[1slw]

Just trying to get a feel for what people ACTUALLY start on. I seem to hear a lot of start small talk, but then I hear of people starting on litre bikes too.

 

[ZXLNT]

Streetbike was an 81 GPz 550..

 

[ninja_steve]

my first street bike was a 96 zx-6r. my first "motorbike" was a 1980's xr100, many moons ago.

 

[Krypt Keeper]

My first was 1984 Kawi 454 LTD

I rode it everyday unless it was pouring.

 

[Traffic]

I started on a 600 but it was a Seca II. Not nearly the same as jumping on a R6.

 

[Ian]

ninja_steve said:
my first street bike was a 96 zx-6r. my first "motorbike" was a 1980's xr100, many moons ago.

:laughing

Dude you were born in '83. :laughing There's nothing many moons about you. :twofinger

I started on 781cc's. 2000 Honda VFR800.

 

[Buster]

'86 Honda rebel 250
capable of attaining 63mph downhill with a tail wind. :laughing

 

[Converge]

98 Katana 600. I think it got around 80rwhp

 

[joel647]

88 Hurricane 600 for me . Many bikes like the F4i are very easy to ride and one could very well learn on one and be happy with it but the simple fact of the matter is that they have the ability to bite a noob who confuses confidence with ability quickly if provoked . An F4i at 3500 RPM's around town is a fuzzy kitten ; an F4i barreling towards a decreasing radius 35mph bend at 10k is most certainly not . I've said it many times : you can't blame a bike for doing whatever it is that the rider tells it to do . Lots of people try blaming the machine that somehow the brakes were faulty , that the throttle stuck , that it handles poorly when in fact it is entirely their fault : new riders simply don't know what to tell the bike to do for good or bad . It really isn't so much that a small bike is somehow less prone to getting someone into bad situations ( most crashes regardless of the bike happen for the same reason at the same speeds - you can overcook a 25 mph bend on a 250 Ninja as fast as anything else ) but that their overall traits don't tend to compound problems as fast . It's sounds entirely counterintuitive that a bike with less radical geometry , less ground clearance , less braking power and so on is easier to cope with in a scary situation but it's true : the before mentioned 250 Ninja isn't nearly as likely to stand up and run wide on a panicked stab at the brakes or to change lines so abruptly when a startled rider fidgets like a 6R would .


There are many stories of * I started on an X and never crashed/am perfectly happy * but do you honestly think that people who give the advice of * I started on an X and wish that I hadn't * are somehow being dishonest or for some reason just want to see new riders on lesser machines ? :shrug

 

[Hydrant]

1994 Yahama XJ 600 "Seca II". I got it and rode it for almost 2 years then I got the CBR. Great starter bike, myself and 2 brothers and a few friends first got started on this bike. Just enough power to keep you going, but nothing crazy to really worry about (if that makes sense). Good riding position, and handled pretty good ( I think someone races with one iirc Workerant maybe :confused )

 

[ejl127]

Started on a Suzuki Gs550es

 

[FZR Ace]

'82 Kawasaki GPz550 was my first streetbike...got it in July '83...4K miles on it...$1300. What a great bike that was.

 

[1slw]

Hydrant said:
1994 Yahama XJ 600 "Seca II". I got it and rode it for almost 2 years then I got the CBR. Great starter bike, myself and 2 brothers and a few friends first got started on this bike. Just enough power to keep you going, but nothing crazy to really worry about (if that makes sense). Good riding position, and handled pretty good ( I think someone races with one iirc Workerant maybe :confused )

Hermmmm... I wouldn't mind something like that.

 

[iiip]

R6 and no I wasn't ready...

 

[RookWV]

Katana 600 streetbike....had numerous dirt bikes starting with a 50cc Honda minibike when I was about 6

 

[Hawker]

It was a 700, but I went ahead and voted 750...the old VFR was as heavy as a tank!


Joel : great post!

Just for referance, aside from the MSF, both of the first two times I rode a bike on the street I crashed it. First time was in the wet : going to fast and locked up the front trying to slow to turn left in a neighborhood. My brother was none too happy with me for crashing his bike. Second time : first day to own my '87 VFR 700 (same bike I crashed when it was my brothers). Got spooked, stood it up on a back road, crashed and broke my colar bone.

 

[quackPOT]

90cc's of raw power was my first street bike. I should be the poster child for starting small and working your way up!

1. 1970 CT90
2. 1980 Kawi LTD 250
3. 1992 FZR600
4. 1992 GSXR750
5. 1988 FZR1000
6. 1995 Ducati 900CR
7. 2000 CBR600F4
8. 2002 RC51 (current)

This spans 13 years of riding....

 

[Hawker]

90cc's of raw power was my first street bike. I should be the poster child for starting small and working your way up!

1. 1970 CT90
2. 1980 Kawi LTD 250
3. 1992 FZR600
4. 1992 GSXR750
5. 1988 FZR1000
6. 1995 Ducati 900CR
7. 2000 CBR600F4
8. 2002 RC51 (current)

This spans 13 years of riding....

hehe, my brother and I were compairing bike totals the other day. My total in ~5 years of riding : 13

 

[dattaway]

2000 cbr600f4. Been very good to me 75,000 miles later.

Now I have a 2004 cbr1000rr to reckon with.

 

[LuvDog]

My first bike was 800cc.
Suzuki Intruder