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Come on now, XRayHound…how else will everybody know you don’t have a tiny penis?

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If she wants to learn more advanced riding (not track riding mind you, but more advanced control of a cycle), I also recommend Ienatsch’s Sport Riding Techniques and Code’s Twist of the Wrist II (the though latter is a bit of work to read).

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I’m in the same camp. I did my first automotive track day in an ol’ VW Jetta, but now, like you say, I’m perfectly happy in an Evo or S4. I started my riding career on a Ninja 250, and it was a great learning experience for me. You’ll love it!

I don’t think that bike will still be around in Spring, but something similar will. Best of luck to you!

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I’m in the wrong Washington though, so I won’t be of much help to you locally. We’re all happy to help online if you have questions, however.

Good luck sorting out your job/school situation; hopefully you’ll be posting pics of your new bike come this Spring!

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Does “covered by another layer of bridge” count?

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All the same, I have so much sympathy for your position that I’ll offer you up my advice anyway!

Oddly enough I just made this post: similar post.

I’m a sportbike guy, but I’d been reading (and watching) so much about the DR-Z400sm that I test rode one and had to buy it. They’re super fun to ride, and perfect for tall guys like us. If you don’t like the styling, that’s another issue, but if that’s the case, then munch’s question about what style you are looking for needs to get answered before we can help you out.

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I’m 6’4″ myself, and as long as you’re not very large (which you aren’t at all), weight doesn’t really matter, even on small bikes. Height is really going to be your bigger issue. Now technically, even my GSX-R600 is “too small” and I definitely feel a bit cramped. The downside is that motorcycling is not really a sport that takes guys like us into consideration, so you’re just going to have to deal with the size issue on anything but a dual sport or motard bike (which I HIGHLY recommend by the way).

So, for your first bike? It all depends on what you want. If you’re NOT looking for a sports bike, I would heartily recommend the Suzuki DR-Z400sm (398cc). This thing is a BLAST to ride (yeah, I’ve got one of these too), though I might recommend dropping the rear sprocket a tooth or two to make it less torquey and give you a bit more top speed. It’s super light, agile as hell, and handles almost like a push bicycle (in the good sense, not the bad). You won’t be scared at all to try crazy maneuvers (not wheelies, mind you, but more the “ooh I bet I could make that tight u-turn between those parked cars” kind of thing), and if you do drop it, there’s little to no consequence. The bike has sliders on everything (front/rear axle sliders, peg sliders), and if you get the obligatory-for-this-bike handguards:

…those will protect your levers and bar-ends from further damage in a drop. Really I can’t say enough good stuff about this bike. While you won’t be going over 90 mph on this thing without some modification, you will absolutely love riding at any speeds below that.

Now if you don’t dig this particular style of bike, just say so and I can suggest alternatives. I would, however, really encourage you to stay at 500cc or less for your first bike unless you have amazingly good reasons to do otherwise.

Cheers, and welcome to the forum

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…you need to spend EXTRA time doing slow-speed maneuvers. Those bikes are NOT made for that at all, and of all the bikes I’ve ridden (just about everything with the exception of 650+ lbs cruisers), sportbikes are BY FAR the hardest to get slow tight turns down, in part because 1st gear is geared for an 80mph redline. I thought my starter Ninja 250R was easy to ride in comparison, but I just got a DR-Z400sm and that makes the Ninja seem hard to ride. In relation, my gixxer is really uncooperative in, say, that figure-8 u-turn box drill. The consequences of messing up are way worse too.

With respect to your question, however, I absolutely had the same problem…stuck around for a while too. I could nail skill X in the parking lot, but when it came to use it on the road, I’d freak out and mess it up somehow. I found that my best bet was to figure out the one big issue that was in my way and devote all my focus to not doing that one bad thing. For instance, when doing left-hand full-lock u-turns, I used to start to accidentally let the clutch out as the left handlebar came in, speeding the bike up and pulling it out of the turn, causing me to go wide. If I focused all my attention on that one thing when nervous on the street, the other things would usually take care of themselves and I’d manage to avoid running into things, albeit with a slightly elevated heart rate.

