I dont know of anyone that can ride a 600 to its limits lol.

I tend to steer beginners away from large cc bikes, I generally suggest a 250 to start on. I dont believe in the 'I will out grow it BS!!' only speed freaks bark that bs. Real riders enjoy riding, they dont have to be able to go 140mph+ to do it.

Start small, learn, move up as you learn, just like you did with bicycles!

 

No offense - but the upgrade in sizing on bicycles is typically due to the rapidly growing young rider needing something that fits their physical dimensions.

I don't understand why manufacturers can't add some sort of power limiter to these bikes. Heck a throttle-stop screw or something that can be backed out by the owner as they feel they are ready.

 

My fathers been riding for 35+ years, does that count? He rode it home today, said it rode better than my friends 600, and he felt it was much more stable than my friends 600.

I rode it around for about 3-4 hours today. It seems you need to kind of 'fight' the handle bars in the turns when counter-steering while my friends 600 GSXR's handle bars felt like they were "floating" and you could do whatever you wanted to. This causes my turns at a slower speed to be slower than usual, however, the thing turns great around moderate speed curves.

Gonna go out Monday and buy a set of gloves. Got to know the clutch pretty well today (for starting from a stop) but definitely would like the better grip with a pair of gloves on. My hands tend to get sweaty a lot which led to a few stalls for not wanting to twist the throttle too much.

Besides the difference with the handling of the bikes, I personally couldn't tell I was riding anything bigger than my friends 600. Yeah, it sits higher but I am 6' 1" so that didn't bother me. He cranks his 600 much more than I will ever crank my 900, as I've said .. in it to cruise, not speed.

adrenaln, you are right. I wish there was some limiter that the owner can set. The 600 as a bike felt too small, the 900 fits my body well but would be nice to have the capability to limit the amount of torque the engine puts out. Such is life I suppose .. can't have the best of both worlds. ^_^


** On a side note, I had been thinking of buying a 2001 Honda Shadow 1100 as my first bike .. I like to cruise; cruisers.. but, all my friends have rockets so I followed suite.

** Another side note, why do people think laying down a bike is inevitable? Maybe my father is superman and I shouldn't use him as a role model, but he never dropped a single bike since he's been riding at 16.

 

No, it's not inevitable, nothing is (except death and taxes). I think the point is that telling yourself it WILL inevitably happen to you sometime is a better attitude to riding than telling yourself it definitely won't, or more generally thinking that rules are for lesser mortals.

You do sound like a sensible chap though and I'm sure there are thousands of riders who have started on a big sports bike and been safe. I hope you'll be one of them. By the way, don't think of your dad as Superman; I'm sure he didn't keep the shiny side up all these years by thinking that.

 

Your dad n others like him are 1 out of a million. 99% of riders drop their bikes, most crash within the first six months. Having the attitude that you will go down eventually n being as prepared as you can be for it is the smart thing. Yes one can learn to ride on a larger bike, but it will take most larger to do so when compared to those who start small. How do you think Rossi, Hayden, Bostrom etc started out?? its not inevitable that you will go down, but the odds are against youn and you have the deck stacked against you now too. Good luck tho n welcome to the addiction.

 

I'm here to beat the odds fellas

It definitely is an addiction. Not sure I drove my goat this much the first day I bought it as I have my bike. Such a joy !

I'll keep you guys posted throughout the months on my riding and how it turns out. Sadly, it seems the end of the season is right around the corner here in this wonderful state of NY. I hope to move south to SC in a couple of years, mainly due to my hobby of cars & now motorcycles. Sucks when I have to store both my car & bike for basically half a year in NY.

Here are more pictures I took yesterday ..



My friend on my bike..

 

Awesome bike. Just take it VERY EASY. MY 2cents. Welcome to the forums.

 

I dig the bike, but while everyone else is putting their 2cents in about learning on a 900. I gotta say that the yellow is fine, but there's one piece on the bike that kinda sticks out to me - the yellow cover on the swingarm side of the rear. I dunno what it is, just seems like it's either too much in that spot, or something - I think the chrome treatment there, or even white to match the plastics would look smoother.

Purely an aesthetic thing though - enjoy the ride. Why is your season almost done - temps and weather already?

I dig the GTO too, fun cars. RIP Pontiac.

 

Yeah the GTO was the play toy till I got the bike. Now the goat is on the back burner. (It has an intake, headers..no cats, exhaust and some other work done to it). Very loud

Well, there is probably about another 3 months of riding .. just, I hate NY because I gotta store my toys for half the year. x_x

 

Well guys, a quick update. I have now put over 450 miles on the bike in less than 1 week of owning it. Have loved every second of it! There are a few issues with the bike that have come up within those miles like..

- Doesn't always go into second .. sometimes it'll just go into Neutral
- Steering still seems stiff .. like you need to fit it to stay straight/counter steer in turns
- Chain seems to have gone loose
- Speedometer cluster was pushing up against the windscreen and cracked it
- Few weird noises while riding. Looking into it this weekend

I don't regret getting the 900RR at all. An absolutely fantastic bike and have been able to control the power very easily. I am grateful every second I get out on the road, it is something that not everybody experiences in this world during their lifetime, and am honored I have this opportunity to ride.