looking to upgrade
 

i currently ride an 01 yzf600. i want something a little newer, between 04-10. i think i wanna stay on the 600 size for right now. what are your guys experience, impressions, opinions of the cbr, r6, and ninja. not sure what separates the 3.

R6 is a much more track oriented bike. CBRs tend to be more street friendly. I guess the ninja is kinda an inbetweener of the two.

I had heard the r6 is a lot less forgiving if yo umake a mistake too, and a handful of years they can catch fire if you lowside. the top of the tank sticks out prety far and scrapes on the ground if the bike slides.

If you are looking at a more street friendly 600 then the way to go is the CBR f4i (not the CBR600RR). It is the most street oriented of the bunch, but can still haul ass.

Not a big fan of hondas myself, but I have to agree.

Didn't you JUST buy this bike and start riding?

Yep, it's barely been a month. http://www.twowheelfix.com/showpost....24&postcount=1

thats right. i want something more sportier looking. and a digital speedo.

so how many miles in a month have you racked up? is it still snowing up there?

YZF is a solid bike and can do many things

ever considered doing a trackday? esp. after you get some miles under your belt.

Ed, its rather nice up this way, been in the 60's and 70's quite a bit and I think may hit 80 tomorrow so there is good riding weather up in these parts.

i have racked up almost 2000 miles. i use it as a daily driver.

Honestly, I'd keep your bike. It's fast becoming a shitty time of season to buy a bike (though good time to sell)... If you can do it, the best thing to do would be to wait until the end of the season, buy the bike you want, then sell yours at the beginning of the next season. Just my $0.02.

Sounds like a good game plan.

That's bout 4 weekends for me.
8 morning rides.

I miss those days...

Any of them are going to be much more uncomfortable than your current setup for the street, with the current R6 and Zx-6r being very torturous on the wrists and back. I know a bit about the Yamahas as I have rode all of these generations.

01/02 R6 - I owned this bike. Great engine for the timeperiod. Seating position was better than current SS bikes. Carbed. Brakes were only meh...

03/04 R6 - My buddy Brett owns an 04. Better step foreward. Fuel injected. A little bit more focused seating. Much better brakes.

05 R6 - My best friend Matt owned an 05. Bigger throttle bodies, inverted forks, and 70 size front. Stiffer feel into corners.

06+ - Track bike with lights. Not worth buying for the street. :wink:


My advice would be keep the YZF600R for the season and get some good miles under you. Of the three brands you mentioned, I would say the 2005 R6 is the best Yamaha option. The 05/06 Zx-6R 636 is the best Kawasaki option. And as Derf said, the CBR F4i is probably the best street option for Honda. 01/03 had the split seat, and 04/06 had the banana seat.

when u say track bike with lights, can u elaborate on that?

The low end and midrange is almost non-exisant. Yamaha even addressed the issue in 08/09 for more midrange. You have to rev the piss out of it to get power. All the power is up top, but when you get to it... look out. It has a much lower center of gravity and the rake/trail was messed with to create a faster transitioning bike. I thought it was twitchy, but I have an old heavy bike now, so. The seating is much more racey. If you havent yet, go sit on one at a dealer and see if you can stand it for more than a half hour. I would not want to do anything more than canyon runs on it. It would be one of my last choices to commute due to the lack of useable power and seating position.

Gen 2 or 2.5 is a much better choice if going with a Yammie. :dthumb:

You need to get out more. That's one weekend for me. :D

It's a very aggressive stance bike. You are positioned not for comfort, but for speed. These bikes are designed to be run in the 10k+ rpm range. That is where they make their power, that is where the bike is happy.

The 3-7k that you see in traffic, the bike will run slow and feel slow. It won't be happy. You will then want to sell the bike and get a 1000 bike, because you will think the bike is wimpy when in reality, you aren't riding the bike correctly.

I complain about having to cross a bridge.
You don't even complain about having to cross an ocean.

I don't think he has yet to successfully fully cross an ocean. This is a challenge, Trace. I want to see some awesome pictures. LOL

I get all Giddy inside when I can run my bike above 8k Consistently, Which isnt alot around these parts...And even less with the risk of getting caught doing trip digits in a 50 or below Speed zone...So in reality My bike is usually below 6k ALOT of the time.

And everyone is right...Comfort wise a Supersport isn't ideal for commuting, With that being said. It CAN be done...Hell I rode 800 Miles on mine down into the Northern Mts of GA to meet up with Trip and a bunch of other members and when I got there I was numb from my wrists down to my feet.

And just curiously, The main reason you want a different bike is for a digital speedo? :lol

That's why I like the GS, even though I am not very fast through the corners like I could on the 600RR. I can ride in traffic and have a ball of a time.

dont forget soaking wet too ;)

no, thats just a small reason. main reason is that im looking for newer look.

you are going to start a long debate with that sort of comment. Get what you want, you are going to be the person riding it everyday, just go sit on some bikes and find out what you like the best.

Fuck digital. I love my analog shit. /debate

This. Its a bit of vanity. But only you will have to be happy with your decision. So have fun with whatever you choose.

This. I love the guages on my 500. They are one of the coolest features on the bike! :lol:

A month on a yzf and already looking for something new? Ive owned mine for over 3 years and I'm just now starting to plan for my next bike.

and yet global warming is a liberal conspiracy, lol

I had an 05 R6, and it shits all over the 06+ in terms of comfort and low-end torque.

Also Yamaha makes smoother engines than the other Jap makes. The others have noisier valvetrains, in my experience.

Ever given any thought to Supermoto?

Sportbikes can be fun on the track, and I guess look cool to young girls... But this amount of fun is pretty much illegal. Also you don't wind up with sore wrists, ass and legs from cruising it around or cutting some laps at a trackday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHJHQYvqqNk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpHC8HQyKgE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XclcbhmnF0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeUK6aOEJKo

That is the most awesome track I have ever seen....

Sure... It's a fucking torture rack... If you aren't 5'6" and weigh 130lbs, it'll be a shit bike for the street in 99 out of 100 scenarios... They don't make power worth a fuck until you wind the shit out of them and I can't say enough about the lack of comfort. I rode my buddy's '07 for a grand total of 3 min before stopping to give it back. Those sort of things would be non-issues, potentially beneficial at the track, but on the street... Fuuuuuuuuuuck that.

That said, you probably haven't logged enough miles to have that strong of an opinion either way... I know for me and my ever increasing age, comfort has become a much more significant factor in my two wheel experience.

Agreed!!

Until I got a dual sport, I had no idea how miserable I was on a sportbike.

You should try a real touring bike, dual sports aren't "comfortable" either.

I can say my current touring bike is the first bike I have ever had that I simple don't want to get rid of.

It's amazing to own bikes where you can ride 20 hours+ in one day or 10-14 hours a day for two and a half weeks straight and not even be sore from riding. :lol:

Yeah right... my bike just does everything I want it to do.

I put a nice seat on my Husky. Aside from the wind blast on the highway, it's not all that bad.

A DS just doesn't compare to a bike that is setup for doing that type of riding. Going from my DRZ to my GS was a night and day difference.

The thing with DS is that there's too much dive and squat, IMO. Also, 7K redlines FTL.

No doubt. But my DS is a hell of a lot more comfortable on road trips than a sportbike.