Thinking about a 600cc sportsbike? Think again.

Message

orFZ6rider · Thu May 05, 2005 5:50 am

I just bought a new 2005 Yamaha FZ 6 last week and have 270 miles. Love the bike and believe it's a good bike for a me. I use to ride eight years ago and seemed to pick it up again. Now it is something you have to respect and take it easy.

Ride safe and have fun,

BBLineBacker81 · Thu May 05, 2005 8:55 am

Heck, I had a KH500 Kaw triple that was a straight up motorcycle that was SCARY when you got the rpm's up...

My dad had a KH500 as well, in fact it is still at the house in pretty bad shape. My uncle had done some work on it and stopped mid-progress while my father was in the navy. Bike sat outside and went downhill fast. He's got a 74 Z1-900 as well which is in beautiful shape.

Now to the point of a "beginner" starting out on a high-end rocket. You've got to be very careful as to what is considered beginner these days. More and more kids start off at a very early age on things such as dirtbikes and whatnot. Now I'm not saying in any way that these are similar to a high-end rocket, but it teaches you a lot of the same basic principles. Now on the maturity side of the discussion, a "beginner" biker can have the maturity level may higher than that of a seasoned rider, it's all about how their brain is and how they see riding. I'm not picking the bike I want based on the fact that it'll beat the snot out of a Porsche, Corvette, or any other super car. I am picking the bike and the grounds of what I like style wise along with performance. I could care less what it beats. So long as a "beginner" rider starts off with a good mindset knowing his or her limitations, I don't see why he or she shouldn't buy the bike they want.

Basically, to sum it all up...
It all depends on how the person is raised, what they value, how their mind works, and whether or not they actually will "fear" the bike enough to respect what it is and what it can do.

-Brandon-[/quote]

oldnslo · #23 Unread post by **oldnslo** » Fri May 06, 2005 7:44 am

A sportbike starter isn't for everyone. http://www.gsxr.com/showthread.php?t=3677&page=1&pp=10

iwannadie · Fri May 06, 2005 8:15 am

the damage on that bike isnt as bad as the story i posted about the kid that supposedly bought a new gsx, then dropped it out of his pickup truck while unloading it.

more reason for me to beleive he dumped it while riding and was trying to get the dealer to cover damages for it.

i like how this guy is blaming the gravel though, if he knew what he was doing the gravel would have been alot less of a problem.

oldnslo wrote:A sportbike starter isn't for everyone. http://www.gsxr.com/showthread.php?t=3677&page=1&pp=10

BBLineBacker81 · Fri May 06, 2005 10:12 am

Ouch... Now that right there is the PERFECT example of an immature beginner. Riding without a lid goes to show he's too cocky to start out where he did. Poor kid though.
-Brandon-

Telesque · Sun May 08, 2005 10:54 pm

Hey. New rider here.

Just got a '95 Shadow VLX Deluxe for my birthday (even if I did have to buy it myself). Now, I'd never ridden a bike before (well, you know, except for my 12 speed), but I hopped on to ride it home from the previous owner's place. Stalled it twice right off the git-go, got some strange looks from the owner, and then took off on my merry way home, proceeding to stall it at every stop sign on the way.

Now that I've got a little (oh so little, I admit, no more than 200 miles or so) experience, I think that I'm sitting pretty well with my decision to buy a 600cc bike.

It is, however, a /cruiser/. Which should make a great amount of difference, I'm sure. But, and getting to the point, the fact is that I still stall it out on take-off once in a while, and I'll jerk and throw sometimes if I'm not minding the throttle when shifting...

And so I've come to appreciate the wisdom of all those bikers who talked me out of buying a 1500 Kaw as my first bike.

It was used, and the power-for-price was great... but if I'm still dicking up on a 600, I dare not think of where I'd be with a larger (and much heavier) bike.

So far I'm injury free, save for a very slight leg burn from the exhaust (which was actually sustained in the garage after the bike was parked and turned off

), and probably only because I started out with a 'smaller' bike.

huh · #27 Unread post by **huh** » Thu May 12, 2005 7:15 pm

i disagree. after riding the current crop of 600's and many others their lack of torque makes them easy to ride. nothing at all happens below 9,000 rpm. like a ninja 250 below 9k. above that and they become swift but not overwhelming.
their lite weight makes the ideal for new riders. you really have to work at keeping the r's up to be quick which most new riders dont have the skills to do so.

now any ss liter bike is bad news for sure. because of the high torque.

corvette gets out of hand fast because of the torque (combined with the hp)
get my point? but of course there are those idiots that are out to prove their man hood. (or person hood) but you cant help those anyway.
but for the educated rider the 600 ss are a good place to start. myself on the other hand perfer the more up right postion offered up by my bandit.

btw my first bike was a 87 honda shadow 700

Nibblet99 · Fri May 13, 2005 1:37 am

http://totalmotorcycle.com/BBS/album_sh ... ic_id=2575

Thought I'd stir the pot a bit here, by adding the dyno curves for the r6, gpz500, and rs125 (couldn't find a ninja 250) - Torque vs Kph

For anyone who is unsure of what this represents, it shows your ability to accelerate at the speeds listed along the bottom (please note this does not take into accout of either the weight of the bike being accelerated, or the wind resistance due to the shape of the bike

My interpretation of this is that whilst the r6, may have a good temprement low down in the rev range, at 120 kph (somewhere around the 70mph marker), which is a pretty standard road speed, the engine is pretty much unleashed.

Having said that, I have no basis for comparison, as I haven't ridden one.

Telesque · #29 Unread post by **Telesque** » Fri May 13, 2005 8:49 pm

Nibblet99 wrote: Having said that, I have no basis for comparison, as I haven't ridden one.

Kudos for someone realizing that experience exceeds facts and having the fortitude enough to admit it. ;P

iwannadie · Fri May 13, 2005 10:31 pm

http://www.scootertrashst.com/video_cli ... katana.wmv

guess that guy didnt read your post, and hes only on a katana...

huh wrote:i disagree. after riding the current crop of 600's and many others their lack of torque makes them easy to ride. nothing at all happens below 9,000 rpm. like a ninja 250 below 9k. above that and they become swift but not overwhelming.
their lite weight makes the ideal for new riders. you really have to work at keeping the r's up to be quick which most new riders dont have the skills to do so.

now any ss liter bike is bad news for sure. because of the high torque.

corvette gets out of hand fast because of the torque (combined with the hp)
get my point? but of course there are those idiots that are out to prove their man hood. (or person hood) but you cant help those anyway.
but for the educated rider the 600 ss are a good place to start. myself on the other hand perfer the more up right postion offered up by my bandit.

btw my first bike was a 87 honda shadow 700