I spent a bit of time today trolling through the various bikes sales sites on the net starting to look for a replacement bike. I’ve got a short list of about 8 bikes, 4 of which are in NSW (which is probably all the ones I should be looking at, really).
No real surprises. The guys on the forum are going to bag me out for not trying something different, but, most of them have been riding for less than 10 years and they’re still trying out the various configurations to see what suits them best. I’ve been there and done that, and I KNOW what suits me best, so I’m going to stick to that.
There’s only a couple of surprises in my short list, and an I4 bike as well, though I think it’s a bit dear; not for what you’d get, just in terms of my budget.
This whole episode has certainly taught me how easy it is to write a bike off that appears to be perfectly OK, because it’s the cost of the panels and the labour to fix and replace them and paint them that is the real killer. Owners of naked bikes point this out as being a distinct advantage of owning a bike without a fairing, of course, but what they neglect to mention is that, while a bike may sustain considerable panel damage in an accident, the panels take the brunt of the impact and help protect vital mechanical components.
Take away the fairing and it is engine cases and other even more expensive bits that are exposed. Me, I think I’ll stick to my faired bikes and enjoy the protection and the comfort that they provide.
