New Rider on a 600 Sports Bike?

I had exactly the same dilemma when I passed my DAS a year ago, aged 25. Small/sensible bike first then a sports bike or straight to a sports bike ? In the end I bought a 2005 CBR600F which has been nothing but perfect. Insurance was good too, £600 fully comp (0 years no claims, garaged, in the south, £800 excess, bike value £4k).

My thoughts behind not progressing to a big bike is that you miss out on some of the fun of progressing through different bikes. If you buy a 2010 Blade as your main bike every other apart from a select few will feel less special and not as fast. It can be quite nice to slowly move up bikes to enjoy the differences.

As for big bikes getting you into more trouble that's down to your riding not the bike. Also there was a number of times when my in experience put me in bad situations that I could get out of due to the speed and handling of my bike where a CB500 would not have saved me.

Buy a 600, ride slowly to start with as it will make you faster in the long run and buy the best safety gear you can afford. Also join the IAM for motorcyclists, its not as beardy as you think :)

Oh and if you want to know your alive, persuade a dealer to let you ride an Aprilia RSV4 Factory in R mode ;)
 
Sorry to hijack but a quick question

Im 23 in a few months and am thinking about taking my bike licence ... What course do i need to do ? I will want to get a GSXR600 but will i have to have it limited for 2 years ?

Cheers

Sam
 
JamesRJ said:
You just need to do the direct access course ( DAS ) and you can ride anything ( because of you age )
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Stunning, time for a blade then ;)

jokes aside i think i would want to limit the power on a 600 for a month or 2 just to get used to riding alltho many of my friends have gone straight to a 600 without any trouble

mmm
 
Sam, don't bother limiting the power of a gsxr 600, by the time you've done your DAS on something with about 55-60 hp, you'll be ready to move up. It's not like learning to ride a 13hp 125 then getting a 100 odd hp bike. Take it easy and you'll be fine.
 
spp said:
Sam, don't bother limiting the power of a gsxr 600, by the time you've done your DAS on something with about 55-60 hp, you'll be ready to move up. It's not like learning to ride a 13hp 125 then getting a 100 odd hp bike. Take it easy and you'll be fine.
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And like someone said in a previous post, the extra power will come in handy getting you out of situations your noobness will get you into. Leave it be :)
 
Personally I wouldn't reccomend a sports 600 straight away. I started riding at 16 and have gone from a 50cc to a 125cc to a 350cc and now to a 600cc sportsbike. I realise not everybody will want to take that long to progress and if you're starting at 25 then perhaps a lower powered naked 500/600 would be a better starting bike. I know I would've been absolutely terrified of a 600 at first, even after 7 years riding my cbr600f still scares me now! At the end of the day though as long you're comfortable riding the bike you should be fine, just ride as cautiously as you can and watch out for the massive number of morons on the road who just seem to ignore you when you're on a bike!
 
I passed my DAS aged 22, bought an RF600 just before my 23rd and the insurance 3rd party fire and theft was £380.

Speed wise, it'll only go as fast as you want to ride, take it easy and get some miles under your belt before you start to commute, will give you time to get used to the bike and get confident on it.

Good luck and enjoy the grin!
 
You'll be fine if you appreciate they are quite quick, everone else is out to kill you and acknowledge that you dont always get a second chance with bike accidents. I went from a 50 to 125 to 250 to 600 to 1litre, but we didnt have DAS and all that gubbins, and i waas riding since i was 16.

I would say however that i dont know if an R6 is the best option (in terms of quality of sports bike). I know they used to be cheaper to insure than other 600s, but for example in a recent Bike & MCN test (may not have been MCN actually) the R1 was rank-bottom in the roundup of 1 litres - quite damming - compared to bikes from Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha - so i'd double check on the best 600. That said you arent going to be lapping brands in your first week of ownership i suppose.

I am biased as i'm a Honda man though (new Blade)

Good luck, and get out there.
 
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Did my CBT last Summer and have been riding a Hyosung GT125 until now - passed my DAS Tuesday :)

Riding the Hyosung definitely made the DAS a LOT easier, especially with it being a big bike for the engine size - I literally had three lessons and then went through mod 1 with no faults and mod 2 with 2 minors.
 
I'm planning to start riding this summer. I'm 25 and a complete novice. I'm in no hurry so I'm going to take things at my own speed. The plan at the moment is to do the CBT and ask the instructor if he thinks I'm capable of doing the direct access.

I have no qualms about riding a 125 for a couple of years if necessary. I don't want a bike that I'm not capable of controlling.
 
Morbius said:
I have no qualms about riding a 125 for a couple of years if necessary. I don't want a bike that I'm not capable of controlling.
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Well that's kind of the point of DAS- giving you the basic skills to control any motorcycle.

Remember the throttle works both ways- The difference between safety and danger rests with the rider and his actions, not the motorcycle.

Personally I'd rather ride a 600cc sportsbike than a 125 in any conditions, for safety as well as performance.
 
You could start on a 600, but, and this is a big but, working your way up from smaller bikes onto bigger ones I personally found one of the most enjoyable things of my life.

125>400>600 and I've still got a long way to go! :)
 
TripleT said:
It would be used for commuting 6miles a day when I feel like it and weekends.
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this is the isse - you'd knacker any modern sports bike doing such a short mileage as it's only just warmed up so you'd always be running it cold.

for commuting - something like an SV650 or GS500, but not a sports 600. too highly strung for such mundane tasks. Like using the equivilent to pop to the shops every day in your Noble lol.

on a side note - if you're responsible enough to stay in control get one. :) great fun. best fun you can have with your clothes on.
 
helpimcrap said:
this is the isse - you'd knacker any modern sports bike doing such a short mileage as it's only just warmed up so you'd always be running it cold.

for commuting - something like an SV650 or GS500, but not a sports 600. too highly strung for such mundane tasks. Like using the equivilent to pop to the shops every day in your Noble lol.

on a side note - if you're responsible enough to stay in control get one. :) great fun. best fun you can have with your clothes on.
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Har, good point crappy, I'd not thought of that before.

For my part (if we're still on this topic) I went DAS to sv650 sport. My falling off was completely unrelated to the output and simply me grabbing the brake at low speed. I also went to Germany and back about 3 weeks after passing my DAS and never felt the need to go absolutely mental. But meh, maybe in a parallel universe I died in Belgium filtering past some dutch people.
 
helpimcrap said:
this is the isse - you'd knacker any modern sports bike doing such a short mileage as it's only just warmed up so you'd always be running it cold.

for commuting - something like an SV650 or GS500, but not a sports 600. too highly strung for such mundane tasks. Like using the equivilent to pop to the shops every day in your Noble lol.
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Nah that's not true, road 600s aren't highly strung (although owners would like to think they are), at least not to the point that short trips will cause any major issues. They have thermostats after all, so they'll get up to temperature pretty quickly. Service them on the schedule, use oil that meets required standards, and don't thrash them mercilessly from cold, and any post-1980 sportsbike will handle it.
 
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