So everybody, this is my second thread, and I need to know what you think about these bikes. A little background info: I have been riding large dirtbikes for a while (250's) and I currently own a crf250r. I can handle horsepower, and I'm responsible. The bike would mainly be for commuting to and from school, work, and the gym.

Bike #1: 1993 CBR600F2


Cost: $800
Miles: almost 30k
This bike belongs to a friend of mine, and I already took it for a quick ride. It handles nicely, pulls harder than I would even need it to, but it could use a clutch (could do that easily in an hour or so). The obvious downside is the aesthetics of the bike. But, I figured I could pick up a fairing kit like this which should make it look pretty nice. It could also use a battery, as the one in it is too small for the bike.

Bike #2: 2004 CBR600rr

Cost: $3000
Miles: The ad says 137549 but I think it was a typo and he meant around 13k.
This is a SEXY bike. Probably a little faster then what I would need, but you cant go wrong with too much... I should rephrase this... I would have to have a little more self control . I emailed the seller and will update you all as soon as I get a response.

 

HUGE price difference............

 

Hi, I'll not suggest either of the bikes above, but I will share with you what I done, as my first bike I have a '99 CBR600F4, I got it with 6996 miles on the clock from my local honda dealer, cost me £1500, due to the laws in Northern Ireland at the time I passed my test (Dec 2012) I have to have the bike restricted to 33bhp, which doesn't sound much, but after learning on a CG125, it's plenty enough power for me to get used to a bigger bike.
Not sure if this helps any but basically as a fist bike I'd go the older cheaper way to get you on the road.

 

Since when is $2,200 a HUGE difference in price when dealing with motorcycles?

Go look at the price of a Ducati 1199 Panigale R...That is a HUGE price difference.

We don't have laws like that in the USA. Both bikes have similar power. I know my F2 was the first 600 to make 100BHP, the new 600s only make about 110HP, over 20 years they've only increased power by 10HP...however torque and smoothness is a lot better on the new ones, plus fuel injection.

OP, if you can afford the second one, go for it!! The fact that is' fuel injected is a huge plus in my opinion, plus it's newer, if it's not a typo it has lower miles, and looks to be in fair shape. The old one will need a good deal of work to bring back to a good condition.

Also, the mileage may not be a type, I believe there is a member here with 250,000+ miles on their F4i. It's not common to have that many miles, but also not impossible by any mean, and I'd almost rather buy a bike with 100,000+ miles then a bike with 2,000...whoever owns the 100K bike clearly took care of it!

 

i would agree with the miles Vs taking care of it idea. most people that go for road trips on the bike can (somewhat) take care of them too.
that being said, there isnt a whole lot that can go on a bike.
go talk to the 2nd guy and try to gauge his knowlage of bikes and see what kind of work he has done to it.
from my personal exprince, that amount of stickers either means someone that likes to race/push it from time to time OR someone that is on the road a lot.
could be either or both, but a 10 min converastion with someone will tell you this anyway.
if you show up to his house and he has a totally empty garage with almost no tools to work on this stuff than you kind of know.
or if he has no clue how to bleed the brakes or what kind of filter to put on the bike... ya there are lots of questions you can ask to see how well they know the bike and how well they took care of it.

unless they havent put those miles on the bike them selfs in which case, i wouldnt know about it as you are getting your info 2nd hand.


as for the 1st bike, if you know your friend and know he took care of it well, go with that, specially as your 1st bike.
i know most people (including my self) have had at least one crash/drop/dump/what ever in the 1st year or two of owning a bike, so a more 'beat up' bike wont hurt as bad as a brand new bike.

if all you need is a new battery, its not a bad go. clutch can sometimes be easy if all you are replacing are the plates/disks in there, if you have to a whole work it can be a bit more work. i had a 6 plate/disk one in my prev bike and it took my friend and i around two hours to change it, with lots of you tube and google help. if you have done it before, it will be much faster.

and about farings, you can buy a whole new kit, or spend a weekend with bondo and sand and repair it, and paint it any color you want.

most areas dont care if you change the color of your bike as long as you report the changes, so if you want to go from black to fire red or deep blue or lime green or banana yellow or what ever, just do it up and spend a few min to change the paperwork over.

 

You don't think the bike that has only a few fairings and is covered in gashes and duct tape hasn't hit the ground a few times?

It could also be that the guy likes stickers...if he had hit the ground I feel like there would be scratches on the clutch/stator cover, if he replaced the cover then he probably would have replaced the fairing as well. The stickers aren't randomly placed, they look to be in a reasonable pattern, I wouldn't be worried about them at all.

Just my $0.02.

 

Wow, first off, thanks for all of the quality information and advice!

The extended story on the fist bike is that my buddy is buying my crf250r for a really good price (for me, that is) so I was going to buy his bike once he gets his brand spankin' new bike. I figured that I'd get a few things, like a choke cable, clutch cable, battery, clutch, etc - little things that it could use, and then by end/mid summer get some new fairings and I could be into it $2000 - $2200 including a nice set of gear. The bike also has a d&d full exhaust, and the carbs are jetted spot on. Mechanically - the bike is great. He just went through the engine, replaced all the bearings in the engine, and replaced the (I think) shift linkage. Like I said earlier, the battery is too small for the bike so it doesn't hold a charge, but if you jump it and get it running - it runs VERY nice. Revs hard, responds quick, it's powerful, and shifts good. My buddy is a mechanic, so he takes pretty good care of the bike. My GoPro was on the tank when I rode the bike, so ill put the vid up later.

The second bike: I emailed the seller last night, and still have no response. I thought that $3000 might be a little steep for an 04 with 137k miles, but you all seem to think its alright if it's up to date on maintenance, which is good to know. Also, it doesn't have to be this exact bike, but I was wondering if you guys would think I'd be better off with a cheaper bike like the f2, or getting a little more cash and buying an RR or f4i. I really appreciate all of the input, thanks again!

 

I think cchristanis might have thought the HUGH price difference was between $3000 and the possible typo of 13k, where 13k was actually the possible mileage and not $13k, I thought you meant $13k as well as first until I read it over again, what ever bike you go for, stay safe on the roads dude & keep her between the hedges ;-)

 

This is one of those rare buying situations. Usually people know how much they want to spend. You don't think $2200 is a big price difference? In my opinion, it is. Especially for a young person (which the buyer looks like)who is in school or doesn't have much money. If you do have the $, why would you even look at the first one? Why get hamburger when you can have steak? The second one is high on miles if that is not a typo. I would prefer something with less mileage. But, Nada shows it as $3800/$5000. So it seems like it could be a good buy. A Panigale is a whole other planet.

 

I think I'm going to get the f2 and ride it around for 1-2 years, or possibly less, until i can afford a nice 2008 600rr. I was fine with riding an old crap-bike until my friend picked up this white repsol 06 600rr with only 5k miles on it for $4000...