[taurag]

try speaking to the pro racers. they will tell you that the 600's are way better to ride than the 1000's. a 600 hundred can be nailed right from the apex of a corner without losing the rear. also. you can fling it at will when changing direction and cornering. trying doing that with a 1000. of course guys, i am now referring to a modern 2002 upwards 600, not some ancient relic of the past. BTW, sure a 1000 has way more top end, but which mad man travels at those speeds on the road unless of course you want to end up like "squid" did. poor devil.

[Mr_RC]

I started my riding experience with a 600 f4i. I rode it exclusively for six years before I found my new love, the one and only RC51. I still keep the 6 for commuting because the beast is too much in bumper to bumper traffic.

I agree that for some a 600 may be too much to start. My dad tried to ride my bike for the first time and jumped a curb because he couldn't handle the responsiveness. Luckily, he was near a park and avoided the obstacles.

[Natezlvnit]

Yamaha FZ600. Rode it for 11 years. It definantly was fun but very unreliable which was probably a good thing because it taught me alot about how a bike worked.

[gagger]

My first bike was an 03 F4i. Right before they made the bench seats on the 04's. Rode the snot out of that bugger. The heads tood a crap. Had them redone and put some mild camms in there. Like a NEW bike. Damn I loved that bike. Went to a bike shop in SOCAL just to see what they would give me for it. The sales men turned me onto the 03 954rr. Need I say more. Hell with that F4i. Rode out three tanks of gas that day before I brought it home to the wife who had some not so nice things to say to me. But she learned to like it. Now we ride damn near every weekend. GOD bless the 954rr.

[taurag]

oh, yes. another 2 yeras and you gonna want something else. man is never content. we are like donkey's with manufacturers always dangling juicy carrots before us. consider your 954RR as one of those carrots. soon a bigger, better, fatter carrot's gonna come along. and then what. I simply advise, and in life in general, let us learn contentment with whatever ride we have. in places like the far east and south east, bikes, scooters are an invaluable mode of transport. and that accounts for over three qurters of the world's riding population. to us they are toys.

[taurag]

just so no one is offended, i should have stated the "proverbial donkey and carrot analogy", i would dare not call anyone of our riders donkeys here. 2ndly, in places like china, india, thailand, bikes are most of the populations primary means of transport in the day to day grind of life. picture a father ridind a little 80cc scooter with his son stanind in front of him, his wife and baby and daughter sueezed in behind the dad. Serious. i know it sounds insane. lots of fatalities. that's why indian tycoon, Ratan Tata, has designed the world's smallest car, the Nano. google it, sure makes for interesting reading. believe or not bikers, it is the humble scooter which led to this amazing creation.

[Jok3r]

I just picked up a 93 F2 and Ive upgraded quite a bit... Ive installed 97 F3 carbs w/ jet kit, 97 F3 ram air kit, 97 upper and lower cowls to the body, painted the bike myself for the time being, F3 rims with wider rear tire, 94 front forks with triple tree, 2 bros FULL polished exhaust system with carbon fiber can, Smoked double bubble windscreen, stainless steel lines, Vance & Hines ignition advancer, chrome mirrors, and an HID headlight conversion.
Ive done quite a bit, but there is so much you an do to these things that I know Im not anywhere close to being done. Im thinking about a single sided rear swing arm next year to give that nice open wheel look and new plastics are in the works with a nice after market paint job in a deep Sapphire blue with a HEAVY metal flake...

[blooz4u]

Brand new rider here.

Took the safety course last weekend and got my license on Monday.

I ended purchasing my CBR600 from my neighbor, who just upgraded himself to a '08 CBR1000!

My CBR has a micron exhaust and a power commander.

It's all I think about right now. I'm just taking my time and working on curves and technique!

AJ

[Chum]

Wow, I'm in big trouble then. I'm working on rebuilding my first bike. Its a 2001 RC51. The only street time I have is a few weeks on a 03 Triumph Daytona 955i and a few minutes on my bros Yamaha 600. I think I'll be fine, as I have a lot of fear and respect for street bikes. Reguardless of what the bike is capable of, I have the reigns and am the overall dictator of speed and ability. I did feel much better on the 600. The 955i felt really heavy and clumsy.

