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I owned an F4i for a while earlier this season (before it was stolen around the 4th of July).

The bike is arguably the "tamest" of the supersport 600's you will be able to find. It is the most ergonomic, most comfortable and most beginner-friendly of any of that category of motorcycles.

...

That being said, I was able to keep up with my friends' R6 and GSXR with little problems when we were having fun starting from the line at stoplights. (0-60 in a 55mph speed limit zone... fun with acceleration. 60mph on the F4i is about 13K rpm in 1st gear with a rev limiter at 15.5...) The bike is in no way weaker or less able to exceed your riding abilities before you can realize what you've done. The issue, and I've said this numerous times, with 600cc sportsbikes as beginner bikes is the miniscule amount of reaction time they grant you to correct a mistake before it becomes fatal. Twisting the wrist on a Ninja 250 will make you zoom. Twisting the same amount on an F4i will either a) loop the bike or b) send you into warp 7 before you can think, "Oh SH..."

Not saying you can't handle it and survive like I did. Just saying that I'd rather stay away from gambling my life on my reflexes and sheer luck.

Thanks for your input guys. I'm wondering, what is the difference between the Kawasaki Ninja EX500 and 500R? Is the 500R not as good of a beginner bike as the EX500?

storysunfolding wrote:Wicked and twitchy.

You make a 600 sports bike sound like a girlfriend on lithium.

I guess you would need the same degree of caution though.

Its' what many crave and few acheive.

gquinns wrote:Thanks for your input guys. I'm wondering, what is the difference between the Kawasaki Ninja EX500 and 500R? Is the 500R not as good of a beginner bike as the EX500?

I was under the impression that the EX500 and the Ninja 500R were just two names for the same bike. Looking at Kawasaki's (U.S.) website, they only have one 500 model street bike.