Took my SV across the country with some aftermarket luggage and did just fine. Few months later, took it for my first track day. It's truly a do everything bike.
CB750 one of the best and most bulletproof bikes ever. I had a 1974 and it never saw a easy ride yet I never had to spend anything on repairs. I did however spend on a set of low bars and a set of 4 into 1 Hooker headers as well as 4 into 2 shorty drag pipes over the few years I owned it. The bike had a lot of hard miles, but just kept running great.
DR650 > DR-Z400 for an adventure build IMHO. If you want to go on the highway, the extra CCs make long distance highway cruising a *lot* easier, and if you get good enough off-road to need suspension upgrades, that can be done relatively cheaply.
Spite. Thanks for the love on the CB750. I still have dad's 72, lightly modded. Tons of parts and knowledge out there. A solid runner up is the 69 through 83 Yamaha XS 650. Sites like Mike's XS have every possible part you need for them, and they can be built into almost anything you want them to be. Still have mom's, and used it to teach my wife, daughter, and several friends. Been in the family 40 years, and it's not going anywhere.
Don't blame ya. They're fun little bikes. My neighbor has one, and we swap the wife's XS650 with her from time to time, and take the bikes out for the day. Wife is thinking about picking one up, and Kathy is thinking about a Shadow, after riding our VT 1100. Hell, it's snowing out, and she borrowed our Ural to go to work today.
If you’re going to get an RC 390. I’d recommend a 2017 and up. They redesigned the head gasket that year that added an extra channel for cooling. The Ninja 400 is a better bike but the RC does come more track ready out of the box with the higher foot pegs, lower clip ons, and upside down forks. Also the new white color scheme for 2020 is 😩👌. You’ll probably find one cheaper than a Ninja 400 in the US as people don’t seem to buy them as much as the 390 Duke. Even after a year of riding I still love hopping on mine.
Another (used) bike that fits in this category is the Cagiva Raptor 650 because: - it has the SV650 engine - it’s designed by Miguel Galluzzi, the guy who is also responsible for the design of the first Ducati Monster - Brembo brakes and - Cagiva was part of the MV Augusta Holding, the vehicle registration document officially says it’s an MV Augusta. You can therefor say you’re owning a MV with a straight face. So, you get a good beginner bike with a reliable Japanese engine and beautiful Italian design (the other way around would suck). But may Rossi have mercy with you if you need OEM Cagiva parts, those are rare.
My first bike was an 01 monster 750! Was great until the seal around the gas tank hatch got cracked due to age & exposure to the sun, and I got a gallon of water in my tank after a rainstorm. Check that seal and see if you can replace it if its looking kinda worn out
Love my Yamaha TRX850, Suzuki SV650 & Honda CBR250RR. Ive had brand new Aprilia Tuono, Suzuki GSXR1K, Ducati Monsters and theyre fast & techy but they lack personality. My 1995 TRX turns more heads and gets more compliments than all my euro bikes combined.
Good projects. Honda's VT and VTX lines. People are doing impressive builds with the VT 750 and 1100, VTX 1300s have decent aftermarket options, and you can get the 1800s for under $4K, easily. And they are dead reliable. Another fun option for a bobber or scrambler build is the Suzuki LS650/S40. A 650 thumper, that feels like a 700, when you crack the throttle.
Cb 750, in my opinion, was a watermark bike. Absolutely bullet proof, and fast enough to hold their own. Yes, they are ancient tech now. But find one, ride it. Embrace the history (and slightly scary handling at surprisingly high speeds). Personally, i prefer the single overhead cam motors. But im old.
Royal Enfield interceptor/continental is my choice. Basis simple nuts & bolts minimal electronics and even a bunch of "how to" videos from Royal Enfield themselves. Not to mention cheap as chips. Merry Christmas Yam, hope you and yours are safe and well. Thanks for the content and keep it coming.
Spike you're absolutely great, the other guys too full on, Spike you're layed back & relaxed you should get more airtime, no insult intended to the other guy.
Fzr600 1990 had it a year still hasn't got a chain or brake. Project bikes take too long but you'll never find yourself so attached to a lump of metal as a project bike you build yourself
good one man! I thought a lot about making a super cheap drz 400 adventure bike. even a dr 650, but they are much heavier.. question: wye have I never heard you guys talk about the moto guzzi v7, so popular in Europe and it almost always gets mentioned compared to a triumph Bonneville. Anyway a guzzi v7 also looks grate when you rebuild it a little. maybe guzzi is your dark side.. the unspeakable.. but you talk about another italian always, the ducati.. what gives? .. mystery that needs answers
Have a Gen 1 sv650 that's experiencing an electrical issue currently, misfiring in the front cylinder to be exact. The front cylinder will cut in and out and I'm trying to diagnose the issue.
Spent weeks deciding which one to get and finally decided on the suzuki bandit, still ended up with an sv650 🙄 great bike but the faultlessness does take away some of the 'character'
forgot a shout out to the Honda cbxxx, the most common project bike that never gets finished and passed on to the next unlucky soul that attempts to put more than 40 miles on it before it needs another rebuild.
Triumph Bonneville Speed Twin .. "only" 165 k here in Denmark .. in $ thats around 23500 .. so cheap ? nahh not really right ..oh and that`s used ofc .. new one is like 27 k $ ..
Every rider should own at least 1 project bike to learn with unless ur just some rick guy that doesn't like to fix his own stuff cause he doesn't wanna get dirty
I agree. I think a second bike should either be a project itself or as a replacement to your first bike that you then make into your project. This way you have your reliable one as your daily or ready to ride bike and your second as a fun learning experience that your not stressed about working at any given time. Great to have a different style bike for the added riding experience too. It doesn't have to be expensive, fancy and especially new. Just have fun and learn without fear of making a mistake.
The ONLY acceptable project bike is the BUSA (on this channel). I like my 1200 Bandit (massive aftermarket and So Much Torque)... 1100 GSXR if you want an actual factual real deal Streetfighter.
Yammie's and more specifically spites views on carburetors is just rediculus. They seem to think you need to tune them every day like theres an elf coming and messing with your settings while you sleep. And syncing throttle bodies on an EFI is a thing! Every multi cylinder engine needs to be synchronized regardless of fuel source (some fly by wire sync themselves but very few ATM). And gas can still go bad in an EFI, just not as fast, as the fuel isn't vented to atmosphere.
