Which sportsbike for the larger gentleman?

[Matt]

It's like this Matt, Broke my 07 R1 15 Dec..... Brought a 06 GSXR (after riding K7) and omg it's the V8 of inline fours!!!! not as roomy as R1 but more up rite riding position than R1. Make's me smile every time i ride her and at the end of the day that's what counts. I can confirm the alpinestar did what they said it would and i walked away shame the R1 didn't make it......

Sorry to hear that mate , good to hear the leathers did their job though (looking at getting some custom ones made at the mo).

Looks like I'm going with a k7; just need to get a decent deal sorted (altho' TSS are keen on doing a deal on an 08 R1).

Matt

[Pussy]

Good thing about the 07 onwards 1000, Matt, you can drop the pegs 14mm, which considerably improves comfort for taller riders

[nick69]

The world is your oyster! I am 6'3 and 120kgs and have ridden many bikes. I loved my 99 R1 but for longer distances i wouldnt be without my BMW R1150GS which is a bloody good bike. It is perhaps just as good on the road as my R1 but more fun! Its a bike you can ride all day long and not have to see the physio afterwards. The advice i can give you is go and try some out what are good bikes for some may be bad for others, but for build quality nothing matches BMW.

[McJim]

- RSV (too expensive and not sure about European build quality)

Not sure about European build quality? WTF? Why would you worry about superior quality?
Unless you've been riding trackdays solidly for a year and are competetive I very much doubt you'll be able to use all of the hp offered by some of your choices so if you have enough mulla for a Hayabusa then go and TRY (not saying buy coz you might not like it) a Ducati Supersport 1000DS. It will be comfortable, has 12,000km service intervals and will use less fuel than all the jappas.
The Ducatis don't look impressive when you look at stat sheets coz the jap manufacturers are feeding us numbers all the time to make us upgrade. The Europeans make bikes for the real world, not just for statisticians. I'm a tad over 6 foot and 95kg. I am comfortable on the old style SS but the newer ones are a bit more roomy.

[Matt]

Not sure about European build quality? WTF? Why would you worry about superior quality?
Unless you've been riding trackdays solidly for a year and are competetive I very much doubt you'll be able to use all of the hp offered by some of your choices so if you have enough mulla for a Hayabusa then go and TRY (not saying buy coz you might not like it) a Ducati Supersport 1000DS. It will be comfortable, has 12,000km service intervals and will use less fuel than all the jappas.
The Ducatis don't look impressive when you look at stat sheets coz the jap manufacturers are feeding us numbers all the time to make us upgrade. The Europeans make bikes for the real world, not just for statisticians. I'm a tad over 6 foot and 95kg. I am comfortable on the old style SS but the newer ones are a bit more roomy.

Yeah I probably won't get near to using 50% of the capability/power of any of these bikes - if they put a GSXR600 engine in a GSXR1000 frame I'd buy it!

The styling really doesn't appeal on any of the Ducati's though - apart from the 848/1098 that are just a tad expensive! Guess I've ridden too many Aprilia trials bikes & driven too many Fiats to trust European build quality - good suggestion though cheers!

Matt

[HungusMaximist]

I'd avoid Busa's for personal and obvious styling reasons.

I reckon they look frikking ugly and a bit of an overkill for your average rider.

Hey, but that's just me...

Plus you can never go wrong with a HONDA... *hint*hint*

[Matt]

Traaadah!

Was really tempted by a Blackbird; but they couldn't get any new ones locally so did a good deal with Pete @ Wgtn Motorcycles on the GSXR

[Crasherfromwayback]

And I hope you're loving it!

Cheers Matt for dealing with us/me.

Pete

[Blue Velvet]

Traaadah!

Awesome bike. Many happy k's.

But please get rid of the reflectors

[jonbuoy]

Be nice if someone made a mid range sportsbike that didn't make you feel like Krusty the Clown on his microcycle.

[Blue Velvet]

Be nice if someone made a mid range sportsbike that didn't make you feel like Krusty the Clown on his microcycle.

The other end of the size spectrum isn't any better

Oh to be somewhere in the middle...

[CHOPPA]

Go the ZX14

[sels1]

Traaadah!
:

Congrats on the new bike - that Pete is a bugger to deal with isnt he?

Be nice if someone made a mid range sportsbike that didn't make you feel like Krusty the Clown on his microcycle.

I find the Triumph range to be more comfortable for the bigger rider than your average jap bike

Well could be that i was unlucky with this on, and as a Bike i still like it. but when i bought it my impression of Triumph was that build quality would be as good as BMW, and components would be of superior quality to the Jap manufacturers and i havent found that to be the case. As i say could be i was just unlucky with this one.

Just on 100,000km on my Tiger with no issues at all - you may have got the "Friday" one..?!

[n0regret5]

suzuki tend to make some pretty big bikes, busa would be my first choice if i was as big as you, especially with the disturbingly bulletproof engine..zx12r's are also great. apparently little easier to maintain too, engine wise.

you'll find generally bigger is better when you're a big lad, those bikes weren't really built for anyone under 6ft..i'm 5'9" and find my tiller a bit of a reach!

[GazzaRuney]

Im 140 kilos and about 6/2 - I bought myself a big ass Valkyrie Rune 1800 ! It dosent mind draggin me aroung (and I mean DRAGGIN me around !!!)) at all
The ultimate bigboys bike !!!! Lots of fun too!!!