newbie looking for a bike,
 

Hi folks, i just thought i would introduce myself before i start asking questions!, im an Irish fella living in the south west of England, been here almost 4 years, earning my living as a motorcycle mechanic in a main dealership, before this i was working in New York for 4 years as a mechanic in a honda dealership, been a motorcycle mech. and riding bikes since i was 16, i've had everything from harleys to gsxr's and now im looking for a bike to tour europe on, im seriously considering a 650 v-strom cause they are great value for money and are very reliable, i have a budget of about £3000 and i would be interested to hear what you folks would recomend, thanks in advance, Adrian.

Hi, I'd recommend concidering a TDM. They're good value, reliable and do 50 MPG. They'll handle some gravel roads and are comfortable all day. The only problems are rectifiers on the early ones and availability of 18" front tyres on the road. You'll find a good one for £3000.

hi adrain74,and welcome.i was just wondering what kind of bike do you like?
dual sport or sport touring?let us know.i'm sure you will get some great advice from this post..

Any bike
 

For touring Europe, any bike will do.
I have been touring in Europe on all kind of bikes, from a Honda CB125S (long ago) to a Harley TourGlide and a GoldWing and a lot in between.
On my homepage you'll find some travel reports about touring in Europe on several bikes that may interest you.

For the price you mention, I think the V-Strom is a good bike although I have never tried one but the test I've seen where very positive. For the same price, a lot of other bikes are possible. I am very happy with my F650GS, comfortable, reliable, very fuel efficient but for the same price you could buy an old GoldWing 1200 (like my other bike), reliable and with more luggage capacity, style and comfort but less fuel efficient.

With the very high price of fuel in most parts of Europe, the fuel economy would be an inportant issue for me.
I am sure you'll get a lot more suggestions about the perfect bike but in the end, you make the choice what bike you like.

Hi Adrian,
Keep reading into the mountain of threads that are in this forum; you will find every possible opinion on what to ride (and then you will decide for yourself anyway because we are all individuals!!).

Cheers,

Dave

Hi again, thanks for all the reply's, i was looking at a tdm 900 in work last week flying doc, nice bike, and its one i'd consider.
Jkrijt i'll have a look at your homepage later on, should be some good reading in there!
Trevor the kind of bike im interested in would be a twin cylinder, preferably v twin, large fuel tank, able to carry a lot of luggage and good for 3 to 400 mile days, something like a strom or even an african twin.
P.s. would anyone here be interested in a 8 or 9 day trip thru Europe in summer 2008?

The wee strom would work for you well, I met a Jay at an Advrider event last weekend that actually had a wee for all his worldly goods and transportation, he had 73,000 miles never had to even adjust the valves. He was thinking of getting another bike soon, another wee of course.

DL650 Vstrom a good choice....some alternatives.
 

Speaking of fuel prices, we are catching up in the USA!

Catching up, but not quite there yet! That equates to about half the price we pay:( Ouch!

Trophymick

Youch!
 

Holy crap :eek: - where'd you find those prices at Mollydog?

OH MAN,HOW RECENT WAS THAT PHOTO? Pretty soon we will all have to
ride 50 cc scooters.http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...cons/icon9.gif

In the Netherlands the price of regular is around $7,- /US-gallon and the biggest part is tax. I would love to pay $4,36

When my relations came over last summer they thought our prices were quite reasonable. That was until I explained the price was per litre not per gallon ! It's close to £1 a litre here now thats £3.75 a US gallon.($7.50 !!!).
Venezuela is the cheapest 12 cents a gallon ! It's actually cheaper than bottled water.

Well, it looks like we got a 2005 dl 650 coming into the shop as a trade in next saturday, hopefully the boss will do a good deal for me on it!, on a side note, when i was living in NY around 2001 i seem to remember petrol being $1.30 a gallon, i could fill up my old buick century for around $25 i think!

Hey Adrian,add about $2.00 more to your Buick centry per gallon.Gas prices in the u.s, have jumped about on an average $1.50-$2.00 a gallon since 2001.And my thought is they are still going to rise in the next 2 years as
the same as european prices.But don't let that discourage you.That's only in the U.S.It will get better when you cross the border down south...

sorry for posting in wrong place!
 

I see somebodys moved this thread so i just wanted to apologise for starting this thread in the wrong place, :oops2:
Mollydog have you had any problems or found any weak spots with the dl 650 in your time with the bike?
p.s. i cant believe how much gas prices have changed in the USA since i was there a few years ago!

No need to apologize - this forum is new and didn't exist when you made the post!
:D

I've ridden the DL650 and liked it.

Heading through scandinavia this year and back down through europe, got a month off work which i try and get every year for a trip so may see you for a beer somewhere on the road.

v-strom's are great bikes, a very well rounded bike. Just wish it was not such a behemoth.

got my dl!
 

Well folks i done it, i bought a dl 650, it came into the shop a few weeks ago as a trade in, its light blue, k6 model, 2600 miles, rides lovely and i got it for a steal:thumbup1:
I love how comfy it is and how easy it is to handle in tight spaces at low speed, and it will sit at 90 mph all day on the motorway.
Im taking it to the ace cafe in London in a few weeks with a friend who has a new tiger, and shortly after that im taking it home for a weekend to Ireland, sort of a dry run for my European trip next summer!

Petrol
 

Hi,

Talking of fuel prices I see the Aussies are not saying owt, i was there in Dec 06 to Mar 07 and their fuel prices were a
$1.08 a litre here in Brighton-le-sands and when it went up to a $1.10 to a $1.12 (exchange rate at $2.38 to the £1 then) there was an out cry, but it soon went down again, you all should be glad you can smoke around in your V8's, i wish i could afford to run one here in Blighty, Global Warming (B*****ks) its just a goverment excuse to sting the Hard working people an rob them of their hard earned cash. Now i can get off my soap box (thats better).
oops just get on again,

"Do your trips B4 big bro says you cant do that unless you have a good reason"

Roi. n Bron.

DL wins out
 

Congratulations Adrian, :thumbup1:
Back in April, it sounded like you were going in that direction; I guess you will up on the Suzuki technical threads now - there's a lot of good/useful comment in there already about the DL and it is all very positive.

Safe riding,

Dave