Good UK Bike community sites?

[Romanov]

The insurance on a CBR is quite high though dont see any reason why this would be but it is, I was looking at a Kwak 636 as well a 2003 model these seem cool I see what youre saying about working your way up but then thats why I was asking theres 2 oppinions here and they are about equal atm.

Opp 1: Buy the bike you want but ride it to your limits not the bikes
Opp 2: Work your way up slowly and get used to each bike in turn.

Opp 1 has been said by very experienced riders the oppinion being that its not the bike that kills its the person riding it, if youre new to biking then realise that fact and dont push it be careful and go slow. They suggest that what happens is a new rider gets 1 of these and then goes for it from the off believing they are an expert once theyve passed the test. Ive seen this alot as well IM 32 with kids so the last thing Im gonna do is risk it at all.

Although I d like to workmy way up the ladder I dont have the sort of money where I can do this so I need to set me sights on something good but rideable so Ill look at Honda again but does anyone know what a Kwak 636 is like to ride?

[Romanov]

btw alotof peole have said that about the GSXR 600 so thats soff the list I think for the moment

[Devilbod]

Don't know about the kwak, but did you try Honda for insurance apparently there very cheap.

So your basically looking for a sports 600





I would probably go with the CBR, not too sure about the Kwak and the R6 is too much of a beast, the Daytona is very tempting but money might be an issue.

Of course if money is NO issue...

[RVF500]

Started riding at the same time as you Romanov, and have kids too so I can relate. Been at it for 10 years now (I know....old git) and it's every bit as good as it was then.

Would have to disagree with Devilbod's ultimate though. Personally I would jump on the Aprilia RSV Mille R Factory. But then having owned an RSV fro 5 years (sadly no longer) I'm a bit biased.

[Romanov]

*drool* some day Ill grow up but for now that Honda is just looking ace aprilla is way out of my league and daytona is noce but very pricey Hondas looking like the champ fpr me .....off to Honda

[Romanov]

yeah apart from the in laws having 'coniptions' its gonedown well with the wife so im on a roll here

[RVF500]

The RSV-R Factory weighs in at about £10 500 on the road. Which is damn good considering. Plus for my money it's a better road bike than the Duc. A lot less of a dent in the wallet too. Definitely more bang for your buck.

Having ridden both a 916 and an RSV on the track there wasn't much to choose between them though at the time I'd say the Duc had the edge there Though the 'prilla had much more top end. Bearing in mind this is from a mere mortal not some professional 2 wheeled God.

Probably a few contentious lines in there so I look forward to the storm
from the Ducati camp

[Rave]

The problem with buying a fast bike is that, basically, if you're a bit careless you can arrive at a corner (or some other obstacle) much faster than you intended to. The bike might well be able to make it round, but if you're an inexperienced rider you might panic and run into a hedge, or worse, into oncoming traffic. When you see GP riders going round corners with their knee on the ground it looks smooth and easy, but when you try it for the first time it feels like you're leaning over a ridiculously long way. It takes a major brain recalibration before you realise just how fast a bike can take a corner.

Romanov, have you actually riden (or been a passenger on) a fast bike before? If not, I think you're in for a shock TBH. Think of the fastest you've ever accelerated, then double it, and you're probably still not even close to how fast a 600 will feel when you thrash it through the gears for the first time. I won't to tell you not to buy a 600 as your first bike, but if you do then I would stongly advise you, BEFORE you open the throttle more than halfway, to find a large, empty and well surfaced car park somewhere and find out just how hard you can brake and corner without crashing. I'm not suggesting you lean the bike over until the pegs scrape, obviously. Duck tape a squashed baked bean tin to the outside of your knee, hang both bum cheeks off the seat, toes on the pegs, stick your knee out and lean the bike over until your knee touches down. You'll probably have to corner at least 50% faster than you thought was possible and you'll probably still be nowhere near the limits of the bike.

What I would recommend though is starting off with something like a Honda VFR400 NC30. These go from about £1000 for a ratty one through to about £2000 for a good one, and they've basically stopped depreciating as long as you look after the bike. Ride it around for a year, get some experience, have some fun, and then sell it for pretty much what you paid for it. Then you'll be better equipped to ride the 600 and you'll have a year's experience and NCB so your insurance premium on the 600 won't be so scary. These have about 60bhp and they're still seriously quick: 0-60 in maybe 4.5s and a top speed of 130+. I rode one once and it scared the crap out of me, enough to cause me to panic and run off the track anyway.

