Well that's the thing. I have a few things stopping me, I have a huge attachment to this bike. It owes me nothing and the insurance last year was 300 quid roughly. Although that's still about £1 per mile for what I covered in 2020 That is down to me though. I definitely cant justify changing to something more expensive as that's just more money with no guarantee I will make any more use of it. I do like the thought of moving to a super naked or something I will commute more on, maybes do a euro trip if that will be a thing in the next year or so. Basically something more versatile than a fast road setup sports bike. I will get a migraine if I think about it too much No doubt I will be saying the same thing in 12 months time.
Well I've covered around 15k miles on my 2017 RA-H and I'd say around 12K of those were commuting miles in and out of London 5 days per week in all weather. I've found the bike easy to commute on - mirrors are well below the height of van mirrors and the bike's small enough to weave through traffic. The one thing I couldn't live without though is the quickshifter - this is an absolute must for me for commuting. When I had the loan CB500F, not only did it feel heavier and bigger than my blade, the lack of quickshifter just made commuting much more painful. I've thought about getting a Street Triple RS 765 or other more upright bikes, but for commuting I think I'd have issues with the mirrors. The only downside of the fireblade for me is my bones are getting older and occasionally I get cramp in my thigh which can make me look like a right wally!
Yeah I had both Street and Speed and in heavy traffic the placement of the mirrors were a bit of a pain in the arse. I ended up having to do a handlebar waggle or risk damage sometimes. I even considered seeing if I could find some to go under the bars. Shame as the rest of the package was spot on for commuting.
Sports bikes definitely make good commuters, to be honest adding commuting to my list is just me trying to justify a possible new direction. I dont even live where the bike is kept at the minute so it's a non starter for me really I went and uncovered the bike yesterday for the first time since about June Think im going to get an MOT booked in the next few weeks before the insurance runs out then see how I feel. In about 6 weeks time I will have bought a daft set of wheels and some unneeded carbon bits knowing me
Bennett’s £297 for the year, up from £225 for last year. The policy has all the bells and whistles but a £400 excess. I will be on the phone tomorrow to see if I can barter them down.
Had my renewal through from Bemoto, £1.80 cheaper than last year. 240 odd quid so cant complain really and not worth looking about to get a cheaper one as doubt I will for my age. Have to say, Bemoto are the first insurance company I have not disliked dealing with. I tried to get covered a few years ago and they were open from the start saying until I am 30 years old they couldnt do much for me over some competitors. As soon as I hit 30 they were more than competitive and as far as I can tell offer the best cover with their titanium package. I would definitely recommend giving them a call.
First insurance company I've ever renewed with 2 years running. Its a pleasure speaking to them on the phone.
Got both my bikes insured with Triumph on the same policy - Street Triple 765RS (2017) modified with quite a few bits and a Fireblade (2007) standard other than exhaust for £212. Can't really complain at that.
Had a Fireblade 2007 for 7 years (loved it) - tried numerous demo and mates bikes during that time, as we do, and always got back on mine and thought why would I change for my blade and £10-15K plus! Then tried the Speed Triple and Street Triple - Speed reminded me of the Blade (and why would i change for the extra £10K!) but the Street 765RS was different, so light powerful and flickable. Ironically a month or so after that, one cool but sunny December morning, had a test ride on Fireblade, Fireblade SP (wouldn't have bought the standard blade but did like the SP, just wasn't prepared for what Honda wanted and they wouldn't budge - my Blade plus £16k!!). On a whim went from there to Triumph and got a test ride on the 765RS. Made me smile again and as the dealer needed to sell a certain number of bikes before Christmas they gave me an offer i really couldn't refuse, so blade got traded in (sad day!). Ended up my blade plus £6.5k - but got over £1k of after market bits included (and those that I wanted and not what was just lying around - e.g. a SC projects exhaust, only second in the country for that bike at the time!). Do really like the Triumph, easy to ride, few mod cons and taken touring without issue. Think its a great road bike and very fast and capable on it. Done a couple of track days on it as well (as i had the blade) and wow its absolutely amazing through corners, so easy to ride and gives you bundles of confidence - but OMG on the straights . In corners i think the triumph holds its own and so fast and easy, brakes fantastic as well - but on the straights, gets there bloody quick but tops about 120-130mph before its trying to shake you off, and most other bikes are flying by as if your not moving! Mate tried it and he described it at speed as a bulldog chewing on a bumble bee! - joys of a naked bike i guess, but at road speed no issue. The blade on the same track i found much more of a handful in corners, but on the straight silky smooth and 140mph in fourth. After 18 months of having the Street, had the urge to try out the fireblade again to see if i felt the same about the difference between the two bikes. Got a 2007 HRC for a test ride and yeah they were different but the fireblade put a smile back on my face for the reasons i'd liked it for so long. Honda wanted too much for that bike, and luckily after that was able to get a project 2007 HRC fireblade for much cheapness - so now have that all done up and the Street, two different bikes and two keepers. Hoping to tour on the Street again this year and if I was commuting probably that as well - but the blade just has something special about it (and have toured Europe and Scotland a number of times without issue so would again) That said - wouldn't mind trying the new Speed Triple 1200RS - that might be a game changer
Afraid not AU07 - assume that's one of your long lost bikes?. The project blade was a bargain ebay find about 18 months ago, that has had a lot of TLC and original parts showered on it. Best compliment was at MOT a few weeks ago when tester/owner looked at the mileage and was shocked to see it had 45k miles on the clock - he said he'd never have guessed that and offered me a job! Nice to be wanted and maybe in a few years when I start to wind down and enjoy life more!! All I've got left to do is bit of bodywork/paint and engine tune (been recommended Dave Wood, so will go there when it warms up a bit!). Then summer of fun alternating the bikes!
Yes, smashed mine up and been looking for it since to see how it’s looking now good work on the rebuilt! I decided not to as I knew original parts would be hard to find and I fell in love with
Insurance is a joke. I just tried changing post code to in laws address , they live 5 minute walk from mine . Its about 6 streets away and it halved yearly premium , wtf!
Day seems to make a difference as well for some reason - when we put our daughter on the wife's car, phoned up the insurance and got chatting to a nice lady who helped me out with some options. We were going to get insurance on the Friday when I was trying to arrange it, but after a number of tries to bring quote down they said is it important she's insured today - to which I said no and why. Apparently for some odd reason if we added her on the policy two days later on the Sunday it bought the quote down by an extra £100!! So in the end we got the quote down from just over £1000 to £650 - pays to ask and look for options! Have had it before on line if you try too many options you get locked out - could be close to getting a quote refusal, then that's a whole heap of crap!
RRV renewal came today from Bennett's @£99.49 fully comp ,,,,,,, quick call to them and got it down to £72
