Reply With QuoteMy local bike mechanic has become a CCM Service Agent. Done all the training etc and got spares and consumables from them.
No investment, and will get work from them as and when.
My local bike mechanic has become a CCM Service Agent. Done all the training etc and got spares and consumables from them.
No investment, and will get work from them as and when.
IMHO CCMs are a 3rd bike at best. Fine for a short blast when 60 mph is going to be as fast as you want to go, but other than that, better to look at than to ride.Originally Posted by learningtofly
Having said that, I really do fancy one of these - the polar opposite to a Tiger.
Andy
Wanted - Damasko DC57
I subscribe to Bike India via Readly. The ex showroom price of a Speed 400 in India is £2340. Uk price £5125 . Knock off Vat say £4100. That leaves £1700 ish to ship pay any import taxes then yield a dealer margin.
Non of what you’ve said there disagrees with my post. Triumph may have £1700 to play with and choose to give the dealership a £100 margin and,say, a £600 target bonus.
It’s all speculation but there’s certainly money in it for both Triumph and their dealerships.
Not sure you would comfortably get above 75, but Andy did own one, from memory.
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Heard 3yrs ago that Carlisle BMW were on £300 per new bike…………… that is a struggle.
Yes, I’m on the beta IOS beta]
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No it’s not, it’s smoke and mirrors.
A dealership probably couldn’t survive on £300 per new bike but when that’s topped up with ten times that amount (I’m plucking a figure out of thin air but you get the idea?) in target bonuses, it becomes a little easier.
It still allows the salesman to tell you there’s no margin in a new bike though, which allows them to offer minimal discounts.
Thats good to hear, my experience was far different, factory tour was good, sales pitch grabbed me so i paid the deposit and it went downhill from there for me...
Spoke to a lot of ex owners, read up online on Facebook and their forum etc etc, each to their own but not for me after been bitten...
Totally get that. Everyone’s experience and/or perception can be vastly different, especially when dealing with a small family-run business that had an unexpected hit on their hands, and suddenly had to deal with high demand that they weren’t really geared up for.
See FortNine review here:
Never been so scared at 100mph as I was a few times on my Cafe Racer. If the wind is in the wrong direction the tank slapper can be terrifying.
I was not the target customer and should never have bought mine. All I was trying to say was that they are best at slower speeds than I want to ride at. For others it might be not an issue and they are far from without merit. Light weight and nice handling to a point and they sound good too up to about 7k.
Last edited by andy tims; 5th August 2024 at 17:47.
Andy
Wanted - Damasko DC57
Completely understood, and no - it was never going to work for you, Andy. I tend to bimble along pretty much at the speed limit, though, so they’d probably be fine for me as a second bike (not that a decision has been made at all as yet).
I have a friend who bought a Spitfire.
He'd lusted for 18 months.
Bought it, enjoyed riding it.
Until the honeymoon period was over.
Sold it. (Lost very little money on it to be fair, a few hundred quid)
In his own words, he found it tedious and hard work on anything further than local runs.
I had a few goes, and found it to be nice and nippy and light.
My overriding memory....you need to plan those overtakes well in advance.
But if you've got an itch.........
Anyone that’s owned a bobber will know that the ride is on the firm side, not helped by un adjustable suspension and not much travel.
My bike is vastly improved over stock by the fitting of a new seat with medical gel, an ohlins rear shock and ohlins internals in the forks. But there’s always something else to try.
Enter COC customs in Austrailia, and their “springer” seat conversion. A highly regarded mod on the bobber forum so I had to give it a go.
What can I say, it’s a game changer, easy to fit, very high quality components and very fairly priced. Between this, the Ohlins and my new seat the Bobber is a different bike.
Had a really nice morning motorcycle window shopping, taking ion Midwest Motos in Stourport on Severn and Ducati Worcester.
Midwest was lovely - lovely people and a good range of bikes from Enfield, Indian, Fantic, CFMoto, Morini etc.
We went there as my mate in particular wanted to look at the CFMoto 450MT as a potential step down from his 1250 GSA. Have to say that the CFMoto bikes stood out as clearly it's not "the Chinese are coming", the Chinese are here. OK there may be a few things around the edges that aren't perfect, but at the price they are astonishing.
Some of the Enfield stuff is now impressing me in ways that they haven't in the past, and the Super Meteor 650 felt like it could easily find a place in the garage.
They also had some old/special stuff there too.
It was nice to pop in to Worcester Ducati on the way home
Again, nice and relaxed and happy for us to clamber over everything and bounce up and down.