On the issue of slow-speed maneuvers and starting from a standstill, my best advice on a bike like yours is use more clutch slip and less throttle. Especially if you come from the dry-clutch automotive world, you probably worry too much about burning your clutch. You don’t need to. Even on a sportbike it’ll be a wet clutch (unless you bought a Ducati…but you didn’t). As you start to inch forward, slowly let the clutch out (I mean SLOWLY) without giving it more gas; keep neutral throttle. Once the clutch is out, slowly add more throttle. You’ll figure out how to speed that up with practice.

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Funny ain’t it? I didn’t even have a choice. They only had black and white The white one was a change of pace.

And yes. Fun…as…hell…

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I was told that most high-performance track tires won’t get up to operating temp (which tends to be higher the more grip the tire offers) even on hot days if they aren’t ridden hard enough. That’s why they’re not recommended to slower riders (read: me) despite theoretically having better grip at operating temp. Have I heard wrong?

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Apart from greater performance gains, is there a reason you’re so insistent on a full system? Also, do you find the Ti (if that is what you have) to be on the loud side, or still within reason?

Finally, I imagine that changing the rear sprocket is fairly straightforward. Is there anything in particular to look for when selecting a replacement product?

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I was really sad to see Erik’s dreams get crushed earlier, and I’m glad to see he’s mustered up the guns to have another go. It is pretty F’d up that he has to license his own technology from HD, but I guess that’s business as usual.

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It’s funny. People have wildly different views on this, but I personally will have days where I don’t get squat done. It just wasn’t in the cards. I will always make up for it, but on certain days I just can’t put myself into task X. I HATE having to pretend for others’ sake, and I don’t envy you…hope the weather stays nice long enough for you to catch a ride later!

I haven’t had my bike for 24 hours yet, so I can’t say too much. Other than cosmetic changes, I notice she has aftermarket bars, front brake rotor, full exhaust, and I can’t tell, but she may also have modified or replaced her forks. The real trick with these bikes, however, is to make two basic mods: the “3×3 mod” and a re-jet, neither of which can be seen from the outside. The 3×3 mod essentially is just you taking a saw to the airbox’s intake hole. 3×3 refers to 3″ by 3″ hole; you enlarge it to allow more air flow into the airbox, which, combined with proper carb jetting, gives you a remarkable performance boost (supposedly). I’ll have to try it. Here’s a short vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtKWbs0N5lo

Kinda cool to watch even if you won’t own that bike ever. Another very common mod people seem to do with their DR-Zs is a big bore kit, usually bumping up to around 450cc or so. (A “big bore kit,” for those that don’t know, is basically just a modification to bore out the existing engine for greater displacement, but also requires that you get new cylinder heads to match the new diameter of each cylinder.). Even with all these mods, however, I don’t think many people get their DR-Zs higher than around 45hp on average or 60hp in extreme cases (i.e. with $15K worth of mods). The stock HP is around 35 (I think that’s measured at the crank, not at the wheels). In any case, even then you don’t begin to approach the 105+hp of a 600cc sportbike, though you do get pretty close to the 75hp or so of a 650cc twin like the SV650. Especially given that the DR-Z has almost 100 lbs on the SV, that 60hp might feel about the same.

Oh and also I forgot to mention that there’re fairly cheap (less than $200) aftermarket gas tanks that double the capacity of the stock tank, so if that was your only concern, Eon, you can definitely get around that. I’d imagine though that, like you said, you were looking to put bags on your next bike and make it a tourer, in which case the DR-Z is obviously not a great choice.

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I couldn’t. I wasn’t planning on jumping on the DR-Z so soon, and wasn’t ready to unload the Ninja yet. As much as I’m ready to move to a different bike, there’s a surprising amount of sentimental attachment to that little Ninja still lingering around. I still need to make a few videos as promised, so I’ll probably have it at least a few months after I graduate (so probably at least another 5-6 months from now).

I don’t know how she got it to even approach a 600cc bike, at least a sportbike anyway. It definitely has a lot of kick due to its low gearing and torquey little engine, and with 150ccs (more) and almost 100 lbs (less) on the Ninja, it’s definitely a big step up in low-end acceleration in the beginner bike department, but it’s still a 400cc single-cylinder machine. And yes, I sincerely hope I do get the chance to go riding today…better finish up my work so I can catch a block of rain-free time.

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The new Versys is WAY better looking than the old one. That definitely looks like a great touring bike: many of the pros of a sportbike, but with softer ride, much more relaxed riding position, and a lot less fairing. I’m a fan.

Looking forward to seeing pics from you in the future…hopefully not too far

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