I know what you mean about the price of new bikes. They seem to be getting stupidly expensive here too. All the new litre sports bikes are £10k plus. And that, for Captain Tightwad is just too much.
In the past I've tended to buy new, older models from these guys.
http://www.kjm.net/offers.php They're selling the 07 R1 for under £7k at the moment. With my limited skillset, I reckon an 07 R1 will do me as well as an 09 R1 and I'll pocket the difference.