Continuing the Lancashire Invasion!

[BinaryFinary]

Ahoy,

Newbie here from Lancashire. After having an R1 'yonks' ago I went over to the dark side with a 'blade but got fed up commuting on it every day. Great bikes but the riding position isn't the best tackling rush hour traffic, especially in the winter... I was following a guy on an old upright bike, an FJ1200 I think, he was having a much easier time of it. By chance I came across a crashed Fazer 1000 (gen 1) for peanuts so got it. Been flogging it for just over 2 years (about to touch 90k miles). Its been a bit of a hack to be honest and treat as such, mechanically sound but cosmetically......challenged.

So I am looking to replace it, probably early next year as I have just stuck new tyres, chain/sprockets/oil etc on it. I was going to get another but am hankering for something a bit nicer and sportier (I only keep 1 bike nowadays so it has to do the grunt work during the week and the fun work at weekends).

I was looking at some 2002/2003 ones as I prefer the look to the 4xv but lately I have been considering a 2009-20014 version. How do the engines compare for low/mid grunt? I heard the 4XV etc were the kings of grunt. I don't really hoon around but the Fazer has a fair bit of go at low revs and when commuting down the M6 its nice to just open the throttle and get going in 6th gear rather than tap dancing on the gear lever.

Cheers
B