Thinking of adding a decent commuter to my stable, looking for something cheap-ish to insure, good mpg, bit of storage and fairly upright (6ft1 and 20st, I have rode sports bikes most of my biking life and CBR600 was my old commuter but was causing me too many shoulder and back issues with my size so I got rid of it for a MT09 - this is a bit too much for commuting - tiny tank, mpg is pretty crap in stop start traffic, and insurance a bit crazy - will hang onto it but want something year-round to commute on).
Thinking of a midrange scooter like a Forza300 as has loads of underseat storage of gym bag etc, or a boring NC750S with a top-box.
Ideally if I could get around 60-80mpg would be good with a tank-range of atleast 100-120miles, something upright, top-speed I don’t give a crap about as this will be for London commuting only so majority 20-30mph roads and a tiny tiny bit of 40mph if I am lucky, but would still want something with a little poke so was thinking either a 300cc scoot or the nc750 as that would tick the mpg boxes although look a bit crap, ran some numbers and either of these 17-18 plate is coming back around £500 PA insurance vs £1500 PA for the MT09 (which I will keep for weekends in the summer on ride-outs)
I was going to say the same. If your commute is sub-ten miles a pedal cycle is quicker/similar and you won’t need to find space for the gym bag, nor money for the gym membership, nor money for petrol etc etc.
cheers all for the quick replies! I should have been a bit more thorough, my commute is around 15-20miles in and 15-20miles out of london, from just past Orpington and into Chelsea and Paddington through Tulse Hill, Clapham, Battersea etc
Sports bikes would be perfect if majority was motorway or A-roads but in stop start traffic my shoulders were giving in especially with my size (mostly muscle honest!)
The new forza300 looks pretty nice tbh but a bit worried about bike-jackings but if I have been safe on MT09, CBR and R1 I should be OK I think
The NC750 doesn’t look too bad either with a slip-on can (any recommendations?)
I was also thinking of going down the route of an old jap bike like FZ6 with top-box but around 2009-2012, unsure if I would be putting money into a money pit with that though if things start going wrong and might be better off with a 17-18 plate forza300 or nc750
Replied to you on BCF regarding older Jap bikes, but gonna reply to you here with another suggestion!
Got another somewhere left field suggestion for you. I saw a chap on one of these the other day:
Not bad looking Electric bike with slight mock-retro feel to it. Range is low (60 miles) and top speed ain’t amazing (58mph), kinda comparable to a basic 125cc with a tonne of torque (170nM). Crucially it’s only £4.3k new. Probably be good for a short commute on low speed inner city roads, if you can plug it in each night. Could be worth a test ride. Anyone else tried one?
That doesn’t look too bad tbh but think I might be a bit too big and I like a little bit of noise which is why I edged away from the NC750 a bit as worried it might be too quiet, it would be pretty good once I hit the south circular but like something with a bit more grunt and noise once get out towards Kent
I was toying with the idea of getting a new commuter bike the other week and the Honda CB300R seemed to get quite good MPG. Problem is it’s quite a lot wider than my Bandit 1250 so filtering would be more tricky than I’m used to, so decided against booking a test ride.
They do seem to get good reviews though, so thought I’d throw that in here in case it suits your needs.
I rode one a few years back and thought it was great besides the lack of power and noise but I’m at a stage now where I need to be sensible with a commuter bike, going to test ride the NC750 and forza300, what is the main difference between the S and X model? I think the S looks nicer than that weird beak thing on the X
