Adventure Bike Rider Forum

2017 bonneville t100 in black
looks old ...but new

Versys 650?
It's definitley reliable,versatile,comfortable,cheap to run,cheap to insure,easy to work on,250 mile tank range,clean mount panniers (no ugly brackets) quick adjust rear shock (no tools required) im on my 2nd one,it's a great allrounder,plenty of poke but not too much to jepordise your licience.

(thumbs)

oh yep forgot to say I really want a good tank range if I can know nothing will compare to the gsa in that respect but over 200 would be nifty

never had a kawasaki before

t100 do look yummy

Just get a GSA and make them get it right this time.

Never ever going down that route after what happend one that's off my list permenantly

Don't mind risking my life if it's of my own vulition but when it's down to incompence not once but in excess of 5 times and 3 engines later and a 7 month battle with BMW that left me with no bike an a 4 hour public transport journey every day and missing t on what was a trip of a lifetime sod that hope my experience is the exception to the rule

It would be interesting if one of the mags did some research into all the issues popped in over at ukgser before an seems like alot of the same faults are occuring on the 17 plate bikes never see any mention of that in the mags

Quite liking the v-strom's r80/GS maybe main thing is something i can work on myself ^^ done trusting main dealers quite like some of the triumph's but not much experience with them

Your saga is like one I had a with a Mercedes 320cdi. Ended up I was telling the main dealer how to repair it and in one 3 month period shelled out over €8k on it. The warranty work was never done and they refused to honour a Pan-European warranty after a total brake failure which that kept saying couldn't happen....but happened twice. However a legal spat sorted my wallet very nicely indeed. Warranty service is limited to exclude any consequential loss, but if they refuse warranty repair and go legal all of the other costs can be added in.

BUT, after finding a decent main dealer got all the problems solved and then it ran forever.

Would I buy another? Not unless its over 30 years old!! Even much newer ones are having woeful problems.

I see guys shelling out €2-3k repair bills on bikes and thinking that buys a K or any bike and replaces every single known potential trouble point. If the worst thing happens on a trip somewhere, park it off and buy another one and just transfer the insurance. Breakdown cover doesn't even repair a bike, it only gets you to somewhere that does....so you still get the €2-3k bill.

Well tuned into older machines and kept repaired by replacing things BEFORE they break you enjoy reliability. Aircraft are maintained that way, we happily get into a 20 year old plane because of the maintenance regime.

And so my now 33 year old K quite happily heads to Europe or wherever I want to go.

After your beemer there all going to be inferior (thumbs) (thumbs) (thumbs)

My choice for reliability and character, plus ease of maintenance would be a 1980/90s Guzzi or airhead BMW. A bit more complex would be a K series Beemer. Parts for these are easily available, servicing is a doddle and they should all run to over 100,000 miles with no major issues. The square barrelled two valve Guzzis are in my experience the most reliable and economical. I think you should be able to get mudguards from the Norton owners club for your bike.
Cheers Jak

Totally get you on the mercs few people To work are having issues with them only a few years old so much for German reliability haha

I'll have to look at a guzzi not really done much reading up on them

Anyone had a tiger 800? Or a vstrom one thing i don't want is semi active suspension experienced that when it goes wrong not fun when you are at motorway speed quite liking some of the old air-cooled beemers r80 etc what's the part situation like on those?


Yep they do the rears just got one front took 6 years to find haha gotta modify the new rear to fit ^^

Anyone had a vstrom 650 and a 1000 which did you prefer

re Norton spares,try rgm motors of beckermet in Cumbria or norvil.i ran a mk3 850 commando for 16yrs and never had a prob,either getting spares or with reliability.
as for a guzzi,go for it there great bikes with few known probs and good comfort and reliability,economy is good too.love the California 111 with injection.