Looking for a bike

[BigJ]

Hey I'm looking at buying a bike. I've been riding for quite some time on quads and such but I'm hopefully going to be buying a sport bike in the next month, for next season. Looking into fuel injection as well, as it will be transportatino form my house to school (1.5 miles away), but Not for this winter/etc.

Until next season I'll be riding probably on my neighbor's 650 enduro and my km100 for kicks to get the feel. What's a good suggestion for something in the 4000 price range for a sport bike? Keep in mind, I've ridden many 100+mph vehicles, and I'm very very conservative in how I drive. No tickets/accidents in the past 3 years as of december.

Also, I'm looking into buying full gear for when I ride, and my company I work for is obsessed with ICON. I know if I don't buy it, I'm goin gt get hassled like none other, so is it good? Worth the buy's?

I've done a bit of research on motorcyclegearreview.com and so far its a toss between alpinestar and icon, but I personally like the look of icon more.

 

[Speedracer228]

you can get a nice sportbike for 4k....

If your not set on FI you could get a nice cbr F3 or F4, or maybe if you hunt around and find a deal you could pick up a decent F4i that has fuel injection.

another good bike for that price is an suzuki sv650, but again not fi. 4k is what i had last year to spend on a bike and i ended up with an F3 and loved it. Honestly not much slower than my friends 05 R6, and the carb deal isnt really that bad at all. It will def be tough to find a 4k bike that is fuel injected though.

as far as gear, i like Alpinestars and joe rocket just because i like their fit on me the best. Im like inbetween Icon sizes and none of their stuff fit me that comfortably. Normally any named brand gear is good as long as your wearing something.

helmets, ive had HJC = hated it, now have Suomy spec 1r=love it, worth every penny. a few of my friends have Arai helmets, I like how they fit just as much as Suomy's, but the suomy helmets graphics > all others

also boots are a must... i rode alot with crappy shit kickers last year (timb's etc...) which they were better than sneakers because of being all leather and over the ankle, but after putting on a pair of Sidi's i dont want to ride in anything else. Plus the protection cant be beat.

 

[BigJ]

What's a good sidi model? I'll have roughly 800-900 for gear.

 

[BigJ]

I found an f4 for 3800 obo, has a couple scratches from being dropped in garages, and has a few mods here and there. 20k on it though, which I don't know anything about. 1999 Honda CBR 600 F4 - Must Sell!! Great Bike!! Tell me what you guys think

 

[Speedracer228]

any of the sidi's are great, i tried on almost all the styles and they all fit about the same, the more expensive ones just have more adjustability, look better etc. But id pay 100-200 for a slightly used pair of vertigo's, or you could get a brand new pair of B2's for about 200 on newenough.com (great gear site, all new gear, great prices)

800-900 for gear is probably more than enough if you shop smart since comfortable riding season is pretty far away yet you can hunt for deals

i got my $500 suomy helmet from an ebay store for 250 shipped to my door brand new, so good deals are out there

the f4 doesnt look bad, 20k is kinda high, but probably honest miles.... lightly scuffed original plasticis is better than clean totally replaced ones. If the frame is clean, everything is straight and a clean title then the low speed digs shouldnt matter much, just good point to get the price down even more. Winter is a good time to buy if you have the money, people selling usually need to get rid of it and are willing to go low on the price because most people arent going to be looking..

just shop around, check out cbrworld.net and some other sites of the bike's your looking at to see about stuff you should be looking for.

oh btw craigslist has done me well, i bought and sold my bike on there, ive found some decent bikes going for sale through CL

 

[BigJ]

2001 Honda CBR 600 F4i This is another I found. THanks for the input. Hopefully there are other people on this board that can give their input as I'm faimiliar with them.

 

[jeffie7]

I 2nd the SV650, it makes for a nice starter bike plus the insurance will be dirt cheap VS any other full fairing sport bike.

SV650 FTW.

 

[jeffie7]

2001 Honda CBR 600 F4i This is another I found. THanks for the input. Hopefully there are other people on this board that can give their input as I'm faimiliar with them.

