

[andrewsmith]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Depends how far you go...

Agreed

If your going 5 or 10 miles through traffic at speeds lower than 40ish, a 125 or 250 will be adequate.
15 to 20 a 250 will do on low speed roads, or a 600-700 single or twin on open roads. Anything above 20 a practical 650 upwards twin, triples or fours.

This is coming from a man who commuted 20 miles each way (Newcastle to Sunderland) on a YBR for 5 months

I agree with the shouts for the SV650. I had two bikes last year, a YBR125 and the Gixxer. Rode the 125 into work for the first few weeks and then lost the will to continue with that and rode the Gixxer instead most of the time. This was almost purely because I was so used to having the option of using the power of a big bike that I found it very hard and not so enjoyable using the smaller machine. The SV has got more than enough poke to keep it entertaining and make sure that 'power' option is available when needed while being pretty sounds economy wise.

So I don't have too much experience to add being very new to all this but I commute 20 miles from outer to the other side of central London each day... The sum total of my experience is 800 miles on a YBR 125 and 100 miles on an SV650 doing the exact same commute.

I wouldn't dream of going back to the 125. I wouldn't say there has been any impact on filtering or manoeuvrability, in central London it's packed so tight of you **** up your planning the extra control of something more upright is no use when there is simply nowhere to go.

However, the confidence, extra power and ability to move away from the other idiots has made each mile calmer and much more enjoyable!

I'm sure the same goes for anything 400 and over but I havnt once thought of going back to the YBR.

Fz1 for my commute of 35miles one way on fast straight but buissy a roads it's a tiny bit better than the sv on fuel as. I Don't have to thrash it to get past streams of cars

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by Blurb

...and 100 miles on an SV650 doing the exact same commute.

I'm sure the same goes for anything 400 and over but I havnt once thought of going back to the YBR.

Give it until the fuel light comes on

[JamesMio]

180 miles before the light comes on?

Heck, I really need to get my SV looked at then, I'm lucky to get 90 at the minute...

The SV's a great commuter bike, it ticks pretty much all of the boxes. However, I'd be very tempted by the Street Triple as my next commuter. It's got nothing in the way of weather protection, but is simply one of the funnest bikes around. My Speed Triple was an amazing commuter bike, but complete overkill for London traffic. The Tiger 1050 is good, but a bit too wide and top-heavy for complete commuting satisfaction.

The worst thing I've ever commuted on was probably a Dullville. Don't ever be tempted by one.

Originally Posted by JamesMio

180 miles before the light comes on?

Heck, I really need to get my SV looked at then, I'm lucky to get 90 at the minute...

180 is around what I get using my Versys fairly hard - if I'm gentle with it I can get up to 230 miles from the 19 litre tank.

My SV650S was lousy on fuel, I mean proper lousy. I was lucky to get 130 miles from a tankful no matter how nice I was to it.


Honda C90 is the ultimate commuter.

My best ever commuter was a battered old Honda CB250RS I got given. It came to me with 135,000 miles on it and I then pressed it into service doing a 100 mile round trip every day down 3 motorways in rush hours. By the time I gave it away to a mate it had clocked up 192,000 miles on the original engine, and I only did two proper oil changes. It leaked so much from a crack in the lower half of one crankcase and required such frequent top-ups that I didn't feel the need to do an oil change as it kinda did its own as I rode. I measured the oil loss at about half a litre a day, which meant it got the best part of two oil changes a week. Thank god for cheapo recycled oil in 25 litre drums for about 30 quid at our local motor factors

[STRAMASHER]

Originally Posted by JamesMio

180 miles before the light comes on?

Heck, I really need to get my SV looked at then, I'm lucky to get 90 at the minute...

Should have made that clear, light comes on at approx 160 but cos I have been being a nerd and noting my fuel consumption on the that fuelly site I can easily get another 20 miles out reserve without getting paranoid that the bike will run out in the Clyde tunnel!

The Sv was nice due to the effortless torque it provided.
Been going into london every day on my ninja and tbh i absolutely love it as its slim and quick but its a fair amount of work.
The Dr SM is perfect though, good amount of punt, a good top end for the long stretches and still not to bad on fuel economy annddd its tiny and weighs nothing, its perfect.

Mid sized single or twin is the way to go i feel, small light and still good on fuel.