Thinking of going geared long term

[Liam]

Geared bikes will always be better than scooters for sheer riding pleasure.

Not necessarily!
You've probably been riding the wrong scoot

I'm giving up my scoot soon to go back to "proper" bikes.

What are they then?

[Steve_D]

Get one of each!

[Ferret]

Geared bikes will always be better than scooters for sheer riding pleasure. I'm giving up my scoot soon to go back to "proper" bikes.

Its your opinion on which and or if gives you personally more riding pleasure than another or you cant take it anymore where people take the piss out of the fact you dare ride such a machine lol . Here is my opinion based purely on my experience coming from 40 years on bikes 99% of the time 1% lamies until 2 years ago getting a maxi .Due to not being able to safely get my leg over anymore ,i was going to unwillingly pack 2 wheels in until i found maxis .I wish i had got one years ago when i had considered a t max back in 02 .WHY!!!! firstly the srv 850 is certainly never left behind when out with my m8`s on bikes and when on track where you can really exploit your machine its greatly rewarding to be ahead of many a motorcycle . A maxi allows you to take more in of whats going on around you which should make for a safer ride . OK so maxis are no sports bikes and wont do 0-60 mph in sub 3 sec`s unless you play with upgrades and extras if thats your thing ,but i can assure you hustling through twisties on a maxi has given me greater riding pleasure than on a geared bike and always leaves me with a grin on my face . I can poodle along taking in the great out doors without having to play silly buggers with clutch and gear box .Then theres the added bonuses of cheap servicing ,luggage space ,weather protection ,fuel economy unless you get an nc honda . IMHO if i had a spare set of wheels with more off road biased tyres i would have it all . Now dont get me wrong i love bikes and i have had some fantastic machines which have given me great riding pleasure ,but i cant say any have been any better than the scoot , the sound track and acceleration of my benelli was awesome ,the torque and handling of my buell was just brilliant my blade was just so refined and easy to ride and most of my kwacks made you feel like a racer lol .So i conclude all genre of 2 wheel petrol powered incarnations will be one mans pleasure and another mans nightmare weather its got gears or not .

[Data]

Geared bikes are only a big deal if you don't have a licence to ride one. Open chains aren't a problem if you're used to adjusting and lubing them, I was into MZ's for years and they had enclosed chains which required very little maintenance, and there's belt drive and shaft drive bikes if you don't want a chain. If you're used to the weather protection and storage of a maxi you'll probably opt for a fully faired bike. I've no incentive to go back to bikes and as I'm knocking on a bit now, and I doubt if I can still swing my leg over something like the BMW GS's I was riding 20 years ago.


I don't agree that bikes are better than scooters for sheer riding pleasure, there's no fun is getting cold wet and miserable on a unfaired bike, crawling through city traffic hunched over the tank of a sports bike, or having wearing a large Millets rucksack on your back because you've got bugger all storage capacity etc.

+1, spot on Meldrew!

[Data]

Geared bikes will always be better than scooters for sheer riding pleasure. I'm giving up my scoot soon to go back to "proper" bikes.

Its your opinion on which and or if gives you personally more riding pleasure than another or you cant take it anymore where people take the piss out of the fact you dare ride such a machine lol . Here is my opinion based purely on my experience coming from 40 years on bikes 99% of the time 1% lamies until 2 years ago getting a maxi .Due to not being able to safely get my leg over anymore ,i was going to unwillingly pack 2 wheels in until i found maxis .I wish i had got one years ago when i had considered a t max back in 02 .WHY!!!! firstly the srv 850 is certainly never left behind when out with my m8`s on bikes and when on track where you can really exploit your machine its greatly rewarding to be ahead of many a motorcycle . A maxi allows you to take more in of whats going on around you which should make for a safer ride . OK so maxis are no sports bikes and wont do 0-60 mph in sub 3 sec`s unless you play with upgrades and extras if thats your thing ,but i can assure you hustling through twisties on a maxi has given me greater riding pleasure than on a geared bike and always leaves me with a grin on my face . I can poodle along taking in the great out doors without having to play silly buggers with clutch and gear box .Then theres the added bonuses of cheap servicing ,luggage space ,weather protection ,fuel economy unless you get an nc honda . IMHO if i had a spare set of wheels with more off road biased tyres i would have it all . Now dont get me wrong i love bikes and i have had some fantastic machines which have given me great riding pleasure ,but i cant say any have been any better than the scoot , the sound track and acceleration of my benelli was awesome ,the torque and handling of my buell was just brilliant my blade was just so refined and easy to ride and most of my kwacks made you feel like a racer lol .So i conclude all genre of 2 wheel petrol powered incarnations will be one mans pleasure and another mans nightmare weather its got gears or not .

Another spot on post...

I have 44 years of riding experience under my belt. Mostly all chain driven geared bikes of all kinds and sizes. My Burgman 400 is the first Maxi scooter I've had (first scoot of any kind actually) and I love it and believe it's hard to beat in it's class (and outside it). I get as much if not more pleasure from riding it than I ever did riding my GT500 Suzuki's, Triumphs or GSX1400 or Vstrom 1000. Strangely you may think, the only other bike that came close in riding pleasure terms was my CD175 Honda from 1973!! That was a great bike and I covered huge mileage on it without one problem ever. Went all over the country on it several times after coming out of the army. Anyway, I'd say don't worry about modern o ring x ring chains. They last and last and require little maintenance over their predecessors. In fact if you only do a couple of hundred miles per week in all weathers, you can easily just use EP140 gear oil (very cheap) and brush the chain sparingly with it once a week and the chain NEVER requires a kerosene wash or relube with a chain spray. It stays perfectly clean and it adjustment without mess and it's a recommended maintenance program for anyone doing that sort of mileage. If you tour much bigger mileages at speed then use the chain spray every 600 miles or so and wash the chain every 1000 miles or so. It's like anything, it's easy once you've done it and only takes 15 mins once every couple of months so.

