honda cbr600F4i vs. yamaha yzf600r

[poolhustler21]

I'm looking into gettin one of these bikes and it will most like be a 2000 model year or newer. I'm not looking to see which bike is faster cause that is not my main concern. I wanna know the pros, cons, comparisons etc. So if anyone out there knows anything please help me out no matter how small you might think it is. This will be a bike i will commute to work(sometime) and ride for my own leisure, so I plan on having it for a while. Things such as how much parts cost concern me too so if you can give me some help I would greatly appreciate it.

[swatter555]

Well, let me give you the standard dont get a powerful 600 speech... ok, maybe not. Read the info stickied at the top, that will save me the trouble.

But, lets talk about your specific question. Your looking at a F4i and a YZF600R. When getting a first bike, do consider the horsepower. The F4i has close to 100 and the YZF600R has about 88. I say in most cases an F4i is too much to learn on. The F4i is a great bike from what Ive heard, a great second bike would probably be the majority opinion. The YZF is a little more tame, but is still a little more than you might want to learn on. A responsible person could learn to ride on those bikes, but you are taking your chances as far as personal safety goes.

Knowing what I know now, I would aim for comfortable ergos. I have a SV650S, which has better ergos than most supersport 600s... which isnt saying alot. I can ride the bike about an hour before serious discomfort becomes distracting. The thing you want to shoot for will be a more upright seating position, speaking of sport bikes. As a first bike, I wish I would have gotten an FZ6. It has good styling, good performance, and really good ergos. Something to consider. Right know, if I were to get a second bike, I would be looking at a ZZR600 or a similiar bike made with rider comfort in mind, not a bike made for the race track.

As for the bikes you mentioned, from a quality/fun perspective, you cant go wrong with either. Just take into consideration that learning to ride a motorcycle can be hairly at times even on a tame bike.

[ronboskz650sr]

Here's a shameless plug for late 70's early 80's UJMs. Great ergos, modifyable for both performance and ergos, inexpensive to buy, maybe just a little heavy, wide variety of power availablilty, easy to work on. Can't think of a better way to learn, both riding and wrenching. Just my .02.