Motorcycle - what to get?

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Soldato
Joined
28 Feb 2006
Posts
5,196
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No longer riding an Italian
Need some help fellas, I'm a little unsure what I actually want to get now - doh!

I was looking at the Honda CBR600RR originally, but I have heard, well, read, that it is 'slappy' on the road and doesn't have much low-down grunt.
Now I'm not at all clued up on bikes, so I have no idea what this means, but most comments seem to be about poor (ish) 'urban' performance.


Anyway I have started looking at other makes, and I am serously considering the following:

Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 636
Suzuki GSX-R600 (2004-2005 version)
Suzuki GSX-R750 (again the 2004-2005 version)

I have been looking at autotrader and the local George white, and I think I can get a ZX-6R or Gixxer 600 for around £4,000-£4,500, the 750 is closer to £5,000 - both within my budget.

The insurance on the 600 is just over a grand (fully comp), and the 750 is a touch over 1500 (again f/c), not checked the 636 yet, but these quotes have all been online; and whilst acceptable, I may get a better deal when I start shopping around and calling them.

What I am looking for is opinions on the above bikes, including the CBR600RR, and any suggestions on similar bikes - ideally the same price range, style, performance etc.

Any help is appreciated :)

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either gsxr out of that list, there better handling than the the others. However I do believe there smaller than the other two bikes, so might want to see how comfortable it is. I also think, the 600 is a better all-rounder than the 750.

Although you should throw together a streetfight :D
 
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Thanks for the reply.

I am leaning towards the Suzukis more, I love the looks and they seemed to have rave reviews.

Yeah, the 600 is tempting, not only because the insurance is £500 less, but because some of the reviews have said it is the better of the two....

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750 i quote "Best sportsbike on the road" and it gets rated that by any decent bike magazine, and its also what im going to be getting at some stage this year so nice to have someone else with one :p

Give express insurance a try on quotes for the suzuki's
 
Mohinder said:
Sportsbikes are for homos, get a proper bike! :D
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Yea if you dont get a sportsbike your only other choice is a Kwaki Z750 or Z1000 damn there almost as sexy as a gixxer 750, almost ;-) dont listen to guys like mohinder there only jealous because they cant keep up ;)
 
Those are all great bikes, but... I'm getting a "first bike" vibe here? Thing about the race-reps is that they're pretty expensive to insure, and also expensive even just to drop in a car park... Not to say that you'll definately crash, but it's fairly likely tbh, most folks will have at least a low-speed at some point in their first year. They can also encourage very bad riding, most riders I've met who can't go round corners started out on a bike with godly acceleration, and never bothered to work out how to make them turn as they can go from 20-100 in about 7 seconds, why bother?

The last thing is, if you start out on a fantastic bike, where do you go next? I started on an utter wreck, a Virago 125 :) So I had a world full of upgrade paths. But if you get bored of a 600 or 750, then you're already on an ace bike, you've got less room to expand and you'll never appreciate it if the worst bike you've ridden is a 2000-onwards 600. You need to eat bitter to taste sweet ;)

But I tell you, when you own a bike that takes nearly a minute to reach 60, you learn a lot about conserving corner speed and making good overtakes. Not that you have to start on something rubbish, there's plenty of inbetweens- Hornet 600, older race rep maybe, the entire 90s 400cc class, SV650, Z750 maybe (no modern bike i've ever met rots like the Z750 by the way, it's uncanny, but they're still fantastic machines)... CBR600s are all great, even though the old ones are wheezy by modern terms.

Apologies if I've read you wrong... If I have, then I reckon you should get a CBR600F, one of the last, and spend just a dab of cash on the suspension. Not the fastest, but they're made like tanks, much easier to live with than any of the flagships, and in the real world not much slower.
 
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Northwind said:
Apologies if I've read you wrong... If I have, then I reckon you should get a CBR600F, one of the last, and spend just a dab of cash on the suspension. Not the fastest, but they're made like tanks, much easier to live with than any of the flagships, and in the real world not much slower.
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For a first time bike these are an excellent machine pretty much unbreakable, handle well, nice turn of speed everything you want from a first bike. Recommended!
 
