I know a lot of people are not gonna agree with me, but who cares. I keep seeing more and more people wanting race replica (gsxr, cbr, yzf) bikes for their first bike. I'm sure i'm not the only person that thinks this is a bad idea, even if it is only a 600. Those 600RR's are built for racing on a track, not for someone who has never ridden before to jump on and go 150 down the freeway.

I remember learning to ride on many small bikes, mostly 250's and 125's, and never over 50 hp. I got my ZZR knowing it was a big step for me, but also with the piece of mind of knowing it wasnt the top of the line racer available. I've been more than happy with it and am still growing on it, after 10k+ miles on the street and 1500 miles on a track.

I know from reading the posts of the people who want to know if a 600 supersport is a good beginner bike that there are plenty of people that will say that was their first bike and they are just fine. A lot of forums are full of members who dont see a problem in making a literbike or a SS 600cc bike a first bike. That inevitably leads to tragedy.

I personally think your first bike (learning bike) should be a non race replica bike less than 600, but I also know people are gonna buy what they want to begin with. These people asking if <insert popular race bike here> is a good beginner bike are basically looking for seasoned riders to tell them they are perfectly fine buying way more bike than they need since it looks cool and wins races. But why does this seem to be becoming a trend for new riders?

Ok, I just wanted to speak my mind. Go ahead and chime in with your .02. Also please post if there is anyone that regretted buying a supersport as their first bike, since i rarely hear of anybody having the huevos to admit they were over their heads.

i thought i may be over my head on a 750 but i use the fear to control my riding and make sure i pay extra attention to it. i agree fully with you Andrew but i believe maturity as a rider is a big thing too.

i was taught to alway fear your bike, not in a sense of not riding it comfortably, but knowing it can kill you waaay too easily. when you lose the fear, you lose the ability to make sensible judgements to keep you out of harms way and tend to take more risk than normal. and that's a very bad thing.

i'm doing fine but i know at least 15 riders on 600s here that are WAY over their heads, in fact last summer we had to peel a buddy of mine and his new 9r off the highway. that's not a good experience.


ride safe guys!

This thread seems to be very familiar. Like I've seen it somewhere before...oh well, maybe it's just me.

I was so damn happy to see that new Ninja 250R come out this year, words can't describe. All of those newbies who used to write up those threads that you mentioned in the first post, were now writing up threads about their new 250R's. It's actually kinda funny when you think about it. I bet if you threw some fairings on an 80cc dirtbike, you could get these people to buy it. These people, who wouldn't have considered a 250 if it was the last bike on Earth in 2007, and now it's all that they wanna talk about. The 250 section on Kawiforums has exploded, it's now probably the 2nd or 3rd most visited section on the site (behind the 07-08 6r sec., and maybe the 05-06 6r sec.). I just think that it's funny that these people only care about the plastic that's attached to the damn bike. Anyway, the redesign was a stroke of genius by kawi. And if you wanna get down to it, it saved lives.

On a side note, I saw a pic of a yamaha 125cc road bike the other day. The bike has a strong resemblance to the R1 and R6 (to be honest, it was a beautiful looking bike). I found myself hoping to see it (or a close relative of it) released in the US. I know it would sell, and it too would save lives.

Just my .02.

I recognize that bike and the poor lighting in that avatar...is that you collin? Yeah i just brought this thread over from the bad place. I needed to be said, again.

the dealership and salesman I bought my bike from told me that they are very down on the 18yr old kid with rich parents, fat bank account coming in and buying a 1000rr as their first bike. Generally they will not sell first timers anything more than a 500 or so. So they said, if it's true then +1 to their morals and not just caring about making a buck and moving their inventory. Many dealers in this town are driven only by that. they don't care at all. I've always been a little timid with throttle, especially in turns, but my latest track day helped me get over a little of that. Since I really do prefer track riding to streets, when I do ride streets, I always ride well within the limits. I agree with Kawi750r's assessment of "fear your bike" for your same reasoning.

Yeah, yeah...the lighting in my garage sucks...and so does my camera phone...It's nice to have back Andrew. I thought that the Canadian Mounties had finally caught up with you...But, I guess that you're still kickin'.

Tell me something, why haven't I seen you post up in the "your mom" thread? I figured that would be your first stop.

I saw it, but i just thought it was too easy, so i stayed out of there. I might peruse the section a bit today though, since you mentioned it.

major +1 to andrews post. i love my bike, but i've decided to get another (for the time being) and log some track time with the '7.