fz6r is one sweet ride for street use!

[Gurk]

I rode on the street briefly after what? 1.5 years?
My friend was on the market for a motorcycle. He has no clue about bikes except that he wants a bigger engine bike than a 250 but nothing too aggressive. He sat on a 250 before and decided it's not for him.

I showed him sv650, ninja 650 and fz6r. He wasn't big on the 500cc Hondas. He really liked the ninja and fz6r.

So today we checked out one that was for sale on craigslist. Thing was pristine with 2.8k miles. He was willing to let go for $5500 and had transferrable 5 years warranty! wow. Bone stock bike and fresh tires too.

I hopped on it having absolutely no idea what to expect as my experience on bikes is limited to ninja 250 and several 600 and 1000cc super sports..

Thing was super comfortable, super flickable, very smooth operation (gears clutch etc) and just plain fun.

I really didn't think I was gonna be impressed this much. Sure the power was on the meh side after being used to a track dedicated bike but who cares! Thing was GOING in relation to the cages on the street when I twisted the throttle.

As much as I find street riding boring as hell, I think I'm in for a treat when we pick it up this week and I get to ride it back to his place 40 miles away.

[Dano]

Nice! they are nice for the street but I still would get a SV.

[Gurk]

I'm sure all of the options would be great. One thing I told him was how close the bikes are nowadays and how it's hard to go wrong. He basically picked by his favorite design. Which happened to be my favorite too. He might have been more comfortable on an SV though from what I understand. But eh.. he'll be fiiine.

[Toly]

Oy... ok, whatever floats your boat. Hope U guys don't drop da pig while trying to have fun on it.

[Gurk]

Originally Posted by Toly

Oy... ok, whatever floats your boat. Hope U guys don't drop da pig while trying to have fun on it.

jelly?

[Toly]

Originally Posted by Gurk

jelly?

Heck no. If you guys like it, that's cool. Whatever works for your friend and makes him happy is good.

[Panda]

Originally Posted by Toly

Oy... ok, whatever floats your boat. Hope U guys don't drop da pig while trying to have fun on it.

This is a very confusing post.

[Gurk]

Originally Posted by Toly

Heck no. If you guys like it, that's cool. Whatever works for your friend and makes him happy is good.

i'm pretty sure you're jelly. it's ok we have more than enough sausage for you.

[Toly]

I'm jelly as hell... but for Panda's sake lemme explain.

I've been considering FZ6R way, way back, as a step up from Ninjette. Not being able to get a test ride, I talked my buddy into buying one. I then got a CBR600 for myself I rode his bike extensively... It's a heavy, parts-bin bike, with budget suspension and handling that rivals best of John Deere (TM) farm equipment. It's also got a castr*ed... err, "retuned" I4 that provides decent midrange torque and delivers power with all excitement of an Osterizer (TM) blender.

It will go fast and has quite comfy ergos. It may be a fine bike for the right person, and is a formidable weapon in the hands of a good rider. But an R6 or CBR600 it ain't. Nor is it a starter bike. Ok, I'll shut up now.

[KawiKid860]

I think it would be quite obvious to anyone that it isn't a supersport or comparable to one. An SV or a ninja 650r aren't either, go figure! I don't see how it wouldn't be a starter bike, it's in the same power range and has a similar powerband compared to the other middle weight 600ish cc bikes. If you compare any of those bikes to a supersport's performance you're going to be disappointed. These bikes have a different purpose, again I thought that was pretty obvious.

[Gurk]

Originally Posted by Toly

I'm jelly as hell... but for Panda's sake lemme explain.

I've been considering FZ6R way, way back, as a step up from Ninjette. Not being able to get a test ride, I talked my buddy into buying one. I then got a CBR600 for myself I rode his bike extensively... It's a heavy, parts-bin bike, with budget suspension and handling that rivals best of John Deere (TM) farm equipment. It's also got a castr*ed... err, "retuned" I4 that provides decent midrange torque and delivers power with all excitement of an Osterizer (TM) blender.

It will go fast and has quite comfy ergos. It may be a fine bike for the right person, and is a formidable weapon in the hands of a good rider. But an R6 or CBR600 it ain't. Nor is it a starter bike. Ok, I'll shut up now.

