[Maser]

Welcome to the board....
I am glad you changed your mind about going with a liter bike for your 1st bike. I started on a 600, I am sure I would be dead today if I had started on a liter bike. Another thing you will realize soon is that bikes are a lot more fun on the turns than they are on the straights. How many times can you open it up before your license is taken away. Todays 600's are very fast (I have a 02 GSXR-600), 0-60 times of 3.1 seconds and 1/4 mile is less then 10.5 secs are numbers that only heavily modified cars will even come close. I love my 929 but it will bite back if you are not careful. Everybody I know that started on 600s or lower CC bikes are now faster then those that started on 1000cc bikes. I am still faster on the turn on my 600 than I am on the 929.

one more thing....check for parts' availability, It might not be easy to find parts for a bike that is that old.

[Robert3RR]

If you don't want to get an 600cc bike take a look at GSX 750...between 600cc and 1000cc..But I would still recommend starting out with lower cc and make your way up...

[CBR929RE]

Originally Posted by Robert3RR

If you don't want to get an 600cc bike take a look at GSX 750...between 600cc and 1000cc..But I would still recommend starting out with lower cc and make your way up...

and even then pre-04 models. the 04+ gsxr750 is lighter and has around the same hp of a 929.

[coderedcbr]

Originally Posted by rocket

This advice would be contrary to your business model.You should be more concerned with building a customer base. Just looking out for you man.

This is true, but I rather it be a 95 year old man who lead a full life than a 19 year old who bit it.

[JaguarsLogic]

My brother and I were recently in the OPs position. We wanted powerful bikes that would outrun and outhandle anything on 4 wheels, but the voices of reason convinced us that this was not the best approach.

What they said

1. Your first bike will not be your last bike
2. You have either dropped your bike or you will drop it
3. Insurance on a big bike will kill you
4. You dont want to drop an expensive bike and kill the resale value
5. A big bike will kill you in a hurry, even if you were riding with the best of intentions
6. getting a small, inexpensive bike now will allow you to know what you REALLY want in a bike
we both listened and got smaller bikes. He got a katana 600 and I got a nighthawk 700s. He took the MSF and in 6 months has not dropped his bike. I did not take the msf but, because I dropped a bike earlier this year, I have the fear of God in me and drive more carefully than many.I have not dropped my bike either.

We both came to the same realisation and conclusion. We both now want bigger bikes( I am buying a 954rr and he is buying a hayabusa) and we both agree that having either of those two bikes as first bikes would have been a VERY bad idea.

with our current bikes, simple newbie mistakes just get the heart beating faster. with litre bikes they could have been deadly. Imagine going over a bump in the road at 70 mph and getting slightly airborne. instinctively, you grab the bars and revs go up. in the right gear, on a litre bike, better watch out. Sneezing wrong could be deadly. blinking could be deadly. Applying just a tad too much throttle in a corner could be deadly.

fwiw, some have started on literbikes and lived to tell the story, but I would not advise it. Simply too much potential for disaster.

[phobiaphobe]

You're a pretty advanced 4 year-old.

[WHITEtt]

not sure about the outhandling idea, remember that an automobile has more rubber surface contacting the pavement than a bike has and that is creating alot more friction and grip for better handling. top gear did a test on it and concluded the same. a high performance car with the right suspension/tire width/center of gravity and hight will beat a high performance bike in the handling department, its acceleration where the bike kills because of power-weight ratios.

[phobiaphobe]

"Handling" is subjective though... THe 3000lb car with wide tires might have more lateral grip than the 400lb bike but definitely won't change directions as quickly.

[WHITEtt]

that is true, with lane changes and so on the bike will be better, but the long turns a bike must take slower than the performance automobile unless it wants to slide off the track .

[JaguarsLogic]

Originally Posted by WHITEtt

that is true, with lane changes and so on the bike will be better, but the long turns a bike must take slower than the performance automobile unless it wants to slide off the track .

zipping thru traffic is what we WERE looking for. After owning a bike now, we have a very different perspective.

I must say, I am still awed by bikes zipping effortlessly thru traffic. My skill just hasnt gotten there yet.

[CBR929RE]

I hope you and your brother are very careful on the new bikes.

[luvtolean]

Wow, this thread took a turn for the positive.

A couple of comments. All leather, all the time. A good, NEW, DOT/Snell rated helmet. There is no excuse that you have no money. Buying good safety gear will set you back over $1000 for solid, basic stuff. Consider this part of the purchase price of the bike. If you can't afford it, don't buy the bike.

Frame sliders. Training.

