Hello,
Am after motorbike recommendations.
I am a 6 ft, 120 kg fella who needs to travel from point A(Downer) to point B(Tuggers) in Canberra.
I have an Australian motorcycle licence and in the recent past have driven a Royal Enfield Bullet 350/500 in Dhaka, Bangladesh for a few weeks - so I am fairly comfortable riding motorbikes.
With a hilly terrain like in Canberra bikes like Agility RS125 are probably out of question given my weight profile. Riding a bike (bicycle) for 90+ minutes is also out of question.
All I am after is a reliable motorbike (even electric should be fine) that will run comfortably on a hilly terrain in taking me from A to B. I am a relaxed and comfortable cruising type driver and not after mad speed at all. What do you recommend? I usually lean towards buying new automobiles - so my preference will be for a new bike. I am not quite sure on the budget around $5k as $5k isn't going to get me anything decent I am upping my budget just for the bike to $10k or so. Happy to spend separately on gear.
A few other questions :
- On Google maps there is no motorbike option - am I correct in assuming whatever route is shown for a car is automatically applicable to motorbikes?
- Is parking free for motorbikes everywhere (in Canberra)?
- Whats the cost of ownership on bikes like? Is the rego as much as a cars?
- Do most motorbikes expect some kind of regular maintenance? I can probably to a bit of DIY fixing if its straightforward enough but dont want a constant expenditure every month.
- What will I additionally need if I have to drop a kid off to school on a motorbike?
- What do you do when it rains?
650~750ish twin naked bikes. Best for commuting and good for hilly areas. Twins have plenty of torque compared to inline 4's and are much nicer to ride in a relaxed way.
I would look at bikes like the
Royal Enfield Continental GT 650, CFMoto 700CL-X, Ducati Monster 696/596/821/Scrambler, Yamaha XSR700…Just saw you added a budget of $5k. None of these are in that range, even second hand. You are not going to get a new bike that is decent size and power new for $5k. You may have to look at bikes like the CF Moto NK300 or a lightly used NK650.You'll want to go just over the LAMS 660cc limit, because most LAMS bikes are powerful enough, but are munted to get under the power to weight ratio. Some, like the CFMoto NK650 and Ducati 659 can be de-restricted with little effort.
As for electric bikes, I would wait on that. Electric is good, but you will get much better value and range out of a 700cc bike that will also cost you about 1/3rd of the cost of a comparable electric bike.
Cant vouch for that, but most places cars can go, bikes go. Interesting though, in the Google tracking part, it seems to know if I am on a bike and not in my car…
Some places, yes, some no, you are still required to adhere to the road rules.
Rego is cheap… everything else is expensive. Tyres are expensive and last about 1/4 of a car tyre life. My bike uses almost as much fuel as my car… (More to do with how I drive compared to how I ride.) Insurance is way more expensive. Then there is the gear…
Absolutely… Probably more so than cars. Things like chain (lube and adjustments), oil changes are more regular. Fluid changes (brake/clutch). Tyre pressures. etc. Most of these things you can learn to do yourself though.
A car?? An understanding wife/husband/life partner/trusting child? The child will need to have their own safety gear (obviously), jacket, boots, helmet, gloves and somewhere to carry and/or store it for the return journey. Also I think the law is that a child needs to be over a certain age to be taken anywhere on public roads on the back of a bike, you may have to check that out as well…
As for the Kymco Agility 125… dont. I am 110kg and 6'2" and own a Vespa 175, and it does not like hills. A 125cc scooter would be worse. If you want to go scooter, look at something in the 300cc or bigger class for your ahem weight and hills.
Source: I own 6 bikes. From an EV scooter up to 1000cc supersports bikes.