Haha Kilgore, that isn't the only, or even the main reason to join for me. I'm very interested in becoming a chopper pilot for the USCG after college, but joining the reserve now would give me tuition benefits and USAA discounts!

$1,300 is doable, but cheaper would be better, I'm going to keep looking!

Wow. That's without collision! Do you have a clean record? I forgot to add , I'm with progressive too. I asked them if it was a mistake and they said as long as i answered everything honestly, that's what the rate is. It has a lot to do with age and location. I'm sure if I was in Florida , it would be more. Why would they charge you more when you can't even use the damn thing more than a few months per year. It's a bone chilling 8 degrees in this ****hole right now! I can't take it anymore!

I wouldn't say it's clean (traffic, speeding tickets), BUT they are all beyond 3 years ago and that's what most insurance companies look at.

Do you have any other vehicles? Like I mentioned, multi-vehicle, multi-policy and safety courses will drop your rates.
As for having Progressive, I also think their partnership with USAA rates a discount if you have a policy with USAA.

I have my car insurance through another company. Been with them for a long time and didn't want to bring any attention to my DWI. They don't know about it yet! It's been almost 3 years :) If I can hold off a couple more I'm set. In the class we took to get our license back, they said that companies can only raise rates for 5 years legally cause of a dwi. I just bought my bike last year and figured I would try another company just to see what the quote was.

do they classify the new 500rr as a supersport? what about the 500f? the reason i ask is because when i was looking at bikes i compared a few. a 2006 honda f4i and a 2006 honda 599 are pretty comparable bikes as far as performance and etc. but the f4i is a "supersport" and was twice as much to insure as the 599, which is classified as a "standard". both are 600cc inline 4s. one is just naked and carb'd.

when i did the online quotes, they were all way high. my local state farm agent got me numbers i can live with ($250 6/mo full coverage)

I know that online is high, an agent will be cheaper (my Progressive agent saved me $120 and I dropped from $850 to like $730 for my 2012 CBR250R), it's now down to $320 if I bought a new policy now. I figure that's because I now have riding experience. I know the 600rr is a SS, the 500R isn't as far as I know, Honda doesn't classify it as one...but I'd rather go 600rr just because eventually I'll take it to the track and such.

Scotty, I'm not positive about this but I'll hypothesize.
The SS is by nature going to cost more than the naked bike. Fairings/bodywork as you know is stupid expensive. What usually gets damaged when a SS bike gets laid over? The fairings/body work.
Though there is rarely engine damage on a bike that isn't totalled, fuel injection (and FI system components) costs more than carbs as well.

Don't forget, that while insurance companies factor in quite a few different areas, the simple value of the bike and its parts plays a BIG part in your premium. They are going to pay out more for destroyed parts on/a totalled 600cc SS bike than they would for a 599.

expanding on your hypothesis, true, fairings are the first thing to get damaged, they are also easy to replace, although at a moderate cost. a naked bike is going to have road rash type damage done to things like the aluminum frame, engine covers, etc. which can also be fixed/replaced, but not nearly as easily as a set of fairings.

a better comparison of insurance rates would probably be in the kawasaki stable. compare a ss zx6r vs a standard ninja 650. both are fully faired and similar in value.

insurance rates are composed of all kinds of data. initial cost (ss cost a little more), risk of operation (ss more likely to be raced), chance of theft (thieves love ss), etc. knowing what are the expensive triggers can help you find the potential loops holes. i found one of those with my car insurance when i was younger. my insurance company tagged me as high risk, only because i was under 21. i found out from my agent that the "high risk" rate would only apply to my primary vehicle, which at the time was a 2 year old truck. needless to say, i was paying 1200+ for 6 mo of full coverage. so i added a second vehicle, and had it listed as my primary vehicle. it was a 15 year old truck worth very little. but with the second vehicle added, my 6mo rate dropped to $800. so its all about finding the loop holes and exploiting the system.

when my insurance company sent me a letter asking how i used my bike, i filled out the form saying i didnt ride to work/school, no more than 2k miles a year, parked inside a garage, etc trying to indicate it is a low risk.