Suzuki GSXR 600 K8 good beginner bike?
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oh well I don’t see why you couldn’t as long as the passenger isn’t ridiculously obese. Have you been to the dealer to look at one? or any used ones around.
It may vary slightly by year, but I think that’s the ballpark (and it includes you/passenger and all your gear).
But I’d advise not even considering carrying a passenger until you have several thousand miles experience. Bike handling is seriously impaired with a passenger.
Also, you’d want to consider how the weight is divided up. I’d be even more cautious about putting more than half your max capacity on the pillion, as it puts a disproportionate amount of weight on the rear tire and will unweight the front.
Yea, that’s why I don’t ride passengers on 3 wheelers, cant keep that front end down. kind of entertaining when the passenger tries to jump off though.
The ninja’s a hard bike for passengers for two reasons:
1) It has sport bike posture, meaning your passenger will be higher than you, and far off the back end of the bike. This severely affects the handling of the bike, more so than it would on, say, some cruiser.
2) It’s very very light. The weight of rider and passenger will about equal the weight of the bike itself, meaning that any rider or passenger error can completely destabilize the bike.
If you want to attempt it, make sure your passenger is a pro already, and start out in a parking lot until you get used to the feel. It’s pretty scary when you get going for the first time.
Hey man, you might want to consider making a new thread on the forum and…you know…explaining yourself. Don’t hijack an existing thread.
Take it from someone who has done the research, obsessed over the facts, and put in the time and effort:
DONT GET AN I-4 600cc FOR YOUR FIRST BIKE
Not that you can’t ever get one, but it will provide too many unnecessary variables for a beginner street rider. For a first bike: think sub 500cc I-4’s, or cap out at 650 for the twins.Done and done
I was thinking that one could buy the 2008 GSX-R600 and then ride it around in Mode C (which I believe reduces the power to roughly that of a SV650S).
I own a K8 GSX-R600, and I got it after almost two years on a Ninja 250R. Take what I say seriously.
The GSX-R is a race bike. If you haven’t ridden a bike before, you don’t know how dramatic the difference can be. The riding posture is completely different from a “standard,” or even the Ninja 250R, though the 250R is a bit closer to the gixxer, posture-wise. You’re leaned forward in such a way that, without proper technique, it is very difficult to keep your weight off your hands, making precise steering difficult. Moreover, it’s difficult to keep your head and eyes up when your leaned forward so much if you’re busy concentrating on other things (not dying). The front brakes, dual-12-inch-rotor 4-piston calipers, are capable in some circumstances of lifting the rear wheel with a gentle tug on the brake lever from a single finger. People on this forum routinely talk about using four fingers to comfortably stop their bikes. The engines carried by bikes in this class are absurdly powerful, second only to the frantic pull of superbikes (at least in the stock arena). The clip-on bars on the GSX-R lock out several inches earlier than the Ninja 250R on both sides, meaning you have much less range of front wheel movement from lock to lock. The suspension is not set up to be friendly; it’s set up to be precise and compliant on pothole-free race tracks.
Basically what I’m trying to say is that it’s not just the crazy acceleration that makes the GSX-R a bike for experienced riders. It’s the way the bike handles. It’s the way the bike stops. It’s the way the bike’s power is made available (with a sudden hit around 9-10K rpm), and the way it’s not available in places a new rider might want it (below 6K rpm). It’s the fact that it’s crazy hard to do low-speed maneuvering on a GSX-R as compared to a Ninja 250/500/650 or SV650.
Trust me. This is not a beginner bike. This is coming from somebody who had a decently long run on a true “beginner bike” before moving up, and somebody who’s perhaps more obsessed than most about developing top-notch riding skills. If you think you care enough about riding safely to tempt your fate on a definitively dangerous bike, it’s your decision. I’d advise against it.
There have been a lot of great points made here but I would like to add by saying lets not forget, or you may not have known, that the k8 (2008-2010) GSXR 600's have all three power modes fitted to them. These are the only years of the 600's that have all 3 power modes. In Power mode "C" The bike s cut to 40% power and the throttle and power band is smoothed out. The bike is much less frightening and it becomes just fine for a beginner to start on.
This is the largest reason why my first bike (as ridiculous and stupid as it may sound) will be a K8 Gixxer 600. Another reason why is that I think that it would be smarter financially to skip the much approved and recommended "beginner" bike being a 250 or 300cc and go straight for a 600cc. I hear from many that have lost money by starting on a 250 and getting a 600 later and they all say that they "Grew out of" experience wise their 250 in only a few months and they did not think.
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