I personally started off on a Honda CBR600 F3. You can find them for around $3-4k and you won't have to do much to em. Honda runs forever. Parts are easy to come by.

As for the riding part. The 600 lasted me a good 2+ years. I took a motor cycle safety course (highly reccomended) In fact, do that first. You use there own bikes, and if you mess up, you aren't responsable.

At first the 600 will feel like the fastest thing on the planet. You'll shift at 2,000 rpm and never take it past 6! Then after a month or so, redline almost every gear before you shift. The key is to ride within your limits. Don't ride around "squids" who want to stunt and do wheelies. Just get out there, somewhere with not so much traffic, and enjoy it for what it is worth. If you have a few friends who ride or want to, its good to have a group. In case someone goes down, gets hit, etc.

I'm still in the "OMG" phase with the R1. LOADS of power at a hair line twist of the wrist. The bike WILL come up in 1st or 2nd at wide open throttle, no effort required. The 600 will at least stay on the ground for the most part, unless you launch at higher RPM's

Just to give you an idea of speed on the 600. I personally ran it down a 1/4 mile track 11.7 @ 119mph. That was launching at 10k rpm, slipping the clutch, and keeping all my weight down on the front end. 6 speeds, topped out 6th gear 2x. Country back roads. Gauge read over 165. Not sure how accurate it is over 100 though

R1 on the other hand hits 100 in top of 2nd gear. You still got 4 to play with. :twisted:

As far as looks go, the F3 / F4i Honda models have a TON of aftermarket body farings, exhaust, lights, etc you can put on.

 

Thank you immensly. I had planned on taking a motorcycle safety class over the summer but I was under the impression that you had to provide your own bike. I guess it depends on the class, but I'm sure there's a couple around that have their own stuff. Thanks for the heads up. And hey, that Honda doesn't look so bad, either.

And your quarter mile time really put it into perspective. How fast was the 0 to 60? I'm guessing around 4 to 5 seconds, seeing has how you said you topped out sixth gear twice before hitting 1320 feet.

 

NO.. I topped out 6th in a VERY long open road.

I got into maybe 4th gear on the 1/4 mile.

Top speed was only 120 at the end of the 1/4. Thats what the slip said.

0-60? no idea. Doubt it was higher than 4 sec.

 

Do you think that it was a good idea to start off in a 600cc bike? I'm getting lots of mixed impressions. I'd take the msc before I bought a bike, but I don't want to buy something I'm not going to be able to handle. It's not going to be a highway bike, either, I'm probably just going to hope around town in it, drive to work in it on sunny days, party hop, that kind of thing. What is your opinion on starting off with the 600cc after having taken a safety class before owning it? I'm still thinking it might be a better idea to go with the 125cc ... or a 250cc if I can find one that I like.

 

Sorry for the delay. If you are going to get a smaller bike, get a dirt bike. Especially if you have placeds to ride it off road. It will teach you much more about riding than a street bike would. Plus if you fall off, it won't hurt as much

I started off on a 600, but I grew up around bikes. My grand parents still ride. I don't have one to show off, I have it to enjoy it. The 600 is more than enough power, but you have to respect it and know your limits. If you can curb yourself from doing stupid things, don't waste the money on a smaller bike.

 

I started with a smaller bike as well....but because I have been around myself for a little while :-) I knew I would not be able to control myself on a nice winding road ;-) So after trying out my bosses CBR and a buddies Kawa I opted to go the cruiser route....nice and slow.. Since I had not done a lot of riding I got a Honda 600 VLX which has since been replaced by a Shadow Sabre ACE 1100.
The 600 went on to a friends wife who is quite petite and needed a light weight bike to get confident with ;-)
As far as James Party Hopping Idea goes ......not unless you're sticking with OJ and Coke all night....booze and 2 wheels mix even less than booze with 4. I drove an Emergency Response Audi back in Germany for a few years and Thursday and Friday that was our usual fare.....not a pretty sight.

 

I also chose the slow cruiser route after several big bore kawas.Although I have modded it a bit it is still a slug compared to some of my old bikes.03 yamaha roadstar. I agree that a first time rider should find an inexpensive smaller bike to learn on and decide if motorcycles are what he wants.Some of us have been on them 20+ yrs and always have one laying around.The saftey course is an excellent idea ,I still take advanced courses every couple of years.

 

I don't drink alcohol, so that of course would not be a problem.

 

Just browsing old threads...

So James, what did you end up getting?

I bought my Suzuki SV650s a little over a year ago. Still need to take the safety course tho, it is very difficult to get in them in Wisconsin, thanks to H-D. Mine definitely has all the power I want + a shitload more, but man is it fun.

Actually crashed it once due to some mystery problem with engine/throttle. But since the rebuild it has been great, just wish it was spring so I could break it out again. Can't wait for summer when I have the heart wrenching decision, to drive the Crossfire or ride the bike to work.