Insurance Insanity - St1200rs Vs Rr

I'm 62, clean licence (no idea how), track instructor, been riding legally since I was old enough to (and had some, um, farm bike practice before that). No fault claims for many years.

Had a brief break, but had (big sports) bikes constantly since 1995. Gosh that's a long time.

Anyway. Decided my S1000RR wasn't pressing my buttons any more, tried a Speed Triple RS and thought it was fantastic. Liked the idea of the RX even more so went for it.

Only to be quoted a shade under £3500 for insurance.

OK, it's a special. How about an RS? £3200.

Christ. Well I prefer the RR anyway, even though it's not new. How about that? £845.

What. The. Flip?

£2 cheaper than the S1000RR which is a flippin' missile. The ST isn't slow by any means (and I utterly love it) but still...

 

On this occasion I went literally everywhere - comparison sites, brokers, direct insurers... and got pretty much the same result everywhere.

I'm sure there's some weird algorithm that explains it somewhere. I just don't want to ask too closely in case they realise the stupidity and hike the RR to match...

 

I suspect part of it is your location - I'm in SE London. Otherwise I guess it's down to the perceived risk of the bike.