On the bike hunt - Part 2 - Suzuki

My brother passed his test on Wednesday 17th. I am absolutely delighted for him and ultra excited to get out there and finally ride with more than just me!

The pen hadn’t even touched the pass certificate and Blair was off to Suzuki to check out the SV650 Sport and the GSR600.

What I got back from him was that the GSR was the one to go for, but he’s heading up on Saturday to have a test ride and buy one.

So Saturday came and knowing that this could be the day that I manage to shift the Buell, I spent 2 hours cleaning it from tip to toe.

Top Tip:

If your bike hasn’t had a complete clean for a while and the bits that are hard to get to are black, leave them that way. I cleaned my bike in bits that I had never cleaned and once the dirt and grease was away, the blemishes that remained!! Oh my. Very annoying. The bike is clean but certain parts look crap. But they ain’t that obvious so I wasn’t too fussed.

The bike looked like new again!

Off we went then, with the reality of the whole situation firmly burried in the back of my mind, and I was hopeful we could get something worked out.

Having spent the past 3-4 months looking at reviews and seeing the bikes, I had read a lot about the GSR’s snatchy throttle. Going from no throttle to anything positive resulted in a fierce jerk as the power came in. The same in reverse, going from positive throttle to none resulted in an opposite jerk. I was really hoping that it wouldn’t be that obvious because I really like the GSR, it’s looks, it’s speed and the cool dials.

Once at Cuper Motorcycles we headed in and Blair got signed up for the test ride. I just had to ask, so I did, “DO YOU HAVE A B-KING!?” Why yes, there’s one just over there.

Two words: Kitchen Table.

This bike is huge. Everything is comically big. The tanks is so big you could quite easily sit on it cross legged. The exhausts are fecking massive and the whole bike feels like a boat. I sat on the one outside, in All Black colours and what a nice feeling bike! Everything seems to fall perfectly where you would want them, Handle bars not too far out, pegs perfect, seat nice and comfy. But all this doesn’t matter because under all this niceness, you know that there is 180bhp’s waiting to rip your head off and throw you in to a hedge.

The man offered me a test ride on it, with a £25 charge so that only the serious folk get a ride on it, but I said I didn’t trust myself enough and I was petrified of it.

Never mind.

So Blair got on the GSR and I followed on the Buell. It was really weird seeing him on a motorcycle. We have talked for years about both getting bikes and going to see places and now it was a reality.

I followed him around Cupar and it’s surrounding country roads and it was great. Blair was really stable and although he missed signalling and a few shoulder checks, he was good on the bike. We stopped half way round and I had a go up and down the road. Really fast, really loud and really comfy, but that throttle was just as the reviews said it would be.

Anyway he got back on it and we headed back.

When we got back I signed some paper and I went out for a ride on my own on it, to really assess it. Just as before, the throttle was snatchy, although once it was engaged it was ok. Really fast, above 7k revs or so it’s rocket ship territory. Really fast!!

Good handling and the added Renthal bars made it nicer than stock. I loved the dials, which had a needle tach, digital everything else, including speed, gear selection, fuel guage, temp and trip meter. Very informative and really nice.

On the way back to the garage I had the overwhelming dissapointment of the throttle issues. If this bike didn’t have this problem, I would have on in an instant.

Once back, me and Blair headed inside and commenced the bargaining! After a wee while of Blair trying to get stuff thrown in, all he had achieved was £50 off the price. So that was that, and then he said, what’s your situation?

So yet again I described how I wanted to part ex the Buell and told them about the £1800 insurance premium to pay blah blah blah.

After a while of the Roger and I talking he went away and spoke to his manager. He was such a nice guy and was one of those that said what he was thinking. For example when Blair was saying can we get a hugger thrown in, he said “no.” But also when talking about my situation he was saying that he is really frustrated for me and how I can’t get this Buell away.

He came back after looking at the bike and he said “it’s not good news unfortunately” and he said £3000 for it. Of course it is, it’s reality. For some reason I believed that he would offer me £4000 for it but no way. So we talked a little more and he said that he wanted me to go away and try and get more for my bike from somewhere else. He said if I came back and said “Roger, I got £3800 for my Buell” he would be genuinely pleased for me.

But the cards were left on the table and I could use the £3k Buell as a deposit for the GSR, leaving £40 a month on 0% finance to pay.

I was really bummed on the way home and knew that it’s coming to the point that I just need to accept that I wont get what I want for my bike and get it shifted.

Next up is the FZ6, which I have already test rode, but I am waiting for Alan Duffus to return my call to see what he can do for me.

Finger’s crossed..

Thanks for reading folks!

YamYam