Charlotte, good to speak to you yesterday.
I think I have now just about made the mental leap to spending nearly £12k on a bike. The order will be a '05 999 Mono in red. What I still have not decided on is where to get it from.....
Having visited Snells yesterday morning and spoken to Robert Weekes I can see that they are a dealer I would like to get the bike from, and one that has that "old fashioned courtesy" that is all too often missing these days. If they were in or around the same ball park figure to change the bike then there would be no question that I would use them. The trouble is that they want £450 more than the next highest quote to change which was from Pro Twins, and £550 more than P&H who I simply wouldn't entertain. It is mighty hard to justify spending £450 more on the promise that the service would be better from Snells over Pro Twins.
I'll have to sleep on it over the next few days, I still have to show Snells my trade in. I would be prepared to deal with them if they could split the difference, I would probably be prepared to justify £200 for a friendly dealer that is very highly recommended but its hard to justify £450 over Pro Twins. Snells also quoted me £175 for the 1st service and Pro Twins hinted at throwing it into the deal which potentially broadens that gap further when I am already scretching myself to fund the change.
By all accounts, if I want a 999 for end of March/early April I will need to order it within the next week or two so will have to make up my mind on who to use soon.
I don't think the other half will be getting the S2R just yet. She loves the bike she has and won't let it go, and unfortunately we can't stretch to a third bike at the minute...and if we could I would love to hold onto my CBR6RR. Maybe in a year or two ...
Gareth