Motorcycles
Evolving Member
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 287
Likes: 0
From: Bay area, Ca
Originally Posted by evilution8
as for the guy who is just starting, it doesnt matter what you get if you are responsible. whether its a 125 or a 1000cc rocketship, the bike only goes as fast as you twist the throttle.
Responsible people make mistakes. Making a mistake in a liter bike is much easier and much harder to escape from as opposed to a 100cc bike.
You try to avoid these mistakes. Putting yourself in a liter bike or 600cc supersport is not avoiding it, it is being ignorant and reckless.
Though in the end it is your life and you can do what you want with it, just dont hurt others in the process.
Newbie
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 91
Likes: 0
From: Harrisburg, PA
I've been riding for 12 years, and have had 250's to 1200's, Kawis, Hondas, Ducatis, Beemers, etc. My current ride is a 2005 SV650. It's a great beginners bike, and powerful enough to never grow out of. Someone like me with 12 years experience has fun on it. Liter bikes will walk away from it, but it's perfect for the twisties. As a bonus, insurance is next to nothing, even full coverage. With V twins, you don't have to rev the heck out of it to have fun, like an inline four. My advice is to sit on as many as you can. Test rides probably won't fly. I would also agree to go used. With proper maintenance (demand to see records and receipts), these Japanese bikes are bulletproof. Let someone else eat the depreciation hit.
Evolving Member
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 287
Likes: 0
From: Bay area, Ca
Good quotes from a member in a forum I visit to answer the questions of people ignorant to purchase a 600 cc supersport as a first bike
"See, the problem is not so much the lack of power or the abundance of it, but rather the different behaviors the bike will exhibit with a throttle whacked open at 3k rpm vs 10k rpm. Some bikes, such as cruisers and twins like the SV and even torque monsters like the B12, have very linear throttle response. At almost any rpm, open a little to go slow and open a lot to go fast, doesn't change so much depending on rpm. Some 600 supersports go from limp dick dead to pipe hitting convict on viagra hard in the space of a few thousand rpm.
Compound this with brakes where it is easy to either lock the front or flip the bike along with a chassis that will utterly haul *** around the corners....until it goes into a fatal slapper.....and put it all in a package that is spendy to fix after you **** up....and you have the opposite of a good starter ride.
Interestingly many cruisers and standards have better low end performance than many of the 600 super sports, and thus off the line and off idle will tend to feel stronger, but are more suited to new riders because of their easy and predictable response over a wide range of rpm."
"Running with the assumption that this is a real question and not the obvious troll that it appears to be, the answer is that a 600 supersport is an exceptionally poor choice for the new rider for the following reasons:
1. Aggressive geometery - the same frame geometry that leads to responsive handling also tends to create instability, as evidenced by the large number of bikes for which steering dampers are strongly recommended.
2. Expensive bodywork - even a low speed get off can end up being fairly expensive if plastics need to be replaced.
3. Non-linear throttle response - at low rpm, open the throttle and nothing happens, at 10k do the same thing and the bike flips. Not very newbie/user friendly
4. One finger brakes - great if you know what you are doing, not so if you don't
All these factors lead up to bikes that are capable weapons in the hands of a experienced rider but which are unstable, twitchy and dangerous in the hands of someone not so skilled. Just like low profile, high performance tires, the transition from OK to not OK can, to an inexperienced rider, be sudden and lacking in telltale warning signs which would otherwise prompt the rider to back off in order to avoid death."
"See, the problem is not so much the lack of power or the abundance of it, but rather the different behaviors the bike will exhibit with a throttle whacked open at 3k rpm vs 10k rpm. Some bikes, such as cruisers and twins like the SV and even torque monsters like the B12, have very linear throttle response. At almost any rpm, open a little to go slow and open a lot to go fast, doesn't change so much depending on rpm. Some 600 supersports go from limp dick dead to pipe hitting convict on viagra hard in the space of a few thousand rpm.
Compound this with brakes where it is easy to either lock the front or flip the bike along with a chassis that will utterly haul *** around the corners....until it goes into a fatal slapper.....and put it all in a package that is spendy to fix after you **** up....and you have the opposite of a good starter ride.
Interestingly many cruisers and standards have better low end performance than many of the 600 super sports, and thus off the line and off idle will tend to feel stronger, but are more suited to new riders because of their easy and predictable response over a wide range of rpm."
"Running with the assumption that this is a real question and not the obvious troll that it appears to be, the answer is that a 600 supersport is an exceptionally poor choice for the new rider for the following reasons:
1. Aggressive geometery - the same frame geometry that leads to responsive handling also tends to create instability, as evidenced by the large number of bikes for which steering dampers are strongly recommended.
2. Expensive bodywork - even a low speed get off can end up being fairly expensive if plastics need to be replaced.
3. Non-linear throttle response - at low rpm, open the throttle and nothing happens, at 10k do the same thing and the bike flips. Not very newbie/user friendly
4. One finger brakes - great if you know what you are doing, not so if you don't
All these factors lead up to bikes that are capable weapons in the hands of a experienced rider but which are unstable, twitchy and dangerous in the hands of someone not so skilled. Just like low profile, high performance tires, the transition from OK to not OK can, to an inexperienced rider, be sudden and lacking in telltale warning signs which would otherwise prompt the rider to back off in order to avoid death."
^^ very well put. i wouldnt have bought my 636 if i hadnt been on dirt bikes since i was 12. i will admit it is pretty mellow in the low RPM's but after 6k its a ****ing rocket ship. So many things need to be learned in order to ride a street bike, dont start off by killing yourself.
