It is a while since I posted as I got sent away with work and never fulfilled my intent to purchase a bike.

Now I require advise on what bike to purchase.

The bike will be used to get me from London to Manchester on a Friday and return on a Sunday. So bearing in mind the roads (mostly motorway) and mileage and my virtually nil experience of riding, it would be appreciated if you experienced riders can give me some advice on the bike to purchase.

My Budget maximum would be £3k.

An additional question Id like an answer to is, is there a bike that could do the journey non stop i.e without refueling, the mileage is just short of 200 miles. Following on from that, is it wise to do a journey of that distance on those roads non stop or is a stop recommended.

Grateful for your input.

Regards Johnty

I'm assuming you've got a full and unrestricted license - that's not a journey I'd care to make on a sub-33bhp bike very often!

Easy answer first - you don't have to stop if you don't want to: it's not an astronomical distance and usually bikes don't inflict "asleep at the wheel" syndrome in the same ways cars do. Regardless, you should always stop if you do get tired, start to ache or if the weather's unkind and you feel way too cold (or hot). I probably would plan for a break anyway, though: motorways are boring, and a coffee and a smoke makes them a little more bearable, plus it takes away the need to make the haul without refuelling.

There are plenty of bikes which will do that kind of distance (especially at motorway-ish steady speeds) without a refill - just steer clear of the more obvious high-performance sports machinery, as a rule. I'd worry less about that than about comfortable riding position and weather protection, personally.

Equally, I wouldn't worry too much about limited riding experience as regards bike choice either - any and all decent sized multis will be quite big, hefty and with power to spare. Again, best avoid the most obvious sports machinery and aim for a torquey, less-outright-power tourer type. You could go for something like a ZZR600 at the small end of the market, but middleweight engines tend to be that much more buzzy and vibey - that can become quite uncomfortable over long distance. So I'd probably opt for a last-generation litre(plus) sports-tourer. From personal experience, I'd say the Yamaha Thunderace represents incredible value for money as an excellent all-rounder, as does the Suzuki RF900. If those are a bit too sporty in terms of riding position, or too costly for insurance, you might want to consider something like an early Triumph Sprint, or a Honda VFR800 (if there's one available within budget), or possibly an "adventure" style bike like a BMW GS. There can be some bargains to be had from the local plod: usually Honda STs or BMW Ks - the cops pick them especially because you can spend all day in the saddle - and often auction them off at replacement time. Black Dog can tell you a little more about that!

Have you got any ideas/preferences about what you might be interested in: it's a whole lot easier to make sensible recommendations with a few guidelines to work from?

>> ex silens nox noctis <<

I must admit the large (above 1000cc) bikes tends to unerve me a little as I mentioned my experience is virtually nil; to the extent i passed my test back in 1990 since then I spent a short time (4 months) with the Armstrong and then about 6 months with KR1s but nothing since 1994.

So pretty much 15 years without getting on a bike, a refresher course will be needed I imagine.

In answer to the two questions.

I passed my test in 1990 so I am unrestricted

I will be carrying a small amount of luggage, was thinking about puitting a bergan on my back? is this wise?

Thank you again guys.

In the sub-litre market, I would look for either a Suzuki GSX750-F, a later model Honda VFR750 (the 95-97 models were the best) or an early VFR800 (the 750's probably a better option, though).

I have owned a ZZR600 and in all honesty wouldn't recommend it highly. Good engine, but poorly finished and none too durable in weather (any kind of weather).

Honda NTV/Deauville is also a good choice, maybe an older Yamaha Thundercat, a pre-FI Honda CBR600F or a Suzuki RF600 if you want to stick around the true middleweight end of the market. Best sling a leg across them in a dealers, though, to get an idea of whether you're comfortable with the riding position. But any of those should come in under budget and will handle the distance.

Rucksacks are rather like not taking breaks over long distance: you can do it, but I personally wouldn't. Cargo net'll hold most small things: if the budget runs to it, a tail pack is slightly nicer. Avoid top boxes at all costs - they just ruin your handling - and if you feel the need for panniers, they should really be fixed/hard type: throwovers all too often end up sailing backwards down the motorway...! I'm not keen on tank bags myself, but some people do like them.

Good hunting, let us know if you find anything!

>> ex silens nox noctis <<

To be fair, I have only used top-boxes on sportier-style bikes and they were dreadful. There was one fitted to the TDM when I bought it, but I junked that straightaway because the mountings were in such a state - otherwise it might have been OK. As with your XT, the handling's quite wobbly at the best of times!

The effects on sportsbikes, in my experience, were twofold: disruption to the aerodynamics and having weight a long way back from the rider position. That  made the back end push around in any kind of a breeze and had the front feel skittish all the time. Absolutely hated it: on a bad day it really felt like having a flat rear tyre.

£30's definitely worth a suck-it-and-see experiment, buying a new box and all the mounting gear works out as a rather more expensive way of finding out whether you like having one. Although, I did see a fairly good article (Performance Bikes, I think it was) once where they converted the rear seat pad into a top-box mounting and hence had the box sitting where a pillion would normally be. Apparently it worked very well, but obviously only with a split-seat (ie full sports) bike.

>> ex silens nox noctis <<

I've known people who have taken the bike down whilst dismounting and catching the top box.