First Experience on a liter bike.

My buddy and and I were out riding some on/off ramps (that's about the only place to catch good corners here in KC) the other day. After a few laps around our favorite spot we swithced for a few laps. He's got an 04' R1 and I was a little intimidated by it at first. But the agreement is if I crash his bike he gets mine and vice versa. Anyway I took it easy in the corners in 3rd gear so as not to spin up the rear but in the straights. HOLY *** That bike is wicked fast. It's got so much more power than my R6. I thought I'd share what I learned from that with the new riders on the forum. A liter bike for a first bike is a bad idea!!! It was fun but it can easily get away from you. So be safe and be smart.  

So what rpm did you take it to?  Just curious as the newer R1s are supposed to be a little soft in the mid range compared to the other liter bikes.  I haven't ridden one, but all of the magazines (printed and online) talk about it...  And then they are as fast as anything on top.  Maybe the best looking liter bike though.    I almost bought a 2005 in Shift Red.    Love that color.  

Every time I pull the trigger on my 10R, I wonder if a liter bike is ever a good idea....  2nd?, 3rd?, 4th?, 5th bike?....  The extra torque and mid range is fun, but the top end is extreme.  Scary fast...  I keep toying with the idea of getting a 675.  But bikes from the big 4 don't hold their value and I am not ready to take a bath on trade, or selling out right...

You can probably find dyno charts on this site, but all the liter bikes make more power by 7000 rpm (or maybe 8000 rpm) than the 600s make anywhere.  And 600s are not toys or beginner bikes.  They are very quick and very fast in their own right.



Chris  

Stop it, you're making me horny.

I know a guy that works at the same place I do that just bought a leftover 2005 R1. First street bike. He doesn't ride it very much, though. He hasn't let me ride it yet. I guess he's worried that a guy with about 10 collective years on bikes, from 125s to Goldwings, the last year on a sportbike, is going to crash his R1. I don't know.
I just hope I get to ride it before he wrecks it.

Some people are funny about thier bikes. I don't know why. I hadn't had my Speed Triple more than a couple of days before I was giving all my buddies a turn on it. I guess I'm just a nice guy....  

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I guess I'm just a nice guy....

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Naaw; that's not it.    

I didn't really look down at the tach in the corners but I had to glance down in the straights just to see what it said. I took it about 12-13K up the tach. I know I didn't ride it to it's full potential but it was enough for me to decide that an R1 is going to be my next bike. I don't let just anybody ride my bike. I learned that when a friend of mine let someone else ride his brand new CBR and less than 30 minutes later it was totaled but with collateral boasting the badge of R1 I'll let you ride my bike.  

i've ridden Mladin's leftover Yoshimura Suzuki GSXR750 SRAD superbike 4years ago on my last trackday, it handled like a 250cc machine but what spooked me was the power delivery i was literally leaving R1's on the main stretch it was WILD!!! a rich guy here bought it from there & shipped it back home & used it to win the National Superbike title, the competition was literally blown away.

the biggest bike i have ever ridden though is a ZZR1100, coming off from supersport 400's to an 1100cc bike comes at quite a shock, much more than the GSXR spooked, the ZZR1100 had a certification sticker in japanese that states this bike has acheived a real top speed of 320kmh.   i shrugged it off at first but when i halfwittedly twisted the throttle full in first gear it went into warpspeed (like tunnel vision) i rolled off the throttle before it hit 11,000rpms & the front tire was aloft all the time only by a few inches i think but it was the spookiest ride i have ever experienced, i never took that bike home again from work & settled back on 400's, i will never ever own a liter bike until i have mastered my 600, if you think you're outgrowing a 600 on the straights wait till you take it to the track, the bike will wring more out of you than you will on the bike.  

Oh by no means do I think I'm out growing my bike. I was just blown away by the power difference. I just bought my bike almost 2 months ago and I've got barely over 1500 miles on it. So nah no R1 yet but someday.  

i still think 1000cc I4's are way too much for a streetbike, i'd never get one unless it was a trackbike

1000cc twins, however, are just sweet as hell  

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I still think 1000cc I4's are way too much for a streetbike,

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I think liter bikes make the perfect street bike (for experienced riders), they have the torque that makes them easy to ride in traffic and cross intersections, merging is also fun and easy.  A 600 is a perfect track bike because then your can actually use 10,000+ revs constantly whereas on the street that would be hard to do, and they just don't have the torque down low.

And, you can never have too much, thats why people turbocharge 'busas to 700+ hp.  

10,000+ plus revs hell I prefer closer to 16,000 WAHOOOO. No I don't think a 1000 is to much. I think it's a good round number to throw into the mix. I just think that much like in Europe there should be a mandatory graduating period to get to a liter bike. You know work your way up. Some people say get the bike you want but my friend with the R1 told me if you can't afford to upgrade later you can't afford to buy now. That's sound advie to live by for the people that say "I'm gonna go ahead and get 1000 cc bike and learn slowly on it" Let me tell you and I'm sure there are plenty of people on here who would agree. There's nothing slow about a liter bike and/or a 600. In fact 50 HP or less is a good place to start in my humble opinion.  

in my honest opinion what can be a better starter bike for a novice rider than a 45hp NSR250 or a 59hp RVF/VFR400 or it's equivalents (CBR400RR, FZR400, GSXR400, ZXR400), in the hands of an experienced rider can smoke a newbie on a 600/1000cc sportbike at the corners.

if i can manage to scrounge up $2000 i'd buy me a CBR400RR to use mainly for the track, these supersport 400's are the perfect starter bike for those who think 600's are too much & 250's are small.

too bad you didn't have any of these sold in the US market.  

Yeah that's the question isn't it. How do you get one in the U.S. Granted there are a lot of options for a less than 600cc bike here but. A lot of new riders will buy a bike based on how it looks. They would rather get a CBR or GSXR because it has fairings and looks cool. So I don't know why the Big four won't release a bike in the states that looks as good as a CBR GSXR R6 or Ninja I'd be willing to bet that if new riders would follow some sound advice those bikes would sell rather well here. I was lucky enough that my buddy with the R1 also has a 94 Yamaha Seca II it was his first bike and I learned to ride on it. He conviced me to put some seat time down on that before I bought a high end sport bike. Of course not all new riders have that option available to them.  

Please hold off on the boos, but my recommendation for a starter would probably be a Honda Shadow 600.  Big enough for you to get a feel for a full sized bike, but you're not gonna have to worry about it gettin away from you.  I know it's a cruiser, but it's what I learned on and all the basic fundemental elements of riding a sportbike are exactly the same as riding a cruiser.  I mean granted, you won't see anyone knee down in a corner on a Shadow, although I did drag the kickstand/footpegs more than a few times at Deals Gap!  

I think people should learn on cruisers, too. I'm talking VERY FIRST streetbike. 250 Rebel. Nothing intimidating about them at all.
Or if you want something that really has NO POWER at all, that is REALLY unimpressive, then I would start on anything made by Harley Davidson.