Devon TRF Group Forum

Got this your more than welcome to come and have a look.I've had 60+mpg out of it.
m.gumtree.com/p/honda-motorbikes/honda-cbr400-600-nc29-special/1063487634

-- Edited by Nige on Monday 26th of May 2014 07:32:29 PM

I've got a DR350 at the moment, with 9000 miles on it. So I'm looking at that CBF with 35,000 as its very high milage? Am I right, or is there more to it that just milage?

Thanks for the help.

CBR looks very nice, but looking for more of an upright position.

Cheers

Urm, just the fact its a Honda. Twin instead of 4cyl as there is half of everything to go wrong (engine) student budget you see... I like to service my bikes so need something I can afford.
I'd love a bandit, however I don't know anything about there reliability or servicing costs or how much it could potentially cost if it went wrong. My DR has been brilliant for me, good mpg comfy etc but I want to have a more road orientated bike, as I'm planning on going to France with some friends in July.

I used a CB500 for years in London, same engine as the CBF500. As long as its oil has been changed 35k miles is nothing on that engine, its also an easy bike to work on if you do your own repairs, has a lot more space than most IL4's.

 

Another bike to consider if you want an in line 4 would be the Fazer 600, good riding position and not hard to find one in good shape. Probably a bit more entertaining than a CBF too, as Mark said it might get a bit dull.

 

What will your mates be riding? I got rid of my CB500 in the end because there wasnt much point having that and my DR350  ive taken the DR to Scotland and back and was as comfy as i have been on my CB

Many options but don't forget a Honda is a Honda.

Nothing boring about the CB500 performance MCN did an endurance shootout at the Boldor many years ago. Where it came second against a lot of bigger stuff.

Carbs do need a bit of playing with at about 75k miles to keep them running nice.

So as long as the cb/cbf has been looked after 20k-40k shouldn't be an issue?

This is from wikipedia's CB500 page: 

"The 499 cc parallel twin DOHC engine was designed, according to Honda engineers, to last for 300,000 km (190,000 miles)."

 

And im sure plenty of London couriers have gone well past that figure.

 

As for handling my CB500 was great with hagon springs and shocks, and these are still a popular track bike with their own class "Thundersport". the CBF500 has a larger fork diameter and monoshock and so presumably is a totally different creature handling wise, i couldn't say if it is better or worse but i know the engine is almost identical as i fitted one to my CB500 

 I know nothing about bandits so can't help you there.

 

Having said that, the Fazer you linked is probably my favorite of the different Fazer incarnations, its the cat eye revision of the original fazer, its pretty much the same bike as the original but has much better lights and an extra 2L fuel capacity. There is a not very detailed buyers guide to them here: http://www.visordown.com/road-tests-used/buyer-guide-yamaha-fazer-600/14617.html

I think with the luggage included thats a good price if the bikes well looked after, and i doubt it will stay on there long.

The Fazer is pretty powerful at 95bhp so you might want to check insurance quotes before you fall in love with it?

I guess the Fazer is not the sort of bike that inexperienced riders wrap around trees, or be nicked by scrotes, so any model specific considerations are likely to go in your favour. Scooters and 125cc bikes are the most stolen bikes by some way so any insurance including theft cover is pricey.

 

The Fazer has a slightly detuned YZF600R Thundercat engine and is a pretty powerful bike, im sure it will keep up with anything your mates are on and happily eat up long distances.

 

If i were you I would look through a bunch of reviews of all the bikes you are interested in and see where they excell and if that suits you, Bandits are popular bikes so presumably there is a good reason for that, there may be other things that swing you in favour of a particular model. Its also easy to snap up the first bike you look at, but if you plan to hang on to it for a while its worth waiting for that perfect bike to come along rather than compromising.

 

I've found a BMWf650 funduro which looks pretty cool, does anyone know where I might find a restrictor kit for one? Just trying to work out how much it might cost?
Yeah I'd love a fazer, but my dad is dead against me getting something of that size, as I'm 'going' to kill myself on it. I know its alot of horsies, but its seem like a great bike. What MPG did you get markt270? Cheers

If you are talking about restricting to 33bhp that would affect your choice of bike i think.

 

I was in the same boat when i first got my DR350, main reason i got that and not an XR400 was it came under 33bhp (and now im still on it years later :P) you might be better off and have a much easier life just waiting out the last bit of your restriction with the DR and use road tyres , but i did look closely into restricting a bigger bike too. The best way to find one that works for you is to look at the restrictor kits on the market, a company called FI international sell them but charge extortionate prices and insist a garage do the install (expect it to cost at least £200 all in) they all give you a "restriction certificate" which carries as much legal clout as me writing "iz legal innit" on a napkin 

 

some people sell copies of the washers that come in these FI international kits much cheaper on eBay if you want to do the install yourself, as long as the bike is under 33bhp you are legal regardless of why it is that power. This means you can also get a bike the manufacturer daydreamed was 40 odd bhp, but in reality wont produce over 33 on a dyno (as i discovered i could have had that XR after all ) for example Suzuki rekon the dr350 is 30 or so horsepower, but you will be lucky to get more than 25 on a dyno.

 

Bikes most commonly restricted are the 500 or so cc commuter machines like the CB500, GS500 and ER5, if you take a 90 odd horsepower inline 4 and restrict it to 33bhp it will likely run like utter crap

If its gonna be restricted go for a twin as they produce more torque.