I passed my DAS about 2yrs ago now but have yet to buy my own first bike.

 

I did spent a month riding around Vietnam/Cambodia on a Honda GL160 and borrowed my mate's Honda CBR600 for about 6mths and wuold say after 2mths I was a little bored by it.

 

I'm now considering buying a used bike in time for the summer. It would only be used for pleasure, would be parked outside and more than anything is a way to build up my bike NCD.

 

My question is - what bike would you recommend? I have been looking at the Honda CBR600s but wary of getting borted of it again. There are quite a few older GSXR600s and ZX6s but the internet is mixed on whether either of those would be 'safe' for me to ride.

 

I'd say I'm a fairly competent rider and had no issues in the 6mths I was on the CBR. I don't want a full on race bike but something that will suit my needs but keep me excited from time to time.

 

Any suggestions from the bikers amongst you? Not sure about budget yet but let's say £2k for now....

:lol:

Really hard to say dont know youre tastes and things but what I will say is... if you got bored on a 600 and are thinking about a 1000, I wont give the usual "you will kill yourself" speech because if you're that sort of full throttle nutter any bike will kill you even a 300. But they are totally bonkers, and not really in a good way, you will find yourself at go to jail speed every time you ride it and it feels like 80mph. If you can do 107 in first it makes you wonder why you bought it.

 

You will fall off it but you will fall off pulling off your mates drive or at a funny junction, sportsbikes are awkward as hell for manouvering as a new rider. I had a fz6s2 (Ill find a picture) really liked it. Quicker than a stock z but you can rev it in 1st 2nd 3rd and your probably in 6 points territory rather tham 6 months teritory. The body style was a good compromise.

Honda are very good at what they do. But as you say, when you get where you are going you kind of get off and forget the ride instantly. If you are staying around the 600 bracket then options are there. Gsxr is something of a more exciting ride, albeit more aggressive in terms of ow it delivers power. I have friends who prefer kawasakis over gsxrs, and both camps universally deride Honda for being too smooth or too bland. It would be a sad world if we all liked the same thing though. You buy the bike that suits you. Personally I prefer v twins to multis. They are more vibey to ride at low speed, but the torque and acceleration ( real or perceived) make for a completely different riding style. The feeling of low down grunt on a twin is addictive. Whether as addictive as the feeling you get when a 4 cylinder bike comes on cam at the 5-8 thousand rev range is down to the riders own taste.

 

I have a mate with an sv650 (twin) that loves it. Half faired rather than full faired, plus it handles well through the twisties and holds bigger bikes at bay, but hit the motorway and it gets beaten by the multis at high speed.

You need to narrow options though and base the choices around where you ride, if you do a lot of motorway work then a faired bike (or half faired) will save a lot of neck ache. Otherwise the naked bikes become an option. Is power or handling your thing.

 

An old vmax (1200cc though) will rip your arms out of your sockets in a straight line but in corners where it doesn't handle so well will try its best to kill you if you are not careful, but it will guarantee excitement when needed, but be a pussy cat when you need that to.

 

Put simply, its easier for you to name a few bikes you fancy and get people to say good or bad based on whether they have owned or ridden them, than to have hem try and guess what suits you. Me personally, I love ducati s, I have a 2 valver and a four valver, both bring different pleasures and hates to the table in terms of riding, while the zx7r equals both for the most part in every way except style.

This is what my other half says! He's an ex bike instructor who likes to tear around the iom tt every year!

Edited February 21, 201411 yr by roobarb
Spelling

Depends what you really want buddy. My first big bike was a 55 plate zx6r - 636. And had no issues or scary moments. The cbr 600's are forgiving bikes and this a good choice as a first sports bike. If you want a sports tourer then the kawasaki er6 either naked or faired are another good choice, then you have the triumph models. Daytona 600.

 

This is my current toy a 63 plate ZX6R 636.. Basically just replaced the 55 plate with a brand new one :)

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Mine was like that with Akra exhausts (LOUD)

Or just get one of these!!

 

Good advice from Roobarb, a triumph street tripple would be like a better version of my fazer.

I would suggest a GSF650. I has one a few years back but although quite a competent machine it wasn't enough for me. But an excellent all rounder. I had the faired version.