[vipercnc]

2005 F4I... I bought it used.
It's a great beginners bike.

[bigshep]

My first bike I bought when I was stationed at Ft. Hood Tx. It was a 1996 Bandit 600. I had it less than a year, because I got into some trouble. My second bike I bought in 04. It was a 2003 Honda CBR f4i. I loved it. Still do! I ended up getting into stunting and let my wife ride it and bought a 1999 F4 that i turned into a streetfighter that I stunted on. Now I have my blade!!!!!!! Best bike ever!! I love the short wheel base easy to control and is a wheelie machine.

[blooz4u]

Nice Bike!

AJ

[taurag]

congrats on your licence.

[Surffrog]

Originally Posted by taurag

just so no one is offended, i should have stated the "proverbial donkey and carrot analogy", i would dare not call anyone of our riders donkeys here. 2ndly, in places like china, india, thailand, bikes are most of the populations primary means of transport in the day to day grind of life. picture a father ridind a little 80cc scooter with his son stanind in front of him, his wife and baby and daughter sueezed in behind the dad. Serious. i know it sounds insane. lots of fatalities. that's why indian tycoon, Ratan Tata, has designed the world's smallest car, the Nano. google it, sure makes for interesting reading. believe or not bikers, it is the humble scooter which led to this amazing creation.

Right on brother Taurag

[taurag]

Originally Posted by Surffrog

Right on brother Taurag

greetings, my distant brother. godspeed to you and your family.

[gitganben]

I actually learned on a Honda Reflex 200cc trials bike, which was a great way to learn. Get out in a field figure out how it slides, how to shift, how to balance, etc. After I felt confident on that, I rode a friends VFR, it was obvious that was a little too much for me that early. It wasn't unmanageable, just too much power for beginner mistakes.

In 2006, I bought a 1989 CBR 600F and shortly thereafter, went through the $20 MSF course. Which I would highly recommend to any beginner.


I love my bike, but would recommend getting your bearings through the MSF course. $20 gets you a bike to ride, a helmet to where and a ton of great experience in a weekend or two, and at the end of it, you're certified. Not to mention, some insurance companies offer discounts to MSF endorsed riders.

[egyptys1]

Originally Posted by gitganben

In 2006, I bought a 1989 CBR 600F and shortly thereafter, went through the $20 MSF course. Which I would highly recommend to any beginner.

The MSF course is a good place to start, unfortunately it was $200 when I took it a few years ago. Well worth it, but I coulda used the extra $180 on gear

[captainconk]

started on a harley sportster...stupidest thing i ever did was buy a harley. i guess i'm just one of those guys that has to learn the hard way. anyway, a couple of breakdowns and oil leaks later i traded it for my 04 f4i. i can't say enough about the f4i. the fact that i can totally smoke a corvette off the line just makes my blood rush!

[taurag]

way to go, sparky. keep on smokin' 'em. and bless the guy who invented traffic lights. i'm sure those supercars will kill us over a mile though.

[jschaf]

My bike sequence. 1969 Honda 50 mini trail, 1973 Yamaha 360 enduro, 1986 Yamana 700 fazer (baby V-Max), 2003 Honda CBR600RR, 2008 Honda CBR1000RR. The 600RR was an excellent "beginners" sport bike. It kept up with traffic quite well & was a great bike for really learning but I wouldn't recommend it for a very first bike for obvious reasons. The new 1000rr is "over the top" for the street but I'm not sorry I got it. Track days will be a necessity on this one.

[jsglaw]

Stream of consciousness:The 600 is the perfect size for anyone who has any riding experience.
Ditto the ride within your limits thing. Light is good as the heavier the more unwieldy it can be. Most will not ever reach abilities that outpace the capability of the bike. The WERA 600 class is one of the fastest. While a liter bike is going to be faster on the straight, for most riders the 600 will be quicker in the turns: 2 straight aways(lose two seconds) 12 turns on an average track(gain 12 seconds). Of course, if you've got AMA abilities or potential thats different. In a typical novice group the 600's will be much faster. In the turns, the liter guys are scared of putting to much power on and sliding the wheel. The 600's make it much easier to apply a smooth steady rate of throttle there. If you dont stay within your limits you can get into trouble on a scooter.

[Jok3r]

Well, long awaited, here are the pics of the bike...

