Want to Buy a Motorcycle (Ninja ZX-6R). Is This Truly Stupid For a Beginner?

I have heard people say different things. I've never driven a motorcycle before, but I feel like I could pace myself, go slowly, and get a solid bike to begin with. I really don't want to start with something as small as a 250, and I want a bike that is respectable. The Ninja ZX-6R seems to fit the bill.

Also, I'm curious as to how long it takes before a rider is competent enough to handle a truly powerful motorcycle, like a Hayabusa.

Thoughts?

By the way, I am not getting a car or a slow motorcycle, so forget about telling me to get a crappy car, because I'm not going to listen.

Look at this thing, and tell me you don't want one (I'm serious about this):

[video=youtube;7firkxkAzxI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7firkxkAzxI[/video]

 

I started on a 550 and rode for a few years and then got a sports bike. My friend bought a 500cc Suzuki that is sort of a workhorse of sports bikes. He road that for several years and then upgraded to a Katana 750 (which I also bought, later.)

A Ninja 250 is a great street bike, and despite the size of the engine, it is a fast one. All I know about the Ninja is that a lot of new riders get in accidents on them.

There's a new rider FAQ on the ZX-6R forum. I recommend reading it. http://zx6r.com/zx6r/27627-faq-new-riders.html

A book well worth getting and reading is Total Control by Lee Parks. It's tips for riding well. There's a series of them depending on your particular style and interest.

 

I really appreciate the tips. I don't want to dismiss the advice of others, but I feel like I will want to ride all the time and will become proficient fairly quickly, so I want a bike with some real power, like the ZX-6R.

Seeing how fast the guy in the video was compared to the vehicles around him really got me excited about riding. It looks like something I could really get into.

Your bike, the GSXR 750?, seems to be on the same level as the Zx-6R. How would you have fared had you tried to start at the Katana?

 

You ask me, all motorcycles are stupid because they're dangerous as hell.

 

That you include a video asking which is faster, does not bode well for your survival. It is not the bike, it is the rider. You can be almost as safe on a busa.

I started on a fire breathing two stroke. My last foray into two wheels, is little more than a racebike with plates.

I have FULL control of the throttle.

 

Having ridden my entire life, starting in 1977 at age 13 with a dirt bike, through today, with a HD Electra Glide, I've owned everything, every style, in between. I would say, if you are a beginner, you should start with something at least mid-powered and learn to ride first. Then go for what you want. If you choose instead to start off on a monster-bike, make sure your life insurance is paid up.

I rode, for years, a 1980 Yamaha Maxim 650, exactly like this one:


It was my only transportation, and I rode it 365 days per year; rain, shine, whatever. It would absolutely blow damn near anything on 4 wheels off the road, at the time. It was no slow motorcycle. It had 90,000 miles on it when I gave it to a buddy of mine to restore, and he still rides it to this day.

My advice to you is, learn to ride on something you can trash, before you blow your budget on the mac-daddy. Because you're gonna drop it.

You're in Texas, right? Here's one for $3500 that would be great first bike for you to learn on:

https://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/mcy/5837609730.html

 

I greatly appreciate the advice.

Is that a ZX? I can, and am more than willing, to pay cash for that bike by February.

I just watched a video where a guy was STRONGLY suggesting that a 600cc or higher was way too much for a beginner. It seems that everyone on here has had a similar experience. I was ginned up to buy a new ZX-6R recently, and a friend who had some experience told me I would certainly die if I tried to start on one. He said it could easily do a wheelie when I least expected it. As an example, he said he was experienced riding a 900 and was given a chance to ride a GSXR 1100. He said the the bike had terrifying power and that he would never ride a bike like that again which kind of scared me.

What's the mac-daddy for you?

For me, it's the ZX-14.

Eventually, I'd like to ride the most powerful motorcycles I can.

 

Looks like an awesome bike, though a little fruity lol.

 

I do not recommend starting off riding motorcycles if you are over 25 years of age, the younger you are, the better off you will be.
This is not based on facts, just my own personal opinion, I prefer larger street legal Dirt Bikes, like the Kawasaki 650 currently in use by the Army.

