Ninja 250R, Ninja 650R, Versys, or SV650SF

[spots25]

oh yeah, I've ridden two-up on my 250 ninja for like an hour at 70mph, no problem.

[Ducman69]

Originally Posted by FocusOnPunk

Just bought an '08 SV650 in gray. Should get it on Wednesdayish. Woo!!!

I shall dub thee Mini-Me! Grats!!!!!!!!!!!!



With gas prices taking another 10cent hike here locally, I have several peeps at work asking me what MPG I'm getting! So sounds like we're going to have an extra boost to bike sales this season.

[Foci_Fosho]

Originally Posted by W8

For the most part the bike is silent. At 70, the bike has a little bit of sound. I usually only hear wind noise at any speed above 55. Doesn't bother me a bit. I do like the sound of the bigger bikes also. But I don't miss not having it myself. You are right about the rpm's being in the 6-7000 range at speed.

I cruise to work all the time around 70 mph. It is no problem what-so-ever.

Originally Posted by spots25

oh yeah, I've ridden two-up on my 250 ninja for like an hour at 70mph, no problem.

Excellent -- Thanks guys, exactly what I wanted to hear.
I don't care what any one else says, I'm getting a ninja 250.

I've ridden a gsxr-600, and I can confidently say that bike is too much for me. At least at this current time.

[OGFocus99]

As novel as the 250 is, there are times where more power would be useful. I've owned 28 motorcycles through the years, and one of my favorite rides was a Honda Interceptor 250, but not on the freeway going up a long grade with side and headwinds. I'll spare the white knuckle drama writeup for another time.

[Foci_Fosho]

Those are exactly the situations I'd like to avoid.
high winds or high grades don't apply for my weekend use and commute.
In those scary situations, I am trusting a down-shift and a flick of the wrist can put those what... 14 ft/lbs of torque to some use.

[Ducman69]

Originally Posted by Foci_Fosho

Excellent -- Thanks guys, exactly what I wanted to hear.
I don't care what any one else says, I'm getting a ninja 250.

I've ridden a gsxr-600, and I can confidently say that bike is too much for me. At least at this current time.

Good choice!

Plus, its a lot more fun to extract 100% from a smaller displacement bike than struggle to wrestle 50% from a monster machine.

If I had found a 250R that a dealer was willing to be reasonable on the price, I was going to get the bigger front sprocket though which is a cheap upgrade and bumps the gearing up a bit. Later on, they have some really lightweight little slipon exhausts that are nice and light w/o the cat.

[FocusOnPunk]

Yeah I found a pretty good deal on a used SV1000, but I figure, I live in the city...when am I ever going to use all that power, and I would miss the additional fuel economy of the 650. Then there's the insurance.

I actually got a pretty good deal on my bike, considering the market (gas prices + time of year). I went to two dealers...made the same offer to both...one came back with a reasonable offer (invoice + profit + taxes) and the other came back with nonsense (MSRP + 20% + taxes). Guess what I took? You don't want my CASH? Okay, I'll go to the other guy. It's a big city.

BTW, Nliiitend1, if you're still following this, check out Champion Suzuki at Western and Addison before you go all the way out to the burbs...if you're buying new at least. Their used inventory is lacking.

[Nliiitend1]

^^ Thanks.

I just spent this weekend boning up on my mAd sKillZ (MSF course up at Great Lakes Naval Base - perfect riding score FTW!) since it's been awhile since I had much seat time on the street, and I'll be bike shopping in the next couple of weeks.

Champion is the dealership I was riding my bicycle to last June to look at SVs when I got hit by a car and ended up with a 3-point fracture in the top of my left humorus...I actually went to the dealership after the crash but was in so much pain that I didn't look around too much before heading home (and subsequently to the ER).

I'll definitely have to check them out again. Thanks for the heads-up!

[Ducman69]

Originally Posted by Nliiitend1

Champion is the dealership I was riding my bicycle to last June to look at SVs when I got hit by a car and ended up with a 3-point fracture in the top of my left humorus...

Ohhhh, so that explains why you're only half-funny at best, even when trying. Broketed it. JKJKJK!

[hotrodkris]

Originally Posted by Foci_Fosho

Those are exactly the situations I'd like to avoid.
high winds or high grades don't apply for my weekend use and commute.
In those scary situations, I am trusting a down-shift and a flick of the wrist can put those what... 14 ft/lbs of torque to some use.

http://otdcyclesports.com/default.aspx?storeID=7

They've got a few locations in the Bay Area too - $4399 OTD is what I got via email from them last week for a 250. SLM Motorsports in SLO wants $4599 BEFORE Tax, license, etc. Flippin thieves. They have a DRZ400SM in there for $7299!!!!!! Crack smokers.

[Nliiitend1]

Originally Posted by Ducman69

Ohhhh, so that explains why you're only half-funny at best, even when trying. Broketed it. JKJKJK!

[Ducman69]

Originally Posted by hotrodkris

http://otdcyclesports.com/default.aspx?storeID=7

They've got a few locations in the Bay Area too - $4399 OTD is what I got via email from them last week for a 250. SLM Motorsports in SLO wants $4599 BEFORE Tax, license, etc. Flippin thieves. They have a DRZ400SM in there for $7299!!!!!! Crack smokers.

