Sportbikes are Not beginner Bikes | Page 12 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Sportbikes are Not beginner Bikes

I checked this thread out and decided to get a 300...the very same night of signing the documents i went too Kc in my car... I saw the SS and immediatly regreted the purchase of a 300. It hurt even more when kahuna were giving away zx6rs for 2gs more than my bike.

Next week I got my bike and the first corner I took , I S%at my pants! I went soooo wide...this bike was only 2 times more powerful than the bikes I used at RTI, yet it was eneough to scare me silly...i think I posted here thanking every one who said start with a smaller bike

2 seasons in ,I'm still learning new things on it...still trying to get tht knee down.... :)
 
I checked this thread out and decided to get a 300...the very same night of signing the documents i went too Kc in my car... I saw the SS and immediatly regreted the purchase of a 300. It hurt even more when kahuna were giving away zx6rs for 2gs more than my bike.

Next week I got my bike and the first corner I took , I S%at my pants! I went soooo wide...this bike was only 2 times more powerful than the bikes I used at RTI, yet it was eneough to scare me silly...i think I posted here thanking every one who said start with a smaller bike

2 seasons in ,I'm still learning new things on it...still trying to get tht knee down.... :)
Good thing you didn't take my reckless advice eh???? Hahahahahaha
 
Good thing you didn't take my reckless advice eh???? Hahahahahaha

Actually an SV 650 was on my mind but some ones bike was at their grandma's storage.... :p so I couldn't grab it...

If that's your goal go to the track!

OH! That I wanna do for sure...I checked out the pics of intro to track day at TMP and it looks like a tonna fun! :)
 
A good test? Ask an old grey haired biker what was one of their first motorcycles. Look at their face light up as they tell the story. Most stories I've ever heard involved a small displacement bike............Don't think I've ever run into a well seasoned rider that still rides and tells me about the super sport they picked up and rode........but maybe that's because the folks I ride with generally ride slow machines to this day???? lol
 
Hey nakkers, check out my signature. You've just met your first,
 

My first bike was a Kowasaki KZ900 (identical to the one in the picture).
She almost got away on me once or twice while I was on the learning curve but I learned very quickly to twist that throttle handle cautiously.
 
Don't regret starting with the KZ900.
I was like a kid sitting in the captains chair of the space ship Enterprise for the first few days.
I had the advantage back then of having started driving standard shift cars so the concepts of slip clutches and gearing were entrenched in my mind.
Whether a pedal on the floor or lever on the handlebar..... the principle was the same.
I had also ridden bicycles all my life and was a strong muscular boy from being raised on a farm and doing lots of farm chores like shoveling you know what ont wagons, loading and unloading bails of hay and helping dad put in miles of fencing so the weight of the big Kawy was nothing to me.
That clutch lever was my savior for the first week.
Amazingly I never dropped the bike once during the learning curve.
I earned amazing money on pipeline construction that summer so the purchase price was nothing.
Saw smaller bikes in the shop but seeing I had the money I decided on the KZ900 beast.
Dad and my older brother agreed and said "Go big or go home".
I'll never forget that day.
 
I used to race 125cc motocross competitively ~35 years ago. I was, IMHO, quite good in those days and so the mechanics of riding a motorized two-wheeled, inherently-unstable vehicle with a reasonably high power-to-weight ratio was not new to me. But then life got in the way (school, career, marriage, home/mortgage etc) and I didn't get on a bike in the ensuing three decades.

Fast forward to this last summer when the mid-life crisis bug hit. I found myself in a position to say "You know what? I'm going to get back on a bike, this time a street bike." At 47 years of age I wrote the M1 in July.

I made no assumptions about whatever skills may have remained from those dirt bike days of so long ago and enrolled in a well-regarded MSF course at a local college. Yes, it started out with the simplest "this is how you work the sidestand. this is how you walk beside your bike" sort of stuff and moved on to starting the engine, stopping the engine, being pushed around the parking lot and using the brakes, to friction zones and so on. By the end of the course you're doing panic stops and obstacle evasion etc with tons of low-speed cone work in there.

I approached this with the mindset that while I don't feel like a noob, I am. My riding at the college was great. It felt wonderful to get back on a bike (little Yamaha XT250s!) and it all came back very quickly. Still, I'm a noob and I'm taking all of these figure-8s and cone slaloms and 90-degree turns very seriously.

