Hello and welcome.

If you know how to ride a bicycle and drive a manual transmission car, you're ready for the MSF course. You should immediately look for a course near you, but don't be surprised if they're booked for several months.

Compared to the 600RR, the F4i is relatively tame. But they key word is 'relatively.' Five years ago, the F4i was the state of the art racing replica bike, and it's a very capable machine, with more performance than you can sanely use on public streets, and a lot more than most riders can tap into. You can do a search of the forum and find a lot of threads about this, but it's my opinion that for safety, cost, and developing your riding skills, there are better choices for a beginner bike.

Edited to say that you should check out ebay (limit your search to local bikes ) and craigslist, and whatever your budget, keep in mind that you'll need at leastseveral hundred dollars for gear, plus your first year's insurance.

 

I still havent driven a manual in a car, learned as a kid in the arcade, 10yrs later, perfected on a F4I.

 

my suggestion for what it is worth, buy a 600cc for around $2500. reason being, if you drop it you wont be losing out on as much money as if you were to spend $6k. also when you are done with it you migt be able to get the same amount you spent on it. this is what i did.

My first bike was a 94 600f2. the guy i bought it from actually dropped it off at my house for me. when he dropped it off, my first question was how do you start it? sounded like a real idiot and the guy almost didnt sell it to me.

If i had to do it over, i would have taken the course before i bought the bike. needless to say i dropped the bike 3months later and still got $2000 for it.

take the course, buy something cheap, be safe and have fun. hold on tight cause no matter what you buy its gonna be faster than you car.

 

Hi Moe, welcome to the forum.

Lots of good info here, we're all new at one point, so stick with it.

Like you said, safety first, do the MSf class and decide on a bike after that !

Good luck,

 

MSF + 31876358971643287632592

 

Welcome to the sight and congrats on being man enough to ask these questions. A lot of people don't and endup buying something that they regret. Mannyrios was definitely not being snippy, just shocked at the questions. If I were you, by the sounds of it, I would take the MSF course before doing anything. Once you can judge your ability on a bike, I would then start considering what to purchase. When I was a youngster, I learned how to work the clutch and throttle on a 4-wheeler before ever getting on two wheels. I don't know if you have access to one, but if so, it's a great starting place.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

Werd. I took the MSF last year, and After passing ( no mistakes..beotch!) I $$ a 1975 CB 750. Its a pig-top heavy and none to fast, but dirt cheap. 500 bucks. 49000 Kms on it and it still runs sweet. You will have an answer to all your questions after you pass the course. Believe me. After I took the course I saw 4 sport bike riders going atleast 220KM/H down the freeway, all drifting. I was about to change lanes, did the side miror and rear mirror checks, thought what the hell, I ll do a shoulder check, nothing, put my sig light on did another shoulder check and shablamo. THere they went blasting by me. Knocking pylons on ther sides while driving by them ( left hand, and slowing down enough to drag there feet at the same time ) Good times.
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You should go do a LOT more reading and research before you sign up for the MSF course, it would be like going into algebra without knowing how to count.
You said you drive an eclipse right? I'm going to assume you're a junior in high school (close?), so should have basic understanding of physics and geometry, goHERE type and read every one of those articles, then write me a 10 page essay... ok I'm kidding about the last part, don't write an essay [8D]but read up on everything you can about motorcycles, and you'll be a lot better prepared when you take the MSF course.This forum is definately a good place to start, don't be put off if someone here makes fun of you, 'cus that question you asked is pretty funny

And finally, here's an answer to your question http://motorcycles.about.com/cs/begi...shiftgears.htm

 

Thanks for all the reply's.

I can see why you guys are so offensive. You just come off too strong.

I havent looked through the forum thoroughly, but I am sure you get a bunch of 18 year olds that don't know ****. 2 weeks later you'd hear about them in the news.


The MSF sounds good. I am gonna practice a lot. Read up. Etc.. Before purchasing.


I do a lot of highway driving. A person on here said thats not so good. Is that true?

 

heres a quote from my old man when we were talking about kids jumping on sportbikes with little to no experience on any motorcycles at all:

"sportbikes will do exactly what you tellit to, exactly when you tell it to, and it will do itharder andfaster than you can imagine... too bad not everyone speaks japanese"

and he was right, dont let thelights andpassenger seatfool you,all sportbikes are razor-sharp rockets,andare meant for one thing: going ***** out fast at the absolute limits of traction and speed, for winning races. though most of us don't use it for those purposes, that's what it does.

the 600s, the "slow ones" in the sportbike world, will put to shame any production car made today, it willstomp all over any number of $xxx,xxx cars you will ever see on the road.

nothing but encouragement though, read up, take all the classes you can, learnhow to ride amotorcycle first, not how to survive a sportbike, you'll thank yourself for it. with a little practice, you'll be pretty well versed in how to "talk" to your bike, and you wont run into those situations where you've broken bones (if you're lucky) because you did the wrong thing at the wrong time. be careful whatever you do, im you really want it, you'll get it. good luck.