Quote:
Originally Posted by Jiggles
I think I'm the perfect person to answer all of your questions, I have both bikes. Now I have the new 2012 650 not the older 650r. They changed a buncha stuff on it but the engine is the same. And honestly learning to ride on that kind of engine could prove difficult. It has a ton of power, more than you will ever use, extremely fast throttle response and its pretty jerky in the low speeds. It engine breaks hard. If you are trying to maneuver in 1st and 2nd and you cut throttle, you get thrown into the gas tank. Combine a more difficult to handle bike with new rider experience and it's not always a great mix. I really would recommend getting a 250 first, but considering the pricing, if you really feel you could handle the extra difficulty that the 650 would offer it would be a good option.
You've just got to think, when you have an "OH ****" moment when a car pulls out or moves into your lane or w/e, do you feel confident you won't grab a handful of throttle? You can wheelie in first gear, and like I said this bike has a ton of power. It can easily keep up with a 600 up to about 60mph. When you **** your pants, your hands do unpredictable things. Physically riding the 650 (other than in the low gears) won't be much more difficult than the 250. It's more about you being unexperienced and making mistakes, the 250 is going to soften those mistakes, the 650 will amplify them
|
I'm all too familiar with shitting your pants and grabbing a massive handful of throttle to speed up the hurt train from my offroad adventures
That's the only part of the 650 that concerns me, as otherwise it seems like about the same bike as the 250r, the 650r/sv650f are the most powerful bikes I would even think of considering... and I much prefer the idea of the wimpy 250r to rip around on winding out gears constantly to it's screaming 12k+ redline, without ever getting speeds up that high, and be able to pin the throttle all the time and enjoy going slow. But the cost of the 250r vs. the mentioned alternatives is VERY unattractive. It's like choosing a new honda civic over a new m3, for the same cost, if the m3 also got almost the same economy as the civic, and insurance was marginally higher (I thought the lower insurance on the 250r would be worthwhile til I called statefarm and they pretty much said a sport bike is a sport bike and they are raising my penis tax if I ride one, no matter how tiny the engine is...