Can't find a conventional mid size bike for me...

[SkullCrusher]

+1 on vstrom. A guy I work with just bought a 1k strom and loves it. There's also a 650 and I believe they're abs but no shaft.

Looked at sport touring rigs like the concourse or fjr? Maybe st1100? I used to have a 1st gen xj600s, great little bike but short on power. Went to a fzr600r and got along for a year before I made up my mind that I wanted an efi liter bike. Ended up with a tl1000s which is the grandfather of the sv and dl bikes. Stupid amounts of power, good handling and decent ergos. Set of heli bars made a big difference. Bought the vt1100 for something to put the ole lady on and cruise.

[Scuba77]

Originally Posted by John Hopkins

Yeah..it's that mid size thing I'm not sure of because you said the VT750 is too small..Ok bigger bike, what about a Yamaha MT-01, you can pick up a 5 year old one for about a quarter of the new price..

John.

Agreed, the MT-01 sounds great and has a lot of go power, wish they were sold in the states. Not sure what they cost where you live but some of the BMW F series may also give you what you want as we'll as the VFR-800.

[Alexander]

Thanks for all the suggestions and comments!

Let me just clarify my earlier posts:
The Honda is a very well executed bike which is fun to drive, very easy on the fuel and a thing I am happy to own. But it is not comfortable for me. My 20-25 (one way) minute commuting is OK but just OK. Brakes and power is barely acceptable.

The Yamaha fits me much better and has better performance, handling and brakes. Fuel consumption is similar. The problems are the turbulence, crappy clutch, clunky gear box and a general sloppyness in some areas
that is annoying to me as an engineer. Too much internal play in the transmission, bad fuel mapping when going off/on throttle, radial play in the right handle. All these factor makes low speed driving frustrating - it is impossible to drive smoothly. It always jerks.
This bike excells at driving a steady 70-80 km/h in top gear. That is not how I commute.

Funnily, there used to be tons of good all-round, naked, mid size bikes. The Honda CB series from 750 up to 1300 plus the older Hornet 600, Yamaha XJ600/XJ900 (I used to own a 600 from -95), Suzuki SV 650 etc etc.
But I do not want a ten year old bike without ABS and FI.

As I said before, faired bikes are out of the list. So are the "adventure" models. I have tried a couple of those and I hate the mushy, long travel suspension, tall seat, lawnmower engine sound etc. Yuk.
Contemporary BMW are also out of the question. Hidepous, way to many (documented) quality issues and they have no current model that fits the bill.
I will re-check the insurance cost for the MT01 and FZ1.

So again...
Need:
Naked "classic" bike, low cost for maintenance and operation, at least 80-ish hp, fuel injection, ABS, not too cramped, not too expensive to buy

Nice to have:
shaft drive, japanese brand, still in production so I can buy a new one

It SHOULD not be that hard to find a bike that meets the "need" criteria but today there is none, as far as I can see. Incredible.

[ZackDaniels]

Need:
Naked "classic" bike, low cost for maintenance and operation, at least 80-ish hp, fuel injection, ABS, not too cramped, not too expensive to buy

Speed Triple ABS model. This should be getting higher on your short list. It's chain, but honestly you're not going to find many shaft drive standards because it's lossy. Modern chains need very little maintenance and many models even include automatic tension adjustment to lesson that even more. Not sure about the Speed Triple on that, but bottom line is most models favor the slight maintenance vs the performance loss.

It's not Japanese but Triumph makes awesome bikes and parts should be fairly plentiful and cheap.

It has 130hp so it might not be terribly cheap to insure, but otherwise it seems to suit your requirements quite well.

[Alexander]

Thank you, Zack!

The Speed Triple cost exactly twice as much (approx. $ 20 000 incl tax) to buy as the Yamaha XJ6 here in Sweden. It is also three times as expensive to insure (for me) so it fails the economical aspects miserably.

Maybe the pricing is different in US?

For all that extra money I get 50 hp I do not need and a horrid design. I could still consider it if the costs were more reasonable.

The shaft drive is a "nice to have" but not a must and I realize that manufacturers consider it too expensive.

[vzshadow]

It sounds like you are looking for the perfect bike. Simple.

Triumph Bonneville.

[Alexander]

I will have a look at the Bonneville even if it has no ABS, no shaft, is 50% more expensive than the XJ6 (heck, it is even 12% more expensive than the Yamaha XJR 1300 or FZ8!) and a bit low on power.
In Motorrad magazine reviews the fuel consumption has scored well OK for the Bonneville but brakes were not impressive, IIRC.

[h13man]

Originally Posted by vzshadow

It sounds like you are looking for the perfect bike. Simple.

Triumph Bonneville.

Guess what there isn't one! It sounds like the OP has a bit quandry going on. BMW is a close canidate but the cost of owning one well.... not to mention they aren't machine they used to be QC wise from what I heard of late. Kawasaki Concours is a good canidate with almost everything you are wanting though alot plastic but it's a detuned ZX1400 with bags etc.

[Alexander]

Well, I did not start the thread just to whine - I am seriously looking for a new bike for myself. But that kind of modern commuter bike is not offered 2012, as far as I can see. A newer equivalent of Honda CB 750 etc, Yamaha XJ 600 or XJ 900, Suzuki Bandit etc.

And why are the "modern vintage" bikes (that maybe could be another option) like the Bonneville, Guzzi V7 and Kawasaki W800 so expensive? Plus they all lack ABS and a bit of power.

There is also the Korean brand Hyosung that might have something interesting to offer.

Search goes on...

[Alexander]

>sigh<

Google led me to a Swedish bike magazine article about Hyosung pulling out of the Swedish market due to lack of sales. 3 weeks ago!
And they had used a picture of this in the article:



It does not have ABS but the rest seems so right.

I guess I am a dinosaur...