My dad has given up motorcycling, and has passed down his '97 Cbr600 f3 which has been sitting in the garage for a couple years to me. Since I am in the last half of rebuilding the carbs and putting the bike back together, I'm hopefully gonna be on the road sooner than later. With minimal motorcycle experience (mopeds and dirt bikes), what advice do you forum-goers have for riding a bike like this?

 

Welcome to the forum BrapChimp. I'd say have fun with it. I'm pretty well versed on the F3 carbs, so if you have any questions, don't hesitate to post'em. Pictures are great as well.

 

I would recommend that you take some form of Motorcycle training course as a starter for 10, getting comfortable with the basics in a safe environment will pay dividends when you get out on the road.
After that enjoy... but take it easy for a while and below 6k revs until your confidence grows. That F3 for its age is still a really quick bike that will do 0-60 in 3 seconds or so and top out around 150 so needs to be treated with respect.
Oh and give the tyres a check and if they are 5 years or so old, I would probably be changing them.

 

Just take your time getting to know the bike and spend some time working on low speed drills. Gets kinda boring quickly but truly does pay dividends when you need to brake or swerve quickly. Also, good gear!!! I see so many guys that corner like grandma's, rip it way too hard on the straights, and are only "protected" by cool tennis shoes, jeans, and no gloves...

 

Lace your shoes tight coz that **** goes flying if you crash!