Rich :¬)

PS Devilbod, the ZX636 in your picture is the old model. The new one is, um, a bit of a different animal.

[Romanov]

Passed me CBT So its onto my direct access now wasnt that impressed with the place i went to tho bikes were crap really rusty and the front tire felt flat over bumps, it was a kick start as well and smoked like hell so I may do it somewhere else. Bit of a shock learning to ride in the morning and then out in traffic for 3 hours in the afternoon. The instructor told me to buy a 600 but a fazer or sv something like that Im gonna have to get a second hand bike anyway as insurance goes up for same year registered bikes like u wouldnt believe!!!!

Mostly the advice is go for a 600 however after doing the test I know what u mean about arriving quickly at obstacles I even managed to do that in a 125 which was scary to say the least. The only thing I cant figure is a bandit 600 or fazer 600 have about the same perfomance as a GSXR600 0-60 etc so if they are saying go for a 600 but a bandit whats the difference?

Anyway Direct access next and thats gonna be tough

[Romanov]

biking tho is the best fun Ive had in years

[Devilbod]

Well done on the CBT and good luck for the direct access.

I can definatly recommend the Hornet (my hornet is here with a load more info on Hornets in general) in that list with the SV and the Fazer, the main difference inbetween a naked and a sports is the naked is down tuned and doesn't have all the extras and so although they look the same on paper they tend to handle a lot better, are better for traffic work (white lining and town centers) and not as powerfull i.e. they have a little drop off in the mid - high range and the gearing tends to make the top speed a little less.

They are great for starters because they dont have fairing which can cost a fortune to replace usally £300+ for bad replicas and up to £1000 for genuine stuff, everyone drops there bikes usally in a car park or at a junction and when I say drop I just mean you'll be stationary or slowing to a stop and the bike just starts to tilt, before you know it the bikes on the floor with you underneath - nothing too bad, some brusies and embarisment but the bike can take a fair beating especailly if it's covered in plastic.

As I've said they are great handling bikes, usally because of the weight which mean you can throw it about a lot easier than it's heavier cousins.
They are also the bare bones and can take a lot of punishment for over reving, clutch mess ups and generally a good thrashing. And they still have enough bite at the bottom end of things to scare you.

The other good thing is that you can tune them up after some road expereience and time, my Hornets Stage one tune (exhaust, K&N's and tuning to match) and it's more than enough to keep up with my mates with Fireblades.
Once I've got some money (a lot of money) I'm going to get 38mm Carbs, bigger sproket set and it stage 2 tuned at which point I'll probably be filling my pants full of sh^te every time I accelerate.

The thing that makes it tricky for most people to understand how fast bikes go is because they dont measure them in 0-60, some magazine used to do a standing 1/4 mile test which usally gave xx.xx secs and xxx speed but most of them dont seem to bother with that these days. At a rough guess I'd say the 0-60 of my Hornet is about the 3 secs mark.

[Romanov]

Yep its down to Hornet and SV650s which look sace a well. Do you know good places to get race fairings from though fo both bikes? Id like a race fairing for em as they look cool, I sawe a hornet with a front fairing for the lights but id like side panels as well and rear fairing too. Any ideas for the hornet?
thnx

[Romanov]

clear summary there as well the more i read it the more it makes sense the racer has been dropped from all htoughts but a tricked up pseudo racer out of a hornet would be nice

[RVF500]

I put a full fairing on my old Bandit from a company in Worthing in Sussex. Can't remember the name of the firm off the top of my head but I'll give it some thought and get back to you. Not too expensive either as I recall.

[Rave]

clear summary there as well the more i read it the more it makes sense the racer has been dropped from all htoughts but a tricked up pseudo racer out of a hornet would be nice

I can't see the point of that TBH, if you want a bike with a fairing buy a bike with one fitted as standard. If you want a sports 600 that isn't such an extreme race rep then try a Kawasaki ZZR-600, or the Honda CBR600 from a couple of years ago; they actually did two models at the time, one was the out and out race rep whereas the other had a comfier seat and (I think) slightly comfier suspension and handlebar setup etc.

The SV650 doesn't have a fully faired option but AFAIK Suzuki do their own fairing extender panels as do a bunch of aftermarket people. That wouldn't be such a silly idea.

Rich :¬)

[Romanov]

Id love to but insurance is the killer for anything with a racing look over £800 on most bikes for me as a new rider Even with 1 NCB its terrible the hornet and sv come in much cheaper but yes I like the SV and side panels etc do come as standard from Suzuki or aftermarkets peeps, fully comp for SV is £404 a year which is a huge difference to £800.