Absolute Newbie

People now a days just seem to have tons of money to burn on starter bikes. Personal safety just seems to be an after thought.

True as it may be that all bikes are capable of killing you just as easily as any other, some bikes are a little less capable of geting you into that dangerous territory than others are.

2 great bikes to compare are the 6r and the 250r. Extremely popular bikes with quite loyal followings. A good portion of the 250 people will tell you that you are nuts to start off with a 6r, and I agree with them (I am one of them, after all).

My reasoning is that is has less to do with either the bike or the rider alone, but the combination of the two. Even a long term experienced rider will tell you that when they get a new bike, they take it very easy on the bike until they learn how the bike will react to different inputs.

The 6r is a bad choince (imho) for a complete newbie to learn to ride on because of the amount of power available at the right hand. It takes time and practice to learn the art of how to twist the right hand, and release the left hand in the proper ratios to safely maneuver through traffic.

A 6r can easily launch the front tire into the air, and either drag you along on the scariest ride of your life, or launch itself into a mad series of cartwheels, and crash into a small crowd of pedestrians...

A 250r is a lot less of a handfull under the same circumstances. The chances of getting the tire high enough to loop one is down right pretty close to impossible, though a couple people have managed it, somehow. The 250 accelerates less like a banshee, and more like a bat-out-of-hell, which might give you that split second to either change course, or at least get off the throttle if that car up ahead tries to make that right turn in front of you.

Plus, the 250 allows a person to build the needed skills a little more quickly than a 6r can. You aren't afraid after a while of ripping the throttle open full bore from a stop light, and whipping the 250 around a set of real tight twisties is an absolute delight (after making a change or two to the stock setup).

As for the couple souls who started out on the 6r, and so many months later are still around to defend their decision, do you guys think you would have the same riding ability now that you would have if you started out on something smaller?

And just to let everyone know, I'm not some sort of you don't need more power than a 250 nut. I'm just the type that prefers to see people start out on something reasonable, so that they can learn the skills they need right from the start as safely as possible. And then they can move up to anything they want, as long as they can control it even under the worst of circumstances...

I have seen many more reports of newbies killing themselves in a blaze of glory on SS bikes than on the little Ninja 250, when its the first bike they have ever ridden. That doesn't mean that people don't get killed on 250's, it just means that they are less likely to put themselves into situations that are way over their heads faster than they can realize that the situation just became dangerous.

Good luck to all of you out there, old-timers and new-comers alike.
BC.

Hello,
my name is Tom,25 years old and I'm from belgium
I had a zx6r 1998 and now I race with a zx6rr 2003
In belgium I ride in the kawasaki-cup
We did nice tracks this year
nurenburgring
brands hatch
donington
magny cours
carole
assen
francorchamps
zolder
zx6rr boss exhaust,power comander,no toil airfilter
So this is me and my bike
hello to everybody