Thinking of replacing my Blade but not sure if to get another Blade or try something new which I quite like the idea off. Its not that I dislike the Blade in fact the opposite is true I absolutely love it but sometimes a change to something different is good for variety. Current bike is an 08 Blade with 18000 miles on the clock. I absolutely love the bike but would like to replace for something a little newer ideally with Traction Control and possibly a quick shifter but also can't rule out another Blade as I really like the bike which is great on the road and also excellent on European road trips. My short list to change for are BMW S1000RR, Aprilla RSV4 or Kawasaki ZX10R I have a budget of circa £10000 so looking at a couple of year old models. All of these bikes have TC and apart from the big Kwak come with a quick shifter too so pretty much tick all the boxes. However I just don't know if any will be as good on the road as a Blade so can't rule out swapping for another Blade as I love the 2013 Tri Colour model. Also another advantage of keeping in the Honda Family is all my bling will be a direct swap. I can fit the Wilbers Race shock, Leo Vince End can, Power Commander, Rearsets, Crash Protection, Rad Guard, Gel Seat etc... where if I go for a different bike again it means buying all the bling again plus probably an alarm which could be expensive. Also if I keep the Blade the Ventura Luggage system is a direct swap as just started getting into European road trips this is also a bonus. All comments, suggestion or ideas welcome.
Get out there and take some test rides, make sure they ore long rides so you can get a real feel for the bike. Everyone is different so hard to advise on what's best etc.
Cheers Martin, I guess your right its just not the best time of year for test rides unfortunately. I did take an RSV4 last year and absolutely loved it. The only negatives are expensive to buy, very expensive to insure (nearly triple the Blade) and not got the best record on reliability. I like the ZX10R but some reviews say it steers slowly and needs reving when compared to the turbine like midrange drvie from a Blade so not sure it would as good on the road although it does look mega and have TC.
for the road just change the gearing a bit,will give the same feeling and wont effect the top end (well not enough to bother you on the road).just go ride a few and make your mind up from that.
Yes I can see where you are coming from, the BMW does look good on paper and I did test ride one and hated it's power delivery, it's revs and lots of them and when you want to poodle around it feels slower due to the rev happy nature of the engine, also fuel consumption was not that great when you rode it nailing it to the red line which I must say was very pleasing!! The blade is lacking in many respects regarding technology but it still has excellent road manners which is where I do 99.9% of my riding, so having launch,traction,power modes would not add any better solutions to my riding style, yes toys are nice but who the hell plays with all the buttons in a shiny new BMW car after 2 weeks when the novelty has worn off? Cannot comment on the Kwak but again more of a sunday ride than a touring machine or weekend away tool like the blade is.
I would have to agree with you Steve it is something I would consider next time I am looking to change
Maybe but the Honda will still be going when the Beemer will be in the scrap yard,can't beat build quality and Honda have it
Ok, whoever has or has rode a Beemer enlighten me on how it actually compares to the blade on the road ? Things I like about it Quick shifter Power modes Traction control Other toys = bonus
Stevie nearly all litre bike ain't nothing between them we will never ride to there full caperbillity.
We cannot convince you that it is better or worse than the blade for your style of riding, or how comfortable it is for you, that is your choice. All we can say is what we like about our current machines whether they are reliable or good looking or fast, it really is what floats your boat. Go and have a test ride of them and decide this is really what you should do and not ask a bunch of old farts on how to spend your hard earned cash on some old stonker that makes you look 20 again even though you are bald and fat!! I think that some reverse phycology is needed here as it sound like we need to talk you out of buying another brand of bike.
Steve A friend I ride with has a 2012 BMW, he just had it dyno'd 197bhp at the wheel! Quick shifter is naff to be honest and he is first to admit that, power it's quicker than my blade which is an old RR5 which is prob 150-160 bhp roughly. It's quicker but I would say not 40-50hp quicker so I can only presume the electrics restrict it a fair bit. He does rate the bike very high though and he's a very honest person so would say if it was shite
Don't want to upset any Zx10R owners but went to look at one today and have to say I was a little disappointed in the finish compared to my Blade. The dealer had a 2012 Blade in also and I kept leaning more towards that than the ZX10R. Maybe I m just boring and like familiar things, haha
Thankfully, looks are all about personal taste otherwise we would all want the same bikes and we would never find our own in the car park. I like the look of the ZX10R, looks aggressive and fast, can't comment on the build quality but in all honesty, like most things in life, quality generally seems to be going downhill. I don't think Honda's are as well built now as they used to be, a lot of things are not made for longevity these days. I still have a lot of faith in the Honda engines though.
Take your time, try to test ride them all before choosing. It took me 6 months and several test rides to choose between the BMW and the Blade. After lots of research I went for the blade ONLY because of the serious reliability issues with the S1000RR and the dealers unwillingness to fix them on warranty.
