I love riding and have been doing so for 20 years or so.  But I have been seeing something that is just plain wrong on most riders parts except for the old heads like myself.  When someone with NO RIDING EXPERINCE ask what kind of bike should I get we tell them to get a GSXR 600 or an R6 or a 750 something.  Why is that?  So we can laugh at them when they wad the bike and themselves while trying to mono or keep up with their friends?  This is a serious thing your first bike and I think that more people would ride if they didn't scare the crap out of themselves in the first 2 months of riding.  I replied to a post that's a couple of months old now from a new rider who I hope to Jah is still with us and hasn't wiped out his shinny new R6, the guy said he had not ridden a bike and had never owned one and someone told him to go buy a new R6 which he more than likely did.  Now yeah the R6 is a nice bike but that's like going from training wheels to a turbo busa if you've never ridden before!  So this is what I said.

You know I've been reading the replies to your post.
And I really think that you should rethink your purchase of a 600 or 750 anything.  And I'll tell you why, everyone will tell you that they laugh at the newbie on a 500cc bike cause they are slow and they are just starting out.  But you have said that your new to the world of streetbike riding.  Your way ahead of most because you took a MSF course which most folks don't.  So good on you there, however a course and riding day in and day out are two different things.  There will be no one there to tell you what to do when the crap hits the fan.  You see the problem with just learning to ride a bike that's too powerful is that you become a point and squirt rider.  You see a gap in traffic you point and squirt and your there!  You ride with you friends and you see them hit a gap pull wheelies and roll out and you try to do the same.  Problem is that you don't see what's going on around you so you don't see the lifted F150 driver who's shopping for a new R6 grill with newbie hood ornament!
This leads to the most famous words at the crash site.  "Officer I was driving along (Drinking my Starbucks and yakking on the cell phone while beating my kids in the back set and putting on my makeup) when these sportbike riders came out of no where riding really fast hosting wheelies and I had no time to stop and I didn't see the last one who fell in front of my truck (no metion of the fact that she clipped the rear tire) and I ran him over.  Is he going to make it?  Cause I'm late getting to the gym.  You see the problem is that people don't see us they get scared when you whip past and will blame you everytime for the accident even if they are at fault.  So your thinking that's more reason to buy a faster bike so that I can get out of the way!  Well that is a good reason however it's also stupid, because when you ride a smaller bike with less power you must THINK ABOUT EVERYTHING AROUND YOU ALL THE TIME!  You learn to ride smoother and in a pocket of safe space in traffic, why?  Because you can't get out by twisting the grip so you learn to anticipate stupid things which will save your bacon for years to come.  Also if you make a mistake you will learn to deal with it and find other ways out of a bad place rather than "Oh my God they are coming over on me hit the gas!  You learn to swerve, brake and do other things that will save your life.  Plus if you have a bike that will keep up with your buddies and you can you'll be laughed at still!  You'll ride harder to keep up, which is less fun cause your trying to hard (which is work and real speed comes from being smooth just as Valentino Rossi who started out on a small bike and worked his way up to hmmm I don't know world Champion! And had fun doing it.) Which if you realize it or not will have you riding above your ability and in to real trouble which guess what?  Your limited skill set will have you tossing that shinny new R6 down the street like autum leaves while you have time to think about that new skin graph that you'll be getting cause you thought it was cool to ride without leathers or armour.

Get a small bike ride for a year or two learn how to do it right, take some trips enjoy yourself and then when you move up you'll have something your buddies don't experince and street savy that you can't buy.  Cause as much as the rest of those guys laugh they wish they had the balls to admit that they should have started out small got good then moved up.  If they haven't wadded a bike yet they soon will because it's not the bike it's the rider, and the rider can't get better until he stops worrying about impressing his friends and learns to ride his own bike.

If we stop shaming newbies in to buying something that they can't handle we'll have more good riders on the road to have fun with.  If we keep it up somebody is going to kill someone very important, not that everyone isn't important it's just gonna happen to the wrong person at the right time and the powers that be will crack down and make it illegal to ride, or the cops will stop you everytime you ride, so you'll run and you'll laugh with your buddies about how you out ran the man.  But one day you'll get the news like I did that one of your best friends lost his head while racing on the highway.  Yeah it happend, my buddy and some of us were racing and he was a newbie who jumped up like the man he was and went from zero to hero on a 1000 CBR.  We ran past some cops and he in a panic locked it up in the corner (leaned over), because he hadn't learned to ride right it spit him off and he got his head cut clean off on a yield sign.  
When we got to him he wasn't quite dead, you see your brain will live for about 5 mins or so after it's been removed from your body, so he was alive but knew he was dead.  It was the worst thing I ever saw in my life, to pick up your friends head in his helmet and know there is nothing that you can do for him.  Only if I had told him to start out right he'd still be here but I didn't.  I laughed when he wanted to start small even though I did, I started out on a 500cc Honda and learned how to be safe and how to really ride and enjoy riding now that I have the power to roll out when I want to.  All because I didn't want to wait for him to grow up into a faster bike.  You see the problem with a fast bike is that you never can stop from speed as fast as you get there.