Well thanks for all the suggestions and info guys, really appreciated, and will keep it in mind when I choose what to get.

This will be my first bike, I passed Direct Access on the 13th, and I fully expect the insurance to be sky high – same as with my first car; but more so as the type of bikes I am looking at are group 15-16.

I may be picking a bike up this weekend if I can find something I like, but it definitely looks like I will be getting one this month for certain.

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I wouldnt get a focused sportsbike as your first bike.

Because, to be quite frank, you have no idea how to use it and to all intents and purposes are just going to potter around being very uncomfortable.

Try equity red star for insurance, they have always and still are disgustingly cheap for insurance on motorbikes. £164 fully comp for me on my firestorm this year.
 
atpbx said:
I wouldnt get a focused sportsbike as your first bike.

Because, to be quite frank, you have no idea how to use it and to all intents and purposes are just going to potter around being very uncomfortable.

Try equity red star for insurance, they have always and still are disgustingly cheap for insurance on motorbikes. £164 fully comp for me on my firestorm this year.
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Never heard of that insurer, so thanks for that, I'll give them a bell.

It’s going to be hard not to focus on a sports bike for me, I have been working towards getting one for the last few years now, and have made a lot of cuts and sacrifices to get to the point I am at today.

I’ll certainly look at other models, but to be perfectly honest with you, I really love the look of the sports bikes….

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You'll hate the look of one once you've dropped it ;)

Go buy a dirt cheap Bandit or something, ride it for a year to get some experience before you get something that costs waaaaaaay more to repair.
 
ive been in a similar position, i was looking at ducati monsters, vfr's bandits anything that was comfy to ride in a town and that could cope with a bit of motorway work. i had similar budget and ended up goin for this

bike2.jpg
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its a buell city cross 1000cc harley lump, its really torquey and revs well, service every 5000 miles at a cost of 180 its belt driven so no chain maintance, it so comfortable to ride as its quite upright but the handaling is superb as its got such a short wheelbase , theres loads of trick design there as well that makes it a joy to ride, not to mention the harley v twin soundtrack.. i do arround 80 miles everyday on it, it went in for a service the other week and they lent me a 900 bandit for the week, it was horribile!!

seriously go and have a good look and if poss a ride of the buell, it might not be the quickest or the quietest but it is by far the most fun
 
That looks very nice Jim, not my cup of tea, but might see if I can try one of those too – never know eh!

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That looks very nice Jim, not my cup of tea, but might see if I can try one of those too – never know eh!

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Try one just for the noise :p Buels are kind of like the boy racers of bikers, look and sound amazing but dont go half as well as they should :p no offence jimblowscash they are sexy :p
 
Does it have to be a sports bike? A bandit 1200 is a similar insurance group to a sports 600. They have bullet proof engine and have tons of potential if you want to add more power! Plus they will be cheaper than any of the bikes you suggested.

Just a thought.

Dave
 
Well, the sports bikes just appeal to me more, it’s what I have been planning on getting for some time now.

I won’t be commuting too far on it, a couple of miles to work in town and regular rides out at weekends/after work.

The insurance really isn’t a problem for me; I budgeted paying over £1000 when I was planning all this years ago, so having to cough that up wont be an issue for me, I have come to accept that insurance will be high.

I’m certainly going to look at other styles of bikes though, that’s for sure.

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sportsbikes nowadays are much of a muchness. all pretty much identical so just get a 600 that either matches your leathers or fits your frame best.

the RR is no more slappy than any other 600 but if anything is more stable than the others at speed.

as its your first bike, you wont be doing TT times around your local ringroad yet so i wouldnt worry about it too much, get the one you can get the best deal on.

edit -

kwaks tend to have the better midrange/engine, and hondas the all round durability and wont rust.

if you use a suzuki in winter it will rust away quickly as the coating on everything is so thin.
 
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