Hello Peeps :D
Got my CBT and my DAS course booked for next week. Was thinking about buying a Kawasaki ZX-6R 636 (brand new) or a second hand ZX-6R J2 for a first bike. What do you biker peeps think of these machines? I have heard they are quite forgiving and a good starter bike, also what about the Triumph TT600? I am 24 and already paying a fair whack for my scoob insurance so I am not worried about that.

Thanks in advance

Martin :D

Martin, I'd go for a 400 as a first bike. I got a quote for a zx6 when I passed my test, k-care wanted £2600 Comp, best quote was £1300 tpf&t (and this was 4 years ago). Good luck with test. John

Cheers for that John :)

Unfortunately its too late! i have ordered a new ZX636-R (02). Got a quote of £900 fully comp for my first year :D:D cheaper than my scoob insurance anyway!

All i need now is to pass my test :( should not be a problem tho :D

Thanks again

Martin

I'm another one for the 400 route for a first bike. I had one for 5 years before going to a ZX6-R J1 which I have had for 2 years now.

The kwak is a great bike but I certainly appreciated learning on something lighter and only a bit slower in terms of accelerating to legal speed limits. The 400 will top out at 130-140mph depending on the model where as the 600 will be good for 170mph but when are you going to need such a high top end so early in your biking life? Only on track I hope and I wouldn't want to take a spanking new bike out on track having only just learnt.

Believe me the 400 is a snip to insure and run in comparison to a 600 sports for a newbie. As a comparison I am paying £450 fully comp (thats at least £200 cheaper than anywhere else who quoted me), its garaged, i'm touching 30, have 9 years riding experience with 7 years no claims bonus. You are 24 with no no claims bonus. I would say you are in for a very big premium on a brand new 636. Some places may not even quote you.

Just take out a 400 sports and see what you think, you may just be very pleasantly surprised! I was! :D

Bloody hell insurance companies obviously don't mind insuring newbies in Scotland then! Thats a joke really when I am paying 450 notes for 9 years experience and full no claims bonus and am 5 years older than you. Shows what a rip off it is living in the south east for anything images/smilies/mad.gif

Good luck with your test and make sure you take it so very easy on that bike because even with all the good intentions in the world, you will find that throttle immensely difficult to resist! :D

IMO the test isn't enough for a newbie hoping on a ZX6R, Ive got one and its fair to say 'they go quite well:D'. If you can afford a scoob and a ZX6R, YOU CAN AFFORD TRAINING' So get booked onto and advanced course before you start riding out with your mates. Oh and dont cut corners with the protective gear.
I am a mod on www.mcnninjas.co.uk (http://www.mcnninjas.co.uk) and without doubt, its the place to go in the UK if you've got one of these bikes;)

Ash

I got a GSXR600 as my first bike after passing my test and have had no problems, however, I would have benefitted from something more forgiving in the early years. I think the ZX6 probably is a little more forgiving, but it will still be a little intimidating at first. Just respect it and enjoy it ;)

All the supersports are within 5 bhp of each other, on a track its down to the riders ability not the bike. The difference between the zx6r and the gsxr/cbr/yzf is the provision for rider comfort.

Ash

Cheers Ash :D

Looks like you have one more member in mcnninjas now :D

Will defo take it easy on my new steed :D the electrician on the ships teaches advanced driving, and he is going to teach me.

I can't wait until i get on two wheels i just know i am going to love it.

Got my lid sorted, an AGV V Flyer Air. A wolf nimbus 2 leather jacket. Some belstaff gloves. Just need the jeans, boots and water proofs now. Have spent the best part of £600 on protective gear so far. I wont skimp on safety gear its not worth it.

Hope to see you on the open road some time

MArtin.

DRUNKNORGY, I agree with you re power, but the CBR and ZX6 are slightly less extreme in riding position and suspension set-up. A CBR feels much less threatening to ride than an R6 because you're more comfortable and the ride is less harsh. Forgiveable and unthreatening doesn't mean slow ;) I'd wager that most riders could ride a ZX6R quicker than a GSXR600 with no prior experience for those very reasons.

zx6r is a light bike this years model down to 161kg, though if you bought a 600 wouldn't have 2 change up in a year or so...

:D When your in the position to ride your bike properly and you take it anywhere near the redline you will understand why we all say 'get the training'. Even the 600s are mental through the gears:D:D:D. IMO it takes much more skill to ride fast that it does to do the same in a car, and you will understand why we are all nuts about bikes.

You should come over to the ninja site rev and have a look around :D (I would say that 20-30% of our active members have blades/gixxers/R6/R1's etc, even one of our mods has a 600 gixxer) our chat room kicks off from 9pm in the evenings.

Ash

I can't understand anyone who says oh you will get bored with a 600 sports after a year or so and want something bigger. WTF??? My bike is good for 170mph and gets there bloody quickly! How the hell can that ever get boring?

I have taken my bike to the top end a couple of times although not not proud of it and its not clever, just wanted to know what that really felt like at 170 on a bike. I know from that that I certainly don't need anything bigger or faster. The only reason I will go to a bigger bike is simply if I like the look of the bike and it is very good at handling and has a good tank range. The speed will not be a factor because to me there is no need to be able to do more than 170 and even 170 is well in excess of what is really needed on any bike for the road.

Passed my test 6 months ago and went out and bought a gsxr600 as my first bike, found it to be great as long as you respect it for what it is. Insurance only cost me £340 third party fire and theft.

