Well folks its a sad day. I sold my F4i today.

She was my first motorcycle (I don't count the piece of crap I had whenI was 12). I bought her in 2004 from a guy in the Air Force and she's been my favorite motorcycle since.
Today, I reflect on the great times we've had along with the lessons I've learned from her. She tought me how to ride, how to wrench, how to live and I will miss her dearly. I own quite a few motorcycles now but the F4i will always be "my bike". Others may come and go but I don't know that I'll ever have the same connection with a motorcycle. When I bought the F4i, I didn't know a thing about motorcycles. I remembered how to work the clutch but everything else I learned as I went.

When I bought her in 2004 she was a completely stock but I addded an exhaust and frame sliders pretty quickly:


In April of 2005 I took her to the track and found a whole new world:



She hit the ground for the first time that day:



That year, I started learning how to work on my F4i myself:



In 2006 with her help, I learned how to really ride a motorcycle. I still can't ride another bike with the confidence that I've always had on my F4i:



That was the year of my F4i. That was mine and her best year ever. Together we did around 20 trackdays, mostly at Barber.
I will always remember that my last time riding my F4i on the track ended as the first one began, with a gentle crash in the exact same corner, its almost poetic:




I honestly still can't believe I sold my F4i. It hasn'tquitesunk in yet but I've got that sinking feeling in my stomach and I'll be honest, I'm getting a little choked up looking at these pictures. I can't even express how much this motorcycle meant to me. Everything I know about motorcycles, I learned with the F4i. I should have sold it over a year ago when I bought an SV650 to race but I could never quite make myself let her go. I don't know what its gonna be like to walk by that empty spot in my shop and remember her.

BYE BYE, MY F4I

 

I remember that feeling with my first Honda. I still feel that today. Almost makes you want to cry.

 

I guess I can't make a post like this without saying what I'm selling the bike for. As I've mentioned before, I'm moving to Daytona in March and will have to take a break from track riding for at least a year. I decided I need to keep the SV to race when I get done down there but I realized I really couldn't justify keeping the F4i. I haven't really ridden it in over a year now and I know I won't get to ride it at all for another year, who knows what I'll be doing after that but if anything I'll be racing the SV. I also have really been wanting a mini motard to be able to do a little cheap racing on the side while in Florida and I really could use the experience of a little bike to help me when I get back to real racing, so I decided it was finally time to give up the F4i and put the money towards a motard.

I live down the road from a guy that is a local legend of motorcycle racing. One of those guys that everybody knows and respects. He raced mx and roadraced professionally years back and has stories about racing just about every big name motorcycle racer you can think of. He has a story from when he just started doing the supermoto thing, he was in the pits in Wisconsin (I think) and had been having a hard time getting his bike to work right. He and a friend were tinkering with the suspension and getting really frustrated and all of a sudden he hears a "guy with a squeaky voice" tell him he should try to add some rebound damping to the shock or somethin like that. He figured it was just some kid talkin out his *** so he says "yeah, what do you know about it?" as he turns around and realizes he's staring Kevin Schwantz in the face! lol Anyway, he's got a badass CR85 set up as a perfect mini motard with Michelin slicks, big brakes, loads of power, and a garage full of spare parts, so I'm gonna buy that from him

Kinda sucks, I only got $3,000 for my F4i and I'm paying $2800 for the CR85, so I'm going from 600cc to 85cc and will only have $200 left over and thats not including the $60 in gas it cost me to deliver the F4i to the new owner.

anyway here is the new bike:

 

woody, i hear you 100% on how you feel about your 1st bike.

i boughy my first bike this past april.....a '01 F4i. i had a quad for a few years before, but i didnt have the connection that i have w/ this F4i. i tell myself that i will never let it go. even if its beaten and in pieces, i'd like to keep the remains of what got me into bikes and keep what i started on. i still dont know a whole lot about bikes....but im learning. i too bought my F4i bone stock and have since customized it to my personal tastes. the bikes, sad as it may sound, means quite a bit to me. i absolutely LOVE bikes, always have. so finally owning one, i dont plan to ever have to part w/ my very 1st bike.

i know how ya feel, i know where you are coming from (Aside from the "selling it" part).


cheer up, you've got memories and photos, brother!

 

Hopefully time will help mend the wounds. Thanks for the sad, sad story wood. We should fly the cbrforum flag at half mast.....

 

Man I was getting choked up reading it and looking at the pics. Sux you had to sell it.... I can totally understand how you probably feel. I have a similar connection with my bike.... it was my 1st as well, and the one I learned to ride on. LOL I really wish I would have taken pics of the first night I had it... I didn't know how to ride, and didn't want to scratch up my brand new [literally... 30 minute old] bike. So I took all the fairings off and took a bunch of shop rags and some duct tape, and taped a stack of rags over each of the engine covers, and my roomate rode it over to the big parking lot next to our house so I could practice, where later that night I got chased out by the popo, hahah (that dude was a DICK!). It looked hilarious though! And now I've got 115k miles of memories riding around on this bike on top of the beginning... there's no way I could sell it after all that. I'd be crying too, LOL. I know everybody says it's stupid to get attached to material items, but damn it's so hard NOT to sometimes! The guy I live with (well, sort of) has been riding for quite awile, and he actually went and bought a duplicate of his 1st ever bike cuz he loved it so much, plus it being his 1st. It was a 1965 Honda CB 160. It's been sitting in my living room since I moved in. Not his exact one, but almost exact duplicate... he just had to have one again! hahah

Bah enough babbling from me. Again I'm sorry to hear you had to sell her.... glad to hear she treated you so well though and gave you so many great memories

 

im goin through the same thing with my 2000 Honda Civic Si....but it has to be sold. Costing too much money. BUT, whatever money i make after its sold im going to be using to buy an 02 F4i this spring. It is a sad thing to get rid of something you grew so close to.

 

If you haven't ridden it in a year then it is time to let it go. Bikes are objects, not family members. Go enjoy the next bike, they are there to make us happy.

 

Sad story. My F4i is my first bike. I hope I will never have to sell mine.

That connection between a bike and a person is important. I think this is why Valentino Rossi is a successfull racer because he rescpects the machine and treats it like its a living thing. Spends the evenings together with the bike before the race day etc. I think, it's the essence of being a successfull rider too.

I returned my tag since I don't drive my car anymore. I think I am going to sell it and invest the money on my bike. Let me go and see how she's doing...

 

Sorry to hear it had to go, especially after your passionate post of sometime ago (the superbike one). I'm going through the same ordeal; have to sell my 1st bike; the SV650. Even if I always wanted a CBR600F4i and now I finally own one, I still feel bad parting from the Suz. Still, commitments take priority and head has to win over heart (once again!). Hope you find joy in what you have / are doing at the moment, I'm sure life has wonderful things in-store.