You know how people often ask if FZ6 is a good first bike?

[Smersh]

Hi, I've been lurking around on this forum, because it's a very friendly forum, so I figured, i'd say hi. I'm so-and-so, and I'm about to get my driver's license, do you think 2006 McLaren MP4-21 is a good first car? I have a lot of experience on my dad's lawn-mower, so I think I can handle 4 wheelers. Oh, yeah, I like Downhill biking, and i'm pretty good at it. :BLAA:

 

[Erci]

Hi, I've been lurking around on this forum, because it's a very friendly forum, so I figured, i'd say hi. I'm so-and-so, and I'm about to get my driver's license, do you think 2006 McLaren MP4-21 is a good first car? I have a lot of experience on my dad's lawn-mower, so I think I can handle 4 wheelers. Oh, yeah, I like Downhill biking, and i'm pretty good at it. :BLAA:

LMAO!!! Very good!

 

[Sycotic]

The FZ6 is my first bike. The only background I have is running dirt bikes through the streets of my neighborhood when I was a teenager. I also haven't been on a bike in over 10 years. A buddy of mine has an 06 FZ6 and it just so happens I found a nice one when I decided to search for a bike.

Everyone kept telling me that I don't want a 250 because I would get bored fast and after taking the motorcycle class, I would agree. Now I understand the power behind the bike. I have been on vacation all week and only took it out for the first time on Friday and then I only took it around around my neighborhood which I thought would be good because there is both foot and regular traffic. I did fine, got up to 35 and felt better about my bike then I did with the one I rode in class.

The next day, my buddy dragged me out into the real world, I went around town, and even hit 80 down a straight stretch, know I could have gone faster, but chose not to. Today, I ventured out by myself, did ok again....well I stalled it once at a green light, but shhhhh that's a secret.

So in my opinion, if you respect the bike and the power it has and not be a compete damn idiot on it, then yes this is a great first bike! I don't see myself getting rid of it, I already want to mod it some!

 

[Yasko]

Hi, I've been lurking around on this forum, because it's a very friendly forum, so I figured, i'd say hi. I'm so-and-so, and I'm about to get my driver's license, do you think 2006 McLaren MP4-21 is a good first car? I have a lot of experience on my dad's lawn-mower, so I think I can handle 4 wheelers. Oh, yeah, I like Downhill biking, and i'm pretty good at it. :BLAA:

That's just about right...:rof::rof::rof:

 

[TxtC27]

Hi, I've been lurking around on this forum, because it's a very friendly forum, so I figured, i'd say hi. I'm so-and-so, and I'm about to get my driver's license, do you think 2006 McLaren MP4-21 is a good first car? I have a lot of experience on my dad's lawn-mower, so I think I can handle 4 wheelers. Oh, yeah, I like Downhill biking, and i'm pretty good at it. :BLAA:

Hell, it's got so many computers, it practically drives itself. You're good.

 

[Yasko]

600cbr to ninja 300

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvswA4EYtiI]Why I downgraded from a 600 - YouTube[/ame]

 

[AngelFZ]

The dealership I got my FZ6 from did not have one but it had a blue FZ1 at the time.
I thought about getting the FZ1 instead but that thought for me did not go that far.

I had never owned a bike before, I had taken the endorsement course mid-November (I bought the FZ6 late March). Before taking the endorsement test I was riding along with my friend on a Suzuki GS500 since the summer, which actually was the bike I started learning to ride. I was extremely scared not to drop it when initially given the chance to start learning to ride on it!!!!!!

I have always respected the FZ6, as a matter of fact any bike I have ridden so far, and after a couple of years and almost 30k miles, I still believe there is plenty the FZ6 has to offer me.

In general terms, for a younger rider (teens-twenties) with no previous experience I would not recommend neither a litter bike nor a sport one as the first one.
Apart from this, if you have a well trained wrist and are responsible to take on a bigger bike, then do it at your own risk.
Otherwise, some people will simply do whatever they want to and would not listen to any advise, unfortunately many of them are proven wrong after is too late.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PosterFZ6]

600cbr to ninja 300

Why I downgraded from a 600 - YouTube

Give me a 125cc scooter and I will have more fun on it in the city than a 250cc sports bike.

Stop and go traffic is a deal breaker for me. Now I don't even bother riding my bike in the city unless I have to or i know there won't be traffic jams.

In fact my favourite and my most common time to ride my FZ6 in NYC is between 2-4am. No traffic! City lights! Just pure fun!

A 125cc scooter will have an "automatic" tranny that stop and go traffic is a breeze. Not to mention that its super small and you can literally park it anywhere and not be worried about somebody stealing it or knocking it over.

Anyway to to counter one of the arguments of the guy from the video about being able to use all 6 gears in the city.

my question is why even bother to use all 6 gears? Most of the time I use upto 4 th gear in the city. Or 3rd if I want to rev the engine higher.

Smaller bikes will always be more fun in a stop and go traffic of a city.

 

[CowtownBiomed]

FWIW, to me a "learner" is someone who has no experiance at all (IE your average 16 year old) and for them, I would say no the FZ6 is not a good starter bike.
Now, if you take someone who has driven for a few years, and has seen the types of a$$hats that are driving cages ect, but still want to learn how to ride, then sure..
Its all really a very variable thing. A 16 year old (who is mature) and has ridden dirt since he/she was 4..different story..
To each their own I guess..