So laugh all you want about me being old but I've already buried my first newbie and I have to deal with that for the rest of my life.  I just hope you never have to do the same.

As always Peace, Love and Afro Grease!
Stay up, Stay Black and Stay strong!

Khan  

I just want to say I agree with you 100%. I've been riding for years and started on a Katana. Heavy bike, fast enough for a newbie but front heavy enough to keep you from even trying to pull a wheelie unless your benching 650 lbs. I have buried a friend too at the same cost, told him how much of a die hard I am on my GSX-R and he had the money to buy himself a one way ticket to death. He hit the throttle to hard to avoid a crash pulled the front end up into the trailer hitch of a Ford and then hit a pole, dead instantly. I see it everyday the newbies on there death ticket and you know you can tell a new rider from a seasoned one. IF not by just how they sit on the bike to the look on there squished face in the helmet they bought one size too small. Please learn to admit your a FNG, we all where at some point. Just don't be the 6 year old who found his daddies gun and wants to see what happens when you pull the trigger aimed at yourself or a friend. Just like you can't call a bullet back you can't take back 150 mph in the back of a car.

Ceije  

i agree, wit alot that u had to say but i also disagree. u said "Yeah it happend, my buddy and some of us were racing and he was a newbie who jumped up like the man he was and went from zero to hero on a 1000 CBR"... it doesnt take a man or make u a man to go fast, as a matter of fact it takes a man to resist peer pressure and to not give a crap what everyone else is doin. im definatly what u would call a newbie. i had never riden a street bike in my life even though my dad has for 30yrs and drag raced for 10, i decided one morning i wanted one. so i went down to the dealership after work and bought a zx-10. my dad rode it home and i jumped on it everyday after work and rode it around a big empty parking lot until i felt comfortable on it. then i went and got my license about a week later. ive been very responsible and have rode within my limits! i have friends that have big bikes and talk alot and to be honest i dont give a crap what they TRYED to talk me into doin cause i knew what i was able to do and i wasnt going to be splattered on the pavement somewhere because my friends were "peer pressuring" me. so with that being said I MEAN NO DISRESPECT TO U OR UR FRIEND AND IM VERY SORRY FOR HIS FAMILY AND HIS FRIENDS! but people we have to learn to be responsible, its not anyone elses fault if u kill urself doing something immature or ignorant. big bikes and friends dont kill people, BAD DECISIONS DO!  

Hey no disrespect taken   , it's just that very few new riders have the stones it takes to admit to themselves let alone their friends that hey I can't do what you do.  So they get in over their heads real quick, and end up real dead.  We all know the "Fast guy in the group" who has to lead everyone everywhere as fast as he can go and if you can't keep up you suck!  Well when most newbies get ranked dead last or worse get told hey man you really can ride you kept up, they get happy and think that their better than they really are that's what happend to my boy he was a natural rider very smooth but he tried to race on the streets cause we all told him "Man your good, it took me years to get that down, you did it in a weekend!"  It was the worst thing we could have done.  We all know the throttle turns both ways man but how many new guys who really don't know what lies on the other side of 10 grand on the tach will grab a handful of that lovely right grip on a 750cc bike that is just waiting to spank them or better yet turn out to be a very large very expensive hat?  Look at some of the videos of new stuntaz who watch as that new bike that they have had about a month (if they are lucky) and haven't made a payment on yet flips it's way down the street sans rider.  If you want insight talk to your local bike shop, they have some very funny stories about new riders who on the way out of the lot high side low side and flip new bikes after grabing to much throttle on slick pavement. That's some messed up stuff, we laugh but it's not funny really, someone got hurt and we hurt ourselves laughing!  How many of those guys have ever seen a corner or a track?  How many of them know that a long ride to get to some serious twisted pavement can be more of a blast than running from the cops?  Plus you get to be really good after awhile, these kids don't know that a wrong move leaned over can spit you off the other side faster than you can say "Oh ***   "  And we tell them man fast is fun get the biggest bike you can swing your leg over or your a wuss So to wrap this up your right people have to learn to be responsible, but how many newbies can be responsible if we keep telling them to get the biggest fastest bike possible rather than telling them hey start small learn get comfy then move up.  If we do that, I feel that when people new to the sport make BAD Decisions it wont be on the wrong side of a buck 50.  

