The trouble that I have getting my head around - and I accept fully that it is my own issue - is that if you buy a bike (any bike or car) knowing it's on pcp and you can just walk away after three years, would you give much of a f**k about abusing it? In past years, I've tended to keep bikes for 3 - 7 years, but I always had the attitude that it is mine and I will look after it well and keep forever. So, really careful about not thrashing it when cold and warming up properly before riding and thrashing. Over the years, I've done countless track days in the fast group. Never been scared of using a bike engine's full potential but just common sense like proper warm up, regular oil and filter changes and all that stuff. I know people who think nothing of owning a bike for 6 months and get bored and flog it. I recognise (fully) that I am boring everyone's tits off and will shud'p up about it - or try to. I summarise by saying that I will probably buy new. I will be able to afford to and as this may very well be my last ever bike that I buy (unless I get a project as well, sometime) and I don't want a naked bike. Choice between a Ducati Supersport, Ducati Supersport S, the ugly Aprilia RS660, or a Kawasaki ZX-6R (not Euro 5 and so may not be available when I come to buy). All will be buy new and I've got Aprilia dealers in Bristol and Gloucester (I'm about mid-way between) with Riders for Ducati in Bristol and Bridgewater. So, no dealer issues which is not like me as I manage to argue with everyone - even beer suppliers - but would deal with any of them, although I am programmed to hate Fowlers, only coz they are big, but to be fair to them (and I don't do fair) they have always been pleasant enough to deal with! Did lend me a Yamaha Tracer once for a test ride, only for me to tell them that I thought it crap!
And all of the comments have been useful. I may not always agree with them, but I do recognise their validity. So it is useful.
Logically, I have to accept that truth. My mental idea of pcp is that you just buy to thrash and abuse, knowing that you can just give it back, without penalty, as long as it looks ok and still works.
If its a keeper then follow your heart and lay down the extra cash if that's what it takes. Over years of ownership that extra money spent will be worth it as you'll otherwise be thinking you've sold yourself short.
Yeah, on the PCP thing, my bike is on PCP so that it's only £120 a month for a £15K bike, but I put £5k into it as a deposit, so yeah, I look after it like it's my child.... TBH with the greatest respect in the world due to you mate you need to get your head around that... as me and all my friends have been using PCP for years and we look after them as well as if we had bought them cash.
Accept that it is me not getting my head around it. That's why I have found this thread useful and I've not seen it the way you do. To me, it was very like the "company car" syndrome of the 80's. Like the Mondeo Man thing, where you licked ass to get to be "important" enough for a company car that you just abused for three years and then gave it back, ready for the next one. And that was in the years when motorway lane 3 was just a stream of company cars doing 90 mph bumper to bumper. Lorry drivers driving for 20 hours without sleep up a caravans' bumper in lane 1 and the "speedy" caravans in lane 2 doing 0.112 mph faster than the caravan in lane 1. I don't remember anyone worrying too much about the carnage but now we are obsessed with a pandemic killing 11 people per week. A better World?
The vast majority of race bikes are owned, some pcp but mostly owned. And a lot of those end up back through dealers as pristine approved used. just so you know
And while we doing statistics.... 5 die out of over 10k. If you crooked it now, then you must be one unlucky SOB!
I may have been mixing up per week and per day. The numbers are so small that it doesn't really matter.
Cancer, heart disease, or old age. Putting the stats into context - without even starting on RTAs would put the figures into context. But just not "newsy" enough!
Perry, you’re seriously over thinking this, the SuperSportS and RS660 are both sport tourers but the Duc has far more torque and much more sophisticated suspension, you think you’re comparing apples with apples but you’re not - ride them back to back and you’ll see that. As for used examples being thrashed, someone wanting a Duc to give some real welly will have bought a 959/V2 and not a SS, look for one privately and I suspect the owner will likely be exactly the sort of person you want to buy a used bike from as he uncovers it in a heated garage !
I want to use a dealer so as to part-ex myST2 - although I will try here first. Over-thinking it? Yes, probably. I will buy new (coz I can) and try and get test rides on the Aprilia and Supersport, just to see if what fits me best. Based on that, I will come up with a final decision. A Kawasaki is still in the frame but I dunno if the ZX-6R will be available when I'm ready, as it is not Euro5. Anyway, I am happy with the choice of Aprilia, or Ducati. They are not exactly equivalent, with the Aprilia a lot cheaper, but, the Supersport Ducati being, well, Ducati. And there is the "S" that is miles more than the Aprilia but with trickery suspension. Given that, I expect fully to end up with something else, like a Chink BMW, or a stupid Guzzi, so I may be talking BS. First thing is to get my license back and then buy kit and a helmet. Sort out my existing bikes and get them back on the road. I am clear now about what I am doing. That smack on the head damn near fecked my brain! Although Riders is a bitch for me to get to by train, I was researching Ducati Worcester today and that is easy, So, I've got Fowlers on Friday, to look at Aprilia and Kawasaki and then I will look at a train trip to Worcester. I am in no rush at the moment with all of this pandemic crap. This taxi fiasco last night: turns out that the cam belt snapped meaning a new cam belt and water pump, at least. The engine sounded OK when spun on the starter and so, didn't sound like a Ducati job, where if the belt snaps, it's goodbye engine. Dunno if a VW diesel runs so close valve clearances to pistons, though. I spoke to the taxi driver today and said that I reckon a complain to VW is in order - and the dealer. Just been serviced, just over 60,000 miles and just over 3 years old but bought from a VW dealer, Just shows: German stuff is not all it's cracked up to be AND I hate the RAC and will always appreciate a good criticism, they did take him to the dealer in Gloucester, whereas, strictly speaking, the driver could have just taken him home. I did think it a bit crap that the RAC guy made no attempt to repair, but maybe he realised that it was too fecked for a roadside repair. Anyway, glad that it's not my problem!
If you are on Facebook follow “Maja’s motorcycle adventures” or her website https://majasmotorcycleadventures.co.uk/ She owns/rides a Ducati Supersport but has just taken delivery of an Aprilia RS660 to ride over a few days and to review it.
That simplifies it! Just talked to Frasers and the Kawasaki ZX-6R is officially no more with no stock left. So, now certainly, Aprilia RS660 v Ducati Supersport. Test rides will help make final decision.
And as this is going to annoy my family(especially my sister) I could, when all of the money is sorted out, buy both, thereby not having to make a decision!