The big bug bear with bikes is the need to remove the petrol tank and take off several panels and bits of fairing whenever you want to access the spark plug/s. Yes, I know some scoots need that too, but they tend to be heavier bits and bobs to deal with. I barely had a bike when this didn't have to be done. My Burgman is devoid of having to do much of that for routine maintenance and is much quicker. My Vstrom 1000 required the luggage, rear panniers and carriers to be removed, the seat and crash bars, the from fairing and side panels (all side panels) and the petrol tank, just to change the plugs! It took one hour to remove everything. Then you could start work. So there are pros and cons to this bike business. As for changing gears on a manual bike, it can be great fun. But it's not for me anymore and that's not because in my older age I'm slowing down! To me it's an unnecessary hassle these days and it's much safer to be on an auto bike in my view. But there are pros and cons as with everything. CBF500 is a good first choice as Vozza says. Good luck!

[masterchop]

Just checked on this today. Interesting reading everyone's posts.

Thinking things through I would like a geared bike, but I think it's mostly down to not feeling complete. As in not knowing the other side of things having only ridden scoots.

I'm wondering if a TMax might put those feelings to bed

[MrGrumpy]

Just checked on this today. Interesting reading everyone's posts.

Thinking things through I would like a geared bike, but I think it's mostly down to not feeling complete. As in not knowing the other side of things having only ridden scoots.

I'm wondering if a TMax might put those feelings to bed

Well, the answer to the last question is obviously yes! Personally, I started with scoots, though I did take my test on a geared bike, but I found handling the gears not the easiest thing in the world. Since then, I've ridden manual bikes occasionally at long intervals, and have always found them pretty hard work and no fun. No doubt more practice would make things much easier - after all, I've been driving manual cars for 40 years and don't give changing gears a 2nd thought (though my new car has 6 gears which is making me think what the hell gear am I in all the time!!) - but my attitude is why bother? To my mind it doesn't add much to the driving/riding experience and its hard work - or at least a distinct learning curve. And even on the Burgman 650 which had a semi-auto option - ie you could select gears without the hassle of the clutch - playing with the gears was fun for about 15 seconds and was seriously irritating on twisty roads as you were always in the wrong gear!

So if you've ridden auto scoots all the time, in my experience you are quite liable to find that the grass on the other side is not only not greener, but positively arid and weed infested!!!!!

[BenR]

As usual I think peeps have got the wrong end of the stick. The second part of my comment was meant facetiously hence the inverted commas. IMHO scooters will never outdo a geared bike for fun factor, changing gears gets you more involved more part of the machine hence more exhilaration & fun. Why am I giving up scooters, how to explain this? Scooters are uninvolving to ride, characterless, ridiculously overweight & slow. One of the biggest bug bears I've ever had with maxi scoots is the amount they weigh......it's stupid & as far as I'm concerned wholly unnecessary! Weight = more fuel usage & saps performance it is as simple as that. Before anyone doubts my experience I've ridden maxi scoots since 2001 & bikes since 1990. I've also spent a good deal of time servicing & repairing them as I used to work for a Piaggio/Gilera dealer on Saturdays. I've owned many & ridden more I get what scooters are about I can assure you. Whilst I like the weather protection it isn't that brilliant you still get soaked in stop start traffic & at junctions or wherever/whenever you're required to stop. Whilst I like the storage most maxis don't have that much, the best one I had was the X9 500 SL. Whilst I like the small wheels for manoeuvrability in traffic & cheaper tyres they don't make for fantastic handling or, ultimately, good acceleration. With all these new ones coming onto the market promising new technological breakthroughs in riding dynamics, performance bla bla they still haven't looked at what would really make more people buy one which is to get rid of the weight. I can't possibly comment on the SRV/GP 850 as I've never ridden one or a t-max or a burgman 650 or the new maxsym 600i but these all weigh a quarter of a ton! A quarter of a ton!! (That's goldwing territory) with around 40-50bhp (except the SRV). That amount of power with that weight isn't going to get you anywhere very quickly & although most handle well they will never get near a geared bike in the handling stakes. I don't wish to offend anyone but please don't tell me maxi scoots are just as good as normal bikes because they're not. In my opinion they have become vastly overweight overpriced shopping carts. Take my atlantic sprint 500 on paper it looks promising 40.2bhp & 192kgs yet my little RG125 wolf (32bhp 115kgs) will trounce it in every area apart from the obvious (weather protection & storage). It uses less fuel per mile even under full load is more stable due to having 17" wheels & is more flickable due to weighing nearly 80kgs less. I don't understand what you lot have against chain drive either they're easy to keep clean & maintain & a good quality C/S set will easily last 10000miles if maintained correctly, which is more than I can say for belt & rollers.....& variators for that matter. As I said above I don't wish to offend anyone this is just from my own experience.

[Drago]

The Honda Goldwing actually weighs 421kgs, which is closer to half a ton... Most Cruisers exceed 300kg's and some produce less or only slightly more power than the GP/SRV800.

[gn2]

a good quality C/S set will easily last 10000miles if maintained correctly, which is more than I can say for belt & rollers.....& variators for that matter

Honda Forza belt change interval is 16000 miles.
Maintenance required from 0-16000 miles? Nil.

By comparison chains are shite.
End of.