I really wish there were more beginner bike options out there... Honda Canada has brought in the 125 which I personally think would be a hoot, isn't really what I meant by a beginner bike. A 250 or even a 400 Euro spec sportbike would be ideal... the problem is that the general population is ignorant about motorcycles. What they might knowwas from ridding their friends ancient aircooled 750, probably **** drunk, in the 70s. Then they go around spewing misinformation about 600cc's being a girls bike, and anything less than 600cc's is a scooter and you wouldn't want it.

The truth is that the 250 ninja, the 500 ninja, the GS 500 are fantastic bikes, cheap to own, cheap to insure, easy on gas, and to top it off some of the best beginner bikes available. They aren't slow, they won't be run over on the highway.Most likely will STILL be the fastest ride you've ever owned.

Save a whole bunch of cash, buy a cheap first bike, spend money on gear, and in a few years decide what you want. Until then, most new riders don't know a thing about riding, why they ride, or what makes a bike good... they're relying on a few idiots on the internet who suggest litre bikes (you'll get bored on the 600cc???) or magazines hawking the latest race replica that has even better acceleration and will (in the right hands) be faster than the previous generation, to know what's best for them with ZERO miles of experience.

I forgot to turn rant mode on! Damn.

 

I started on a 93 F-2 still have it its fast enough for me, great starter bike, great bike period ! I'll have it for along time, love my bike. I think its an image thing with noobs wanting a per say "modern sport bike" gota start with the baddest thing on the market to imprese those with the latest GSXR'sand go to the local bike night and hope they fit in get a bike for you not yer buddies, yer the one thats puttin yer life on the line []

 

I just went back to a 600cc sport bike. An old dog slow F4. I've been riding for many years now, and have tried a few bikes out.

- This dog slow 600, hits 60mph in less than 4 seconds, blows by 120mph in not much more time, and runs up to 150mph in not much more time again.
- This bike will leave any car in it's dust within 50 feet. You're through an intersection before the car next to you has rolled a few feet.
- It will wheelie easily in the first two gears. It will stoppie or lock tires with only 1 finger on the brake lever (or a soft toe on the pedal).
- It will hold the road at 60mph while brushing bodywork.
- This bike is BEYOND my skill level. I can not get out of it what could be done with it. Not yet, and probably not for a long while.

Then the engineers at Honda decided they wanted to go faster. In 7 years we've gone ahead 3 generations, F4i, RR and then the new RR. We've gained probably 15% horsepower, dropped a significant ammount of weight, and added new features to get the power to the road.The new bikes leave this bike behind on the race track. On the road? It doesn't much matter as it's the same speed limit for all of us. I'll just get to it a few tenths of a second later... but at least my butt won't mind a 1000 mile ride

What I am saying is that the current 600cc bikes leave the 2000 model year bikes behind. I owned a 95 Ninja, which my 2000 CBR leaves behind. The 600 Ninja was already alot of bike.

What I'm saying is that it's getting boring. The bikes are SO capable that the limits of sanity force you to not use the bike to it's potential. I miss pushing a bike to it's limits. I don't like feeling that I'm riding a bike that's so capable that in order to push it I need to ride it at at LEAST two times the speed limit.

You know what I want? A 400cc CBR. A 250cc Ninja. These bikes area lot cheaper in every way, and way more fun.

Picture this. Perfectly twisty road. Sun shining. Which would you rather:

a) CBR 600, 3rd gear idling, speeding, but no effort.
b) ex250, redline, 3rd gear, speeding, fighting like mad to go faster.

Just me I guess

 

im a rider with expierience and i just bought a 1993 cbr 600 f2 i can take that bike through corners and smoke an r1 any day. If u are an expirienced rider a 600 can still be a good choice any1 with a bigger bike if u live in pa find me well go ridn

 

Yea i wish i would have read stuff like this but i got interested n these forums after i made a poor decision. I am a perfect example of what these people are telling you. When i was 18 i went out and boughta 06 cbr600rr figured i could handle fine. in a sense i could "handle" it but not exactly the power...Put in this way i LUCKILY had the slow speed handling pretty figured out naturally. so i rode with no real problems for awhile then soon i started pushing. one day i left work with a hand full of throttle and in a split second i was flying over the bars and skidding across the rode on my *** and the bike too. I highsided badly becuz i had a cold tire and tried to staiten up a burn-out way to quickly had i got more experiance this prolly never would have happened. So almost $1100 in parts/ fairings later my bike looks good again since then i have wised up a lot in my year of riding. That motorcycle class teaches a lot! OH and just cause you get a 600 doesnt make you look any cooler lol i get **** all the time from stupid squids who dont even have bikes talking bout beating me on a bicycle. Sometimes I wish theyd go buy a zx-14 or something similar and get WISED up quick but that would be pretty mean. Anyway just start on a older 600 they are funner you can ride the dog **** outta them and actually use ALL the available power.

 

All of this advice is outstanding and something every noob should read, but the major problem is this rider won't look cool to his friends...all of his friends made a bad choice and they're still alive, so why can't he make the same bad choice...roll the dice...my friend...roll the dice...

 

More people should read this story. Good post.

 

Lookin4abike.... I have a whole 4,500 miles and 8 months of riding expierence. Here's my story, and yes, it will not be the answer you want to hear but read it anyway. I was originally looking at a ninja 500 or the yamaha FZ6. I got pressured into buying my '06 600RR by my friend who told me, "Buy what you like the looks of. You don't want to be riding around on something you'll hate in a month." So I got my orange/black RR. Took the MSF course, started slow and learned how to ride.

I've only dropped my bike once, (the second day) by stalling it, and losing my balance. No, I haven't hurt myself but I've gotten into plenty of scarry situations where "...if that car were on the other side of the yellow line....." or " ...couldn't brake in time because I'm going to fast and had to roll through a red light that's been red for more than 2 seconds..." I've gotten lucky, very lucky....and learned from it. These bikes will bring you up to 70MPH in a 40 zone faster than you even realize it.

If I could do it over.... I'd buy something smaller and "uglier" like a ninja 500, or hell, even a 250! learn on that before trying to step up to something bigger.

I guess you could say I, "beat the odds" but I am no where near the skill level of people with equal experience and I never stop learning something everytime I get on my bike. I love my RR and wouldn't trade it for anything! BUT I would never recommend it to a brand new rider NO MATTER of the fact that I did it.

 

I find it interesting that all those guys who say a 600 is fine for a first bike are not chiming in now that a bunch of people are saying its not a good first bike. There was another thread not too long ago where Knightslugger and I spoke out and everyone else went to town on us.

 

it gets tiring trying to make sure that new guys are ok, they don't want advice, they want verification that they are right.
it gets old, 600s are a poor choice for a first bike, i'll leave it at that.