Make sure there is plenty of fuel in it before you set off. It is silly thirsty.
It’s very quick and will lift the front wheel in second, third and forth on the power. Just bonkers.
The excess at my local Yamaha dealer was 500 quid.
The excess at the BMW dealer was 250 quid.
At Honda it was a grand.
Nobody wanted to swipe my credit card to reserve the excess.
At Triumph Glasgow the excess is 2 grand – I declined the offer of any test rides. I told them no way was I going out for a test ride on a two-grand excess. I have later been told they also want to swipe your card to reserve that 2 grand. The sales person tried to convince me that 2 grand was fine as next door at Glasgow Ducati (same firm) it was 6 grand on the dearer machines. I laughed and left.
Anyway, the MT10 is a cracking bike, but it’s just too mental for me. Lovely riding position. But if you try to thrash the thing it’s like being in a boxing match. And I figure every 80 or 90 miles you’ll be looking for fuel.
The CB1000R felt a bit odd. I felt perched on top of it. It’s quick, it handles, it looks absolutely smashing, but sounds awful on the standard can and it just didn’t do it for me.
My left field choice was the new R1250R. The riding position is lovely, very natural and all day comfortable. The new shift cam boxer engine is just incredible. It has shed loads of low down grunt, and this latest incarnation of the boxer must be the first that could be described as bonkers quick, but yet it doesn’t want to kill you all the time like the MT10. The suspension feels soft and it takes care of all the potholes etc with ease yet I couldn’t upset it in the twisties. (test bike had optional active damping) The handling is excellent and with all that everywhere all the time torque you can make seriously quick progress with ease. It feels nice, sounds great and makes comforting grumbling noises. Smashing bike. Oh sips the stuff, I had it for two hours, probably covered the best part of 100 miles and there was still plenty in the tank.