Your Z isn't **** compared to a CBR600F2. Trust me. I came from much faster cars, and my first bike, a 89 FZR 600 would smoke them. An F2 is a bit faster in a straightline than my fizzer was. (at least my butt dyno tells me that)

Absolutely do NOT underestimate even an F2. You can lay a darkie on a stock F2 merging onto the freeway at 70 MPH if you know what you're doing. They are fast, handle supremely well, especially for a beginner, and the tiny little front brakes work much better than they look.

They are damn reliable except for the already mentioned cam chain tensioner and my buddies F2 just had the regulator go out in a blaze of smoke and fire, apparently that's also fairly common.

Milage wise, they'll go tens of thousands.

Also watch for smoke on startup.

Happy hunting.

[Zeeman]

Good to see some people listen sometimes

I started on a 125cc yamaha from the early 80's. It was slow, the single solid disc front brake probably slowed the bike more from it's wind drag than actual friction with the brake pads, the rear drum brake was there to help keep an even front/back weight distribution, and I think it toppe dout at 90km/hr. I think I still had as much fun on that bike as I do now on my Blade anywhere BAR the track. Being able to rev all 5 gears to redline and still be within the speed limit is fun!

My next bike was a Honda VT250FIIJ (1988 model) The first time I twisted the throttle - WOW! I could do a good job of dragging Porsche Boxters, Merc SLK's and even the good old Aussie V8 comoddore off at the lights, winning with quite a margin. I had that bike for a year and 30000km before someone pulle dout of a driveway and cleaned me up. I wasn't hurt much - bit of concussion form banging my head into the back door, but otherwise OK. bike was a write off (though I got it rideable until the insurance claims guy came to check it out).

I then bought a 96 CBR600F3 (it was now 1998 - so it was still pretty much on of THE top 600cc machine. Now, the 250 was awesome, it had plenty of power (after a 125 2 stroker road bike) and it handled ok. It was fun trying to keep corner speeds up to keep bigger bikes within sight.

But when I first sat on that 600.... As Valentino says.. "the first time you ride a 500(gp bike) FFFAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRKKKKKKKK!!!"

Well, this was my feeling with the F3!It was actually my buddies befor eI bought it, and I took it for a spin.. He lived right next to a motorway, so I took it around the block, to the motorway and then back to his house. First memory was "Man, this thing turns so easy!" I rememeber going around a corner and had actually gone through it before I realise dI need to turn. It was telapathic! and the brakes! You touch that lever and it stops! DAMN! (this is why riding a **** bike for a while is great - you REALLY enjoy the bigger bikes talents!) and then... I pulle donto the motorbway, and, in all my squid glory, rippe dopen the throttle. My intention was to go from 0 - the 110km/h speed limit. no, really. It was. As the light went green, and I pulled onto the motorway on ramp at 11:30pm on a tuesday night, (I may have been a bit squiddy, but I knew enough not to do this **** unless there was NO traffic!) I leaned over, and halfwaythrough the corner started to open the throttle, as she straightened up, I locked the throttle wid eopen - the front wheel liften a touch, the tacho rocketed to what now looke dlike a vibrating red blur, and befor eI knew it I was pumping the shift lever quicker than a pubescent schoolboy with his first porno. I hit 220 befor eI knew it, and fear set in, the motorway was mepty, but there is always a cop somewhere, lurking, and I didn't want to lose my license, or crash!. I slowed back down to 110km/h, heart pumping, and I knew I had to have a bike like this! The brakes, the flickability, the handling, the power!

I would own that very bike, of course, about 6 months later.

Now, I guess the point of this is, that at the end of the day, riding is about fun. and fun isn't always faster, but I guess you figured that out already. a CBR600F2 pr F3 is, in my opinion, plenty for a learner. I feel it is tame enough that a learner could get on it and learn - it is very easy to ride - and a learner could probably stay away from too much trouble. but it is still fast enough to allow you to grow over time. At my race school day yesterday, there were plenty of guys on old 600's cutting fast lap times, heck there was a lady in my group on a VFR400 who cut a faster lap time than I did on a 954RR (or anyone else in our group, for that matter)! though we both bitched about the same thing - "those blody new R1's with there top end down the main straight! But that's ok", we'd laugh, "get them around the twisty bits, where their owners don't know how to use the non throttle bits of the bike..."

I hope you enjoy your choice, WHITEtt, and ride safe - and do some schools! It's fun, and you learn useful stuff!

Z...

[WHITEtt]

thanks zeeman, good post. it's great hearing how alot of you began this sport, hopefully i will live to tell a story of my own some day .