Lookin fer new bike

**thumpameat** · 4th January 2008, 19:42

hi, im looking to get back into the bike scene after a 13 year absence, prev owned bikes of the 1980s such as xz550, pe400t, cb400n, now im lookin to buy a single cylinder roadbike srx600, gb500 etc, any advice greatfully excepted. are there any modern single roadbikes ?
cheers
k meat

**98tls** · 4th January 2008, 19:44

Not a single but i believe you could do no better than a SV650 as your first purchase.

**HenryDorsetCase** · 4th January 2008, 20:00

Welcome.

I have owned an SRX-6 (it was my "get back into it after a few years off" bike as well. I should have kept mine in that it was an early Jap import and in very good condition. I sold it for $1800 (in 1999 or 2000?) and now they are going for stupid money.

Pros: light, handle well (really, they are good, and with decent tyres will keep up with most things on a windy hilly road, say from Little River to Devauchelle) cheap to run and relatively cheap to own

Cons: spare parts might not be so easy to get now (pure speculation on my part, but something to check). Kick start only - thats not a problem on a longish trip, they are easy to start hot or cold, but it is a bit of a pain round town. they can be irritating to start if they are just "off cold" but not warmed up to full operating temp. Good for maybe 180kph tops I think.

the last model had 17 inch wheels and a monoshock, which would mean you could use modern tyres.

Never imported here, but in the UK they have a thing called an SZR600 (I think) 4 valve motor, electric start, beam frame and good fork and wheels and suspension.. that would be fun.

FT400/500: oooooold tech, and bizarro-world styling. Cheap but not many around now. There was a guy trying to sell one on tardme for a while a year or so ago and he couldnt get $1500 for it... though I guess he did in the end.

GB400/500: the first brand new motorcycle I ever bought from Sawyer Honda in Wellington: A GB400TT Mark 2 (half faired, single seat with hump). A good one goes for insane money (in my eyes).. between 3 and 4 grand. Even a shitter is a couple of grand.

They are a nice riding bike, and the styling is (to me) very attractive. I dont think the 500's have much more power than the 400's or are much quicker, maybe a bit more torquey. If you surf the net you will see some very tidy ones indeed, and some that have insane performance mods (huuuge overbores, new cranks and conrods, etc etc).

i wouldnt call any of these the ideal for two up touring, but for a sunny sunday blast, you couldnt go too far wrong.

You might also have a look for a thing called an MuZ660. MuZ became MZ, a German brand, and one of the bikes they did to get back on their feet was a single cylinder with modern-ish running gear, using the 660cc version of the Yamaha motor (basically a later iteration of the SRX-6 motor). They are available, tend to be cheaper than the Yams, but you would not buy one sight unseen: apparently the quality control was a bit variable so they were either really great, OK, or complete lemons.

Or if you win Lotto, get a CR & S Vun. If you win Lotto, get two and I'll ride your spare bike.

Or get Ken McIntosh to build you a Manx Norton. Only about $45k US, but soooo nice.