I've decided, kid in sweet shop style, I'd like...
Multistrada V2 S Travel for a bit of touring
Hypermoto 698 mono for a bit of hooning
Super Meteor 650 for pottering about
450MT or a CRF300 Rallye (not sure which yet) for a bit of green laning
...and a bigger garage
...and a lottery win.
Puting on another bike meet Sunday 11th August, some of the Northern lads have allready made it down south ready for an early start.
If anyone is coming to the Super Sausage Towcester come and say hello.
Had a really nice morning motorcycle window shopping, taking ion Midwest Motos in Stourport on Severn and Ducati Worcester.
Midwest was lovely - lovely people and a good range of bikes from Enfield, Indian, Fantic, CFMoto, Morini etc.
We went there as my mate in particular wanted to look at the CFMoto 450MT as a potential step down from his 1250 GSA. Have to say that the CFMoto bikes stood out as clearly it's not "the Chinese are coming", the Chinese are here. OK there may be a few things around the edges that aren't perfect, but at the price they are astonishing.
Some of the Enfield stuff is now impressing me in ways that they haven't in the past, and the Super Meteor 650 felt like it could easily find a place in the garage.
They also had some old/special stuff there too.
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Again, nice and relaxed and happy for us to clamber over everything and bounce up and down.
I've decided, kid in sweet shop style, I'd like...
Multistrada V2 S Travel for a bit of touring
Hypermoto 698 mono for a bit of hooning
Super Meteor 650 for pottering about
450MT or a CRF300 Rallye (not sure which yet) for a bit of green laning
...and a bigger garage
...and a lottery win.
My heart says “ooh look at that little Suzuki TS or the DT” my brain says pick the modern stuff . Green laning space could be Himmie 451 ? Too tall for me though
I’ve been on the lookout for the right RS660 for a while and yesterday I finally found it!
Hopefully be ready for me to collect in the week..
The Himmie is surprisingly manageable. As is the 450MT.
I think the 450MT looks like a great package for the money. Seriously thinking about trying one out.
What a beautiful looking sports bike, sleepless nights for you until delivery I imagine.I’ve been on the lookout for the right RS660 for a while and yesterday I finally found it!
Hopefully be ready for me to collect in the week..
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Honestly - it’s all I can think about. It will be like Christmas Day!
Took the GS into Bahnstormer to get the quick shifter looked at. My loan bike was an F900 R - Not fast but I really liked it. Nimble handling despite feeling quite heavy to push around, great brakes too.
I also had a test ride on a V4 Diavel for just over an hour on Friday. It's a bit of a strange bike. It’s certainly not the cruiser I was expecting. It’s really a big super naked but without the sharp handling as a proper super naked. It needs loads of revs, so I ended up riding it like a complete yob. Unless you’re in first or second virtually nothing happens below 4K. There is plenty of go from 8,000 RPM and loads from 10,000.
It’s truly horrible to ride around town even in rain mode. You’re almost permanently slipping the clutch. I guess they’re not selling very many which is why they’ve not brought out and apparently am not intending to, bring out an S model.
It’s certainly not the potential 3rd bike in my garage, even if I had permission to buy a third bike. The M does the hooligan stuff much better and almost certainly uses less fuel and would be cheaper on tyres. Those 240/45s won’t be cheap. The GS is better for cruising.
The only plus points compared to my M - low seat height (for the vertically challenged) and illuminated switch gear.
Andy
Wanted - Damasko DC57
The xDiavel pulls much better from low revs, strong from 3000rpm, with 156hp and 96lbs/ft at 5000rpm.
Funnily enough, today a mate took a 100 mile test ride on this red V4 Diavel. It couldn’t live with my XD through the twisties, my XD is the 160bhp model and is particularly strong pulling out of slower corners. Last week a mate on a GSXR1000 was quite shocked at the jump I got on him pulling out of roundabouts. Great fun the XD
Last edited by Enoch; 12th August 2024 at 22:03.
Brilliant turn out,we had the editor from Motorcycle Mechanics turn up and Larry from PDQ on his tricked out Kawasaki.
It was a sea of Kawasaki green,we had our own dedicated space at the entrance..
Old and new faces some ive known from the last 20 years.
Rumours of a 150 strong bike group/gang turning up from London happened to be the Slow Boys.
2 Police riders suddenly turned up and blocked the entrance,(apparently they had been followed out of London).
They where redirected without much fuss.
I have allready booked the next bike meet for Sunday the 11th of May 2025 at the Bibury Classic motor hub.