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It does look a bit of, well, you may have to turn down dates from unwanted sources.

 

Why not?

Is it because my psycho-motor skills are less than a young guy's? I'm 32 right now.

 

It's a ZX-6; a 600cc bike. It will have plenty of power, and will pop wheelies right out from under you, on command. You specifically said in your OP you would not consider a 250cc (which is bigger than my first street bike was), so that's why I linked the one I did. I don't recommend it, but you seem insistent upon killing yourself.

By contrast, my first street bike, I got when I was 16, was like this one (same color and everything!):

A Honda Twinstar CM200T

My best advice would be to start with something like a 250, and LEARN TO RIDE FIRST, or to be sure your life insurance is up to date. Buy something small and inexpensive to trash, because you will almost certainly drop it. Forego looking cool while you learn. Ride for a year or two, THEN upgrade. Nothing looks more uncool than a beginner wrapping a brand new $20,000 motorcycle around a tree and killing himself.

I can also heartily recommend a you take good rider safety course. Up here, they offer them at the local community college. My wife, who had never ridden a street bike before, took one at 51 years old. They had 250cc bikes for the students to ride. She now rides mine like a champ, though it scares her because it weighs 900lbs. If it ever starts going over with her, there ain't no stopping it.

The mac-daddy for me is, of course, the one that I have. A 2010 HD Electra Glide Ultra Classic. A few instances of cleaning poop out of my riding britches after near-death experiences have absolutely cured me of the need for speed in my old age. Now I'm all about comfort and amenities and style, because I like to take long rides and be able to stay in the saddle all day long and look (*)(*)(*)(*)ing good while I do it.

 

It was a big bike, and a lot of power. Many times, it got away from me. If it didn't have a habit of rattling at 120mph, I might have gone faster than that in many cases. I'm kind of a speed demon. It handles twisty mountain roads very well. Keep in mind that mine was a heavy 1989 model. The modern sports bikes are much lighter and take lighter handling. I haven't adapted to them and switched to sport/touring instead.

I would check out the resources I provided and see what they say about starting with a Ninja. I've seen plenty of tragedy, but that is often less bike and more inability. I think you've got to know your own limits first. I wouldn't look down on a Ninja 250. You can learn a lot from that bike; it goes fast; when you wreck it it won't cost you a fortune and you probably won't kill yourself; and it's very, very maneuverable in traffic and on mountain roads. Within a year, you'll be ready to upgrade.

 

Well, 32 is not too old, I am 52 now, I started riding a motorcycle at 19, it is a question of dealing with stupid drivers, there are many drivers that do not give motorcycles a good safety zone, I am very careful and happy to give motorcycles the right of way as they run more of a risk in an accident.

On a sad note, I remember some bad accidents where I filled a body bag wondering how a Mortician was going to turn those parts into a viewable body, I figured on a closed casket Funeral in those cases.

 

The current crop of 600 cc sportbikes will do the 1/4 in the mid 10s, 0 - 60 in around 3 seconds. You will likely die or get seriously injured but it will be exciting while it lasts. I've been riding more than 50 years, just sold my ZX-10R and currently have a KLR650 and a WR250X. A 250 can be a lot of fun. The little Ninja 250/300 is a nice bike to start on, handles and brakes pretty good. Bikes are cheapest in the middle of winter.

 

I will say this: Drivers are FAR more distracted now than they used to be. And that is a HUGE problem for us riders. The dawn of the smart-phone was, perhaps, the biggest setback from a distraction risk standpoint, we have ever seen. I now consider every car I come in close proximity to as actively wanting to kill me.

 

Even before cell phones, lots of Drivers would be in a fog of thought and tobacco haze and day dreaming about Cheer leaders or Strumpets or some such thing, when I got my first cell phone, I did not use it while driving, I would wait for a safe place to pull over.

