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Best cheap bike with good suspension

Sounds like some one wants their cake and eat it too.:|
fully adjustable suspension, but not an in line four, how about an RC51, SV1000 or TL1000
 
Kawowie said:
Sounds like some one wants their cake and eat it too.:|
fully adjustable suspension, but not an in line four, how about an RC51, SV1000 or TL1000
Click to expand...

does the SV1000 have a better suspension than the 650?
 
For low hp, consider either a DR650 or a KTM 525


Somebody here just got an EX500, ask him how fun that bike is. Figure $2,500 modified with adjustable suspension f/r, 120 / 160 sticky buns, great for everything you can imagine (street, track, tour, posing). In fact, after a Duke II, may be the funnest bike available.
 
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TEORIA said:
For low hp, consider either a DR650 or a KTM 525
Click to expand...

I'd prefer something with less power that a DR650 so the liter sprotbiles wouldn't have such a difficult time keeping up the pace on group rides.
 
define cheap... anything under 15k otd is a cheap bike, when you compare it to completely set up bikes and ones with mods

for 5 - 8 k you may be able to find a duc m900s or 996s editions. they have showa or ohlns front and ohlns rears in most cases and lots of cf. for 12+k you can get an s4rs. the is also the hpermotard s editon that has full ohlns

my mz black panther has great suspension, the WP/white power rear shock is awesome, the Marzocchi forks are pretty good as well.. some. you can get one of those for 3 - 6k, depending on condition and if you can find one.. shipping will cost about .75k to get it here as it is a long tall bike. has the yamaha 660xtz engine... you can overbore to a 720 or drop the new 720 tenure in it. here are the specs... uses many of the same parts as ktm and husq. you want to get a 2002 - 2005 models if you get one, every year is exactly the same.. they did not change a thing on the bikes from those years except the 2008s has red stripes on rims and little cosmetic details like that. 2006 - 2008 you can only get via europe or austrailia.. it is not a total sm bike, but more of a cross between say the duke, sm, and adventure of ktm... sort of an sm enduro adv streetf friendly bike.


5valve single overhead cam water cooled twin carb.

5speed transmission

White Power shock with full adjustments

Marzocchi 45mm forks with full adjustments

Grimeca brakes

Behr rims

Acerbis plastics
 
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Okay, so twin or tripple. Liter bikes are out. Track, tour, sport, pose. Should be popular / long-lived for parts and accessory support. Grey market is out. Shouldn't be too old or too new.

I don't think I would like to ride a VFR on the track but others do and quite well. V-4 behaves like two twins. Top-shelf suspension, cheap enough used, comfort, handling, low-maintenance, not too powerful, worth a look.

Were it me, I think I would find a bent SV, put GSXR front and shock on and call it a day.
 
It is my general observation that NO BIKE out there has a suspension that can't use an upgrade, and we are not talking about Ohlins upgrade here. And this gets worse especially when 'cheap' is thrown into the equation. If you go to any of the gsxr, 1000rr, R1, zx10 forums, you will see people upgrading their suspensions, and the stock suspensions on these bikes are as good as stock suspensions get for the most part.

So, even those who go and buy bikes with 'very good' stock suspensions are still thriving to get that suspension modified... so if it were me, and I wanted to get 'good' suspension, I would by default look at my options to modify ANY suspension to my exact weight/ride/ability... and if I were to throw in 'cheap' into it, without any inline 4 considerations... my choices would be very limited.

This is a good discussion though.
 
^- i agree, most stock bikes are basically bare bones kit bikes you can make a real bike out of and be worthy of a return wave.

i also think a lot of the low cost mass produced bikes suffer a little too much from the accountants red pen and they are mainly made of the cheapest pot metal you can find.
 
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