lol
I had this thing:
So not a "fast" bike by any means, and if pushed could get to around 60mph in FIRST gear
I can only imagine what a race bike such and R1/GSXR1000 can do in third
Motorcycle for cheap transportation?
Re: Motorcycle for cheap transportation?
I think I can answer this. I had the chance to ride an 04 model without traction control. When I flicked the throttle in third too much it spun the back wheel. Didn’t even stand up. I was just cruising along and I watched my tach spin up like I’d lost my clutch. I did it a couple of more times to convince myself it had happened. When I got back my buddy was very upset to find particles of his expensive tire all over the license plate. He accused me of doing burnouts.
I thought is was funny till I realized I could have gone down if I’d tried that in a turn.
Nice R bike. Someday I’d like to pick up an older R rally bike. They seem to be very durable.
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Re: Motorcycle for cheap transportation?
I think you're right. There are scooters that do on road and highway (see Honda Silverwing and similar) and some that do off road and town (Honda Rukus, etc). But I don't think there is one that does all three (highway, city and off road).
I personally have lusted after a Kawasaki KLR 650 for quite a while. It's not really good at anything but it can do all of those things, has a big group of loyal owners who have documented the shortcomings with fixes, is readily available and not particularly expensive. There are nicer bikes like it -- the Honda Transalp is highly regarded (but it's also rare and maybe held in too high a position due to rarity). BMW has some nice bikes like the KLR but they can be heavy and expensive. Reading something like this might be a good idea to kind of see what style and bias you prefer:
https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/five ... les#page-5
Re: Motorcycle for cheap transportation?
The correct answer to this is called Suzuki Vstorm 650.C40 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 03, 2018 5:48 pmI'm envisioning this kind of use:
- Putzing around town: 50%
- On a highway or something similar: 25%
- On dirt/gravel/fire/forest service/BLM roads: 25% (some of which have some decent sized rocks and ruts, but mostly pretty smooth or with pretty smooth lines available for a 2-wheeler... a fair amount will have washboarding)
- Totally off road / on trails: ~0%
So I think using a scooter is probably out of the question for using one bike to do all those(?)
Look for an older model like a 2010
Twin cylinder with plenty of torque
Excels at nothing
Above average at everything
This is, assuming you don't want to compromise.
Otherwise I'd go for a cheap scooter like the one I just bought (Nmax 155cc)
It will be slower, have less power, and be worse at about everything other than being invincible as a cheap city commuter, and Be so fuel efficient you'll start to think it runs on thin air
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Re: Motorcycle for cheap transportation?
@Seppia Good point -- I forgot about the Vstrom. Last time I was looking at this, it was brand new so couldn't get an inexpensive used one. But now there are multitudes (just checked my local Craigslist). It seems like a strong contender with more modern design than the KLR (and likely it is way better on road -- I wonder how they compare off road).
Re: Motorcycle for cheap transportation?
KLR is for sure better as an off-road bike, the Vstorm is an all rounder made mostly for paved roads.
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Re: Motorcycle for cheap transportation?
KLRs are very tall. You may want to have long legs. True of a lot of dual sport bikes I guess, but I rode a KTM Adventure one time (closest I've come to a sport bike, sadly) and I don't remember it being too tall for me.