Your opinion on upgrade intervals and experience over years and k's?

[bmz2]

after reading this thread ,i think half of you should go back to the basic 50cc,you talk about how fast you can go ,and HOW you can out ride each other , this is not about how well you think you can ride, and i make the statement how well you think you can ride................, but when you should upgrade to a larger bike, upgrades should be when you loose your ego, ,once you master the riding changes required , then you can upgrade, while you are still trying to get your bike onto one wheel and how fast you can ride a corner and how many bikes you can beat , if you upgrade in this mode then god help us, please post which road that you will be ridding on, so I CAN GO THE OTHER WAY AND BE SAFE,

[Steam]

upgrades should be when you loose your ego,...
please post which road that you will be ridding on, so I CAN GO THE OTHER WAY AND BE SAFE,

Lol, good points, have some bling.

[Disco Dan]

Lol, good points, have some bling.

Dito....

[mynameis]

I think it comes down to your maturity and ability to ride a bike. Your skill set doesn't directly correlate with the amount of km's you have done. In saying that you could be the fastest man around a track and yet not be sensible on the road and become a hazard to yourself (and others).

When it comes to road riding in particular, the more time on the road would lead to you experiencing more different 'situations' and therefore being more safe, however you could have done something like the California Superbikes school, and a couple of advance handling skills courses, jump straight on to a 1000cc sportsbike, and with a bit of maturity be completely fine.

It's all about your top two inches and ability to know when its time to roll the throttle off.

It's simple physics, a bike with 100-140hp more that weighs maybe only 10-20kg more is going to get you to the next corner a lot faster than something with 40hp that weighs the same...

Thanks for the insight and a peek into your way of looking at things, good post mate, you always bring unique perspective which is awesome! I definitely agree with some of the points highlighted.

I strongly believe we all should kinda develop different mindsets when we're riding, for example when I am out commutting I take it really easy and never ever push myself, I just nana it, but when out in quite roads and track days it's different.

I think having those qualities will save lives and a whole lot more.

Been there done that.challeng a guy on a xr350 of road..i was on a yam 175..he blew the doors of me..had to eat humble pie.there is no way u are going to beat a 600.. ..ccs will win...

Now we're comparing apples with pears, road bikes with off road. Not sure if you have been to many track days or not but a very few I've been to I've seen guys from KB on 250cc's whip guys on proper 600's like 6R R6 K4 600 and CBR 600 let alone a GSXF. So if you're thinking it can't be done you are wrong it can be done.

[Morcs]

Hi to all.
So my verdict:

First 10 000 k's less than 40 hp machine (250cc 4 stroke)
10 - 20 000 k's less than 70 hp machine (400 cc, 250 2 stroke, 650 V Twin)
20 - 40 000 k's less than 110 hp machine ( 600 cc)
40 - 60 000 k's less than 130 hp machine ( 750 cc)
60 000 k's and more 130 plus hp machine ( 1000 cc)

Adios Amigos

that is a very sensible plan, though i would group the 750 with the 600 class.

I personally went:
50cc for 1.5 years
180cc for 1.25 years
250 for 5 months
400 til present (2 months)
Plan get a 600 early next year.

Also depends what you want, i find the 400 has pretty much everything i can want, and prefer it to the zx10 (exept for posing )

And because of the careful, disclipined steps i was able to jump on a thou and be sweet as.

There are always people who can easily jump straight off a 250 onto a 600/750/1000, but i can gaurantee if you take small steps you will be a far more skilled rider at the end of the day

[Kendog]

The wife went from a less than 40 hp GN250 to a 100 hp CB900 in under 10,000km (and way back I went from an FXR150 to a CBR600)

Your guide is good, but it is just that, a guide. Sensible, mature people can move larger steps without difficulty.

[Back Fire]

I went to a K6 1000 after 2 years and about 30,000km of riding... and I was 19 when I got it... I have yet to crash it because I lost control of it, or myself on it

[Karma]

Pah...

I started on a 65hp ZXR400, rode that for a year and jumped to a 160hp (ish) GSXR1000.

Something which is perhaps being overlooked is the physical problems you'd have on bikes, anyone that's seen me on the 400 would know that it was way too small for me to ride (think krusty the clown on his mini-bike), so the trade to the gix was more about size than power.

As has been said many many times, it's all about taking it easy and controling your throttle hand, sometimes peoples can't do that and they end up on the tarmac... natural selection in action.

[Back Fire]

Pah...

I started on a 65hp ZXR400, rode that for a year and jumped to a 160hp (ish) GSXR1000.

hah! I went from a 9hp 125 to a 120hp gsxr 600.... pah yourself! I beat you by 14hp....

[Disco Dan]

Your guide is good, but it is just that, a guide. Sensible, mature people can move larger steps without difficulty.

Exactly. No offence to you Morcs, because the way your going you will end up a primo rider.... ....but if you lack maturity and the ability to control your right hand, then upgrade slowly following that guide or something similar.

[Wolf]

I started on a 65hp ZXR400, rode that for a year and jumped to a 160hp (ish) GSXR1000.
...
As has been said many many times, it's all about taking it easy and controling your throttle hand, sometimes peoples can't do that and they end up on the tarmac... natural selection in action.

My great uncle Owen started out on a 1340cc H-D - 15 years old, no helmet and on gravel roads - because you did, back then. As he's still alive, I dare say he executed a lot of control on the throttle hand

It aint the bike, it's the loose nut on the throttle that matters.

Under current legislation a person's first bike could be a 250cc 2-stroke crotch rocket - the rider could take it easy and learn to ride safely or (s)he could cane it and laminate themselves onto the scenery. A person could get a 50cc moped, make a careless manouevre and wind up dead.

[Morcs]

Exactly. No offence to you Morcs, because the way your going you will end up a primo rider.... ....but if you lack maturity and the ability to control your right hand, then upgrade slowly following that guide or something similar.

Indeed so. Different learning strokes for different folks.

Id marginally say i lack the maturity to own a thou, the fact im riding someone elses strangely makes me slightly maturer.

I am a firm believer though of being able to ride the current bike to its full potential before upgrading, not having a dig at you Dan... lol

[Babelfish]

I am a firm believer though of being able to ride the current bike to its full potential before upgrading, not having a dig at you Dan... lol

Shite, if I went by that rule I'd never get another bike...maybe thats cool on the track where you can somewhat afford the experiment but on the road its a different story

[MotoGirl]

I don't necessarily agree that you need truckloads of km under your belt before you ride a bigger bike. By the time I got a road bike, I'd been riding bikes (offroad) for nearly 10 years. Within a week of riding a road bike (ZZR250) I was taking a pillion. I was onto a 600 Bandit within six months and capable of riding our VN1500 Vulcan within a year. Yeah, they were big jumps, but doing it this way taught me one thing - being sensible.

Riding a variety of bikes does give you more appreciation for their power - how you handle each one depends on your ability to control the throttle!

[bmz2]

after reading some post after my reply ,you are starting to get what i have been saying , maturity, i started on a 125 cr honda racing dirt track in 1976 , at the same time i was racing my hemi 340v8 charger yes ,340 one of the few in the country, broke more bones than i can count on my 125 , but it made me a better rider and driver, after my youth i left riding to the the guys who could not afford to buy a car, found the car got more girls , never without a blonde beside me , married the b...t..h in the end , never aloud a bike when i was married car went as well, but now ............ still have a blonde 15 years younger and have the v8 jeep ,boat,530i, house, pool, and most of all the beast m109r it's like driving the old hemi , so the morale of the story is slow down and wait and it will happen and you will live to enjoy it, i know i do, nz riders