I now have a Harley Super Glide and a Suzuki GSX1400. Good luck with the search and my advice would be.........Don't allow yourself to be drawn into biking by the super bikes. Open your mind and look at all styles. :scooter:

My Bikes:

 

 

Like the Suzuki mate :thumbup1:

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but

 

Honda - awesome gearboxes, comfortable easy bikes

Yamaha - clashy gearboxes, screaming engines

Kawasaki - hardcore bikes

Suzuki - good compromise of all of the big 4 handle really well

 

Ducatis - V twins

Triumph - wicked tripple engines

BMW - well its the fast one isn't it or boxer engined bikes

Like the Suzuki mate :thumbup1:

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but

 

Honda - awesome gearboxes, comfortable easy bikes

Yamaha - clashy gearboxes, screaming engines

Kawasaki - hardcore bikes

Suzuki - good compromise of all of the big 4 handle really well

 

Ducatis - V twins

Triumph - wicked tripple engines

BMW - well its the fast one isn't it or boxer engined bikes

 

Well in my opinion that could have been an old school description?:cool3: They are all much of a muchness now I think but YES! you could say that. I just can't get my head around mad Race replicas any more. But I am old so thats probably why. You gotta kind of go through the lot before you decide what is good for you unless you get it right with the first one. Like I said to someshiftyguy......Dont let those attractive racers get to you. Take some time and choose what will suit your requirements for riding. Biking is hazardous but not especially dangerous. Thats the riders bag.

I would absolutely 100% recommend taking a triumph street triple 675 out on a test ride. It will suit your needs, no problem.

As long as you can find one in your budget, you won't be disappointed.

 

I have had mine 3 years, was my first bike, and still think it is an awesome machine after 38k miles, 24k of those last year.

 

I have also got a Daytona 675 and a Thunderbird Storm, to suit different occasions, but without a doubt, I love the Street.

I use it every day to commute on the M11, 160 miles a day, and it takes motorway, twisties, traffic, everything in its stride.

 

Light, responsive, great handling, comfortable riding positon, and 105hp.

 

Triple engine is perfect balance between low down grunt and great engine braking of a twin, with smooth roll on power of the inline 4.

This is the only picture I can find of my GSF650:

But like I said this is a great entry level (larger) bike and also a brilliant all rounder.

 

Or ??

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2564389/Trons-light-cycle-REAL-Lotus-reveal-plan-built-motorcycle-based-design.html

 

Alan..........

Wow!! Thanks for all the replies guys!

 

To try and answer a few questions:

 

- I'm intending to only use the bike for 'fun' with minimal motorway driving. As I live in London there will inevitably be city driving but for the most part I will be trying to get out on some A and B roads. The girlfriend may hop on the back from time to time but not for any material duration.

 

- Though I do love the look and style of the race/super sports bikes I am realistic in accepting that a) I won't last long before my back/arms tire out and b) I don't want to kill myself. The CBR600 was a bit bland for me but I think it did have a lot to do with the power in the mid to low rev range. I really had to crank it to feel the 'rush' I would have expected.

 

- When I first considered getting a bike 2yrs ago, I was thinking of the Suzuki SV650 but my cousin in law has one and thought it might be too small for me (I'm 6'3"). After seeing it in person I agreed it might be too cramped a riding position for me.

 

I'm glad that I haven't had any accidents in my riding life so far, even on the crazy roads of Hanoi (youtube if you don't know what I'm talking about!!) but the close calls have been on the CBR600 when I first started out on it with getting it off driveways, etc as has been said so can relate to that completely.

 

I'll be honest in saying that I don't know enough bikes to know exactly what I'd like but the ones I have thought about are:

 

- Suzuki GSXR 600

- Kawasaki ZX6R

- Honda CBR600F

 

A bike I know nothing about is the Yamaha R6. I also do really like the Triumph Speed Triple but had doubts about it's size for someone my height.

 

I guess I should really just go and try riding some of these bikes so I can get a better idea!!

 

Thanks again for the replies guys, very helpful.

i ride kwak zx1200r ninja. i also have a yamaha thundercat. if you guys look on facebook and look at my cousins bike. which is poppy bike on fb and my m8 rides a blue suzuki is on there they do wee bit of short rides.

