Biking for 10 years, lots of central London with a mix of going to visit friends (100 miles away) and weekend A and B road fun riding. Plus odd tracks and drag racing as one off fun times
Always bought “jack of all trades, master of f@@k all” bikes that would let me do the mixed riding comfortably, but none of it really well. Only budget for 1 bike hence the do it alls
In general, I like ABS and heated grips especially as I also do some emergency late night riding
Issue;
Thinking of buying a place in the South of France and want to be able to ride there sometimes… It’s 1100kms and 13hrs each way…
My current staple of do it alls will kill my @rse and arent suitable. Point is that I have to arrive there nice and refreshed as I then have intensive house renovation to do, plus need to arrive home ok to work next morning…
Thinking;
I do not want to and will not spend £15k on a BMW 1200 Adventure or Multistrada etc. My actual budget is £4k!
I still need to be able to do central London riding
ex Police force bikes are well priced. I can get a BMW R1200RT on 2008 plate with 45k on the clock for my budget
What I know of Police bikes
uber well kept while in their care (all selling with 1 owner thereafter so no issues)
single seater, £400 to put it back
small panniers but at least I have them
electrics can be iffy?
Anyone have experience and can provide advice?
What bike would people suggest and why? Needs to be uber comfortable, to me reliability will be very important
I seem to remember someone on here (ex police I think) saying that they’re not as well looked after as they used to be. It was a thread quite a while back but you should be able to find it with a bit of searching.
That was TC, back in the day, the OB used to basically always ride the same bike, so they were very well kept, now you just get whats on the fleet, so no one cares as much…I think was the jist of what he said anyway.
If it was me, no f’ing way would I buy an ex job bike…they are thrashed to an inch of their limiter each and every day.
Still it was fun while it lasted
Yeah, that’s what I came across when I was looking for ex-Police pan’s; they used to be regularly serviced and suchlike as part of the fleet and very much looked after by their owners, but now they’re just like any other well-kept fleet vehicle would be; ex-police bikes are only remarkable because nobody else really has fleets of bikes.
So it’ll be regularly serviced, but no more than a particulaly anal normal owner, and probably with many more miles.
I have heard stories (from police riders) of police bikes having been cannibalised before sale as the bad bits of the rest of the fleet are swapped out for any good bits the outgoing bike has.
Didn’t think about the swapping parts, good point. The K1200 for £3.5k was one I had seen, but know that it really is a bit of a pie lover weight wise… Still, its a good other option
FJRs are good too and not overly large like a Pan, yes some good other options cheers
and big fleet servicing is pretty poor at best. Mainly dealing with roadworthy issues while the mechanical bits get left. I work for the UK’s largest fleet operator and have seen vehicles in for service where after checking the obvious roadworthy issues (steering, brakes, tyres etc.) the fluids get topped up and out they go for another 12 months tour of duty :w00t:
Why not just make what you already have more comfortable and suited to longer hauls :ermm:Upgrade the stock seat for something you can sit on all dayAdd a touring screen, quick release or two part to use as and when.Adjust or replace the handlebars to achieve a more comfortable riding posture.
I thought of that but its a Fazer 8… realistically I just wouldn’t want to do a deep winter 1100kms x 13hrs ride on it twice over in a short space of time…
Yes its a good bike, but even with a better seat and screen its still not up for the job. I need to be fairly fresh at the end of each of these trips.
Glad I put this query up on here though as I was genuinely thinking of the ex Police bikes but all the feedback here has given me some very good food for thought, I now understand much better why those bikes are soooo much cheaper than their private equivalents!
As Art says, just cos it is a fleet maintained vehicle doesn’t mean it is done well. I work for BT and all our vans are maintained at regular intevals and they always aim to get problems fixed when they are reported, But… the garages are shocking when it comes to our Vans, as there is no revenue in servicing our own fleet they now service AA vans, Water Board Vans, British Gas Vans and many other companies, These vehicles get the best attention and ours are just rushed through and 9 times out of 10 you end up having to go back to get it done again, or they miss stuff etc. I would look at ebay and Bike trader for a real bargain in the next month or so when the weather starts to change and bike prices come down as they are harder to sell. you’ll end up with a much better deal.
TJ thanks for the offer - unfortunately I still have my Fazer 8 and am looking to do the swap later on this year once the France house purchase goes through. For now its doing a nice job for what I need UK wise. I agree with you, the FJR should be a contender and I’ll prise my eyes away from the ex Police bikes
Have you thought about getting a bike to keep in France and then just fly there or drive down, that’ll be a bit easier if you’re thinking of cranking the mileage back and forth.
Maybe a van to put a bike in and use that.
I have thought of one in each place… but then I did the figures on all the extra costs - French insurance, tax, services, wear and tear of 2 vehicles etc
Thanks to Easyjet I will be able to fly down fairly regularly, but my thought was with an R1200RT then I would be able to do it that much more often by road and sometimes last minute without thinking “oh Christ but its horrible going there by bike”
The ex Police R1200RT from 2008 meant that I can remain in budget at £4k while still getting a monster tourer which is only 6 yrs old. As that is quickly going out of the window (a thrashed R1200RT with mediocre parts and ok service needing £400 of conversion work) then I will be looking a bit more widely but still wanting something that is a bit of a couch so that I can enjoy the 13hrs each way