That was the Prehistoric era of cell phones, Analog 800 MHz phones, no texting or Internet, no movies, no nothing.
Like Robinson Crusoe, as primitive as can be

 

Most Bikers start out with a bike that is small or kinda medium-small.
Then some,like big hefty guys, go straight for the big baggers.
The best bikers start out with small displacement dirt bikes.Steve McQueen
had quite a collection of motorcycles and also cars.He participated in dirt
bike riding for some time.You have to get your legs for a motorcycle.
Even older guys who've ridden for a long time.After a long break { like winter }
you have to get your legs back.Plus get used to shifting a bike again.
Just like it'd be really stupid for a person whose never driven a stick shift
decide to get a Ferrari.That car is very hard and tempermental to shift.
The Original VW bug was the ideal car to learn how to operate a stick shift.
Depending on your height and weight I'd go with a 650 cc bike no bigger.
Maybe a 750 cc.No sport bikes.They sit too high.Both your feet won't
touch the ground.Plus you'll have a very forward lean after you sit down.That is
for cornering.Which is why a lot of bikes crashes involve sports bikes.

 

No point in buying a bike that will sit.The battery will drain down.
Once it gets under 40 degree,hardly any bikers are out on the road.No matter
how dry the road and no wind.I used to have a rule in the winter.
If it's under 45 degree ... no way.I don't care how well bundled up you are.
I did have a bike that offered a lot of protection and heat in winter riding.
The Valkyrie Tourer.A 1500 cc, 6 cylinder with a barn of a windshield.You could
ride in a rain storm and not get your upper body wet.Plus the heat coming off that
big engine kept your legs warm also.Not so in the Summer.Where that heat could
be annoying.I have found the perfect bike.A Honda CB 1100 {4 cylinder}.It's 550 lbs.
and a breeze to shift.It's fast. Low 11's in the 1/4 mile.So it'll spank any Harley.
Even a V-rod.But it is quiet.I use it for around town.
I have a RUNE,also.Now that's as big a bike as you'll find.Very long bike at
at over 100 inches and weights close to 900 lbs. fully gassed up.It sounds like
a 911 Porsche.I get a kick stompin' Harleys.I whipped the noodle off some
guy over the summer who caught up to me at a stoplight and was itchin' to
drag.I let him go first and then left him so far behind it was embarrassing.He was on
a new shiny red Indian Classic.I slowed down when I hit around 100.
No need to get a ticket.

 

YUP, it has bout 160 to the wheels, weighs 360 sopping. Which works out to 2.25 lbs to a hp. That BLOWS away a BUSA.

Anything till you get to the supercharged H2R. It is the weight of a light 500. It is low. So, I would say, it is the PERFECT beginner bike.

Oh, and two teeth up on back gear. It literally can get out of my hands, if I am not ready.

3000 lb car with 500 hp engine, is 6 lbs to a hp.

Get the bike you will keep FOREVER. And do so. Ride it like an adult. Make the bike your partner.

 

I had a Honda CB650, it was a low miles
1990 ? Less than a few thousand original miles, a Detective friend had a LODI and stopped riding, bad neck, and gifted it to me, I wore highway patrol stuff sans patches, never got pulled over, would not have mattered in any case.

I liked that it was not too heavy ir too high, it was just right as far as fit, and I rode during winter.

 

Something sexy about that bike. Probably torquey.

 

that would be my choice too, the 2017 is looking good

 

Gee I dunno.It's No New { Supercharged } Ninja H2
Probably the fastest motorcycle ever made.The Only supercharged motorcycle.
The H2 is a little over 200 h.p. The H2R { not street legal } is well over 300 h.p.
The H2R sounds awesome.

 

I like the look of the Ninja H2, but I don't want to get anywhere fast on a motorcycle.. too much power would probably get me killed

.

 

Dirtbikes are enough 2 wheeled action for me. They're much lighter, sound awesome, and can handle jumps. I never like to go more than 45 anyway. Not that I'm scared, I just seen my fair share of friends crash at high speeds on street bikes. I stick to the grass in an open field on a dirtbike. With a few small jumps thrown in