If you look at the new bike market today, there seems to be a distinct lack of interesting machines below the 600cc mark. Everything seems to be aimed at either 600cc or above. Okay there are a few 500's out there but they mainly seem to be commuters. In the past there always seemed to be a few good 250s and 350/400s. Now we have nothing to match the old elsies. I'm toying with the idea of going for something which I can run without similar expenses of a second car.

For anyone looking in from the outside, my bike would seem like a luxury item. The wife doesn't drive, so I have my choice of either car or bike. The car is used for carting her indoors about and carrying messages and stuff. I also use it when the weather gets bad, which saves the bike. In return the bike costs more to insure TPFT, than the car does fully comp and a new rear tyre costs about the same as four new ones for the car. I use about the same amount of petrol in both every week. Mainly because I'll do a 130+ mile run on the bike, just for the sake of it.

So I could basically run two cars, for the same price as the bike and the car. Yet there's only one driving license in the household.

The bike is there because I love it. No more, no less. Do I enjoy it any more than my old XBR500. Maybe a little and I get to places faster. So with that thought in mind. Maybe my next bike will be something smaller but there lies my dilema. With the limited selection of smaller bikes, what do you go for.

They way things are going, I wonder if we'll ever see the 250 to 500 market making a come back.

me personally i would get a 400 import, theres some cracking retro's which fit my height nicely(6'4") and they are faster,lighter, and go round corners better than my 750!
i've got the added advantage of knowing the guy who preps them for a firm in newcastle, so i'm sure to get a good one, i was there one day when he had a VFR400 RC thingy, wild machine! plus he can derestrict them

I've always like the big thumpers. Cheap to insure as well.

Maybe something like a SRX600, if they still made them or I could find a real good quality one.

the demise of the sub 600 market is down to direct access imo
peeps start on a 125-go to a 500 within hours then can pass the test within as little as 6 hours on a 500-they then walk straight into the clutches of a bike salesperson-lambs to the slaughter.
woodz wouldnt be hunters we talkin about would it?
davie get tracey to take her test-its not natural being her age & being driven around all over the place-she will then naturally hog the car-you will obviously need another, newer, better, bigger? bike.

My trouble n strife was told by my brothers ma-in-law that she should learn to drive as statistics show that men don't last as long as the women and then who would drive her to the shops. That was ower 10years ago n she still won't put hersell through the test. Cheers MAlly
PS. I think she won't learn cos then I can drink when we go out n she can drive back.

yes devilpaint it probably is Hunters, but the lad does them thro here (darlington) they get some nice bikes (some cr*ppy ones too), your right about the 125-500 thing it did kill off the bikes between, plus fuel and oil prices killed two strokes, i had an LC and it cost a fortune! i was looking at tzr/rgv's and they go really cheap


mally my wife drives and i never see her! she plans to do her bike test next your so it'll get worse! in the pasted if we went out i did the driving while she did the drinking

When my pop died my ma was left unable to drive.
so she took her test a now drives all over the gaff says she's never looked back.
it's like dp and woodz have already said do your das then jump on some big silly R1 or cbr.
personally i'd like to see a tierd system with new riders working their way up to larger bikes over the course of say three to five yrs.

i was luckily enuff?! to do my test when ppl were limited to 250's on L plates, ok i jumped from a fizzy onto a kh250, but in a year i only came off once, i dropped it on ice took my test on a LC, i had a big crash on that and to be honest there was nothing i could of done to ovoid it, well there was, i could of been going faster!! iveryone i know who had 250's and past there test kept them for over six months.
i've noticed a lot of crashes today are down to born again bikers(like me ) buying fireblades etc and there reaction just aint fast enuff, my friend just sold an exup because it was to fast for him

Does anyone remember those fecking silly tea trolleys they made when the 125 limit came in?
you could ride a larger bike if it was fitted with a sidecar.

Do you remember what they were called?

I think they were called side winders or something similar. I remember them getting reviewed in one of the bike mags, with a stuff dog stuck on it. Tea trolleys is an apt description.

I speak to a lot of folks - some women, but by no means all - who've passed their DAS and then peer pressure has persuaded them to get a big fast bike they can't really handle, they've dropped it a time or two, lost confidence, and don't ride for ages. What a waste!

I ride one of the most boring bikes in thw world, but I get around and have loads of fun - that's got to be better than having a KawaYamaSuzi rocket parked in the garage!

I agree that there's nothing around in the smaller bikes - I'm looking at them for myself, see my "Gertie" thread.......