What's the perfect bike?

[Zapf]

I'm considering one of the new ones at the moment. Looks like a good piece of kit. I'll have to go test one.

220kg... from experience they are slower than the SV650 out of corners.

Have you looked at the CBR1100XX or CB1300S ?

[Zapf]

KS,
How about a CBR954?

Good handling, small, and I have one

its comfy too, rode to NP and around the west cape and back to Auckland in 1 day. And knees felt fine

[Clivoris]

What a delicious dilemna. The world is your oyster mate. With $10k to play with you have a large range to select from especially if you have the nouse to buy privately. If you can live with a bit of weight on the wrists you definitely owe yourself a ride on a GSXR750 and SV1000. Although I used to find the SV seat a bit hard on my buns of steel
There are some Bandit bargains to be had out there as well. I don't think the ER6 will give you significantly more than the SV650, but one of the Yamaha parallel twins might be the ticket. I can't help thinking of "bang for buck" arguments, so a pre CBR1000 fireblade might be an option if you could find a good one.
If you have time up your sleeve ride as many as you can. In my experience dealers have been really happy to tempt me with test-rides even if I buy from elsewhere. So don't be shy. As long as you aren't buying a 250, it's a buyers market out there. I sold my SV1000 for under $8k.
Good luck.

[NinjaBoy]

Well Jill, you dont want a 636, it would be a hard tour in the sth island.
I would look at the VFR800 but it wont be a new one, personally I have issues with the linked brakes and Vtec thingy.

Admittedly I haven't toured the SI on mine but have done 6-700 kms non-stop (except fuel stops) trips on mine. Not nearly as painful as I thought it would be. Also know of some 636s that may become available soon ...you know carefully ridden on Sunny Sunday afternoons only

I recently tried a VFR ( thinking this is what I may go to after I'm too old for a full-on sports bike). Very refined and easy to ride is the best way to describe it. Although the thought of 200+kg does make me cringe a bit on the slow stuff.

Something left field .. is the CBR600 F4 I had. Quite upright seating position but smooth silky engine/transmission. Bullet proof engines and have been around for a while so lots of aftermarket parts/accessories available. Maybe the F4i and later CBR are similar ?

[kiwifruit]

KS,
How about a CBR954?

Good handling, small, and I have one

there ya go

[Devil]

220kg... from experience they are slower than the SV650 out of corners.

Have you looked at the CBR1100XX or CB1300S ?

:P You need to ignore the figure (I just passed it off the first time I looked at it) and just go and ride one. You cant feel the weight at all. Gets along really well. Top quality bike.

[Keystone19]

Thanks for all the excellent suggestions guys. I have got a few bikes that I need to go and ride to narrow down the selection a little. There is definitely some here that I hadn't thought of and will definitely look in to.

Might need to take a day off work to do some testing me thinks!

[Toast]

A ZX6R like the blue one I used to own is a pretty mean roadbike, I reckon. Big fairing is good for touring, got 100hp at the wheel, 5l/100kms cruising economy, 260+ top speed for ditching police, really comfortable for a sportsbike...sweet.

Alternatively there's a 929 for sale in your price range as soon as the bloody insurance company fixes it...never been on the track or crashed on the track Jill Perish the thought...

[fazer]

Try the 2001-2005 Fazer 1000. Comfortable upright seating position, handles well, stable, and driven carefully get 52mpg (whatever that is in kms per litre), (has a bigger fuel tank than new ones) and has a fair turn of speed if required. I think they are very underated. ...my 5c

[vifferman]

The Vtec is pretty bulletproof. I prefer the earlier gear drive VFR800. The Vtec 800 , to me, sounds like a combine harvester when the vtec comes in, and why would you go back to chain drive cams when the earlier model has that lovely piece of engineering in the engine dept? If I could find a good VFR, 99-2002 at the moment for a reasonable price, I would seriously consider one.

Yeah, the Vtec itself is robust, but Honda camchains and tensioners are not. Also the VTec had a few issues with seat subframes, the stators, brake valves, etc. Much as I like the styling of the Vtec, all those things were enough to make me choose the pre-VTec model instead, even if it does sound a bit too cake-mixery. (Due to the camdrive gear being shifted to the end of the camshafts, thus making more noise, which is why Honda went back to camchains on the VFR).

I bought my VFR (each of them) for the very reasons Keystone's mentioned: it's an excellent all-rounder, plus reliable, comfortable and offering reasonable performance.

[Zapf]

:P You need to ignore the figure (I just passed it off the first time I looked at it) and just go and ride one. You cant feel the weight at all. Gets along really well. Top quality bike.

Know what you mean... rode that whale of a CB1000F remember