- This topic has 5 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 8 months ago by CBBaron.
first time buyer looking for advice
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August 17, 2010 at 5:38 pm #4179stvn171Participant
Ive been riding since i was about 10 and im 20 now but the biggest thing ive ever ridden is a honda 250 dirt bike. Im 5’11” and 180lbs and pretty muscular, that being said im interested in buying a bike for every day riding and keep my truck for when it rains n such. Im looking at a 2008 kawasaki ninja zx10r with 1000 miles on it. Is this too much “bike” for a first bike? too many miles? any advice is appreciated
August 17, 2010 at 6:39 pm #28119JackTradeParticipantWhat sort of riding have you been doing all these years? Just dirt, or street as well?
A literbike is pretty serious business (esp. that one I’m told). Personally, I’d say it’s too big a jump in performance to go from a 250 to basically a high-end racebike with a license plate. Have you checked insurance rates? IIRC, that particular bike has some of the worst.
Would you consider something mid-level, like maybe a 650 Ninja? Plenty of real-world performance, and with your skills, you’d manage it just fine.
August 17, 2010 at 6:59 pm #28120WeaponZeroParticipantAssuming I’ve interpreted what you said about your riding experience correctly, you have approximately 10 years of dirt-only experience on a 250 dirtbike and have never ridden a street bike. Yeah, I’d say the ZX-10R is TOO much. While your experience does exempt you from the normal “start out on a 250” speech, I’d say that given your lack of street experience, you still shouldn’t rush to the top. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that you could probably safely start out on a 600 supersport, which is more than I can say for most beginners.
But realistically, unless you plan on doing track days, racetrack-focused sportbikes like the Kawasaki ZX* line of sportbikes, Honda CBR-RR series, Yamaha YZF-R series, and Suzuki GSX-R series are total wastes. You’re sacrificing a LOT of comfort and real-world rideability over something like an SV650SF for a performance edge that, for all intents and purposes, only exists on paper. Because unless you realistically see yourself doing speeds in excess of 130mph in the street (something we don’t exactly advocate around here) OR plan on hitting the track regularly, then you will NEVER find yourself in a situation where the tradeoffs you make in choosing a track-oriented supersport over a more street-oriented sportbike (such as the Suzuki SV series or Yamaha FZ series) are worth it.
The reason why is because in the street, low-end torque and midrange (something track-oriented supersports are severely lacking in) matter MORE than top-end horsepower. That’s where you get your ability to carry speed through corners, and that’s where you get your ability to take off like a bat out of hell from a dead stop. On top of this, the riding position supersports force you into makes the bike more difficult to control at, well, REALISTIC speeds than the more upright seating position of those street-sportbikes.
So yeah. Chase your dream in choosing the bike you want, but just be sure to keep in touch enough with reality to buy the bike that’s meant for the type of riding you’re going to do. I can promise you that as long as you keep to riding in a way that still holds onto some grasp of sanity, you will have just as much fun, if not more, on a more street-oriented sportbike than on a pure repliracer.
August 18, 2010 at 3:04 am #28128JtownJJAParticipantWell written WZ! Bikes like the ZX10, GSXR1000, or CBR1000 are great to dream about, but as you said, they are not really practical for the street, and I would hate to see the bottom line of an insurance quote for one.
August 18, 2010 at 12:28 pm #28132CBBaronParticipantBikes like the ZX-10, R1 and GSXR1000 are top of the line as far as motorcycle performance goes. Unless you plan on regular track days with the bike they are just for an image not practical. Not to mention insurance costs, especially for a young male.
There are a lot of great 650cc to 1200cc bikes with alot more useable egronomics and power.
Ninja 650R, SV650, FZ600, Bandit 1200, GSX650F, Monster, etc…Craig
August 18, 2010 at 4:13 pm #28130WeaponZeroParticipantIt’s true. An SV650SF with suspension upgrades (unfortunately it needs a whole host of them to do this–not just the cookie-cutter GSXR rear shock conversion) can do anything a supersport can do in the street as long as the pace doesn’t head upwards into triple digits. And because of the torquey nature of V-twins it kicks you in the pants like a literbike even though it’s only a 650.
My personal suggestion is to buy an SV650S/SF and use the money you save over buying a supersport into upgrading the suspension. New springs, cartridge emulators, rear shock, and you’ll be able to hang with a ZX10R or ZX6R on any road that isn’t a straight.
EDIT: Honestly I think Suzuki would have a real gold mine on their hands if they came out with a version of the SV650SF that cost a few dollars more but had the suspension upgraded to, say, older generation GSXR spec with fully adjustable rear and a cartridge front. It would literally give you the best of all possible world in a streetbike. I know that I personally would be willing to pull more out of my pocket for an SV650 that came from the dealership with all of the “cookie-cutter” suspension upgrades already done at the factory. Dumping an extra $300-$400 into higher end suspension components at the engineering phase would easily give Suzuki an excuse to charge an extra $600-$700 for the bike (which I would gladly pay), and as long as they still kept the lower-end version in the lineup they would still be competing with the 650R as well.
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