Guahhh.... yeah, here cheapest I found w/o crazy hagglign was $2950 OTD IIRC at Kawasaki City. I would have done $2800 OTD as a fair profit w/ the 6.25% TX tax already in there.

[FocusOnPunk]

Cool, that OTD place only quoted me $150-ish more than what I paid here. I'll take that deal

[mievil]

Duc. Here's some more goodies for you.

I was looking at Dakar stuff and saw the VStrom listing.

http://www.touratech-usa.com/shop/ho...=Suzuki_Vstrom

Let the money spending begin.

[Ducman69]

They have a lot of good ideas on that site, but those are BMW prices, not Suzuki ones!

I've gotten most of my stuff off http://www.amotostuff.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc

If you buy over $750 of stuff, they cut the very cheap UPS ground shipping in half (which is cost, no "handling" fee like a lot of these retailers tacked on).

Ebay is great too. From that previous list, I think I have everything I'd ever want (decided to get it all at once rather than bit by bit, so I can enjoy it all from the start). Only other thing I'm still considering are yellow HID auxiliary lights. The yellow would match my yellow bike, makes you stand out in a crowd of white lights, and supposedly even though its HID the yellow APPEARS less blinding.

[mievil]

I don't want to hear about BMW prices, damnit. I want the damn bike. My bane is going to be the fact that there are all those extras for it. Like the 51 litre tank conversion. Be still my heart.

[Ducman69]

OKOKOK, ordering gear right now. I tried on the 700 finally, and I like it.

Which of the two styles should I get:
----------------Option 1-----------------

----------------Option 2-----------------


Also, I have it narrowed down to two jackets, which do you think is better styling:
----------------Option A-----------------

----------------Option B-----------------


The bike color is camel yellow:


I need to order TONIGHT! My old crap is OLD CRAP!

[chewbacca]

all this moto talk has me hyped up and i've been searching for a bike. I've narrowed it to either the SV650 naked or a Kawa 650 (which i had no idea was a twin!) I found a 07 SV back home new for 5500 that i should be able to talk down to 5K i hope. its either that or i go used...

looked into insurance and full with medical is only 600 for a year for me.

man i'm excited to own my first bike!

[whiteboyslo]

Duc, i have both those jackets. i would HIGHLY recommend the Cortech over the Teknic for the following reasons:

1) better pads and protection

2) more layers. i commute with his jacket, and it's perfect. i leave in all the layers when i go to work, then just yank out the thermal and the waterproof layer to go home.


oh, and just to add little fuel to the 250 fire.......

for ****s and grins, i decided to see what kind of mileage my VFR800 gets at 70MPH on the freeway (the speed all the 250 guys seem to boast their bike does so well at for whatever reason). i managed 55MPG, and that's rounding DOWN!!! now, is that the same MPG as the 250? no, but keep in mind that's a near-500lb bike dragging around my 320lb frame. i'm also 6'7" and don't tuck in or any crazy maneuver like that.

and now that i know what the bike can do, i'm never doing that again. at 70 (according to my bike's speedo, and we all know how accurate a bike's speedo is, right?), i was getting passed by EVERYONE!!! don't get me wrong, it's not that my ego can't take it, but i nearly pissed myself watching a caravan of semis run right up my ass then pass at the last second. from now on, i'll cruise at the usual 75-80 and settle for 'only' getting 40-something MPG.

Mike

PS - i know this contradicts an earlier post of mine in this thread about my bike's piss-poor mileage. guess it just took a couple of long freeway trips to get the kinks out?

[whiteboyslo]

Originally Posted by chewbacca

all this moto talk has me hyped up and i've been searching for a bike. I've narrowed it to either the SV650 naked or a Kawa 650 (which i had no idea was a twin!) I found a 07 SV back home new for 5500 that i should be able to talk down to 5K i hope. its either that or i go used...

looked into insurance and full with medical is only 600 for a year for me.

man i'm excited to own my first bike!

congrats! i'm a huge fan of the SVs. just be sure to take the Motorcycle Safety Course, and, of course, ATGATT (All The Gear All The Time)

Mike

[FocusOnPunk]

Oh man, picking my bike up tomorrow. It was in today, but I went and got my license instead. I've been riding illegally for a year, so it's time to get that done.

Passed the test (only lost 1 point, because I didn't understand the instructions), now off to drop a bunch of coin after work tomorrow.

!!!!!!!

[Ducman69]

Woot woot!!! Post pics ya bastard!

PS: Good you got the license as you will need it and insurance before they are supposed to let you take it off the lot.

[FocusOnPunk]

Well I can't get insurance without the VIN, and I don't know the VIN since they had to order the bike. I doubt it'll be a problem. I did want to get the license out of the way though, just in case.

Pictures will be forthcoming.

[mievil]

I must say, this has definitely got me thinking a lot about the VStrom. I'd love the 1k, but can't swing that gas mileage. I'm absolutely amazed at how many of the 650s you see for sale with 30k miles on them. That's a g