Or a nice trailie 125, do they still make TSX, DT, KMX 125's?
Sorry but 20 years out of touch with 125's
Right, As i am moving closer to work 7 miles, i started thinking that I would like to get a bike.
Now, I have only driven a couple of cub bikes in the pst, and i do not have a licence.
I am 30 years old and i am 6ft 6".
Obviously, the cub was very small for me to drive although was quite fun for little runarounds.
I have been looking at something like a Varadero.
What would you recommend? Just asking to see if i can get one or not.
Suzuki SV650, quite a long bike, V twin so makes a nice noise but very narrow to squeese inbetween traffic
Pass your test and get a proper bike
Or a nice trailie 125, do they still make TSX, DT, KMX 125's?
Sorry but 20 years out of touch with 125's
If you will be living 7 miles from your work you will need a bicycle; not a bike ! 
quote:
Originally posted by Breaker
If you will be living 7 miles from your work you will need a bicycle; not a bike !
Fantastic bike, I had a Lightning Long, this is a very good V twin, 1200CC, lots of torque, loads of power, the best handling bike I have ever owned.
Very well designed. Don't let the fact that Buell are no longer trading put you off getting one.
[Edited on 17/2/10 by The Venom Project]
Forgot to add, As a newbe on motorbikes, I wouldn't like something like a 1200cc.
I was thinking at around 250-400.
Later on, i have one in mind.
Old school V-max
[Edited on 17/2/10 by l0rd]
I bought a VFR 400 NC 30, was a very nice bike, and funny enough I am restoring it after selling it over 10 years ago, it found its way back to me.
Maybe something like this, or the newer RVF 400, maybe a Kawasaki ZZR400 etc: Good fast pocket bikes, great handling, good fun, good on fuel too.
Honda made the CBR 400 which is a straight 4, or the VFR 400 which is a V4, Kawasaki and Suzuki both made the straight 4 engine ones, yamaha too.
There is loads of choice, but you may struggle on these being 6ft..
Whatabout something like a Bandit 600cc??
Great comfy bike, lots of them around, cheap on bits, would accomodate a taller rider.
Triumph tiger 955i, very comfy, pretty cheap, lovely sounding engine, and you won't scare yourself on it
At 6'6" something like a honda transalp may be in order, another nice v twin, but nice and tall.
Image deleted by owner
A Trek Madone for that distance.
Pat ;-)
So far, the ones that i have looked at are
Varadero
Africa Twin
Transalp
All of them quite expensive though 
anything like chopper style that i could fit in it?
quote:
Originally posted by MK9R
Triumph tiger 955i, very comfy, pretty cheap, lovely sounding engine, and you won't scare yourself on it
^^^ pushbike is the answer.
I commute 6.5 miles but then am not as told as you but much older.
The time sitting in traffic (car for) means that the times are not too dissimilar .... unless I get into work for 7 to beat the traffic.
quote:
Originally posted by 02GF74
^^^ pushbike is the answer.
I commute 6.5 miles but then am not as told as you but much older.
The time sitting in traffic (car for) means that the times are not too dissimilar .... unless I get into work for 7 to beat the traffic.
sooo lazy... 
I second a tiger or bandit, bandits are really comfortable and possibly the easiest bike to get parts for. You could get hold of old chopper style
bike that you would easily fit on but a well built chopper is v. expensive! Look at the z bikes, kwaks from the 80's with high or unknown mileage
turned into tidy looking choppers are all gonna be over £3k.
Factor in the cost of a license too, ballpark figure of £500 and up.
You start with the one at the front and progress to the one at the back
My Daughter's and My Bikes
If you fancy a chopper looking bike, maybe the Suzuki Intruder 800, they are a little like a Harley in appearence
http://www.motobalade.be/photos_motos/suzuki_vs800_jeanine.JPG
Worth considering a TDM850, quite tall, quit fun, quite cheap
As above, sv650, small, great on track, good to learn the ropes on, cheap to buy and fix! Decent of fuel and cheap to insure.
quote:
Originally posted by The Venom Project
Fantastic bike, I had a Lightning Long, this is a very good V twin, 1200CC, lots of torque, loads of power, the best handling bike I have ever owned. Very well designed. Don't let the fact that Buell are no longer trading put you off getting one.
[Edited on 17/2/10 by The Venom Project]
Don't whatever you do buy a chop style bike. You'll be put off bikes forever as they don't go, they don't stop and they don't
go round corners either. Perhaps a slight exageration but you want a proper bike.
At 6 foot odd forget the baby Jap sports bikes. You'll be best off either with a streetbike (Bandit if you must, Fazer 600, Honda Hornet, Kawa
ER6) or something more trailie like an Africa Twin or a Transalp. Avoid singles if you're going to be doing regular commutes. They tend to be a
bit vibey and don't like being spanked. Oh and they are not quick either.
A sports bike is a pretty focused machine, to the extent that they are not too comfy and very easy to hit license busting speeds very quickly.
Sweeping generalisation.... Don't buy anything Italian. Reliability, depreciation, parts supply... Sounds familiar?
All this is IMHO of course.
And last of all ride as if everyone else on the road is going to try and kill you. Sooner or later that will save your life.
quote:
I am not an environmentalist.
Triumph tiger ,same engine as the sprint st . There big and great fun but i bit heavy for a nooby to bikes . Your going to drown any road going 400
and you'll soon get bored of it,,there ok for a mad thrash but gutless and slow unless your ringing the tits off it.
Honda do an on/off roader called the xr 650 . brilliant bit of kit but they don't come with an electric start and until you get the nack there a
bitch to kickstart...did i say how much fun they are tho .