The r6 is famously revvy, no power for ages then quite a lot, doesn't sound like what you need. I stick by what I said about 1000cc not being inherently deadly and have all the tq you need (my zx10r described as peakey for power delivery pulls from 50 in 6th like a hot hatch does in second). Sounds to me like a tripple would be good, power from low down, quite sporty but not hard to manouver, good for 2 people, probably ok for your height but I dont know.

 

Fewer cylinders - more grunt

More cylinders - more jail

The r6 is famously revvy, no power for ages then quite a lot, doesn't sound like what you need. I stick by what I said about 1000cc not being inherently deadly and have all the tq you need (my zx10r described as peakey for power delivery pulls from 50 in 6th like a hot hatch does in second). Sounds to me like a tripple would be good, power from low down, quite sporty but not hard to manouver, good for 2 people, probably ok for your height but I dont know.

 

Fewer cylinders - more grunt

More cylinders - more jail

 

Appreciate the advice - will definitely try for a test ride of a Speed Triple then!

 

Think I'll still steer clear of 1000cc bikes though if not just because of the cost of insurance. The plan was to make this bike as cheap as possible to build up my NCD.

 

Cheers

isn't Russian roulette quicker? :scooter::whistling:

Just thought I'd show you what I've been looking at. I did find it quite off that people don't seem to go for test rides before buying though which worries me slightly as with the older bikes in particular, how would I know whether it's right for me? I've sat on enough bikes now to know that quite a lot are not that comfy! lol

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201402242029568/sort/recpriceascdefault/usedbikes/cc-from/600cc/price-to/1500/page/3/postcode/cr05uu/radius/30?logcode=p

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201402232019695/sort/recpriceascdefault/usedbikes/price-to/1500/cc-from/600cc/radius/50/postcode/cr05uu/page/3?logcode=p

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201402262091190/sort/recpriceascdefault/usedbikes/price-to/1500/cc-from/600cc/page/4/radius/50/postcode/cr05uu?logcode=p

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201402242027839/sort/recpriceascdefault/usedbikes/price-to/1500/cc-from/600cc/page/5/radius/50/postcode/cr05uu?logcode=p

 

Thoughts on any of these? Good points/bad points that you guys are aware of?

If you got bored with the 600 it won't be long before you get bored with these. I'll be selling my ZX10R shortly to help fund my race car. It's very fast highly modified but in many years of riding sports bikes this is not only the smallest it's also the most comfortable. It's over your budget looking for £5400 but it cost over £20k to build and has only done 5500 miles. Too many toys and not enough time :-(

 

Having said all that you want a test ride you're welcome but you'll need to stick £5400 in my hand first in case you bin it lol

If you got bored with the 600 it won't be long before you get bored with these. I'll be selling my ZX10R shortly to help fund my race car. It's very fast highly modified but in many years of riding sports bikes this is not only the smallest it's also the most comfortable. It's over your budget looking for £5400 but it cost over £20k to build and has only done 5500 miles. Too many toys and not enough time :-(

 

Having said all that you want a test ride you're welcome but you'll need to stick £5400 in my hand first in case you bin it lol

 

Lol...I think I'll pass. I need something cheap to insure and don't want to get something tasty as it will be living life outdoors for the foreeable future so would be a shame to see a nice bike fade.

 

I did think that about getting bored again but need to try and compromise I guess. Need a bike that is as cheap as possible to run/maintain as my first bike but also comfortable.

So...the update - I've bought a bike! I know I'll probably get flamed for my choice of bike but I'd like to start off by saying I'm well aware of the potential of the bike and I respect it. I won't be hooning around and pulling wheelies (not for a while anyway! lol)...

 

I went for a '97 Honda CBR900RR Fireblade. Got it for a decent price with a few little extras thrown in (locks, rain cover, etc). Came with a pretty good, though incomplete Service History but most of all, it was in fantastic condition for a '97 bike with only 21k miles on it. Almost everything has been anodised, chromed or braided and there's not a spec of rust on it. A bit of laquer damage on the tank but nothing serious.

 

I rode it home last night and loved every second of it! I can't wait for the rain to subside and to get it out of London!

 

Here's some pics...(apologies for the poor quality/size). They're the only ones I have at the moment.

 

 

Nice bike mate, enjoy it, don't go nuts and it will be awesome :thumbup1: