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The cars which are (to me) utilitarian in nature I tend to favour lots of torque- 720Nm in the E63 from, basically, idle onwards.
But cars which are for fun? Put it this way- the 911 engine is being built with ITB’s, very lumpy cams, and the entire valve train has been re-engineered for an 8,500rpm redline. 1,300 higher than the stock unit.
Which of course poses the question of what would a motorcycle be for?
And the answer to that is that it would be for fun.
In terms of size and shape, I’m very flexible, 187cm and 79kg. I have been told (although the teller was not of unimpeachable authority) that I’d be too tall for a Ducati. I’d be happy for them to be wrong.
And the over riding motivation here is to try a powered bike out and have some fun, without losing a leg.
Some context- owning the E63 for a year cost me around £12,000, which surprised me when I added it up, but it was a thirsty beast. Ideally I’d like my foray into motorcycling to cost less than that.
Dammit-
You could buy a brand new sportsbike, immediately bin it into a ditch and never ride it again for less than that.
More sensibly:
£4-5k on a bike
£1k on gear
£1k on training
£500-1000 insuranceThe bike will probably be worth similar after a year if it’s not for you - my first bike (2001 CBR600) I bought for £1500 and sold for £2k after a couple of years.
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I road MX bikes in my teens and my first road bike in my twenties was an sv650 just like the one above. They’re quite light, plenty quick for a new rider, really good fun on track with a set of sticky tyres and there’s tons of part available to mod them.
They’re not as exhilarating as I4 600+ proper sports bikes, but if you’re going to be riding mostly on the road I think something in that vein is a good starting point as they’re cheap, reliable and versatile.
I’d highly recommend some sort of advanced road training once you’ve settled into riding.
If you’ve still got the bug after a year or so, go for something a bit more bonkers and do lots of track days would be my suggestion.
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Ducati Supersport is fine for me at 188cm, 80kg and (fairly) flexible - taking into account being closer to 60 than 50!
Dramatic_Hammer
esstee
190-215GPa
This might not be popular, but I’d say more important questions to answer that would allow people to make more of a concrete idea at what you prefer in a bike would be, to a degree
How tall are you?
Where do you want to ride? Type of road or terrain.
How flexible are you?
How long do you want to ride for in a single day?
How do you feel about wind noise?
Do you like the power hit or to ride the revs?
I surmise from your past/current car ownership and seeing your engine project come along that you tend to reside on the torque front. Use that to make decisions.
I’d hazard a guess and say you’re old and versed enough to disregard lust for logic. Then again, I’ve read your whole fucking MTB thread, so what do I know.
Also, black bikes are faster.