My buddy is selling his 89' CBR600f Hurricane that he fixed up. Its in the same style as this one below

He has an asking price of $1500. I'm 21 and this would be my first bike. I've read tons of forums with riders saying starting out on a sport 600 is an awful decision because of the unforgiveness of the bike, gittery throttle and really good brakes. I was wondering if that only pertained to newer sport 600's and if an older 89' CBR600f would actually be a good starter bike?

Thanks for the responses!

 

there is no reason you cant start out on a 600. There are those that start on 1000's. But a 600 is a good starting point especially if you dont have any prior bike experience dirtbike/quad/moped.

That should also be a great bike to start on, plenty of power to have fun with when you feel confident, and itll handle nicely. Plus the face that you have no fairings to worry about damaging if you lose it, which even the best riders do.

Best advice i can give is start slow, and dont get over confident. youll get the hang of it in no time.

 

that's a GREAT bike, especially to start on. with a motorcycle like that, it's going to teach you how to ride, but it's also going to teach you how to work on bikes as well. and it's going to be easy to work on and fairly cheap to fix anything that breaks on it.

 

Thanks for the replies!
So a bike like this is different than the 600's made today? I've read bunch of threads that made "using a 600 as a beginner bike" sound like the stupidest and worst idea in the world.

 

They are definitely different than the newer model 600cc sport bikes. I bought mine as my first street bike to learn on. It's much more forgiving than the current sport bikes are, so it will be more friendly to a new rider who is likely to make mistakes while learning to ride one. It's also plenty fast and handles pretty well too so you're not likely to outgrow it too quickly.

I bought mine 4 years ago and upgraded it as I learned to ride it better.. it's fast enough and handles well enough that I'm still happy riding it. Just respect the fact that even though it's 20+ years old it's still fast enough to get into a scary situation & take it slow and you should be fine with that bike.

 

ya, there's probably about 25 hp in difference i'd say from a new 600. the power curve isn't as crazy. the rake isn't as aggressive on that bike as well.

 

I know my 1994 600 had 100HP from the factory and was top of the line when it was made. Today according to this article on wikipedia they come with 102.2HP.

A whopping 2.2HP more in 18 years. Of course todays bikes are better, better delivery of the power, better weight, brakes etc...

But I know that all my friends that were looking out for me when I started riding suggested I get a 250 and I'm glad I did. I've ridden my 600 on the street a few times and when you open it up in first gear it starts to lift the front wheel really easy. My 250 on the other hand is WAY more fun. I can take it on the roads around me and get low on the corners and open it all the way up and not really worry about the front wheel lifting.

The 250 let's you ride the bike harder than a 600 will on the street which I think translates to more fun. It also gets great MPG, you can find these bikes (2011 or 2012s) brand new for about $3,000 used with under 10,000 miles...then when you sell it get almost 100% of that back and upgrade to a 600.

And for the people who argue you can't do highways on 250s, you have no idea what you're talking about. Mine goes up to 85MPH with absolutely no problems, it just doesn't go much faster (tops around 93).

I always thought I should start on a 600 but I'm glad I listened to my friends and got the 250.

My last point is that there are countries (Australia, the UK, and many others) that do not let new riders get on 600s. They have to start on 125s or 250s by LAW.

 

I'd say its a horrible starter bike, but only because its carb'd. There are few things I hate more then carbs, and bikes have 4 of them. Otherwise its great. Only people who started out on somthing smaller then a 600 or have a complete lack of self control think 600's are a bad idea for a begginer bike.

 

The first generation 600s only have around 80 hp, and the power delivery is not like the newer FI bikes at all. I have one, and you have to be really trying hard to get the front wheel to want to lift off the ground. It will not bring the front end up under power by itself. It also has a good set of carbs on it which, when set up properly, will work just fine and shouldn't give you any issues. They just have to be tuned and synched specifically as the service manual states which not everyone has the tools to do it properly.

 

He wants too much. I started on a 700 and thought it was perfect.