Is going from a 250 to a 1000 too much?

[crazybigal]

im 33 and i pay around $500 a year for my blackbird, insured at 10k
most insurance companies are a bit iffy about people going from a 250 to a 1000+cc bike when they first get their full.
talk to Dave at kiwibike insurance, he will give you the skinny on the costs.
or a dude on here who is called Jetboy, he will also be of help regarding insurance

This is one of the many things I'll have to look at. Hopefully the insurance won't be too bad for a 30 odd year old.

[serious4]

im 33 and i pay around $500 a year for my blackbird, insured at 10k

That's what I'm paying for a five grand 250

I'll pm Dave @ kiwibike insurance and jetboy to get an idea for a 600 and a thou. As well as my current provider. I must admit, insurance wasn't something I considered at all

Cheers crazybigal

[ital916]

G'day mate. My 2c worth, that it's better to have a slower bike and ride the hell out of it with a grin on your face, knowing the bikes limits and yours. Than have a bike that travels at light speed but having to be uber careful and worry all the time that your gonna make a mistake. The difference between thous and sux hundreds is not a lot, and a six fifty will still chew the twisties and cruise the straight bloody well. A lot of the time a skilled rider can make a slow bike go fast *and six hundreds aren't slow lol*. So in the end it's up to you, but me thinks that a six fiddy v-twin will be the best step up. Level headed or not mate, you can still make a mistake, only on a thou it will bite more. But hey i don't know anything i ride a 150cc two stroke .

[MacD]

I suggest you contact Zapf as he went through a similar process a few years ago. He started on a VTR250 and moved onto an SV650 which he toured the South Island on. Next step was a GSXR750, which didn't last long, and his thoughts on that would probably be useful to you. That was followed by a Honda 919 and a Blackbird.

The issue is not whether you can control the litre bike when all is going well, but whether you can control it when things go pear shaped. KB is littered with threads relating to crashes on gravel or through loss of traction when braking or accelerating, many of which I suspect are related to people not really understanding their own limits or their bike's limits. Finding those limits in a stepwise manner is in my opinion a good idea.

[McDuck]

I am keeping an eye on this thread. I would like a little info. While i love the 250 (and the 650 as a project is going very slowly, may get complied and sold for something newer) i am 195ish cm tall and in gear the best part of 150kg. What do you guys recommend by way of 600 more?
Thanks

[EnzoYug]

I had a fireblade... for about 4 weeks. Now I have a GT250R.
There's one simple reason. I wanted the torque. Now I just want something that gets me to work and that I can afford.

If you have any brains you'll realise that while you *WANT* the torque - you don't *NEED* the torque. You never stop learning how to improve your riding and jumping on the biggest machine is probably the quickest way learn how inexperienced you really are.

Also - if you go straight to a litre bike you'll have nothing to look forward to.... Think about that.

[serious4]

I am keeping an eye on this thread. I would like a little info. While i love the 250 (and the 650 as a project is going very slowly, may get complied and sold for something newer) i am 195ish cm tall and in gear the best part of 150kg. What do you guys recommend by way of 600 more?
Thanks

You're a big lad. I guess the same rule will apply to you though. The best way to progress is to go up in graduated steps. But I'm sure there' will be some other comments

G'day mate. My 2c worth, that it's better to have a slower bike and ride the hell out of it with a grin on your face, knowing the bikes limits and yours.

So simple I looked straight over it.

I'm getting a couple of quotes, more so for interests sake, for both a 600 and1000.

Although I'm pretty happy with the way my head is screwed on and know my limits the thought of a bike riding me into another hard object doesn't appeal. I'd rather ride it into one

So test rides a coming, I'll keep ya all updated

[marc34]

Just get it... it may kill you... it may not

Thats what I did.

I rode a 30hp Kawasaki KLX250 d-tracker on the road to begin with, did that for 12 months, sold it, rode nothing for 8 months, and just brought a SV1000, very pleased with the purchase as well, the bike is perfect for "me".... I find the power and torque great, i also rode a CBR600 Honda while i was testing and that felt too small for me (only 6ft but about the same around)...

to answer your question, i personally don't think going from a 250 to a 1000 is too much, on the other hand, i can see plenty of merit in trying different bikes and working your way through the CC's!!

[McJim]

I'm 37, have a massive knob and therefore don't need a litre bike.

[discotex]

Hi, my name is Matt. I'm 29 and I ride a Honda CBR..... Welcome to Sprotsbikers anonymous...


I never rode the SV650 but in a straight line the SV1000 isn't *that* different a beast to the IL4 600's (I rode all the current jap ones). Ixion is right though, that low down torque means you would want more throttle control.

The SV had more low-down torque and less top end but overall not the massive difference the cc's would have you believe. Guess that's the difference between screaming IL4 vs v-twin delivery and the extra weight of the SV.

Where things change is on the corners. The SV1000 handles a million times better than my old ZXR250 but then my CBR600RR handles substantially better than the SV. The weight and suspension make the difference. Don't let that fool you though - the SV is a mean bike.

The IL4 600's will feel torquey compared to the VTR250 so don't let that worry you. Just get out there and ride them all and have fun doing it.

I'm assuming you want fairings but if you don't mind naked the 600's are more torque tuned than peak HP plus there's options like the ER6n.

[FROSTY:Me]

Ahh fuggit--get ya arse on a 650 and see if its "enough" for ya.

[McJim]

Ahh fuggit--get ya arse on a 650 and see if its "enough" for ya.

Give him a loan of your speshul pink one on a track Frosty.

[FROSTY:Me]

Give him a loan of your speshul pink one on a track Frosty.

pink has loooong gone dude.-
-actually im still not sure where the bike is

[madbikeboy]

I thought you were taking the piss. Apparently not.

