New Vs Old, letter in ride...

[Villers]

Just finished reading ride. Not 100% sure why I still bother to buy it but I find myself betraying my better judgement on a regular basis. Anyway...

Theres a letter on the letters page (good place for it I guess) from some bloke in Wiltshire that has went out and bought an A1P ZX6R for 2k and obvioulsy loves it, fair play. He goes on to say

'I cant believe newer 600's offer more in terms of pace, handling, comfort and braking'

Now this got me thinking. This guy believes that the more modern bikes cant perform any better than the older models, I disagree. I have limited experience on this but Ive owned an older 600 and now a modernish 600. I had a CBR600F on a W plate (a mate had a ZX6R on a T plate at the same time) and I currently own a 636 C6f Ninja. The difference I notice is astonishing to me, especially the pace and braking.

I know this could be argued out eith numbers and figures but do any of you more experienced owners think that this statement is wide of the mark or would you agree?

The bit I would agree with however is the comfort!!
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RS125 > CBR6 > SV650S > ZX636R > GSX1300RZ Hayabusa > 06 RSVR Mille > SV1000S > Street Triple 765 RS

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

sounds like he's never ridden a more modern 600..
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[Ant]

he's probably followed someone on a newer bike and kept up!
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04 ZX10R ~

[G]

Part of it is down to older bikes having more miles and being a bit tirdier around the edges, but there's a significant difference between the nearly-new ZX6R J2 I had and the 675 I have at the moment.

[Bendy]

The bikes certainly offer more, but it's only apparent if the rider is willing to make use of it. It'd be quite possible to ride a 10 year old 600 and a new one in exactly the same way, at the same speed, if that was as far as the rider was willing to go. Main difference being that the older bike might have had 25% of its handling/power/whatever in reserve and the new one has 40% (made up example figures).

Also perhaps a bit depends on the upkeep of the older 600. For example, the brakes on Jay's '06 Daytona weren't any better than (in fact I didn't think they were quite as good as) my '00 CBR. But I've looked after them and made sure they work bloody well, I'm sure that by now I could find plenty of identical bikes with shockingly bad brakes!


If he's new to the whole thing and the old ZX is a good one and is blowing his mind, you can kinda forgive him for thinking things don't get any better (is it better? that's a whole nuther debate).

[Ace Biker]

its a bit like shagging fit birds....

take me for example, i shagged this hot chick wed nite.
mentally, i gave her 10/10 for her effort...

then i shagged this other chick last nite and was even better !!
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RD 80 (crashed, sold) RD 125 (crashed,sold), RD 350 (rebuild twice, sold) RGV 250 (sold seized). RG 500 (crashed,sold )
GPZ 600, GIXER 400, ( sold seized). ZXR 750, CBR 400/600 (crashed, sold ) CBR 600 (sold seized) CBR 900 (crashed, sold) ZX9 (sold seized ) CBR1000 RR (crashed sold)
RVF 400 (crashed), CBR 600 RR (seized sold). Current ZX10

[EuropeanNC30R...]

A case of 'ignorance is bliss', not that here it's a bad thing.

[Kickstart]

Hi

Depends what you want from the bike and how you ride it.

Want something that responds to the throttle well at all revs, rather than needing to rev the knackers off the engine then an older 600 is probably a better buy than, say, a current R6.

Newer bikes are getting more powerful and lighter. Weight isn't really that much (whoopy do, in 20 years they have knocked about 10% off the combined bike / rider weight), and the power is often gained by moving the peak up the rev range and saying goodbye to mid range. This is fine if you are going for it and know what you are doing, but probably 90% of riders would be quicker with a more flexable power delivery.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[ram_doom]

Manufacturer's dont carry out a ground up redesign every couple of years and let performance slip older 600's are tame compared to modern machines. Also spec is constantly improving
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TL1000s, KDX200

[MarJay]

I think that an older 600 with new bearings, new brake lines, new fork oil, new brake fluid and a few other things would feel very good indeed.

However, I did test ride a new CBR600RR a few weeks back, and it was a revelation.

It didn't feel much faster than the nearly new TT600 I used to own, it didn't steer all that much better, and the brake feel wasn't as good.

But, it was tiny and extremely light. Don't get me wrong, the TT600 was no porker, but it was rather bulky. The CBR on the other hand felt better because the lack of weight made so many of the attributes of the bike so much better. The brakes enabled me to lift the rear end at will, and the turn in and mid corner stability was fantastic. The wheelbase is much shorter, so the bike wheelied more easily. I believe this was all down to Honda's efforts to reduce weight.

In reducing weight, they also reduced the size of the bike, which for many people is a bad thing. However I think its great.

If I decide to replace the Buell, be it now or next year... It will be with either another Buell or more likely a 2007 CBR600RR.

I do however object to paying 'new bike prices'.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[Richie-ninja]

I've had a 2000, J1 then an 2005 C1 before getting the C6f....
Now i would say the C model if far easier to ride than the J1..
This could be down to the slipper clutch,, the extra 37cc's,, regardless the technology is pushing the boundary's of sports bike now..

Any new sports bike being purchased over the last two years is more than capable of going straight on to the track and being used for racing...... Thats how good the bikes are now... IMO.....
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[Huambo81a]