I've found bigger CC bikes easier to ride. You spend less time worrying about what gear your in and how many rev's your doing and more time watching whats going on in front of you.

Spend a few £ on some 121 advanced training !!!!!

Bravo2zero.............came from a 750, 1000, 1200 to a 600 this year....

I am a lazy rider!!! On the 1200 it had so much torque available I hardly had to change gear, any gear would do.

With the 600 (turn in is far better and the lightness 161kg is so much nicer) though you have to keep it on higer revs to make use of the torque available.

I ride a bike like I use my car change up before 6000 (I know they rev to 15,000 etc). With the 600 I have had to relearn and use the available rev range have even had the shift light comeon now (once at 14,000 revs).

On a 600 you need to think more, change gear often to keep in the torque range, it isn't a harder bike to ride completly the opposite of that, but you must use those gears to get the most from it....

Now a 1200 in a 6 frame, with the same weight.........IDEAL for me....

Safe riding out there.......

Hmmm, theres something about the 600s, I don't want the mass of the litre class bikes and quite like the neck wringing you have to give the 600's to get the best from them:D

Ash

Ferrarinutter I see where you are coming from mate, I'm like Ash though in that giving it some revs appeals to me, must be something to do with owning a 400 for 5 years, the bike demanded to be thrashed relentlessly and went to 15k revs if I remember rightly :D I prefer more interaction with gear changing etc, I can sit on the kwak in 5th/top gear all day long pretty much at any speed but I get bored of not being busy on the bike. Each to their own I suppose.

I certainly have nothing against the big bikes, I would like to get a GSXR 1000 next or a Mille purely for the looks and sound of those 2 bikes. I'm not sure I'd be safe on the gixxer because of its extra power, I have enough problems behaving on the kwak ;)

Bravo, know what you mean on the 600 I'm certainly using that rev range.............and when I go back to bigger bikes, I'll probably use the whole rev range there as well...

Still I love this 600, so well balanced and the radial brakes are superb.......

There is only 2 things I would change about my 600 and thats the give it the handling of my old 400 and enough torque for it to wheelie under its own power. It does it a little bit in first 2 gears but not much, I'm not a wheelie merchant and never do them purposely but I love it when the bike does it naturally through torque.

Ferrarinutter I see you are going on the Essex meet April 5th, will have to catch up with you there for a chat. Should be a good evening out! :D

BTW what 600 have you got?

Bravo, will be there toying with bike or car, bike or car, rain or sun...........

Will see you at the meet good old chin wag!!

Got a 2003 ZX6R, bought on spur of the moment was going to get another 12R.......but the tacho did it for me and the rear led brake light....its also got a lap timer for closed circuit racing only, though has been most useful on local roads.....

Also happen to be going to Brands for a track day at the end of this month - will be in the novice group as a year away from riding has affected me.....

Though it seems to be coming back to me, very quickly !!

Nice one. If you are about Sunday there is Kwak ninja meet at Box Hill. I'm going for my first time. Check these links out :-

http://groups.msn.com/MCNNinjas/welcome1.msnw

http://groups.msn.com/MCNNinjas/rideouts1.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=42827&LastModified=4675412985830731377

Looks like a good route! Weather is supposed to be good too so looking forward to it.

I want to do Boxhill in the near future, but got to guarantee decent weather as its over 100 miles from my town. All are welcome on the MCNNinja runs BTW.

ASh

Ash this weekend is supposed to be dry allegedly. Was supposed to be going for a rideout today with Neilbbb but had to call it off due to the weather but are meeting up Thursday hopefully and probably Saturday and then I will be going to the Ninja meet Sunday as well and Neilbbb might come along.

Weather is supposed to dry up tonight and be excellent for the end of the week so fingers crossed. The route M6 has drawn up looks like a good set of roads so looking forward to it. Can you not make this weekend?

Will deffo be doing it within the next few weeks, but my bikes off the road (waiting for a new chainset in the post:(), and needs its MOT which can't be done till I can get it back together. Also I'm in the middle of decorating my kids bedroom and am juggling to find the time. My missus would throw a wobbly if I pegged it for the day and left her to it:(

Its a full days ride for me from chelt

Ash

LOL m8 u got a busy weekend ahead of you then. I hate decorating - in fact never done it I dislike it so much - so don't envy you! Hopefully catch you at Box Hill another weekend soon.

Hi just seen your post thats unbelirvable! I'm planning on buying a 2002 ZX-6R, unregistard with zero miles on it, I have talked to the dealer and am just fishing around for insurance before closeing the deal. Like you I have yet to pass my test and the Ninja will be my first 'big' bike.

The best quote I have at the mo is £1540 fully comp. I would like to get this down a bit before buying so was wondering if you could let me know who you got your quote from.

Thanks peeps for the help and advice :D:D:D

M3-Chaz try Motorcycle direct (0870 606 1694) or DA Devitt (0800 200 369), they gave me the best quotes so far. Also tell them that you wont be taking a pillion, get it immobilised. I am getting mine ground anchored in the garage which helped a bit as well. Keep the milage down, i am estimating about 3K a year, as i only do 6K a year in my scoob. Hope this helps

Martin

Dude - has "it" arrived yet are are you still "riding" your other new toy (HELLO CHERYL:D)

See Ya in 2!

Russell

Hi everyone, somewhere above someone said the 40 was lighter. I don't think this is true. I think the new 636 is lighter than any sport 400 (and I am thinking baby blade, nc30 etc etc)

thoughts?