Lets put this in perspective. Most litre bikes now have more torque and horsepower than a superbike a decade or so ago.

You're going to do what you're going to do. A lot of the advice is pretty balanced. So I'm going to give an unbalanced view. You'll ride it fine for weeks, you'll build confidence. You'll push a little harder. And then one day, without even realising it (because you don't have the experience), you'll get it wrong. And then we'll write the eulogy here on KB.

The difference is the limit and speed. Litre bikes have more. It's hard to explain unless you've experienced it. Work up to the edge.

I wrote this review a while ago. Read it. Slowly. An SV1000 is still plenty fast. Buy an SV650 instead. Or a GSXR6. If you're worried about the cost of insurance, you've already answered that you can't afford it. The insurance is the cheap bit.



Living with a GSXR1000 (aka, the crack addiction)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It starts out innocently enough, you promise yourself that, today, for once, you're just going to take it a little easy. This is analagous to a crack addict promising just one small hit...

Living with a fast bike (GSXR1000), and why you should buy (or not buy).

I'm going to put aside all the macho stuff, the pub stories about needing more horsepower, and relate to you the reality of living with a GSXRthou.

I still have the Performance Bike article from 2001 that put the original against the benchmark fast bikes of the day, and the K1/K2 had to be pretty awesome to sideline the original R1. Subsequent iterations have gotten faster (well, more powerful), but they've also gotten more complicated (lost your keys lately?), and smaller. Smaller is an issue for me at six feet, I feel like a gorilla riding a tricycle on the latest 600's...

Putting aside the differences between models, what's it like living with one?

Well, it's fast. Scary fast for some, and for those that have little fear, the road rash and damage is normally expensive. This is not a bike that you buy once you get your full licence - my mate ZXRIDER almost got written off as one came past him on its side at a Coro ride - the overzealous rider had bought one as his second bike, too much front brake after entering a corner a lot too fast, and dropped it. ZXRIDER watched the bike go past, then he turned in - thank god for experience and good mirrors... "I told you so" just doesn't cut it.

It's fun in traffic. I can't describe some of the stuff I've done without it being used in court. Let's leave it as read that it's fast on the road. I've geared mine down, some people say 300 kph is academic - it's not, it's just too tempting. With the mods (God Bless yoshimura and an understanding bank manager) and the two teeth overstock on the rear, it'll lift the front wheel (not wheelstand, that's illegal on the road) in any of the first 3 or so gears without too much clutch abuse... it's also loud and obnoxious, which is how I like it. If Cagers have in issue with it, they can pull their useless big bores of their shitty nissans and then talk to me about it.

It's expensive on tires. I hear about people who plan their tire purchases based on getting a year's worth of life. I plan on what days / rides I can afford. For example, a couple of rides with the boys + Taupo track day. A Friday night in town (momentary and unexpected losses of traction can be expensive, but hey, chicks dig burnouts). Expect 2-3000 k's at most, if you're restrained - by restrained I mean physically tied to an large object and unable to ride. I've had a worst of 600 odd k's. I haven't made it to 2000 k's yet but it can be done. Apparently. It's like an urban myth, but somehow less believeable.

It's expensive for other stuff, it uses more gas than the company cage (well, it sounds so good at 10,000 + rpm...). It eats chains. It's not cheap to insure.

Why should you buy one?
1. At $10-12,000 for a mint one, it's a fucking bargain.
2. it's a great looking bike
3. It has tonnes of torque, it's well sorted, and if you leave it stock, it's a pussycat around town
4. It's easy to work out the hp/litre on a litre bike.
5. It'll embarass any car you can think of. Street racing is illegal, I've only ever done it on private racetracks. Like the night I rode between two slow assed rich plonkers on a racetrack called spaghetti racetrack (it's in italy, ahem), can you imagine Mr Merc and Mr Porsche in their uber expensive AMG/Gt3 when a cheap bike roars between them at 100kph faster than they're going?? Laughed?, fucking near pissed myself...


Why shouldn't you buy one?
1. The torque makes highsiding a reality if you back off once the rear lights up.
2. It's not a good bike unless you've cut your teeth on a succession of bikes, buy a 600 for 95% of fun sports riding, buy a 750 if you like riding really REALLY fast. A well ridden GSXR750 is as fast in the real world, but it lessens the pucker factor.
3. It's cheaper than a bitch mistress. But only just.
4. You may think you can control yourself, but the reality is quite different, you will ride too fast, and you'll find yourself laughing like a loon. This is normally an indication of mental illness. You need to be a little nuts to ride in the first place, so in this case, mental illness is like an entry requirement for a GSXR1000.
5. You will get to know your local police officers very well. Unfortunately, out where I live the woman cops are called Wayne and have mo's. I have no interest in getting batoned, so I've tried slowing down. 99% of cops seem to give the other 1% a bad name...

[serious4]

Shit, I've definitly opened a can worms.

The issue is not whether you can control the litre bike when all is going well, but whether you can control it when things go pear shaped. KB is littered with threads relating to crashes on gravel or through loss of traction when braking or accelerating, many of which I suspect are related to people not really understanding their own limits or their bike's limits. Finding those limits in a stepwise manner is in my opinion a good idea.

You're going to do what you're going to do. A lot of the advice is pretty balanced. So I'm going to give an unbalanced view. You'll ride it fine for weeks, you'll build confidence. You'll push a little harder. And then one day, without even realising it (because you don't have the experience), you'll get it wrong. And then we'll write the eulogy here on KB.

Points taken.

I'm 37, have a massive knob and therefore don't need a litre bike.

If I was trying to make up for the size of my knob a thou wouldn't be anywhere near enough. 9 inches is small right...