It's a fine starting bike and all he's gonna do is commute on it. Are you pissed that he doesn't choose another bike? How does that compute, champ?

If there was one standard starting or commuting bike that everyone HAD TO prefer it sure as hell would be a boring f*cking place wouldn't it?

[c-dog]

It's a nice looking bike. I like it in black. It sounds like a civilized bike with some grunt that would be perfect for commuting on.

It does have a great deal of get up and go. 0-60 in 3.8 sec and 1/4 mile in 12.3. Not too bad of specs. I think he made a good choice. And the bikes you were talking about were good ones to check out too - SV650 and 650r.

I had one of the FZ6s awhile back, it was a lot of fun. It would be cool to test ride one of these sometime.

[CycleCam303]

@Toly, funny you mention the whole budget bike thing. Irony on the way. After reading your cb500f review I'm totally sold. Because what you described is exactly what the cbr500, fz6, sv and ninja 650 are. I'll dump the ninjette and pick up a cbr500r partially what @Gurk friend is looking for.

I want a compromise bike. Look at how gurk is enjoying a bike made for the street. It's comfy, not too focused but sporty intentions, and gets okay mileage while providing some smiles for the STREET.

I used to daily drive a 1989 civic si with half an interior and the ac ripped out for street touring class autocross. If I could go back in time and punch my 17 year old self in the balls and put the ac belts and condenser back on I would. It was street car 99.99% of its life and I wasn't using that power gain and weight savings in the canyons to warrant sweating my ass off in 100 degree heat.

Gurk is a track guy and that's why the bike makes sooo much sense to him.
And Gurk tell Ali hi. I did that M1GP 24 hour race with him last year and he posted up that cool 636 track bike he got on facebook, mega jelly of all the track days you two are doing.

[Trailerboy531]

Want to learn how easy it is to work on?

Let me ride it home

[Gurk]

Originally Posted by CycleCam303

Gurk is a track guy and that's why the bike makes sooo much sense to him.
And Gurk tell Ali hi. I did that M1GP 24 hour race with him last year and he posted up that cool 636 track bike he got on facebook, mega jelly of all the track days you two are doing.

aw sh*t! hey man. he says hi back. yeah ali has been pretty great track buddy. we push each other a bit and there's a friendly competition thing going on. I wish he could come along more often! I actually stored his kawi for him at my apartment complex. But he sold it recently. He wants to get a crashed R6 now and turn that into dedicated track bike since I can help him repair it. You should talk to him and come along if you can! Once he gets another bike that is.

ps: he won't shut up about that m1gp race. tell me the truth. he brought you guys down didn't he?

[Gurk]

Originally Posted by Trailerboy531

Want to learn how easy it is to work on?

Let me ride it home

[Live2ride]

The fz6r is a perfect commuter bike IMO. Its by far one of the most comfortable i've had the pleasure of sitting on :-). Great choice, should make a great starter bike for him.

[Toly]

Duh...

[tnr4]

You know, I've been thinking about the fz6r on and off for a year now. My problem is that I get one bike (for now), and I want it to do everything moderately well. It needs to be comfy, economical, entertaining, and (now that I have the bug), help me get better at the track. My 300 does most of those really well, with a bias towards economy and smiles, but a lower score on comfort and the track. The fz6r would be a step up in comfort, a small step down in economy, close to a wash in entertainment, I'd guess. What I can't quite decide is how the fz6r would compare to the 300 on the track. It's faster by a lot, but it's so standardish, I wonder if it would be a step down in track-day ergonomics and general suitability.

[Gurk]

Originally Posted by tnr4

You know, I've been thinking about the fz6r on and off for a year now. My problem is that I get one bike (for now), and I want it to do everything moderately well. It needs to be comfy, economical, entertaining, and (now that I have the bug), help me get better at the track. My 300 does most of those really well, with a bias towards economy and smiles, but a lower score on comfort and the track. The fz6r would be a step up in comfort, a small step down in economy, close to a wash in entertainment, I'd guess. What I can't quite decide is how the fz6r would compare to the 300 on the track. It's faster by a lot, but it's so standardish, I wonder if it would be a step down in track-day ergonomics and general suitability.

For track I'd keep the 300 around to be honest. No one says you can't track and have fun on a fz6r but it's blatantly a street focused bike.

