I just read that beginner bike article. It rose alot of good points. I still want the f4i but I guess if I can find a good enough deal a ninja 250 will suffice.

 

im tall, i want an RR, im very confined

 

Back to your initial question... I was able to get an 02 f4i with 10,000 miles on it for $4,000. I watched ebay for a few months and saw several f4i's in this mile/price range. If you willing to drive a bit, you shouldn't have trouble finding one that fits your budget.

Good luck!

 

The F4/F4i isnt a bad first bike, so long as you are careful. You WILL get bored of the Ninja 250 in a couple months and you'll dwarf the bike. My wife rides a 250 and looks great on it, but i'm only 6 feet 175 and when i'm on it she says i look funny because it is too small. The F4i is forgiving enough to be a starter bike and is fun to ride well into the novice/intermediate years. Suck it up and buy a 1999-2002 for 3500-4300 and consider it a good investment.

Also, you more than likely will drop your first bike, so get one that is rashed, who cares. In a few years when you feel confident that you are good enough for a clean bike then you can easily sell the F4i for 3000-3500 and get a clean one. You'll only disappoint yourself if you buy a clean one as your first bike and then tip it on some slow speed parking lot u-turn meneuver.

 

good advice. don't get a smaller bike bc you'll look stupid. [sm=bangbang.gif][sm=badidea.gif]

i drove an EX500 around for a few years and learned the ropes. granted i wanted to step up but i didn't. now i got the 600 and i feel 10x's more confident. my EX was a '91 and the day i put it up for sale i got 30+ hits in one day. selling it wasn't a problem, hell i even got more then what i was asking for it. learning to get over your fear or someone else's fear of looking stupid is another thing.

 

The used market is awesome, you can buy a bike, ride it for a few years and sell it at only a few hundred bucks loss. Plus the insurance is soooooo much cheaper. New bikes are the biggest money suck.

People can start on whatever is what i've found. Hell, my first bike was a Katana 750, the fker was heavy and big, but i managed. Now my F4 seems so small and light, thus i also feel 10x's more confident on it. I wouldnt start on a liter bike or a super aggressive RR, but the F4 shouldnt be hard to get going on.

 

i've had a 97' tls 1000, a 98' zx6r, an 00' sv650, an 00' r6, an 01 gixxer 600, an 01' gixxer 750, and an 02' tlr 1000. haven't had a bike since 02'. sold it when i got married and bought a house. just bought an 06' f4i for 7900 OTD last month (black/blue) and love it. anything without black rims is a b!tch to keep clean. i'd suggest getting an f2, f3, or an sv650 to polish your riding skills on. you can find em cheap and you won't get bored with it in 6 months either.

 

+1 on the used market. I purchased a super clean 2002 Suzuki Bandit 600 for my first bike. Dropped it, not once, but twice the first day I had it. Felt like an ***. I put 7000 miles on in and went out and bought a 01 F4i. Even with rashing the right and left fairings (and engin case), I still sold it for only $300 less than I paid for it. And sold it in less than a week.

NOTE: Both of my bikes were 600's, but if I would have started on the F4i, I probably wouldn't be alive. The difference of 40hp for a guy with ZERO riding experenice would have been too much for me.

 

Great news. My friend was driving my accord the other day and there was an oil leak or something. Fried the valves. So now I have no vehicle. Guess Ill have to get a car and put off the bike for now Really disappointed.