Best bike for the budget?

[uraberg]

You know, it's too late, but that would have been an excellent deal. I'm half tempted to pick this up for myself!

[DOGSROOT]

I think you did fine, uranerg.

I've ridden both an R850R, and the R1100R.

The 850 had been in a crash (seller was a stoopid scammer) so it rode funny. (Test ride for a friend.)

The 1100 was fine; preferred my GS. (Was test riding it for another friend; she bought it and is still ecstatic.)

I think it's an excellent bike, easy to handle, and likely has ABS, which is nice for beginners and LD.

W/ parts from Beemer Boneyard etc, you guys should do alright by it mechanically.

My only concern is that he's gonna have to wait a bit for the LD riding till he has sorted it.

I see a sports-tourer in his future...

All the best to you and your friend; great to see new riders!!!
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[Grinnin]

Originally Posted by Navin

Why not door #3? A newer bike with low miles?

Or door 4? Older and high-miles? The upside of a project bike is that the rider gets to know it pretty well before putting significant miles on it. But I like mechanical work. I've seen others start with projects and learn pretty well how to do the work. I choose older bikes and don't usually believe the odometer (a '75 with 16k-miles wouldn't be that worn-looking).

Your friend said he wants to learn to do the work. The BMW has good parts availability and many sources of information and tutorials. It's not like he was looking for a diamond and you sold him some coal.