They where very good to us this year,great food,great location,great roads.
They look rather exciting............. Probably as much sports bike as you want for real roads, too !!
I suppose it depends on what you mean by 'green laning' - I can't see the point of using a quasi-adventure bike like the 450MT on properly snotty off-road lanes as there's a lot of weight there. Not as much as a T7 or the like, but still a lot.
I tried a Himalayan and really didn't like it. It felt quite top-heavy to me and I didn't feel in control though admittedly it had some allegedly 50:50 tyres which were in reality more like 25:25 as they were shit everywhere.
All that said, my bikes are just-about-legal enduro machines and appalling on the road, plus the lanes I ride on are - in the winter at least - really hard work (chalk/clay/flint plus lots of mud) so it all depends on what you're looking for!
Thanks for sharing the video and yes, certainly for me at least!
A mates wife has one, and she absolutely loves it. And she can certainly make it go👍
Yesterday I had my Streetfighter in for annual service and the courtesy bike they gave me was a V4 Diavel. It was reminiscent of my old Gen 2 in that you knew it had a large rear tyre and the ride was pretty firm. That said, I found it went like the proverbial s**t off a nickel plated shovel and I thought it went round corners very well...but would have been more enjoyable if the road surfaces were better. For the money I'd expect much better mirrors...at least ones that could be adjusted fully.
edit - I could also have mentioned that, rather cheekily, while I had the Diavel, I rode it down to a local(ish) BMW dealership and agreed a trade in on my GS for an RS...to be collected this weekend, which doesn't give me much time to strip the GS of all the bits the dealership weren't interested in and which I'm not going to give them for free. I think I might need to refer to the youtube video by A Bike Thing in case I forget which screws went where
Last edited by Stanford; 14th August 2024 at 17:00.
I’ve had my eye on another XDiavel to modify. Went to have another look today and convince myself I needed it.
It had been sold to somebody else 1 hour before I got to the dealership.🤔
Hadn't really seen these before, but they look great fun.
It's interesting, as I own a '98 Fireblade which was at the point Honda had relaxed the riding position a bit, I am now 60 but can still ride it ok albeit I wouldn't want to go big distances on it! Now we have bikes like this Aprilia that are sporty but a bit more relaxed on the riding position and sensible on the available power, and now the manufacturers are fighting over that market, rather than the sports bike arms race that used to exist.
I sat on a (I think!) 2021 Fireblade when they were new and in comparison it felt tiny, cramped and awkward. I'm really not sure who would want one of those these days, other than for willy waving numbers on power, speed etc.
My Fireblade is 130bhp and realistically you can't use even that on a public road! I suppose the other thing with me is I like owning it as it's I bike I aspired to in the past, I like the fact it has carburetors etc, no pesky ECUs or EU regs to deal with! It might not have traction control, ABS etc etc, but it goes beautifully and for those looking for a left-field choice I really commend bikes like these, for all they are old tech they still go very nicely, are cheap to own and are great fun!
I can't even use more than a relatively small percentage of my T120's power on a public road (and that's on a bike for bimblers and old codgers like me). Realistically, almost all bikes sold these days are overpowered if they're not being used on track and you could probably ride a high-revving engine almost never going above second gear!
Ah, South Mimms, Prince of Service Stations
Same age as me, I bought a brand new ZX9R C1 in 1998 which would have taken the Fireblade’s crown if it hadn’t been for the appearance of the R1.
It was very similar to the blade in all the ways you mention except, being a Kawasaki, it had a bit more power but wasn’t built as well. With a double bubble screen, it did everything, touring, scratching and track days.
I wish I’d kept it.
Looks lonely 😉Still can't get used to the fact the the bike has a proper home!
Cheers
Foggy
Definitely, looking at that photo, I’m seeing a TV ad
“Just £3 per month could save this poor Triumph from a lifetime of loneliness!”
If you have any spending money left - a super-tough epoxy coating on the floor to smooth it out enough to allow bike movers with castors, and a bike lift for tinkering/polishing etc.Still can't get used to the fact the the bike has a proper home!
Funnily enough I was looking at some bikes this morningDefinitely, looking at that photo, I’m seeing a TV ad
“Just £3 per month could save this poor Triumph from a lifetime of loneliness!”
Edited to add, I seem to be fancying another Street Triple at the moment.
Both lovely ideas, but funds are a bit tight right now.If you have any spending money left - a super-tough epoxy coating on the floor to smooth it out enough to allow bike movers with castors, and a bike lift for tinkering/polishing etc.
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