Which is worse

I thought of this while randomly reading an online bike mag. In your opinion which is worse buying a 600 supersport as a first bike or buying a ducati 848 as a second bike? Random thougths from a random person:smile:

 

I think the 848 would be a great first bike. Im not a "tame" first bike person. Though honda cb 750s are good bikes.
I dont think either are worse the the other.

 

The 600 is far worse. Just do a Craigslist search for a clean 600.

 

I don't think either is a bad buy. They share similar performance numbers regardless, so a new rider just needs to keep his head on straight while he learns. I wouldn't necasarily want either as an only bike, but an 848evo would be a fun second.

 

An 848 is a fine second bike, assuming the rider learned how to ride on their first one... And when I say "learned how to ride", I don't just mean balance on it and not fall off, I mean really ride. Just too expensive for a rookie who will likely scratch it up a bit.

As for a first bike, it so depends on the rider; their maturity level (not age), experience with other machinery, understanding of basic riding/driving principles, how coachable they are, and how quickly they learn (and if they can learn from deduction rather than experience).

I'll give you a quick example, I have 4 kids; one of them, if you said "don't touch that, it's hot, it will burn you.", they'd look at it, you'd see the wheels turning in their head, they'd nod and walk away. One of my others after the same statement, would look at you, may never even look back at whatever was hot, would wait until you're not looking, and put their hand on it. No matter what, they had to learn by experience. That kid, would kill them selves on a bike, cause they'd always have to see it for themselves. You'd say, "never jump on the rear brake only, it'll cause your rear wheel to lockup, and you could crash"; the very next time they rode, they'd try it = dead. My other kid, you'd tell em, and they'd think about it, understand what you're saying, and figure out you were right = alive.

For the kid who just HAD to learn by experience, I'd start them on an old lawnmower engine minibike, so hopefully they'd live, while they tore the bike apart, trying everything you told them not to do. The other, could probably start on a 600 and be just fine...

This is the same for kids as it is for adults...

 

I partially agree with Echo.

An 848 is a fine second bike for the right type of motorcyclist.

I am however pretty biased against the SS600's simply because most 'street' riders think they are tame being a 600. In short, the 600's are race bikes with headlights and turn signals and brother Toe (at least for my area) has a point about clean 600's. Some of my riding friends, who are much faster than me and who have been riding longer than me haven't quite mastered their 600's. That says alot about those machines.

BZ

 

I tend to agree. You could give a million dollar car to certain 50 year olds and they will go and kill themselves, but give the same car to certain teenagers and they will be just fine. Its all about perspective. As well since you guys think that 848's wouldn't be bad second bikes there are a couple of clean used 848's near me hmmm....what to do.....

 

A good first bike is one that has a lag from the throttle to speed, enough to think aboot what is going on while it is picking up speed. Even older 600's can get you in trouble before you know what happened and ruin the best time of your life that you never knew you missed. It is a tough learning curve and if you make it past it your golden, just need to get that far. First bike is last bike for too many. Hate to be harsh but first bike stories are way too common for limp dick pussy's that got in over their head and had no respect for what they were dealing with and live joyless , pathetic lives. Asphalt sucks but it is not that bad.

 

Some of us were born with the disease as well , kissing the ground was not a deterant. Just a part of the deal from time to time.

 

I guess it all has to do with perspective. Like TC stated some of us were born with it. So technically my first bike was a Honda Z50 trail bike. I still think the idea of a "First Bike" as a tame bike doesn't make sense to me. Mostly because you're gonna outgrow the tameness and want for more and have to graduate to the bike you wanted in the first place. For many people that could be years but for an equal number that could be a few months or a singe season.

It would be hard to say the reason so many 600rrs are wrecked / broken is becaue of the bike. It could be because higher numbers are on the road. It could be that the majority of those bikes are owned by the same segment of the population that has historically been the same segment responsible for the majority of single vehicle accidents on motorcycles.

Add an immature adrenaline seeking rider to a high performance "anything" car, bike etc. You can get trouble.

 

Your right a tiered system would give the gov more contol but it could potentially save lives and eventually bring over smaller bikes that are still fun and capable. Then again it's not nice to have your few civil liberties limited. Huh it's quite the conundrum

 

Gov needs t stayout of our lives. Please.

 

Everyone that rides hits the deck/its just a fact of life. Hopefully you were dressed for the event and come out of it with no more than a rashed bike and some bruises. No worse than a bicycle accident. People that have it in their blood are gona ride no matter what.

Starting out riding, Sheesh. Do you really wana invite the wolf to dinner and have a tiered license system here? 6 huns are race bikes that do 160 maybe, they really have no business in the hands of novice riders. Too bad there are no new bikes that fit beginner status. Second thought, maybe a ER 650 or SV 650, they still honk along but arent as lethal as a 6 hun sport bike. 250 Rebel for a year along with a scarlet L emblazened on the front? just a thought...

 

Offroad is the only place to learn how to ride a motorcycle. Consider that the Kenny Roberts and Rich Oliver schools use(d) small bore, 4 stroke, offroad bikes for their training programs. Almost all professional racers use offroad bikes to keep their skills sharp. You will learn more about the actual act of riding and machine control in one year in the dirt than you will in 5 years on the street. The size of the bike doesn't matter, you can crash a 125 and be just as dead as you can on a 600. There was a reason that training wheels were invented......


.

 

I agree with the dirtbiking as a good learning tool, and like NCB said, cc's don't kill--speed and lack of training do. My first street bike was a VTR 250 back in the late '80's. Not really what one would consider as a "dangerous" bike, but I managed to crash that damn thing four times before it became unfit for riding. I graduated to larger machines and havn't put a bike down on the road since then. It all comes down to the rider, not the machine.

 

I ride my 89 vtr 250 all the time and in almost two years no crashes, but I did lay it down when pushing it one time. I was soooo pissed, lucky for me the peg feeler was the only thing damaged =). I wouldn't know about the dirt riding, when learning to ride I was almost entirely on street, but my dad did take me out to the local airport with a crf 230 and said go ride. That was fun, but I was still learning and focused too much on trying to ride than having fun.

 

I would say the Ducati...only for the simpler reason that if you put it down its not that painful ... I would rather wreck a GSXR than a ducati ...

 

I love wurst, kielbasa, linguica, chorizo and all that other hot dog shit..