I owned a 2014 Kawasaki Ninja 650R, a 2014 Yamaha FZ-09 and a 2015 Triumph Street Triple 675 before taking a break.
BHPian amol4184 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
There are already a couple of threads on the Kawasaki Z900 RS, so the bike needs no introduction as such. I will add details as time goes by. Mine is the first generation and the Cafe model with the small fairing.
Alright, around February this year I considered buying a motorcycle as means to commute to work. My commute is on multiple highways which are crowded and slow. Combined, I spend 2 hours, sometimes more for a round trip of just about 32 miles. I am a big fan of naked bikes so tourers, sports, super sports pretty much anything that had large plastic bodywork/fairing was out of consideration.
This would be my 4th bike in the USA. I went from 2014 Kawasaki Ninja 650R (unremarkable) to 2014 Yamaha FZ-09 (unpredictable) to 2015 Triumph Street Triple 675 (frantic) before taking a break. This time around, I decided I had enough of mad bikes like the FZ/675 and narrowed down my focus on classic, neo retro styled bikes with relaxed riding triangle and power that didn’t explode.
I wrote shortly about test riding few bikes in this segment elsewhere so here is the gist of it. My first choice was Triumph but I wasn’t averse to something new as long as it was comfortable and reliable. I started with the Speed Twin 1200 (and 900) and then moved onto others. The observations are for new 2024/2025 model year bikes but I think the basics remain applicable to older models.
So much wow
Triumph Speed Twin 1200 personal favorite, fast, best looking of the lot, proper classic, just the right balance of everything for me, expensive.
Nice?
Triumph Speed Twin 900 nice, but short for my height, low grunt, terrific exhaust note, easy to ride.
Quit posing as a retro classic
Yamaha XSR900 is very quick, the best equipped, retro only because round headlamp, hard seat, handful to ride.
NICE
Kawasaki Z900RS – truly classic looks, super comfortable seat, proven 4 pot screamer, no fancy gadgetry, tall.
- Honda CB1000R – not enough retro, just a naked street bike with round lamp, edgy, average seat, aggressive seating triangle, a lot of power.
- Triumph T120 – oversized Classic 350 looks with oodles of easy power at low revs- too retro and too relaxed for my liking, but comfortable.
- Triumph Scrambler 1200 XC – very tall, too off-roady, exhaust fries the right leg, springy feel on the road.
Bonus:
- W800: retro utilitarian looks, great mileage, comfortable, easiest of the lot to ride, surprisingly expensive.
- BMW R9T Urban GS: ridiculously torquey boxer engine, average seat, strange sitting geometry, typical BMW peculiarities, expensive services.
- Ducati Scrambler 800/1100: expensive, especially the 1100, even more expensive to maintain, 800 feels like a short XC bike.
In general, Triumph has this segment cornered with more neo-retro bikes than anyone else, all using the fantastic 900/1200cc engines in different tunes. Compared to the Japanese, these bikes feel premium. If you compare Speed Twin 1200 v/s Z900RS or XSR900 in quick succession, the difference is visibly apparent. With that and my previous experience of ST675, I was leaning towards the Triumphs.
But let’s talk about the prices. Unfortunately, ever since the pandemic, the days of finding terrific deals on 1-2-3 year old vehicles in the USA are over. Nearly every post-2020 used Triumph within 200 miles of my location was priced a measly 1-2k less than their original retail price.
For example, here is a sample of used bikes I checked out, all different Triumphs:
- 2021 ST900 $8k (sticker price 9.5k)
- 2019 ST1200 $9.5k (sticker price 11.5k)
- 2021 Scrambler 1200 $10k (sticker price 13k)
- 2021 T120 $10k (sticker price 11.5k) 2022 T120 $10.5k (sticker price 11.5k)
- 2018 T120 (34000 miles) – $6.5k (sticker price 10.5k)
Not surprisingly, the only bike that I thought was reasonably priced, was the 2018 T120 with a comparatively huge number (34k) of miles. The rest were all under 8k miles, which I preferred. I also felt 34k miles meant expensive maintenance was in store soon. Basically, my search went nowhere. For a used vehicle, I never go to a dealer and always do a private party, personal transaction straight with the owners who also want to avoid dealers. 4 bikes and 4 cars later, I am yet to be burned buying off of Craigslist/OfferUp/FB Marketplace *touches wood*. Hopefully, it continues.
For reference, here are my previous, pre-pandemic purchases all from private parties. I am crying:
- 2014 Ninja 650 bought in 2015: $4400 (980 miles) sticker price 6.8k
- 2014 FZ-09 bought in 2016: $5500 (5000~ miles) sticker price 8k
- 2015 Triple 675 bought in 2017: $6000 (3000~ miles) sticker price 9k
Just for the giggles, I checked prices of 2015-2017 STR675 and most of the examples are still priced at 5k to 6k range on Craigslist. When I sold my ST675 in early 2020, I let it go for 4.2k to a guy in my previous job. I don’t know if he held onto it till now, but if he did, he stands to make a healthy profit after 5 years of additional usage. Things are crazy.
The main reason for inflated used prices is the price gouging on new vehicles by dealers in recent times. Pre-Covid, getting large discounts off of MSRP was common. Dealers would often slash the prices of brand-new vehicles back then. Come Covid, they started charging markups on top of MSRP (and people paid) to the tune of thousands of dollars.
It’s 2025 now and discounts are slowly coming back on stagnant inventory from the previous model year, but in most cases, your best deal is to land a car/bike at MSRP.
Good old days. You never know they were good until they are gone.
Continue reading about amol4184’s used Kawasaki Z900RS story for BHPian comments, insights and more information.
