Advice Please

I mentioned in the "newbies" thread that I was thinking about an RSV so now's my time to ask some annoying questions.

I've owned my Fazer for almost 3 years and in that time have done almost 20k miles on it. If I'm honest the majority of miles are commuter miles, I do a bit of weekend hooning and I've done a trackday and a bike tour with my dad, but 99% of time it's my journey to work. The daily journey is around 55 miles if I go the direct route via motorway, which involves a lot of filtering, or it can be 40 miles on the way home if I choose to use the scenic (fun) route.

Since I've owned the Fazer it's been a brilliant bike, it's (reasonably comfy) has a nice big tank which can get me 3/4 days of commuting. It's fast enough and is certainly reliable the only things I've done since I owned it are services and tyres. I've not even needed a chain as it's got an oiler which has extended the life of the chain I would suspect.

However even when I test rode the bike I wasn't sure about it. I changed up from a GSX-R750 figuring it would be miles more practical for commuting which it is. I'd have to say it's a bike bought with the head rather than heart which is why I'm considering a change back to a sportsbike.

I've always had a thing for twins and considered a Suzuki SV1000 when I bought the Fazer, I've also been looking at Hondas SP-2. I've heard really good things about the RSV-R and looking at prices I reckon I could get something pretty good for what I'm looking to spend with trade in (looking at about £2-2.5k on top of what I expect for the Fazer which is about 3 at best).

So am I crazy? I think if I bought a sportsbike I might use it more at weekends and would maybe use the car more for work, but I'd still have to commute say 75% of the year as the traffic is a nightmare.

(Sorry for the length of this, I do tend to wibble)

Cheers in advance.

Cheers for the thoughts chaps you've kind of given me what I wanted to hear.

I think in summary it's probably going to cost a bit (a lot) more to run but I'll have bigger grins for it and at the end of the day that's what it's all about.

Still waiting for "don't do it" horror stories of reliability issues and the like but I guess this is the wrong place :biggrin

cheer again carbon kid. i'll have to bear that in mind as the fazer usually needs a bit of wrist to kick into action, especially at the moment with the choke cable gone (a job to be sorted before i trade in).

servicing costs have cheered me up (is that Aprilia dealer prices). the place i have my fazer done is a prilly dealer and they are quite reasonable. it's something to bear in mind when you're getting a service 2 or 3 times a year.

seat height is expected. actually the fazer seat is high and wide and it feels a bit top heavy but i've no doubt there will be a whole lot of adjusting going on. gibbon like hanging off i can do, need to on the fazer anyway

what's it like on tyres. i tend to go for Sport touring tyres on the faz and get 4-6k from a rear. i'm currently on michelin pilot roads which are very good. anybody tried them??

i'm thinking of trying for a 2002/3 RSV-R. is it worth the extra money for the ohlins??

good stuff again carbon kid. i think i'll try for an rsv-r but i guess the std bike is probably just as good especially as putting loads of miles on is going to shoot the residuals to hell.

actually that's another thing. how do you reckon the finish holds up in the uk?? or would hold up in the uk? the yam is pretty good i ride all year round and aside from a bit of flaked engine paint it's in pretty good nick considering. i guess it depends on how you look after them eh?

coming from bridgestones i'm very impressed with the pilot roads. put it this way the pegs were down on the fazer after a couple of days of scrubbing in. they do inspire confidence and now they are almost 3k miles old there's no sign of squaring off yet despite the amount of motorway miles.

shame they can't sort their GP tyres out really

I'm convinced, well almost. Going to my local dealers over the weekend. They've got a 2002 RSV-R in my price bracket. It's the place where I have my Yam serviced so I should be game on for a test ride.

We'll see what happens.

of course it may now all go wrong as wife and kids are coming to have a look too (she fancies a shiver herself if she could ever get off her butt and do her test). anyway that now means if the colour is incorrect i may get vetoed :biggrin

going to have a look today and feel them out about what they might give for the faz and will try and arrange a test ride for in the week.

hmm local dealers need to keep their website up to date. the 02 bike is sold, it's in the showroom but with a sold sticker on it. Shame as it's a beauty.

guy asked if i fancy a test ride on a newer model which i'm going to go for anyway just to see. how different are they from the older ones. i do like the older look bikes but the new ones are nice too in a different way.

i think they must be looking to shift bikes as they've an 06 bike with loads of extras on for £6k and the brand new ones are discounted by £1800. will have a ride and see what i think but if there's anything i should know about the newer ones i'd be grateful.

cheers

hmm, i'm normally a procrastinator but the sun's up today so i gave the dealer a ring and asked if i could take the demonstrator out. that was a mistake, i'm hooked now

i'm tempted to try a tuono just in case but sitting on the fazer on the way back it felt really odd and just "wrong". which is a shame as it's a lovely bike. some geezer was checking out the 06 bike when i got back so it could go pretty quick but i'm not going to rush and i've clocked a good private one on bike trader too.

a couple of "negative" observations.

1) no fuel guage? is that true i'd have thought with a multi function display there would be one. i guess there's a reserve light?

2) the gear change seemed really clunky and stiff. it was like riding my dad's BMW R1150. is that the perception?? I guess it could be that it's a demo bike and the chain was a bit slack. i really noticed it when i sat back on the fazer, which has a chain oiler and the gear change is "suzuki like" IMHO.

would it be infra dig to fit an oiler to an RSV??

3) finally it was uncomfy but not as bad as my old gixer. i guess it's the change from an armchair. mind you doing 90 on the motorway it all made sense!!


some positives now. well everything else. particularly impressed by the brakes. again the contrast to the fazer (which has R1 brakes) was incredible. felt a bit of pulsing in the lever but again hammered demo bike the discs could be a bit uneven. it didn't affect the power or feel though. back brake was utter poo though, as i've been told.

overall it just felt right. the tyres were a bit slidey (again they looked a bit old) when cold and i'd be interested how it goes with quicker warming st tyres.

right i'll watch the gp now :biggrin need to calm down

have to say i'm surprised about the lack of guage but hey as you say when the knees hurt it's time to get off. i kind of feel like once you're going you prob don't notice. in town today i amused myself by leaving a gap, accelerating and listening to it parp on the overrun. there's something special about twins a different kind of fun to popping wheelies :biggrin

what i like about the brakes is being able to use them. since i reverted my fazer forks to stock it's too easy to overpower them.

i think i will be doing it this week probably.