I have a trip coming up across Spain and Portugal where I’ll be riding up to 340 miles per day over 2 weeks. I have a Fireblade and just don’t think I could cope doing that many miles on it.
I have around £2.5k to spend on something that’s going to be comfy, not too slow and perhaps retain some sort of value.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what type of bike to go for?
Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Buy a Air Hawk seat cover for about £100 and spend the rest on a good bed each night.
I did 2500 miles in 5 days on my Blade last year, comfiest bike I have ever had no prob with comfort, just get on the Blade and enjoy yourself.
How about the big Kawasaki touring machine, the Concours? Kinda of pricy for 2008, but if you go back a couple of years, it would fill the bill very quickly.
I would recommend CBR 1100XX, quite comfy. I did about 730 miles in one go and my bottom was a bit sore. On the way back I have decided to split the trip into 500 miles parts and it was great. Very fast and very good on fuel. When riding at reasonable speeds it made about 47mpg. But when I enjoyed a motorway and most of the time I rode at 140 it went down to 35mpg.
I am not sure if 2.5k will get you a decent blackbird but I think it should.
340 miles per day is not so bad and maybe you should stick to your blade. Check if they make handlebar risers for fireblades. It takes minutes to fit and increases comfort a lot.
It may be a cheaper and easier option to prepare your bike for the trip rather than buying something new that you are unfamiliar with. Hope you have a nice trip.
Thanks to everyone that replied. It’s much appreciated.
I have decided there is no way I’m trusting my spanking new Blade to P&O Ferries (or my arse to the Fireblade’s not so comfy seat!)
It looks like my insurance will be the decider as my policy will not allow me to add a bike so I have to take out a new one without being able to transfer over any no claims. (I’ve looked at transferring the entire policy to a multi-bike one but I lose too much money).
So, that puts the big tourers out. Does anyone have any experience of the DL VSTROM 650? It’s sort of ugly pretty but gets superb reviews, is mega-comfy and apparently does 200 miles to a tank.
If it was me, look for a second hand Bandit 1200. Strong of heart and tics along great. Great for twisties, highway/motorway blats or just around town. It’s a nice jack of all, master of none but it does it soooo well. I have done over 1800 miles on mine in short notice (less than 36hrs) with no ill side effects. (bit of a stop over in a hotel for some zzzzzzzzz’s)
It runs fab with one up or two and because of the great torque low down its a breeze to jump up to 100+… Only problem is once it hits 145-150 the numbers only creep up then but I have seen 170 indicated on mine :blink:
vstrom excellent…great seat, slightly better than a bandit which would be my second choice…vstroms dont sell well…butt ugly get something with a half fairing at least
Vstrom is butt ugly but solid. Cos its B U it’s a likely bet for a deal.
Reasonable insurance group. (No one with street cred. is going to steal that!)
Friend who road tests these sort of things says it’s an “all day bike.”
Read boring, comfy and solid.
Oldguy
Superb. VStrom it is. (Butt ugly, I agree, but then I’m no picture!) 
Thanks for your help!
Bike magazine did a feature about fast comfy tourers that still handled.
The Yamaha Fazer 1000 (older gen not the newish FZ1) came out very well and it was said was the best bike for someone that wanted comfort and pillion friendliness that is used to riding litre sports bikes.
The Kawasaki ZRX 1200 came out very well also. Loads of grunt from the motor, and in a direct comparisson, they said it was only slighty less capable in handling. Pretty damn cheap too.
Went down to Pyrenees on my Blade 2 yeasr ago - no worries about comfort. In fact I’m going again this year and am more concerned about comfort of my SuperDuke. And do you really want to miss out on using the Blade on those twisties when you’re there?
Lawro
If Terry can make it to Spain on his shed Blade I’m sure anyone can;)
Thanks to all the advice I’ve just bought an 04 650 VSTROM for £2,900. Hopefully pick it up next week.
I test rode it today, then got back on my Blade and rode like a plonker for 3 minutes because I couldn’t get used to my own bike again. If you’d have seen me you’d have sworn I’d never ridden a bike in my life!
The VSTROM is ugly and sounds awful . . . bit I like it! (D. Emery) 
id say a CBR 1000f fits the bill, pick one up clean for around 1500 and their v reliable
got one myself and its (unbiased opinion:)very smooth&comfy:Whistling:
