5k For Your Only Bike, What Would You Buy?

Assuming £5k pounds Sterling I’d probably try one of those new fangled electric mountain bike things.

They are hideously over priced but since your giving me the cash (thank you - most generous) I’ll squander it unwisely.

Edit: I missed the bit about being my only bike… Maybe not then.

 

If you can find a decent one....

 

It would be one of the bikes I have in the garage now. A Honda VFR800 circa 1998. They are great value for money here in the UK currently. You can pick a decent one up for less than £2k and a cracker for £3k. Gear driven cams, derived from the RC45 motor (they are designated RC46 by Honda) It will take you touring, do the commute and although its outclassed these days, you could take it to a track day and have some fun too, there's still 140 mph plus on tap. What would I do with the remaining £3k? Not sure, I'd probably buy a dirt bike with that.

 

A decent hayabusa or blackbird.

 

First step is to decide what will you want to do with the bike and what sort of rider you are?

Commute / leisure / touring?
Miles per year?
Passenger?
Urban / motorway / track / off road?
Scratching or Vicar?
Wind in your face / comfort?
Spec is everything / looks matter

I recon this would narrow down the search quite a bit, then it is just a case of picking the option that you are most excited about.

 

Gen 2 Aprilia Tuono 1000R still miss it

 

Try Ebay or Facebook Moe, there's plenty around as I mentioned. They have a few gremlins like any bike. The usual issues are the electrical reg/ rectifier, rotten exhaust downpipes (all these bikes are at least 18 years old now) and possibly issues with the LCD dash. Most of these problems will have been attended to by a conscientious owner. I bought mine late last summer for £2k. The reg/rec had been upgraded, the exhausts on mine were actually ok, but I have a stainless steel system I bought in the winter months ready to fit and it had some useful extras like heated grips and a luggage rack. When going to look at a potential purchase, check the LCD display all works. They can be fixed, but better to get one that's ok in the first place. The VFR800Fi '97 - 2002 are referred to as the 5th generation VFRs, they have the gear driven cams so theres no cam chain to worry about, if you buy the later VTech models, Honda reverted to a cam chain for driving the camshafts so they can be potentially troublesome.

 

Try Ebay or Facebook Moe, there's plenty around as I mentioned. They have a few gremlins like any bike. The usual issues are the electrical reg/ rectifier, rotten exhaust downpipes (all these bikes are at least 18 years old now) and possibly issues with the LCD dash. Most of these problems will have been attended to by a conscientious owner. I bought mine late last summer for £2k. The reg/rec had been upgraded, the exhausts on mine were actually ok, but I have a stainless steel system I bought in the winter months ready to fit and it had some useful extras like heated grips and a luggage rack. When going to look at a potential purchase, check the LCD display all works. They can be fixed, but better to get one that's ok in the first place. The VFR800Fi '97 - 2002 are referred to as the 5th generation VFRs, they have the gear driven cams so theres no cam chain to worry about, if you buy the later VTech models, Honda reverted to a cam chain for driving the camshafts so they can be potentially troublesome.

 

I have a R3 GT and just purchased a gsx1400 - I find it my all time favorite muscle bike

 

Congratulations. A b&w K2. You win. Had mine for 72,000miles and 11yrs. Pretty much standard and certainly mint. Quickly got a fat neck and a Vulcan Death Grip handshake. Prices now starting to get silly.