Commuter bike?

Imagine you had to commute from the A1 near Sandy to London for the
next few months and are a new rider.

What bike would you use and what kit would you wear given the weather
we're about to endure for the next few months and why? Budget £3k for
the bike and £realistic for the kit.

I'm thinking 650 V-Strom...

 

Pan Euro or old BMW. Something with plenty of fairing if you're
commuting through the winter.

 

Took the words out of my mouth. And shaft drive too. Pan, BMW K100RT/
LT, K1100LT, old airhead RT, Kawasaki GTR1000 (does much the same job
and is dirt cheap used).

 

I guess Yamaha XJ900 is worth a look as well on that basis.

 

True - but not such good protection from the ellyments.

 

Not a bad choice of bike. I do a minumum of 60 miles a day commuting on mine
and I often do a combination of motorway, A roads, B roads, unclassifed
roads and urban stuff. The v-strom is only half-faired but the fairing and
screen do a decent job of protecting against weather. It will sit happily on
the motorway at an indicated 100mph (really about 90mph) and fuel economy is
very good. It has a pretty flat torque curve, which means it pulls strongly
from low revs all the way to max. The upright riding position is
comfortable. However, it is quite a tall bike and is a little top-heavy so
it isn't quite as agile as some when filtering. Also, the handlebars are a
bit wide compared with most sports bikes, which reduces filtering capability
very slightly. Build quality is pretty crap so be prepared for furry bolts,
peeling engine lacquer and rust if you ride through winter. Liberal
applications of ACF50 or similar will help keep corrosion at bay.

Heated grips are a must-have. For luggage I would recommend a combination
of top box and a tailpack sitting on the rear seat as panniers tend to make
bikes quite wide at the rear, which can hamper filtering. Scottoiler is good
for chain maintenance.

Be prepared to spend in the region of £750 to get kitted out properly. I
would recommend Heine Gericke textile clothing as the quality is pretty good
in most of their ranges. Make sure the jacket is reasonably loose fitting
so that you have room for extra layers underneath in winter. I use a fleece
waistcoat under my jacket on the coldest days.

Spend money on decent boots. They need to be waterproof, warm and
comfortable whilst offering good protection. Anything else from the Daytona
winter booot range would be good. Any gloves that are comfortable and
waterproof are likely to be OK. Where the helmet is concerned, comfort and
quietness are probably more important than any specific make. Even the
best helmets suffer from wind noise over 50mph so make sure you use
earplugs.

I tend to wear my textile jacket and trousers over my work clothes and carry
my work shoes in the tailpack. When I arrive at my destination I can take
off the motorcyle kit and store it in the bike's topbox and tailpack
(provided the gear isn't too wet) and walk in wearing a suit. This is handy
because not all of the places I visit have changing and storage facilities.

 

It must have been while you were kissing me...[1]

All good.

[1] I feel a little soiled.

 

Hmmmm - the V-Strom is a bit lardy for city commuting.
Depends on the traffic on your standard route, but in general London
traffic calls for something skinnier and more flickable to cope with
dodging through the holdups.

I normally suggest a lightweight of around 125Kg such as a 125 or 250
for typical town stuff or the GS500 if you have some faster bits.
Trailies are nice and manoeverable if you are tall enough but be warned
that they are skrote magnets, probably a good idea to stick to
something less likely to get nicked unless you have secure parking.

 

**** me you're a twat. He's going to be fine toodling down the A1 on a
fucking 125 isn't he? Well protected from the weather and able to whizz
away from the roundabouts.

Honestly Matey - stop offering advice as you are always (without fucking
exception) wrong to the point of being dangerous. One day some poor
idiot will listen to you and take your advice, then you'll end up with a
death on your conscience.

GS500 is the nearest to useful in the above - and in reality it's too
small and lacking in weather protection for a 50 mile each way commute on
the main road in winter.

You've obviously never ridden a Pan (or other 'big' bike) otherwise you
wouldn't have this obsession with them being unwieldy.

 

I think crn once read "recommend what you own" and misheard it as
"recommend what you own even if it's completely unsuitable". In his
world horses wouldn't only be for courses but also for motorways and
possibly even deep sea diving.

 

says...>

I really like that one, may I use it?

 

Sure, I'd have put "(c) Jim" at the bottom if I cared.

 

BWWAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahahaha

Brilliant. I think crn should put that in his .sig file. If he knows
how.

 

Well, they can be a bit unwieldy. My FJ1200 is unwieldy at low speed
(as it's a heavy bike). The Tiger is unwieldy (as it's top-heavy)
everywhere except when hooning down quiet back roads.

Non-unwieldy big bikes do exist, but they aren't starter bikes (i'm
thinking litrebikes here really)

Cheers,

Paul.

 

The K1200S is as big as you get & feels very tidy at low speeds, including
walking speed.

It looks like i'm keeping it too

 

Only if you're limpwristed old giffer... Pan wise, anyway.

I found the one I had excellent in the manoeuvrability stakes.

 

Spend about £1500 on a transalp or similar & about a grand on the kit.

 

Incredible actually.

 

Well, for sure. I'm happy with the bikes I own, unwieldy or not, but
they can catch you unawares, (especially with luggage) if you're off
the bike, manouvreing them by hand.

Being lanky helps, especially with the Tiger.

Not had the pleasure yet, but I will. I can see the C of G is low on
them, as was my Blackbird. Tootling it along at walking pace was a
doddle.

Cheers,

Paul.

 

Pan Euro. This one looks reasonable:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Honda-ST1100-Pan-European-Only-6800-Miles-from-new_W0QQitemZ280391237397

Steve