Bike purchase advice

[Mully]

G'day,

I'm looking for advice on a bike to buy for road riding.

I have my full licence and am looking for a bike for myself mostly and occasionally for my girlfriend to ride pillion from time to time.

I am 6'1 and my girlfriend is 5'4 and we are both, umm, husky build. For this reason, we have been advised to get something bigger than 600cc.

I would like something I can tinker with on weekends and I prefer the "sport-tourer" type bikes, although a nice naked bike will be considered. My first preference was for a TLR, but the woman has decided that this will be uncomfortable to ride pillion.

Appreciate any advice anyone has on what to get (and what to look out for on previous suggestions).

Cheers.

[Zapf]

CBR1100xx (Sports touring), CB1300/S (Naked grunter)

[Coyote]

Goldwing

Bad dum tish!

[Jimmy B]

CBR1100xx (Sports touring), CB1300/S (Naked grunter)

Yep and in no particular order check these out:

ZRX1200
XJR1300
GSX1400

Ive got a CB1100SF (X11) which has tonnes of grunt but pillion accomodation and luggage options are a bit limited.

Let us know how you get on

[car]

Appreciate any advice anyone has on what to get

A different woman.

And *then* a TLR.

[Blackbird]

Trying to be unbiased, any of the big sports tourers, faired or otherwise are all bloody good and there are very few bikes on the market which are an unwise choice, but they all have their little quirks too. It's what they do for you at an emotional level in terms of appearance which will help you narrow down the options.

I've had my Blackbird for over 5 years, love it to bits and it's been bulletproof. It's a proven long haul machine which will also boogie on the Coro Loop when you want it to! Engines are bullet proof with some of the early 'birds racking up over 200000 MILES in the UK with only minimal work on them. Even though I love it dearly, I've probably spent close to $3000 on extras to get it exactly the way I want it for my particular needs but that might well apply to any bike. If you lean towards a 'bird after looking at all the options, I'd be happy to provide a lot more detail. Good luck in your search - exciting times!

[Matt]

I guess alot of it depends on your riding experience? (I got my full after 5 lessons/10 hours on a roadbike!).

Maybe something like a Vstrom too??

Matt

[Mully]

A different woman.

And *then* a TLR.

Ahh, don't want to do that though.

Thanks everyone. What are RF900s like for this sort of thing?

[Hitcher]

Don't forget the Bandit 1200. And there are a few FJ1200s that pop up from time to time.

[Madness]

Quite a few ZZR1100's around in good nick for around $6k. The D model started in 1993 & went through to 2001. Excellent bike for the money & in my view a standout in that price bracket.

[madmal64]

My advise is to ride as many as you can in the price bracket you have in mind. Take the pillion out on all of them too if they are going to be doing lots of the mileage with you. It was the best thing I did while my wife was still riding with me. (pre kids) saved a few arguments.
You mention the RF. There are plently of staunch RF owners here & as an ex owner I can attest to the fact they were and still are an underated piece of kit.
Riffer & Colapop are 2 owners that post a lot on here I can think of.
A damn fine machine for the dollars spent.

[knight rider]

I've pillioned about 7 different people on the back of my GSXR 1100 & haven't heard one complaint yet