Some others taking the course fared poorly. Some had balance issues, were afraid of accelerating, could not shift if their lives depended on it, were slow, ran over cones, into a curb etc. Some dropped their bikes, were timid about leaning etc.

I ended up buying a CBR500R and rode that for about two months on the street, racking up a very enjoyable and educational 3500kms before trading it on an FZ8 Fazer. Others in that course -- those that didn't fail their M1X, for example, but whom were among the more timid, the less-balanced etc -- might be better served limiting themselves to a CBR250R or even a 125 and polishing their craft on that for a good long time before thinking of moving up. Perhaps one or two of them would be good to go out and get themselves a GSX-R600 and would have no issues.

My point is that there are noobs and then there are noobs. I still consider myself a noob of the former variety (especially a street-noob) and ride like I'm invisible (not invincible) and wear ATGATT etc but I feel I have the skills and confidence and maturity to handle a more substantial bike like the FZ8 with little more risk to myself than if I was on a 250R. But there are noobs of the latter variety that may never be ready for a motorcycle with more than thirty or fifty horsepower, let alone more than a hundred.

There is no one clear, unequivocal demarcation that says this bike for this individual. Just as there are teens with vast seat time in karts and lesser Formula cars now test driving for F1 teams, I've no doubt there are guys with lots of seat time on MX bikes or even road race bikes for whom a supersport would be a natural fit. Conversely, there are a lot of 50 year olds that shouldn't go anywhere near a Harley.

Statistically speaking, a SS in the hands of a young male is a bad idea. But not every young guy comes to the table with the same level of experience and maturity.
 
"There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots. But there are no old and bold pilots".

I started on a 600cc SS. Didn't go balls out until I had some experience/comfort under my belt - maybe a bit sooner.

It's not for everyone..
 
Doesn't matter what the size of the bike, you can still mess yourself up. A bigger bike just lets you do it faster.

I've never had a bike bigger than a 350 (2 stroke) . Maybe that equates to something bigger on the 4 stroke scale. Lol

Im a noob as well, even though I've owned this bike for 27 years. Noob to being back on the road. I haven't had much seat time, but I see how cagers drive now. Damn, you need eyes in the back of your head just to drive a car these days. I'm very cautious of my surroundings in a car and that translates positively for riding on two wheels.

Riding my bike gives me the sound and feel of being on something bigger. It's loud and shaky. Lol I still don't need anything bigger at this point. I would want a 4 stroke just for the reliability factor, but being a noob again a little 350 works well
 

My first bike was a Kowasaki KZ900 (identical to the one in the picture).
She almost got away on me once or twice while I was on the learning curve but I learned very quickly to twist that throttle handle cautiously.

Gorgeous bike,I still want one of these
 
I've never had a bike bigger than a 350 (2 stroke) . Maybe that equates to something bigger on the 4 stroke scale. Lol
A 350 2 stroke should be faster than a 600SS 4 stroke. Usually you can double the number to get the equivalent 4 stroke.
 
A 350 2 stroke should be faster than a 600SS 4 stroke. Usually you can double the number to get the equivalent 4 stroke.
I don't believe a rz350 two stroke is in the same league as a new 600ss, back in the day my rz would handle a mid 80's 600, first gen ninja, hurricane, fz but no way a new one, Mine had toomy pipes full port polish, lectorn carbs, reeds, lightened welded crank, they are still fun to ride though, a mid 80's 600 was about 60 to 70hp the new ones are almost 125hp I believe.
 
I don't believe a rz350 two stroke is in the same league as a new 600ss, back in the day my rz would handle a mid 80's 600, first gen ninja, hurricane, fz but no way a new one, Mine had toomy pipes full port polish, lectorn carbs, reeds, lightened welded crank, they are still fun to ride though, a mid 80's 600 was about 60 to 70hp the new ones are almost 125hp I believe.
Yeah I guess you're probably right. My 125 2 stroke makes as much power as a 250-300 4 stroke so I just extrapolated from there.
 
Just saw this by RegularCarReviews....I almost died laughing in the first 60 seconds:

[video=youtube;BglzNAML78M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BglzNAML78M[/video]
 

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