You could also pick up a cheap enduro ktm 250 ,,same style of bike and they stand tall and have bags of torque
[Edited on 17/2/10 by OX]
I used to commute 50miles each way on a TL1000R and its hard work in the traffic.
Something 750 / 850 is ideal. 1200 is just too big to throw around the traffic.
The 600 Bandit was the best commuter bike i had. Im 5'10 though.
You might like the Africa Twin?
quote:
Originally posted by MikeCapon
Don't whatever you do buy a chop style bike. You'll be put off bikes forever as they don't go, they don't stop and they don't go round corners either. Perhaps a slight exageration but you want a proper bike.
At 6 foot odd forget the baby Jap sports bikes. You'll be best off either with a streetbike (Bandit if you must, Fazer 600, Honda Hornet, Kawa ER6) or something more trailie like an Africa Twin or a Transalp. Avoid singles if you're going to be doing regular commutes. They tend to be a bit vibey and don't like being spanked. Oh and they are not quick either.
A sports bike is a pretty focused machine, to the extent that they are not too comfy and very easy to hit license busting speeds very quickly.
Sweeping generalisation.... Don't buy anything Italian. Reliability, depreciation, parts supply... Sounds familiar?
All this is IMHO of course.
And last of all ride as if everyone else on the road is going to try and kill you. Sooner or later that will save your life.
How about a BMW??? I had an old F650CS (single) for the first 6 months after passing my test. I then got a secondhand Triumph Daytona (4 cyl not
triple) which I loved but was too easy to go fast on! I've now got myself (a year ago) a new BMW F800GS. Its amazing. You sit nice and high
its a parallel twin so something a bit different does 80 mpg £66/year road tax, £250 insurance (23 yr old 1 yr no claims). You sit nice and high
above the traffic and its mega comfy! The only problem is you'd probably struggle to find one cheaply as people like them a lot! You might get
one of the new F650GS's though which is essentially the same but toned down a bit.
I tried a few others including bandits and SV650s's but found them to be very uncomfortable (SV) or far too generic. I almost went for a Ducati
Monster S4 but was put off when the dealer couldn't actually start it when I turned up for a pre-arranged test drive!
Oli.
If your not a full bike licence holder yet
Get your CBT done (informative good fun day out)
Get a CG125 (they are made of pure win)
£15 a year tax and an easy 100MPG
Will do 65 MPH all day long on the flat, so Ideal for short commutes
Biggest uphill round here has me drop to about 50 if I don't tuck in a bit
only has 11 HP when new, but they don't weigh much so acceleration from lights is good and nible/agile if you need to filter
4 stroke and V low tech, very very forgiving and nothing that will write it off it you drop it
(unlike the plastics clad sports style ones)
Heard bad things about the Varadero 125 - in that it was quite weighty and gutless engine
I like the look of them and had a sit on one and it was a fair bit taller than the CG, which has benefits and drawbacks I guess
eg better view ahead- quite important for a new commuter, but not so great as far as wind resistance goes when you only have 11hp to atrt with
We have had one come in at work (in a salvage yard) that was written off beacuse it had been dropped (lots of broken plastics) the only CG's I
have seen written off at work - really were written off and unridable
Do test and sell on CG for the same amount it cost you if you get the bug- as they seem to hold their price really well compared to the Chinese
clones
I love my CG's and am sure I will still have one when I get my big boys licence :-)
( I now have 2 of them!)
Regards
Rob
Edited to add at 6 6 on a CG it will look like you are riding a monkey bike so maybe something more off roady is going to be a better fit
Got a V tall mate who's into greenlaning at weekends and I couldn't get onto any of his bikes....waaay to tall for me, would have needed
stabilisers and a ladder
IIRc had a couple or XLR's and and XR?
Not sure if he'd "jacked them up" or whether they were std size
[Edited on 17/2/10 by robocog]
quote:
Originally posted by The Venom Project
Fantastic bike, I had a Lightning Long, this is a very good V twin, 1200CC, lots of torque, loads of power, the best handling bike I have ever owned. Very well designed. Don't let the fact that Buell are no longer trading put you off getting one.
[Edited on 17/2/10 by The Venom Project]
buells are tiny - amazing, but tiny.
CBR 400 woukd be very small for someone 6'6" as i am only 5'3" tall and have ridden one quite a bit, and would say very tailererd
for my size
Steve
Thank you all for your interesting contributions.
As a newbe on this, I will not go mad. I am quite a calm driver in general with only a few mad moments like once a month.
All i need is something that will get me from work and back without too much hassle.
I cannot do an enduro, as i normally try to get to the office in a tie.
I quite like something with a bit of style as well.
I am too fussy
At 6' 6 I would forget the Sv650 as I once sat on one and it was tiny (im only 6'1) as oliwb has said BMW F650 is a very good option and should be a much better fit also as I think has already been mention tdm800 transalps africa twins etc.I work with a chap who is the same height who has a africa twin and finds it spot on for 6 footers! And of course there is always a Honda C90! I have heard of people tuning them to do 250mpg!
A Suzuki GS500, Kawasaki ER6 or similar is a good commuter bike but if you want comfort and easy riding get a scooter like the Yamaha Majesty, Piaggio X9, Suzuki Burgman or any of the mid range scoots, 250cc to 500cc twist and go with room under the seat for your helmet or lunch and will cruise at 70mph. I rode a Peugeot 250 for a while last year and it was so easy you didn't even have to think and there's some cover from the weather as well so your trousers don't get wet in a shower.