[Maxsurgeon15]

I started back when I was.. geeze.. 10 maybe on a minibike, one that wouldn't stop when the rear tire got wet! Then I welded together a crude chopper and played with that. I finally got my first real machine, a pw 80! After having that I moved through a few different cycles and purchased my 04 r6, put some miles on that and sold it for school, now I'm waiting for this semester to end to pick up my 07 cbr1000rr

[ReaperAZ]

I started riding back in '98 on a brand new F3. I wanted a Super Hawk as my first bike but the salesman at the dealer and I spoke and decided a 600 was a better bike to start on. Rode that for a year and put 13,000 miles on it. The next year I bought a '99 Super Hawk, which after three months of owning it was stolen. Picked up a '99 F4 as its replacement. Had that for a year and put 16,000 miles on it. Had some issues that needed to be dealt with so I got rid of it and moved here to AZ. Didn't have a bike for 2 years and when I first saw the '03 600RR before it came out I knew I had to have one. So the very next day after they relased it on the Honda site I went to the local dealer and gave them some money. Told them I wanted the first one they got in. In april it finally got in and I went down and picked it up.

Later that year I won the Speed Channel Dude for a Day contest and received a new '03 ZX-6R. Both were fantastic bikes but I wanted to step up. So I got rid of both of them and bought a new in the crate '02 954. Had that for a year and a half and put 27,000 miles on that. It was at that tme I realized I wanted to hit the track and traded that for another '03 600RR. Sold that 2 years ago and haven't had a bike since. Now I wanna get back in the saddle and I will be getting another 600 for sure. I just love how the 600's feel and perform. They fit my riding style very well and are a bit more forgiving than the liter bikes of today. Plus they are a friggin blast on the track. I keep coming back to a 600 and while almost all of my friends have liter bikes I still love my 600's.

As far as starting on a 600, that's always a tough one. Back in '98 the F3 had like 85rwhp and weighed a heck of a lot more than the bikes of today which put out over 100rwhp. The 600's of today are like the 750's of old. So is it a good beginner bike? Yes and no I guess. I've always been a believer in that a bike will only do what the rider makes it do so technically you could start on a Busa and be fine as long as you have brain cells in your head that work in the appropriate manner.

[cbr6ryda]

First bike is my 06 CBR600RR. I took the MSF course and read all of the time about safety & improving my riding techniques. I am an older rider, so no hot dogging (at least not yet), but seriously I have no desire to. I ride for a hobby, and while I enjoy it, I enjoy coming home to see my family even more.

[Surffrog]

Originally Posted by cbr6ryda

I ride for a hobby, and while I enjoy it, I enjoy coming home to see my family even more.

Wise words.

[pauls]

Passed my test 6 years ago, my brother somehow managed to convince me to buy a Ducati 748 before I'd even ridden a proper bike - told me it was perfect as it didn't have much power... (he's a lunatic, clearly). Found the 748 hard work, both in the snatchy race clutch (turned out the previous owner had put a full race clutch in) and the super heavy steering. Had a few left hand corner moments (we drive on the left here), and then was in my local shop and saw a hornet. They let me have a go - bought it there and then. The original hornet is by far the best learner bike, IMHO - it has plenty of speed, it's easy to look after, and a doddle to ride... completely tame, whilst still being lots of fun.

Two years later, traded the pair in for a brand new R6, which frankly was ferocious compared to the 748, dropped it within a month and wrote it off.

Back to biking again now, bought a CBR600FS-2, which (as is my luck) the previous owner has geared up on the sprocket and put an arrow exhaust on - so pretty darn ferocious feeling as well!

However, I personally wouldn't ever recommend a supersports category bike to a newbie - the riding position, hard suspension and top end power are just too distracting from what a newbie should be doing - having fun, whilst also building roadcraft skills, learning to avoid the idiot car drivers. Even I after a few years feel slightly out of depth and haven't even gone over 11k revs yet! (well once, in second and the front power lifted, it's *that* geared!)

[Scruffy]

My first bike was a 99 cbr 600. rode it for 2 years, sold it to get the 954.

[SAK]

my first bike was a 2006 gsxr 600 rode it for 2.5 years and about 30 to 40k miles on her. just got my 954 on thurs and omg i couldnt be happier.