Just keep the 300 and try to find its limits. It'll take a loooong while

[tnr4]

Originally Posted by Gurk

For track I'd keep the 300 around to be honest. No one says you can't track and have fun on a fz6r but it's blatantly a street focused bike.

Just keep the 300 and try to find its limits. It'll take a loooong while

I think that's good advice, Gurk. Just to be clear, though: I'll have to choose just ONE bike to keep. I couldn't tell if your advice was to keep the 300 as that one, or to keep it for track and get the FZ6r for the street. While the latter would be a blast, it's not in the cards for a guy who doesn't have a garage. So if you could have just one bike for commuting, street fun, and occasional track duty: the 300 over the fz6r?

[Toly]

Street Triple over both

[Gurk]

Originally Posted by tnr4

I think that's good advice, Gurk. Just to be clear, though: I'll have to choose just ONE bike to keep. I couldn't tell if your advice was to keep the 300 as that one, or to keep it for track and get the FZ6r for the street. While the latter would be a blast, it's not in the cards for a guy who doesn't have a garage. So if you could have just one bike for commuting, street fun, and occasional track duty: the 300 over the fz6r?

I personally would keep 300.

It depends on what you want MORE. fz6r is a compromise for track. 300 is a tiny, tiny (just that the comfort isn't as good as bikes you ride more upright) compromise for street.

Since I personally wouldn't compromise track my choice would be the 300.

[Gurk]

BTW just cause I ignore Toly's suggestions doesn't mean they are great options.

When I say something like "Damn! z370 is a pretty nice car!" and someone replies with "pffft.. Lamborghini Gallardo is better" I find it pretty stupid.

The fact that triple is a great street bike doesn't change the fact that fz6r is too. There's a lot of bikes that would be totally ignored by everyone if we didn't care about reliability, durability, price, ergonomics and only looked at performance.

There's options and they are not limited to one person's taste.

[BRad704]

Well played Gurk.

CCam, I like the 'compromise' bike idea also. Been looking at the Gladius as my next financial suckling. I guess I should expand to some of these others also.

[tnr4]

Originally Posted by Toly

Street Triple over both

Haha. Been there, done that. Sold it for the 300 precisely bc it wasn't practical enough. If I were going back to full on impractical bike, I'd go super sport this time around. I've realized that I'd rather have uncompromising ergos with wind protection than moderate ergos with zero wind protection. I'm kinda in love with the r6 after my track demo. So if I go full on unreasonable bike anytime soon, it'll probably be that one. (Although it looks like I'm not allowed to do that until I've crashed a ninjette.)

[Gurk]

Originally Posted by tnr4

(Although it looks like I'm not allowed to do that until I've crashed a ninjette.)

Yep.. I totally misunderstood the guidelines and switched to r6 before crashing the ninjette and crashed the R6 on track.

I almost got banned.

[CycleCam303]

Originally Posted by Gurk

aw sh*t! hey man. he says hi back. yeah ali has been pretty great track buddy. we push each other a bit and there's a friendly competition thing going on. I wish he could come along more often! I actually stored his kawi for him at my apartment complex. But he sold it recently. He wants to get a crashed R6 now and turn that into dedicated track bike since I can help him repair it. You should talk to him and come along if you can! Once he gets another bike that is.

ps: he won't shut up about that m1gp race. tell me the truth. he brought you guys down didn't he?

I didn't realize he already got rid of it. That sucks. It would probably be easier to just buy a track ready R6 though.

Haha, all I remember about that race is that it was a solid group effort starting with me destroying that poor bike. Ali was smart and didn't ride the bike after we ran out of foot pegs and rearsets and the right side had a nub left and you couldn't hang off the bike anymore. lol

[CycleCam303]

Originally Posted by BRad704

Well played Gurk.

CCam, I like the 'compromise' bike idea also. Been looking at the Gladius as my next financial suckling. I guess I should expand to some of these others also.

In my opinion it totally depends on what most of your riding is. Realistically, I'm not a consistent track day guy. In a perfect world I would have a track only bike. No point in having one if I rarely ever go right? So then I look at what I enjoy out of my riding. I like riding in the street. Especially hard street riding. At the same time I like racking up miles and saving gas. So commuter purposes are important to me too. So a sporty standard would be an okay bike for me. But if I used my truck to get to my job and my motorcycle became more of a fun toy, even if I only did a handful of track days, boom, supersport period.