Thanks man, hey what year was your Katana?  I thought they were pretty sweet when they came out   but they did something to them after they first came out and it looks funny to me now, but that maybe just because I've gotten old!  But it was nicer than my 500 I will never forget riding home in the rain with no rain suit and gloves like a dummy and it was the worst!  At least the helmet kept the rain from puttin my eyes out!  Funny as hell now but man did that suck, everyone driving by laughing at me with no place to get off and get dry, too close to park to late and to wet to stop  

I know this sounds morbid but every once in awhile I check out the wrecked exotics site just to keep the wild child in check.  I saw that one pic of a kid that had his bike for like a week or so and ran in to the back of a parked semi truck on the side of the road at a 150 plus on a ZX6 he was trying, they say to cut around traffic and was checking traffic like a pro till he hit the outside burm and in to the back of the trailer.  Time and unforseen occurances befall us all but a weeks worth of ride time in the saddle?  Well I think that was just more a matter of time.

Well hopefully somebody out there will take the time to listen and save their own hide, and that will save someone else from dealing with the loss of a new bike or worse a friend.

Thanks again for the post.
And as always
Peace Love and Afro Grease
Stay up Stay Black and Stay Strong!  

I totally agree with the start small approach, but it is never gonna happen......There is too much of a need to impress other people. Think about it, all your friends ride 1000's and you pull up on an EX250....there is only a few of riders that wouldn't laugh and respect his decision to be responsible and ride something that matches his ability. Instead, it's all about looks. It has to start with the rider only caring about himself and not what everyone else is doing.  

the reason i bought the bike i did is, because i had riden dirt for years(not like they are anything alike, i soon found out) and i didnt want to have to buy a bigger bike later.and its the best decision ive ever made. it took a while to learn it but man i love it and im in the process of puttin it back together right now. i fully customized it and just like i thought i would have been bored with a 600 in 2 months if i would have bought one. i love my bike!  

I want to start off by saying that you guys are TOTALLY correct. I agree with you guys 100%. I also agree with the Ciner929, it will never happen. People are all to worried about what others think of them. I have been riding for years and I myself started out small, VERY SMALL. I had been riding on dirt for years and when I was 14 I got a honda 250 rebel did not like it ANY AT ALL so I went and purchased a 250 ninja. My freinds all had 600's and they made so much fun of me. But being the youngest of the group, I had came to expect it. I have now been riding for approx. 14 years and I am still on a 600. I am a small person and do not think that I could PROPERLY fit on anything bigger. Plus, I am happy with my 600RR. I can still run off and leave most of the 1000 bikes I ride with, well when we are in the corners. I am comfortable on the 600 and I am still getting trash talked by the 1000 guys I ride with. They keep telling me that 600's are for the FNG and not for experienced riders. That is the problem. People are not realizing that a 600 has to much power for a FNG and if you know how to ride can still hold its own in the corners with the bigger litter bikes. I know that the guys that I ride with are not that good on their bikes. They should not be on their 1000's. I have lost a few friends to stupidity and that is what I call it. I am in the military and it seems like everytime we return from deployement someone goes down to the shop and purchases their "DREAM BIKE". For instance we came home from a year in Iraq. A soldier went down and bought a Busa. He had NEVER ridin before, did not have a license and did not do the right thing and try to learn in a parking lot. He got drunk that night and took his new ride out on the interstate and well you know the rest. That first ride was his last. It is sad that people pressure others into buying the bigger bike. Don't do it, and if you do. Well, like Sheerkhan said. You will never forget it. It is haunting and I still regret what I did. I believe I had a HUGE part in what he did. So let me say, DO NOT DO WHAT I DID. Tell your friend to get the smaller bike. But do not stop there. Take him out and help him with his riding. Your mentorship can GREATLY improve your friends riding ability and in turn save his or her life. This is the best subject I have seen in a forum yet. It is also the first one I have written in so Sheerkhan. I want to be the first to say THANK YOU. This is the type of thing that we as experienced riders need to start trying to change and get the FNG to start small and live longer.  