Price: $4,500 OBO isnt bad for a 2001 in great cond.
but for a crashed bike... no thanks.

 

[BigJ]

Who says its crashed?

to other comment. yeah sv's are pretty cheap, but hard to find. I won't be insuring unless I start riding it often in the spring/summer. I have a pretty decent sized garage I'll be storing it in most of the time, and riding to and from class.

 

[BigJ]

2004 yamaha yzf r6, extras, helmet, cover, like new!!! I just found this. drooolss.

 

[jeffie7]

Who says its crashed?

to other comment. yeah sv's are pretty cheap, but hard to find. I won't be insuring unless I start riding it often in the spring/summer. I have a pretty decent sized garage I'll be storing it in most of the time, and riding to and from class.

you can see a few hints showing that it's been down, the MAJOR one being that it's been repainted/restickered

OEM plastics come with the stickers already on them. those are not OEM stickers.

 

[BigJ]

Ahh I didn't think of that. Good eye.

 

[jeffie7]

Ahh I didn't think of that. Good eye.

Trust me on this, most all used bikes listed online that are at all a good price have been down.

I have an 02 F4i and there's no way in hell I'd let it go for under $5500.00 in fact the blue book on it is 5200.00

Even at dealerships if the bike is used odds are it has been down. When ever I hit the local used shops up I notice almost all bikes have some form of covered up damage.

Motorcycles hold their value extremely well. I wouldnt doubt being able to get 5K for my bike in 2 years if I keep it in the same cond it's in as of right now.

clean bikes are hard to find.

 

[BigJ]

ok... But what if I'm just looking at getting on a bike. I only have 4k to spend, and it doesn't have to be clean or dirty. I know with me driving it, in my lifetime it will go down. I'm not a perfectionist in most respects, but in some, as in my safety(gear) I am.

Since its been down, is it not safe to ride anymore?

 

[jeffie7]

ok... But what if I'm just looking at getting on a bike. I only have 4k to spend, and it doesn't have to be clean or dirty. I know with me driving it, in my lifetime it will go down. I'm not a perfectionist in most respects, but in some, as in my safety(gear) I am.

Since its been down, is it not safe to ride anymore?

It's safe if nothing was broke or if anything was messed up it was fixed right.
bike that has been down = worth much less. so if you know to stop those things then you'll have a better idea of what something is worth.


SV650 FTW. find an older one that runs great and is in good shape. insurance is dirt cheap plus its a great bike.

600CC supersport bike IMO is still more then what most people can handle right out of the gate.

 

[Speedracer228]

i agree ^ , i rode both an sv and my F3, and mid range just tooling around you dont notice much if any difference, its only until its cranked open do you see the difference, and honestly on the street not used often or safely

everyone wants a 600cc crotchrocket thats loud and fast, therefore prices are usually higher than they should be for ones that are beat. for the money, you will be able to find an SV that's been taken care of much better than a comparably priced jap 600 and mostlikely will be newer and have less miles.

I take it your from washington so riding season is a long way off, take your time and go ride one (sv650) before you jump on a downed R6 or F4i that looks better.

i found it to be much more comfortable and just as fun to ride, unless your doing frequent track days and get really good you wont notice most of the performance differences.

SV650FTMFW .... if i could afford two bikes, this would be my street bike, and id save the rocket for the track.

 

[BigJ]

I went to a few shops today. They only had very new bikes, but had one sv650s for 5500. A bit out of my price range, but it was a 2005 so it explains a lot.

 

[MikeBergy]

The new SV's are nice. I want an 05+ R6 or better though, since I've already had one, and I know what I'd be missing if I got the SV. But they are nice bikes.

 

[BigJ]

I might have found a winner. Tell me. Yamaha YZF 600R I'll low ball once I get my check.

 

[Speedracer228]

good bike, pretty comfortable, comparable to the f3 i had....

My cousin has one and loves it, should be cheaper on insurance compared to other sport bikes too