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What’s the deal? I thought we’d be seeing starry-eyed photos involving a certain green (or black, or red, or whatever) machine by now.

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I get worried because, at least at gsxr.com or gixxer.com, a new member who stops posting around the time he/she was supposed to get a new bike means one thing: they aren’t alive to post anymore. Usually it’s a first-time rider who ignores everybody’s advice and goes for the gixxer anyway…it’s terribly sad to watch. They have an entire section of the forum dedicated to RIP threads. Ugh.

It’s just one more thing that makes the dynamic on this forum so much more pleasant.

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…but there is no “wuss mode” on any gsx-r. They are what they are, period.

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As briderdt said, the pass button adds in high beams while pressed.

S-DMS (drive mode selector) is a system that allows three different throttle response mappings. What that means is that it changes the way that your cranking the throttle affects the amount of fuel/air mixture input to the engine. It breaks down like this:

A – Full-on power

B – Slightly lower power until full-throttle, at which point it’s the same as A. This is supposedly for race launches and rainy situations where too much power is a typical problem.

C – Significantly reduced power (about 35% reduction) at all throttle levels. This lowers HORSEPOWER to that just over an SV650.

What you have to remember is that this changes one thing, and one thing only: horsepower available at a particular point. It doesn’t change the way the engine responds. It doesn’t get rid of crazy acceleration once you hit the power band. And no mode stops you from getting to 60mph faster than a Porsche. A GSX-R in C mode is NOT an SV650, not based on engine response, controls, riding posture, or handling.

One other thing: make sure to include -R, as Suzuki has made other GSX models (including the current GSX650F).

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And vote no. Just like I think we’re ok with somebody starting on an SV650 SOMETIMES, I think SOMEBODY might be well-suited to this bike. As I’ve said before, however, the hardest thing to manage about the GSX-Rs is not their power. In fact, I find the throttle on mine to be the easiest control to tame. Granted, without basic motorcycle skills, this would not be the case, and there is no doubt that power yields accidents for many beginners. Moreover, the capabilities that a sport bike has tend to attract the more reckless riders, yielding more accidents still.

That said, I personally find the difficult part of race bikes to be the riding position, suspension, clutch, brakes, handling, top-heaviness, etc. They all conspire to make it difficult to ride IF you haven’t completely cemented in the fundamentals of sport-biking and if you don’t have confidence in your abilities. In particular, if you don’t have decently strong legs and back muscles and aren’t consciously trying to keep weight off your arms while riding, you will have a great deal of trouble getting the bike to do what you want, both in terms of throttle and steering inputs.

Put more generally, most sportbikes are incredibly responsive to your every input. What this means for beginners is that they punish mistakes more than any other type of bike.

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Here’s my drool list:

Sport: Honda ‘Blade, Yamaha R1, Duc 1098R, Bimota DB7

Streetfighter: Triumph Speed Triple (or Street Triple R as a lesser substitute), KTM SuperDuke, maybe Duc Streetfighter

That’s not to say I wouldn’t branch out and go for some other types of motorcycles as well, but at the moment I just don’t know much about them so I can’t claim to want any of them.

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Definitely worth a read. Thanks!

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My advice:

1) Everybody “swears” it was just a moving accident. Truth is it’s usually a beginner crash. Of all the bikes to accidentally drop, an experienced motorcycle dealer shouldn’t be dropping a mere 250R. Period. The thing is feather-light.

2) 940 miles on the dial means the sucker hasn’t even been broken in all the way! If it was taken care of, it should be a brand new bike.

3) Take a trusted mechanic (preferably a close friend, and not just a gearhead…a mechanic) with you to inspect the bike before you buy it. If he finds anything wrong with it that’s not easily fixable, or that suggests the bike was abused, bail.

4) $3000 OTD for an ’08 could be pretty good or not so good depending on how you look at it. It’s got 940 miles under its belt, so mechanically speaking it could be as good as new. The ’08 listed at $3,499, so out the door, you’d probably be looking at around $4,500 depending on local taxes and fees. On the other hand, the fairing has to be replaced and that’s $200-600 right there, depending on the damage. That suggests that other parts may be damaged as well, which should take some off the price. Also, unlike a new bike, it doesn’t come with a warranty or the assurance that it’s fresh off the mint, so that should bring the price down as well. In the end, I’d say you’d probably want to offer a bunch less (no less than $2,500), but that if it all works out and you think it’s sound, $3,000 isn’t a bad deal at all.

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But I have been told by several people that the break-in oil needs to be removed after 600 miles, hence the oil change.

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As Zep noted, Alpinestars is NOT a cheap brand at all. In fact, they are just about the most expensive brand after Dainese. Both produce imported top-quality Italian gear. They do have “cheaper” products in their product line, but they’re only cheap until you realize that they are less feature-rich than equivalently-priced options from other companies.

I own some A-stars gear and it is pretty-damn top-notch. You absolutely do not need this when you first start out though. As with the bike, start with “good enough.” Nothing would suck more than to spend $500 on a kick-ass Italian leather jacket and have it ripped up in a noob parking lot crash.

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You know the facts. You know that more marines die on motorcycles than in battle in Iraq. You know how many people hurt themselves on bikes they’re too macho to pass up but to squidish to keep on the road.

Especially if you’re willing to get a beginner bike for a while, I totally support you taking advantage of a good deal while you can. Spending a few thousand miles on a beginner bike will teach you great throttle control, and you’ll move to your beast with a lot of the difficult riding skills already under your belt to some degree.

No doubt you’re a tough guy. You’re probably very fit, you can take pain, and you have (or think you have) a will of steel. Just keep your confidence in your own abilities in check. Take it slow. Practice like crazy. And most of all, don’t let the pressures (or the ridiculous zoom-zoom under your butt) get you doing things you’re not ready to do.

Have fun on that thing, mate. Looks like a sweet bike!

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I’m in your camp, Eon. Every year I end up upgrading my gear to be hotter, stuffier, more constricting…oops…errr…I mean safer gear! No, seriously though. I started out wearing a helmet, textile jacket, gloves, jeans, and work boots. Now I wear a minimum of a leather jacket, back protector, full gauntlets, leather pants, hip/coccyx armor, and fully-armored sport boots any time I’m going to be on the bike for more than 10 minutes. Sometimes I rock the full leather suit. It’s a lot of work getting in and out of all that gear, and damn it can be hot at a summer stop light, but the feeling I think Ben described of “feeling safe enough in your gear to sprint down a gravel road and launch yourself headfirst into the ground” is simply irreplaceable. Solid gear for the win!

There’s that one problem with really good gear though. It’s damn spendy.

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Make sure you’re in a sufficiently low gear for the incline and the speed. I’ve been able to go up 30-degree inclines with a (light) passenger on the Ninja without feeling like the bike was struggling.

Again, this has to do with the “right” powerband. If you’re really worried, try to get the bike in a gear where you are in the 7k-10k rpm range while on the hill. It shouldn’t have a problem.

As for the feeling of falling backwards, your posture and distribution of body weight can help a lot. Scoot your butt forward towards the tank, grip it with your knees and lean forward, moving your upper body over the front wheel. As always, be smooth on the throttle. If you ever sense the bike starting to wheelie (which it shouldn’t), a smidgen of gentle rear brake will keep the nose down.

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My “summer” boots are white and vented and it makes a huge difference from gore-tex-lined black leather boots I normally wear during the fall/winter.

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…did you say “cheap Shoei”?

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