Hey man thanks for the post!  I'm sorry to hear about your buddy it's a shame that he made it through a WAR!  Just to be taken out like that, I really feel for you but you know what we learn from the things that happen to us and to our friends and family.  Your wiser now and wouldn't think about letting that happen again.  And yeah your right I have seen some really funny things happen in 20 years when you see some guy point and shoot his ZX14 in to a corner panic on the brakes when he found out that there was, Oh my GOD A CORNER UP A HEAD! And then go crawling through the corner like he's got training wheels then blast through the gears to catch up to the 600 that just smoked him in the same corner!  But man he really got that top speed up in the straight away, whoo!  170 on the city streets and he's the man!  Did you see the wheelie he pulled when he got it up right?  Oh it was a monster I thought ZX14's couldn't wheelie!  Yeah he can handle that much power......NOT!  Really when you think about the power difference between a 600 which has almost the same HP as a stock 97 TL1000s at 109-116 HP for the 2008's and the TL was and still is concidered a monster of a V twin   (I had to throw some love to the TL it just sound so MEAN!).  The bike of the year for Motocyclist Magazine the Super Duke has what 109?  And they loved it, the new 2008 Kawi ZX10 has 185hp at the crank!  And the new Busa and ZX14 are close to if not over 200 with ram air, and most riders will never come close to really riding them at 9/10ths let alone 10/10ths so what's really real   ?  Just like you said EGO! So if we want our friends to stay our friends and live long enough to get good we need to change it.

That's all I got for today.
Peace Love and Afro Grease!
Stay up Stay Black Stay Strong

Sheerkhan  

In respect to Khan, I believe in what he is saying.  I have only been riding for 3 years now.  I have never ridin before and always said I would never get a bike because of the horrific accidents I see, but grew up and realized how much fun it would be.  I was not pressured into getting something I could not handle.  My first and only bike is a 2005 SV650S.  Most would say that it is an alright bike and an alright begginer bike.  But I love the bike, the way it rides, and the way it fits, and that is one thing that a lot of newbies do not put into account.  I always get asked by others what type of bike they should get, but I size them up, look at their height, weight, and I ask if they know how to drive stick.  I also always recommend to take an MSF course no matter what, it builds confidence, it helps with basic skills that you can tone later, and courtesy.  I only tell those to get a gsxr 1000 if they want to learn the hard way.  I feel that those that get R-1's and GSXR-1000's are just following a crowd.  Start off small and work your way up, the 250 in the MSF is a perfect starter, then if you feel up to it, maybe a 600, but never feel that you can handle the torque on the faster bikes.  I love my bike and most likely will not get another one, it does it's job, I have fun no matter what, I can pay attention to my surroundings, and I can still catch up later when I know where were going.  But I will not lie, I did go 160 on my bike, but not by choice, some chick was in her Civic and wanted to ride my ass (litterally), but others say it could not be done, I did it, but like I said, it was not by choice.  Never tried to stunt, LOVE seeing it, but love the ride and love my life.  So to the newbies, do not get pressured into something just because your group says that is what you should get, shop around, get a feel for the bike, and get the proper training.  

2 Wheels are better than none!  

This could go on for ever. but the reality of it is were all men. choose what u want! if thats a busa or a moped, no one has to pay that payment but u. and if ur too stupid to make a mature decision on something that can kill u very easily, than u have to live( or not live ) with the consequences! just like the guy above said he can do 160 ....and could have  killed himself on his 600 just like i could on my 1000! oh yea by the way no one can make u go fast, if she was on ur ass what made u think speeding up was the right choice, now all you have done was make the situation worse by possibly having a higher speed accident! its these decisions that im talkin about people use ur brain, cause if u dont someone is gonna be looking at it!  

Well I just want to start off saying thank you for this post. I am currently looking to get my first bike. Im brand new to the scene. Ive never riden a bike a day in my life. Ive been super excited about getting the new 08 Ninja 250R. Ive had a couple friends who ride try to talk me out of it!. But I want to start small move up from there. Seeing this post really helped me feel alot better about the decision. And specially not letting someone else convince me other wise. New riders really should consider there lives over there image.  

well im glad u u have thought out ur decesion and u are not giving into peer pressure! good luck, be safe, and remember ride within YOUR limits.

p.s. the new 250r is a really good looking bike im glad they finally redesigned it. now it looks like a sports bike not a moped!  

I just wanted to add that i do enjoy everyones insight on this issue. I would like to add that I did step down for my first bike. I purchase a 1995 yamaha secaII xj600. I greatly enjoy the ride and glad that its my first. Reading these comments made me realize that my choice was the best. I have been around bikes,4wheelers, and racing karts but streetbikes are a different breed and most people don't think in that aspect. Thank you.

Keep the rubber on the road and the wind in your face.  

Simply put you are own worst enemy when it comes to riding from 1 day to 30 yrs of experience, one stupid decision ends it all.