 

[FZ09Bandit]

I picked my fazer over a canary yellow ninja 600 (my favorite color). I had rode my brothers ninja 250r. Fz6 just appealed more to me. I put 800 miles on it before I EVER went WOT.

I hate hearing people say "I went out and bought a busa or a zx14 for my first bike and it will smoke yours" first of all busas are the UGLIEST thing on planet earth (I rate GSXR owners up there with Honda civic owners ).

If we had a real track around here I would put money down knowing I would ride circles around them, but I don't challenge them to a race lnowing they could get themselves or me killed. Those no turning land missiles can and will kill you.

Since they have the 6r out now, that is a beginners bike. Less HP, outdated frame.


With all this being said, I will have a R1, and yes I wi ride it like a bomb between my legs for a while. That is the biggest bike I EVER need to get on LOL.

But then again I have been through the ERC &MSRC courses also. Do I wear ATGATT? No, only when I plan to do spirited riding, that is my choice and my choice alone, flame if you want =my life not yourse



My friend is actually looking to buy a 883 sportster. I let him ride mine to help get the feel of the clutch.

 

[Azrael]

I'm with marke14 on this one. I count myself a fairly competent rider and its only after 7 years of riding that I can even begin to say something like that. IMHO you have not even been tested as a rider until dire circumstances; making a hard turn and then having to correct because the rear tire starts sliding; actually going down and having the presence of mind to get your legs out from the side before it hits the ground; stopping yourself from mashing the brakes even when your brain is screaming at you to do that very thing. The list is huge and I'm not even scratching the surface.

I started riding on a 100cc, moved up to a 135cc, then a 350 cc and then to racing a R6 and now riding an FZ6. And I can guarantee that I would have been killed multiple times if I had started out on a 600cc, even though I was a fairly mature rider. Now I grant that every one of those situations were driver-controlled and none were mechanical failure, but that is exactly the problem. Testosterone and adrenalin are a potent mixture especially if you don't have the awareness and the experience to counter them. And the ability to have the trying circumstances imposed on you in a smaller capacity. Think of it as a dry-run to the real thing.

At the risk of sounding like a paranoid grandpa, I personally believe every day before I ride that everyone on the road is trying to kill me and it is my business and responsibility to use my skill to keep myself alive. I doubt I could have been this "mature" a rider and this capable unless my kinks had been straightened out on several dry-runs and almost-calamities on smaller, less powerful, lighter and hence more forgiving bikes.

Just my 2 cents. :BLAA:

 

[nsaP]

I started on a FZ6 because of all the motor size related rationalizations you always hear. I was pushing for something smaller, but dad was paying and who was I to say no when he offered his FZ6 to me so that he could get a 1?

I did the easy throttle riding. I took it slow and for the most part was fine, my only accidents have been your minor parking lot offs (and a lowside later on, but that doesn't matter now). I could ride, but I couldn't ride well.

Well my dad bought another fz6 for my sister before, but she didn't take to it as well and it ended up collecting dust. Spring last year, 2011, I decided to swap her bike for a Ninja 250, thinking it'd be much easier for her to ride and she'd pick it up again.

Well, she didn't pick it up again, but I sure did. I rode that Ninja all summer while my fz6 collected dust. It was just so easy and so forgiving, and hugely confidence inspiring. With the Fz6, a bit too much throttle out of the corner was scary. With the Ninja you could pin the throttle mid corner and it was fine, the weak motor compensating for poor throttle input. Basically everything about the bike is designed to compensate for mistakes. I was faster thru the curves the second time I rode 250 than I was on my fz6, and I only got more comfortable as I rode it more.

I never got the chance to learn the basic skills properly on the FZ6 because it was too punishing of small mistakes. The Ninja let me learn them, and now I'm a worlds better rider on the FZ6. This spring rolled around and I almost exclusively ride the FZ6. Partially because the 250 needs tires, but moreso because I can now ride my FZ6 like I ride the 250, but with the bonus of the power of the bike.

I can understand people not wanting to feel "stuck" with a 250, but honestly spending a season with one is fine, and with the improvement in my riding I saw, I suggest to everyone that they start on one. No offense to others here who started on an fz6, but every time I hear someone saying they started on a 600 and are fine, I now wonder just how much faster I could take the twisties than them on the 250...

edit: Oh, forgot about the lowside. That happened to me at the end of last season, on my FZ6 actually. I had a bit too much confidence going back to it after the season on the 250, and ended up pushing it too hard on the first backroad ride on new tires, which boosted my confidence even more. It got smacked back down when the bike slid out from me in a hairpin, but that's what lead to my bike going naked

Anyway just thought I'd share since I kind of fell into both categories of "it's too much bike" and "I started on one and 'm fine"

Fine's fine, but I'm great

 

[CowtownBiomed]

I have kept my 2 CBR125R's just for that reason too,. they are way, way, fun.
Totaly forgiving, handle like they are on rails, and stop on a dime.

And if I am so inclined, I call up a buddy and say lets go "spank" my "weebrs" no one has turned me down yet..

My oldest is 14 now, so in a few years she will learn on them too.