To each his own. I'll always agree that you use the right tool for the job. Taking an fz6r or triumph street triple on the track would suck for me honestly. I've ridden a street triple. Naked bikes aren't exactly cozy over 80 mph and all the things that makes those bikes great street bikes makes them horrible on the track.

But ask @rojoracing53 how he likes his new track oriented suspension set up in the street. You won't be surprised by his answer. A compromise always has to lean towards either extremes.

[BRad704]

Once the Ninjette is paid off, I will have 2 bikes with zero payments due on them. If my 93 VFR doesn't becomes WAY more reliable, it will end up getting sold and the proceeds will go toward a slightly larger "sporty standard" or sport touring type bike. I'll strill have the Ninja to take to the random once-annual track day.

Short version: Sporty standard/Sport Tourer is what is good for me.

[Jono]

Originally Posted by BRad704

Once the Ninjette is paid off, I will have 2 bikes with zero payments due on them. If my 93 VFR doesn't becomes WAY more reliable, it will end up getting sold and the proceeds will go toward a slightly larger "sporty standard" or sport touring type bike. I'll strill have the Ninja to take to the random once-annual track day.

Short version: Sporty standard/Sport Tourer is what is good for me.

Whoa, be sure to let me know when this is. I wanna go to the track but have no way of getting my bike there at this time.

One of my friends just did his first motorcycle track day this past weekend at Barber and it changed his life. Haha. I NEED to try it!

[rojoracing53]

Dude I love my new super stiff suspension, the faster I go the better it feels. Unfortunately the general public thinks I should have stayed with stock suspension and speeds

I just sucks is such a pain in the ass to adjust rebound dampening

[choneofakind]

Originally Posted by tnr4

but a lower score on the track.

..whaaa? Doing it wrong. The little ninjette has taught me so much on the track just because it's so slow! My video footage makes it really obvious where I should be carrying more speed into corners, and there's no extra guts to compensate for a slow corner entry.

I've not yet (nor will I any time soon) found the limits of my bike. I guess I'm just a slow rider.

[tnr4]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

..whaaa? Doing it wrong. The little ninjette has taught me so much on the track just because it's so slow! My video footage makes it really obvious where I should be carrying more speed into corners, and there's no extra guts to compensate for a slow corner entry.

I've not yet (nor will I any time soon) found the limits of my bike. I guess I'm just a slow rider.

Haha no no. It's just a lower score because its a standard bike so it's clearly less awesome at track than at being practical. Nothing about its being slow makes me slow or anything. But it has high clip ons and budget suspension. And it is slow enough that there are certain tracks I won't take it on. So it's being a ninjette isn't holding me back of course. But the most convenient circuit here has a 3000' straight so I just won't take the ninjette there. I would get passed by a speed differential of close to 100mph!!!

[choneofakind]

Originally Posted by tnr4

Haha no no. It's just a lower score because its a standard bike so it's clearly less awesome at track than at being practical. Nothing about its being slow makes me slow or anything. But it has high clip ons and budget suspension. And it is slow enough that there are certain tracks I won't take it on. So it's being a ninjette isn't holding me back of course. But the most convenient circuit here has a 3000' straight so I just won't take the ninjette there. I would get passed by a speed differential of close to 100mph!!!

that makes more sense. Meh, I got passed by at least 50 mph a few times on the straight at Mid-O. not as big of a deal as I thought it would be.

I guess I forget about the OE clipons and pegs because mine haven't been stock for so long. And you can fix the suspension. Time for your mod bug to bite.

[csmith12]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

I got passed by at least 50 mph a few times on the straight at Mid-O. not as big of a deal as I thought it would be.

Some track orgs see this as a safety issue and put 250 riders in the I group under the umbrella of "closing speeds" and "margin of safety".

But yea, it's not really the big deal as it's made out from the riders point of view. Looking at it through the eyes of the safety coordinator though... bunch of cocky riders with skechy lines, jockeying for position with speed differences of 50+ yea.... put them in the I group please so the closing speeds are not 100 and we have to get the shovel to peel them off the tarmack.

[choneofakind]

If I was a safety coordinator for a major track, I'd likely go gray and loose my hair very quickly.