Cheap reliable tourers - if you only had £1500 for a big tourer, what would you buy?

[Juju]

ZZR 600 ? They're cheap. Is the engine a bot small? Depends on the miles I guess......

Or and elderly GPZ900 or something of that ilk? Is a RF900 too sporty? All cheap bikes....

Good call on the ZZR1100. That's what I'd have, or stretch to a 12R.

You're not going to get much decent for £1500. You might manage to get a half decent Dullville, but they're cr@p for anything other than plodding along on.

What about a Triumph Trophy? You might be able to pick up a well looked after one. The 1200 has a huge amount of grunt. There's usually a few on ebay. These ones look good, but I'd have no idea what the reserve price might be:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Triumph-Trophy...item335dd04597

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Triumph-1200-T...item3a5bcb9ca3

They were seriously over-engineered bikes, as Triumph were trying to build a reputation for reliability. The engines will go on for practically ever if they have regular oil changes.

Reliable tourer = BMW
Cheap reliable tourer = Old BMW

Because I love mine, as old as it is, K1200 RS 40 - 50K miles.

Originally Posted by Juju

ZZR 600 ? They're cheap. Is the engine a bot small? Depends on the miles I guess......

Or and elderly GPZ900 or something of that ilk? Is a RF900 too sporty? All cheap bikes....

I had regular use of an RF900 for a couple of years when I shared a house with a guy who owned one. It wasn't that comfy really, the footrests are in completely the wrong place for the bars and having ridden a few now they all handle a bit weird, like they will run wide on every corner at speed. They do go surprisingly well though and are damn quick. I can jump on and ride most bikes comfortably, but the RF was usually the last choice of the available bikes I'd jump on to cover any distance. They are also very limited for places to clip bungee strap hooks onto, as I found out a couple of times, so rule out carrying lots of gear on the pillion seat.

GPZ900s are getting way past their best unless you can find a later A8 or A9 model with the 17" front wheel that's been cared for.

[embee]

Originally Posted by wyrdness

You're not going to get much decent for £1500. You might manage to get a half decent Dullville, but they're cr@p for anything other than plodding along on.

You won't get a half decent Deau for £1500, at that they'll be tatty. I've got one and they're fine, far better than all the bull$hit reviews usually by people who haven't owned one or don't rate anything which won't do 160+.

You wouldn't want one though, if you did you wouldn't be asking on here. They do exactly what they are meant to ("on the tin"), very easy to ride, comfy, good weather protection, reasonably economical, 200 mile tank range, pretty much bomb-proof and will go on forever but cosmetically challenged unless pampered. They probably wouldn't have the grunt you're after though, more for "reasonable progress" rather than "spirited scratching".

900 Diversion?

Originally Posted by embee

You won't get a half decent Deau for £1500, at that they'll be tatty. I've got one and they're fine, far better than all the bull$hit reviews usually by people who haven't owned one or don't rate anything which won't do 160+.

There were some reasonable looking ones for around that money on Ebay a couple of months back when I was selling mine. They'll get you from A to B in comfort but, with hindsight, I'd have been better off with an old Sprint ST as a winter hack, rather than the dullville.

[Richie]

Tdm... Zzr... ?

TDM 850 sounds good.