Forum

[MadMike]

Fido I bought a brand new Triumph Thruxton last year. It is a magnificent bike. It goes well, makes you smile and is always a talking point when you park it up. Kwakasuki "look alike"? Despite what you read it does not look like a Thruxton and is not as much fun. Incidentally they are still building them in Hinckley so you can keep British workers employed in these difficult times. If you are in England and want to come to Leicestershire you can come and see and try mine.

[Fido]

I really appreciate these replies. Some interesting issues raised. I hadn't thought about the Moto Guzzi. I can see the attraction. Living in the New Forest I can get to a Southampton or Bournemouth dealer so the MG or W800 might be feasible to get and maintain without much inconvenience. I see the point too, about the best way of offloading £8000 on something else. I love riding my Classic, it's fast enough for practically everything I want to do. But at my time of life and in a fortunate position of being able to afford some extravagance another nice looking and more powerful bike has a strong appeal even if I don't use it often. I have a second car I only use for long journeys and there's no way I'm parting with it. So I'll have a good look at the Moto Guzzi but I'll probably be leaning towards a Triumph from Three Cross Motorcycles near Ringwood who supplied my RE and have the full Triumph range. So I'll be comparing the Bonnevilles with the Thruxton. A big birthday looms early in the new year. If I make it that might be the target for a decision. Thanks again.

[apparently lucky eddie]

I recently had a similar question to ask myself, something comfortable and easy on the knees for long journeys and also a nice boys toy for the bike club. So I bought myself a convertable automatic mini for the journey and a 50 year old Triumph for the economy, noise and something to talk bikes about and tinker with. Now who wants to buy my trusty 2007 Bullet? I'd say go Triumph. Plenty of dealers, spares everywhere if you need them, they're tried and tested and been proven reliable and well made and of course there's the reasonable prices.

[STU]

Hi Fido, whilst I loved the Kawasaki W650 - and there are days when I really want to find a beautiful low mileage late model one to replace my Electra XS, the W800 is a bit heftier and has lost a bit of the finesse of the original. A Bonneville/Thruxton would be my recommendation to you - seek out a Hinckley built one and enjoy the ride whilst knowing smugly that you have employed UK labour which (one day) will help to ease the Euro zone crisis - if will all did the same with as many other products that we can buy from anywhere except the Far East!

[Bertie the Bullet]

As the EFI can do motorway speeds and is quite suitable for modern day riding I do not think a modern bike would be a big enough contrast for me, cannot see the point in owning 2 bikes that do it as well as each other, with 8K in my pocket I would go the complete opposite and go for something really old, like a RE 2-1/4 or similar..

[Fido]

Keep 'em coming! I've just realised that I have a Moto Guzzi dealer within a couple of miles of my Royal Enfield dealership, just north of Ringwood. So that could be back on the shortlist. Good point about the sameness. I've noted that it's thought that the EFI engine tends to run even better after 2 to 3,000 miles. Mine's certainly running better after 2200 miles compared with its first few hundred. But us boys will be boys!

[PeteF]

Hardly a motorcycle but have you considered one of the modern scooters? Useful on those damp/cold/mucky days, - useful luggage space for a bit of shopping. 400 Bergman? Just a thought.

[SFC1000]

Fido, this is a bit 'left field' but try a KTM SMT, more fun that you can have with your clothes off.

[Fido]

Not sure I'd look the part on one of those!

[Les H]

Why buy a modern bike when you can get any real classic motorcycle absolutely free? What you have to remember is that it is irrelevant what you pay out (as long as you don't pay too much over the top) then ride the classic of your dreams and sell it whenever you want and make a profit thus getting all your money back with a small profit to boot. You would get virtually no interest on the outlay anyway, so you have owned the bike absolutely for free! It won't really matter if you've added several thousand miles or added a few scratches, the price just keeps on going up. Yes Classic bikes have never stopped rising in price and still look like there's still higher prices to come...it's gotta stop one day but there's still quite a few years on unrelenting price inflation on them to come....Buy a new modern bike and it's worth a thousand quid less the moment you ride it away from the show room and half price about two years later!