By Admin
In this continuation of last week’s sesson, we talk about what good (and not so good) values are to be found at the high end of the motorcycle market, both new and used. Our picks encompass standard street bikes, adventure (and faux adventure) bikes, sport tourers and even three-wheelers, somewhat unexpectedly nominated not by Spyder owner Pete but by Garrett.
False Neutral – The Best Bikes For Your Buck, Part 2
All images are standard press kit/website photos used courtesy of the respective manufacturers.
Jeff Glucker 
William Byrd
I haven’t listened to this episode yet – planned for the afternoon commute – but my question is more for going forward:
What’s the team’s feeling on the “higher quality” asian bikes coming over these days?
I’m specifically thinking of the CSC and Kymco bikes, but I’m sure there’s others that are claiming good a good value proposition.
I’m especially interested in the CSC RX3 as a light adventure/commuter bike.
Keep up the great work!
a good review was done on the CSC RX3 recently. You can find it on our twitter page @thefalseneutral
I think it is a cool bike that is priced well. Sounds like spare part support is good too.
The GTS-1000 is quite a surprise, but I guess old and weird translates into cheap. Also keep in mind that the road versions of the BMW F800 are considerably cheaper than the GS. My local dealer has a new F800R for $4k less than the F800GS and and a used R1200R for the same as a new F800GS if you want the full boxer experience.
The GTS1000 is a wonderful bike, and holds up today. However, parts are becoming rarer than hen’s teeth.
As for the BMW x800x – they’re a solid bike but I don’t know how anyone lives with the motor. It’s so appliance-like as to make want to jump off into a hedge after a few minutes, just to get away from the crushing averageness of it. The Triumph Tiger 800 brings similar performance and capability but has bags of character and a really cool exhaust note. Plus there’s no BMW tax on parts and labour.
I’ve always kind of dug the Can-Am Spyder (except that we get kind of hosed on the price, even though we make them), but then again, I was a supreme riding n0Ob the first time I rode one, so there was no muscle memory or anything to overcome. I’m a little bummed that they held an on-track test ride (one at Mosport!) a couple weeks back, but on a weekday, which made attending a little unfeasible.