Taller rider 600cc's

[SectorC]

Hey BCF,

First post after lurking for a while.

I'm 27, 6ft4, about to take my Mod1 on a 650cc and feeling pretty confident and comfortable on the bike.

With this in mind I've started looking at possible first bikes. Due to my height and the fact that 600cc+ bikes seem incredibly good value I think that's where I'd want to look. (I know some likely think it's better practice to jump into a 250cc or something and slowly work up to the higher numbers and recognise that).

I did a quick search of the forum and have asked some friends who ride about a few taller bikes, but was wondering if anyone had any advice on bikes I'd perhaps not considered or have found certain bikes listed below as uncomfortable for taller riders.

Budget is topped at £3000 but hoping for maybe £2.5k realistically.

Bikes recommended to me:

Yamaha FZ6 Fazer
Yamaha XJ6
Suzuki Bandit 600
Honda CB(F)600
Honda Hornet 600

Any advice or links to anywhere that gives a good run down would be great! Hoping to arrange to go and visit some dealers before my Mod2 to sit on and test out riding positions for comfort, and so this would be my shortlist for bikes to test basically.

Cheers

[Rogerborg]

Are you set on an IL4?

If not, V-Strom 650s can now be had in that budget.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[ferrisio]

Am pretty comfortable on my 650 Bandit, they come with handlebar raisers under the yoke and an adjustable seat. Doesn't make masses of difference, but it's not too bad. I'm 6'4" btw.
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BMW R1100R

[SectorC]

I'll be honest, I don't really know the distinction between an inline4 and other engine layouts.

Is it to do with acoustics of the noise made by the engine that people prefer one over another, or is it down to differences in power output/responsiveness/smoothness?

EDIT: Watched a few youtube vids trying to explain the difference between IL4 and Vtwin being where it'll pick up in different rev ranges.

So yeah, still ignorant at this point so no preference.

[RhynoCZ]

[Rogerborg]

IL-4 goes vroom vroom.

IL-3 goes rasp rasp.

Parallel twin goes putt putt.

V2 goes brap brap.

Single goes thump thump.

It's a matter of personal choice. I'm not mad keen on IL-4s because they're smooth and revvy. As for fuel economy, the NC700/750 and G650GS would have something to say about that.

Try one of each.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[RhynoCZ]

Please Roger, do explain what seems to be confusing on the in-line four being the best thing to have?
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'87 Honda XBR 500, '96 Kawasaki ZX7R P1, '90 Honda CB-1, '88 Kawasaki GPz550, MZ 150 ETZ
'95 Mercedes-Benz w202 C200 CGI, '98 Mercedes-Benz w210 E200 Kompressor

[Northern Monkey]

There seem to be a lot of people who don't want an IL4 considering they are the 'best'

Maybe you just like IL4s, and everyone who disagrees with you is wrong
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Fisty: after polishing the tank with the glistenng beads of sweat from my full hot scrotum, I filled the headrace bearings with 10cc of my manmilk

[nowhere.elysium]

Ignore Rhyno, he's in one of his 'being a cock' phases again.

I4 engines are smooth, revvy, and tend to have a distinct power curve that increases as the revs go up.

V2 engines are a bit lumpy, but have a very flat power delivery that's there from the start - you don't need to wind them up so much to get a sense of 'go' from them.

V4 engines are somewhere in the middle between I4 and V2 - they've got a constant power delivery, but it does also pick up a bit more part way through. I have limited experience of V4s, so may well be contradicted on this.

I2 engines are a lumpier I4 that's had the guts removed - they rev up to a certain extent, but stop being exciting pretty fast - they've got most of the downsides of a V2 and an I4, with the only positive being that they're narrow and fairly fuel efficient.

Singles are thumpy and have a lot of immediate torque, although it runs out fairly fast.

