Quote:
Originally Posted by rhouck
How tall are you?
Especially for a new rider, being able to flat-foot a bike is a big confidence booster (and will help minimize embarrassing drops).
Sportbikes have relatively high seat heights already. IIRC, Yamaha is the highest (in all bikes for the last decade), followed by Honda, and then Kawasaki.
The newer (06+) Yamaha R6 (not the R6s, which is basically just an 05 R6) have a pretty terrible powerband for street riding. Plus they have a VERY high seat height; they would not be my first choice for a new rider. If you want Yamaha, go 03-05 R6 (or 06+ R6S); any earlier and you have to mess with carbs. You should be able to find something in the $3-4k price range at this point.
Honda redid the CBR in 07; not sure where prices are for those now though.
There is a lot to be said for buying a non-supersport bike to start, or at least buy a Ninja 250. If you are paying cash, then it is easy to buy something cheap/smaller, learn to ride, and then re-sell for likely no loss. THEN you can go buy a newer supersport.
That said, I started on a supersport bike... and was at the track and steadily improving within a few months. Plenty of people do.
Do keep in mind, as mentioned above, a modern 600 is VERY fast... and if you have never ridden before, everything will seem even faster. The danger with a supersport is that it is easy to get in over your head (e.g., get going too fast, grab too suddenly at the front brake, feel unnerved by the quick tip-in, etc.). You should buy a motorcycle because the experience is fun REGARDLESS of the bike, not just because you want to go fast  |
5'11''
and i want a bike for the performance, the raw feel, and that damn awesome sound
