Honda CBR600RR

[swatter555]

Even if you put some sort of governor on the bike, you still have to contend with the twitchy steering response and the grabby brakes, two things which can easily put a rider down.

exactly. it may be light but it is top heavy and ment to tip over fast. most likely youll be going slow but weaving all over the road at the slightest touch on the bars. then youll get into a tight turn and need to power out to pick the bike up(as its leaned way over like its ment to be) but youll have no power to sit it up. after all that youll jump on the ultra grabby brakes and over youll go imho

As opposed to what? I have sat on a bunch on RRs, they seem light and neutral to me. I dont want to start a debate or anything, but this seems just a bit over-board. Learning on a smaller bike is a good thing, but it seems this idea is taken to extremes where if its not a 250 then you will crash it.

[Skier]

Even if you put some sort of governor on the bike, you still have to contend with the twitchy steering response and the grabby brakes, two things which can easily put a rider down.

exactly. it may be light but it is top heavy and ment to tip over fast. most likely youll be going slow but weaving all over the road at the slightest touch on the bars. then youll get into a tight turn and need to power out to pick the bike up(as its leaned way over like its ment to be) but youll have no power to sit it up. after all that youll jump on the ultra grabby brakes and over youll go imho

As opposed to what? I have sat on a bunch on RRs, they seem light and neutral to me. I dont want to start a debate or anything, but this seems just a bit over-board. Learning on a smaller bike is a good thing, but it seems this idea is taken to extremes where if its not a 250 then you will crash it.

It's more of a new rider will drop a bike, and those sportbike plastics are expensive. Why spend upwards of $4,000 on a bike when you can spend that much on a starter bike, full gear (jeans don't count!), insurance, maintenance and fuel for two full riding seasons?

[Mintbread]

I have sat on a bunch on RRs, they seem light and neutral to me.

I have sat in a bunch of planes, but that doesn't mean I have any idea how to fly them.

[sapaul]

Attitude, Attitude, Attitude. If you were going to fly a plane you would go to flight school, right. So if a guy wants to ride a race spec bike why not. If you go to flight school they will tell you when you can fly. Apply the same rules to the race bike, go to school, have the instructers tell you when you can do this or that or get out on the road. If you are not prepared to do that then the same will happen as trying to fly a plane without lessons. It is not the falling that hurts, its the sudden deceleration when you hit an immovable object.

[iwannadie]

Attitude, Attitude, Attitude. If you were going to fly a plane you would go to flight school, right. So if a guy wants to ride a race spec bike why not. If you go to flight school they will tell you when you can fly. Apply the same rules to the race bike, go to school, have the instructers tell you when you can do this or that or get out on the road. If you are not prepared to do that then the same will happen as trying to fly a plane without lessons. It is not the falling that hurts, its the sudden deceleration when you hit an immovable object.

when you want to learn to fly would you go to school and learn in a cessna or in an f14 figher plane?

[300zxer]

I too was considering buying a CBR(for my first bike)... but I never knew it was THAT dangerous. Isn't there a device I can install on the throttle similar to a govener?

if you have to install something to make it go slow why get the fast bike to begin with?

I don't want to buy a pos to ride for a month then sell it and buy a better bike that suits me more.

[300zxer]

I too was considering buying a CBR(for my first bike)... but I never knew it was THAT dangerous. Isn't there a device I can install on the throttle similar to a govener?

if you have to install something to make it go slow why get the fast bike to begin with?

I don't want to buy a pos to ride for a month then sell it and buy a better bike that suits me more.

[kwong2001]

Put it this way, race ready bikes are NOT beginner bikes. Even if you take away the power, you STILL have to contend with the twitchy steering and the grabby brakes. The steering is sensititive, mind you, i haven't rode one, but from what i hear, it doesn't take much countersteering to initiate a turn. This means they're incredibly responsive, that responsiveness can get you into trouble if you have to suddenly react to a car cuttin you off, or maybe just hitting a bump in the road while you're leaned over. It's very easy to over-correct and low side.

The brakes, they're meant to stop the bike from like 160mph, they're heavy duty. They're great for just riding around the city, but I guarantee you, as a n00b, if you have to stop VERY FAST, you'll grab WAY too much brake and go flying right over the handlebars.

A 2004-2005 cbr600rr at least around here, will cost around $6500. Drop the bike, and you can easily rack up $2000 in damage without trying. There's plenty of bikes that's been declared totalled because of nothing more than cosmetic damage. They end up being turned into a track bike with race plastics.

Now i'll tell you, a GS500 won't cost a lot if you drop it, it has less of a tendency to throw you off of the handlebars if you grab too much brake, and it's steering is very tame. The bike will still go 110mph, and is still capable of carving the corners with any squid.

I've made a few mistakes on my GS500, grabbed too much brake after a car suddenly stopped, shocks bottom out and my body gave me a shot of adrenaline, that's IT. I didn't go flying over the handlebars, I just scared myself a little.

Second mistake I made, coming out of a tight roundabout, car looked like it was gonna pull out on me but didn't. Ended up pulling the clutch in, then when I re-engaged the clutch, instead of shifting into second, I stayed into first and horribly mis-matched the RPM's basically popping the clutch. Now normally, had I been on a 600, that would have meant me doing a wheelie and probably getting thrown off the bike. But you know what happened? I accelerated a little faster than I should have, and that was about it.

Now i'll tell you, ex250's, ex500's, and Gs500's are all great beginner bikes, they're forgiving, and will help you learn the basics of riding. Riding a motorcycle properly isn't an easy thing, it's down right hard. Took me a good 1500 miles before I was even remotely comfortable on uneven surfaces. Every little thing you wouldn't think would be a problem, well it'll be a problem. Truly experienced riders, they make it look easy.

Seriously, just get a 250-500cc bike, ride it for a year, then get your sportbike. It's better to learn how to do things right, then to constantly be trying to tame your bike.

[TechTMW]

I don't want to buy a pos to ride for a month then sell it and buy a better bike that suits me more.

No offense dude, but until you get some experience under your belt, you have no idea what bike suits you the most.

You DO have an idea of what bike you'd like to BE SEEN on . Hey that's great. The "pos" bike allows you to learn how to ride your dream bike better. If you drop that dream bike, you'll realize something :

"Holy helll! I could have bought a beater and learned how to properly ride it, for the cost of replacing these trashed plastics!"



But what do we know anyway ...

[Kal]

The tone is getting a little confrontational, so I will forgo my usual ranting.

As it happens, I am rather fond of the CBR600rr, I'd like to get one in a couple of years when I am ready to ride the beast and give it a good sound thrashing on trackdays.

Just because I want a CBR, or possibly an insane piece of Italian engineering hasnt made any of the last year on my little 125 any less fun. I've had a complete blast and while giving a nod to the corner that thinks I am a slow learner, I can tell you that after a year of thrashing 11bhp around the Country there are still times when I am riding at my limit - not the bikes!

Motorcycling can be a dangerous sport, which is why most of us try and cut the odds anyway we can, wear helmets, Leather Jackets, motorcycle gloves, Boots, Ride defensively, log more hours of maintainence than the average cage driver.

Its all about cutting the odds, some people beat the odds regardless and good on them but as my Mum says "God helps those who help themselves"

If you were a friend of mine I'd suggest that you invest in good gear, a ujm, training and put 8,000miles or so under your wheels. Then start looking at getting yourself a 118bhp CBR600rr.

If you decide to go for the CBR600rr as a first bike then I strongly suggest you invest in Race level motorcycle gear and I sincerely hope that you turn out to be one of the riders who start on something like that, have no problems and in a years time call me wetter than a weeekend in Brighton.

Ride safe.