So, you need to ask yourself - do you want something that has the power immediately, after a bit of revving, or after a lot of revving? next question is then what sort of bike do you want - sports, naked, dual-sport (pseudo off-road), supermoto etc.?
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'10 SV650SF, '83 GS650GT (it lives!), Questionable DIY dash project, 3D Printer project, Lasercutter project

[Matt B]

A 90 degree V4 (like the 1100 Pan) is a very well balanced engine design and has minimal vibration.
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stinkwheel: He had an animated .gif of a cat performing fellatio. It's not socially acceptable. It can have real life adverse effects on other people.

[Eddie Hitler]

I'm 6 2" with long legs. To be honest, every bike I have owned has had my legs stiffen up on longer rides.

In regards to engines, start off on an inline 4. I've had loads, FZRs, ZZRs, VFRs.. along with various rides on other machines. Singles are great fun, but not for commuting or motorway work. My first bike wen I passed my test at 17 was an FMX650 single, whilst a great learning machine it sucked at most stuff. Inline 4s cover everything.

That being said, I have a VTR1000 right now and loving it. Not the fastest thing, but man, the sound and torque. Just go with what you want at the end of the day, experience counts for so much more than peoples opinions on an internet forum. .

[winz]

I'm 6ft 2 and own a Hornet. Rode for 2 and a half hours today and on Thursday and felt a little cramped 2 hours in.

I learnt on a CBF600 and I didn't have an issue with being in the saddle for most of a day.

Doing Bristol to Brighton this week, so that should be fun...

[Pigeon]

[Rogerborg]

[Baffler186]

[dolly3900]

6'8", 38" inside leg, so obviously tall bike needed.

Started on a CBF600, nice ride, tall enough so as not to look like a giraffe on a monkey bike.

Seat adjustable up too, so seat to peg height could be modified too.

Now on V-strom 650, nicer higher up bike, loads of seat to peg too, not adjustable seat, but taller ones available if that what you want.

another thing to consider is the seat to tank distance, I had a go on a couple of BMW's before the CBF and found that my knees would not sit in the tank cutouts, meaning that i could not grip the tank and was sliding into it on braking causing ice cream topping type discomfort (crushed nuts).

Edit
Also the CBF had a more lean forward ride position, the V-Strom is much more upright, I like that, but others may prefer a more sporty profile to ride with
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2002 Rieju RS2-50 (Sold, spares or repair), 2010 Suzuki DR-125SM (Traded for ->), 2007 Honda CBF 600 (Sold), 2010 Suzuki V-Strom 1000 (Briefly, now returned), 2007 Suzuki Intruder 1800m (Even More Briefly, traded in for ->), 2014 Suzuki V-Strom 650

[SectorC]

Cheers for all the responses so far guys, definitely helpful, I'll get some viewings arranged and see what feels good.

Had a similar experience to dolly on the older GS500 we've trained on. For whatever reason my normal position on it just felt as though my body wanted to always slide forwards into the tank and braking didn't feel particularly comfortable due to this...

The various 125's and the 650 I've trained on haven't done that.

[struan80]

[RhynoCZ]

[stevo as b4]

IL4 engines are not the best for everything or in every capacity class. They do have some advantages and plenty of disadvantages also. If you want to you could say IL4's are good because of the amount of development they have had over the last 30years, where as for a long time a Parallel twin was seen as very last century.

I do think the Parallel twin has some good advantages over the V-twin though, which on paper should never have been a great layout for a nimble compact sportsbike. However Ducati have said otherwise quite well for 20 years.

BTW the VTR1000 only doing 20mpg with its handy 16L tank, is what I would call character. They sound very Satan's own bike on open exhausts, and they do even better popping and very scary loud backfires on the overrun that will set car alarms off with impunity, if that's your thing?

[Alpineandy]

Would this help; https://cycle-ergo.com/
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The above comment isn't necessarily the truth and anyone that says it is, is only correct if it's the truth or they're bigger than me.

[Ribenapigeon]

Yamaha XT660 ? within budget and solid.

[Yorkshire Geek]