Total Motorcycle Community Forums

All this talk about motorcycles... I want one so badly! I wish I had a friend here in NYC who had some so I could play around on it. Oh well... since I just graduated college and started my career, and since NYC is so expense, its gonna be a while until I can afford one.

The Crimson Rider® wrote: those 3 bikes ARE NOT sportbikes.

only in your little world. For everyone else "sport bike" does not neccessarily mean "race replica".

sirRealist wrote:But why the big scare at 600? I've been reading WHY too big an engine is bad, but why is that at 600 and not 500?

One quick look at performance stats at motorbikes.be will tell you why. It's not "just 100 more cc". It's a totally different engine. Newbie-friendly bikes are twins (2 cylinders), race replicas are inline-4. Ninja 500 engine makes 49HP. ZX-6R makes over 120HP. Why? Totally different engine.

Just as another point of comparison, SV650 (645cc V-twin) makes 72HP, while GSX-R 600 (599cc inline-4) makes over 120HP.

There are other factors too that make 600cc supersports a bad choice. Suffice it to say that they are actually racing bikes that just happen to be street-legal.

sirRealist wrote: I've narrowed my bike purchase down to 2005-2003 model Ninja 500.

Yeah, good luck finding one. I ended up buying SV650S because used ninja 500's are so hard to come by.

sirRealist wrote: 2) Since this bike is so popular, is it safe to assume that there are a ton of after market upgrades I could get for it, if say I outgrow its performance but don't want to part with it? Or with cheap bikes like this, is it better to just upgrade to a bigger bike when you outgrow instead of sinking more money into it?

That would be stupid. Ninja 500's are so popular *precisely because* they are well known as a great starter model. If you start f***ing around with performance parts, you totally destroy that value.

In most cases aftermarket performance parts do not increase the resale value of a bike. In the case of starter models like ninja 500, they will actually decrease it. You are much better off selling the bike to another newbie and moving up to something more powerful.

ninja79 wrote: Yeah, good luck finding one. I ended up buying SV650S because used ninja 500's are so hard to come by.

Are you happy with the SV650? I take it from your wording that you would you have preferred to get the ninja 500 if you could at the time... what about now, in hindsight. If you could go back in time and COULD get a 500, would you, or are you glad you got the 650 now?

I still wouldn't recommend it to a newbie, if that's what you're really asking. But yeah, it's an awesome bike!

I'd consider the SV650 a good 2nd bike after time well spent on a 250/500.


The three listed by the OP are excellent bikes. It will mainly come down to preference, availability and price. I wouldn't jump into mods right away until you've had time spent on the bike to know what you want and why. I wouldn't necessarily dump a whole lot of aftermarket on a first bike, because that's exactly what it is, a first bike, not your last. I will say I do like to mod things, always did it with my trucks. But, I did not really modify a think on my first vehicle in high school. It was simply an old, bumpy set of 4x4 wheels to get me to and from school/practice. So, your first bike is to serve a purpose, to teach you how to ride. That doesn't mean be a stick in the mud and no fun, but first order is to make sure you have a steady, low cost, forgiving bike you can learn on. From there, you'll hone your preferences and find that little niche.


The 600cc sportbikes are pretty agressive. I think the reason being is they were for so long 'the' engine for racing. So, the R&D on those bikes is quite extensive, and very performance oriented. Not to mention, they're usually racebikes, which is an agressive seating style. Newbie riding is mentally and physically exhausting since the activity is new and requires a different stamina. Its nice to be able to have a neutral aesed entry into riding.


Overall, you want to make your entrance into oriding as smooth, comfortable and easy as possible to set yourself up for success, not only in enjoying it, but learning the skills you need to survive. If you do that right, you'll haev plenty of time to ride all kinds of bikes.

The Crimson Rider® wrote: ninja 250/500, GS500F... not sportbikes.

Where exactly do you get that from?

Ohh, so its the pegs and handlebars that make a sportbike a sportbike....

Ohh, so its the riding style. What happened to the pegs and handle barss? Did I mention something about the plastics? I don't recall anything about plastics. Can you please show me what I said about plastics?