best 400 and 600 in your opinon

[mooseman]

I am soon hoping to buy either a 600 or a 400 when passing my A2 in a few months time

First what do you think is the best option in cc?

and what is the best bike in that class?

Money not really an object but i dont really want to pay more than £4,000 for a second hand because of insurance reasons

Cheers
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M005E M4N

[Ste]

There is no one best bike otherwise everyone would just get that. What do you want to do with the bike? Are you going to keep it restricted?

[mooseman]

was looking to keep it restricted for a few months just to get the papers and to get used bike as have only being riding a 50cc for the past year
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M005E M4N

[G]

What do you want to do with the bike?

A bike that's excellent for twisty A roads and race tracks may not be so good for commuting through London on a daily basis.

£4k is definitely 'money is no object', especially if you have to consider how much insurance is going to cost you.


You also have to consider that a newish 600cc sports bike is a very powerful machinel; capabale of getting very fast very quickly.

How do you expect your riding to 'develop'? - Are you looking to get faster, to just use the bike for commuting, etc?

[mooseman]

I live in quite a suburban area on the outskirts of birmingham so will be dealing with lots of twisty uneaven country roads.

Also will have to commute to college but still want something with pace for nice sunny days
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M005E M4N

[strag]

you still have not said what type of bike you want :S Do you want a sports, tourer, custom, trailie, naked, ratter? There are so many types of bike to choose from if you want some opinions, give us a clue!!
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carbon bling

[mooseman]

sorry

am looking at either sports or tourer



the zxr400 is one i am thinking of
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M005E M4N

[A J]

Im going to say that the 600s are all round better bikes .

The 400s are good bikes but are lower spec than the 600s and i think that you will be wanting more power than 400.

Plus i think that they have dated looks but that is just my opinion.

[jayluvmito]

[Yeti]

I would say go for a ZXR400 not that im biased or anything! but a 400 will be plenty of power especially if you have only been riding a 50 for the last year. They handle well too. Then if you do decide you want a bigger bike the 400's hold there money so you can always sell it and upgrade.
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Lifes a Beach!

[JonB]

If you want bike short term - 400cc

If you want it for a longer term - 600cc.

Just my opinion, no doubt someone will disagree.
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Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.

[ciaronr6]

As I've said before, I'd go for a 600. If nothing else it'll be easier to find a decent one over a 400, which IMO are a bit long in the tooth.

If you want sports focused, then obviously look at the R6, Gixxer, ZX6R or CBR600RR.

However, for more practicality and comfort, a softer option could be a Thundercat, CBR600F, SV650 and such.

Its all good mate!

Ciaron

[Villers]

Well I currently have two six hundreds in my garage. One is my CBR600F, and one is the hire companys CB600 Hornet.

I live in a moderately quiet town with absolutely shitty rough roads, but I have the lake district on my doorstep and some long duellys etc.

Riding the hornet round town is spot on, its basic but still spot on. For the bumpy roads its great, ive been bracing myself for the big bumps expecting to be thrown out of the saddle like on the CBR (pogo arse everywhere!) but it copes with them perfectly. Having ridden my own CBR the CB dissappoints in the power stakes though. Heres the relevant bit. A decent 400 will cost you what? about 1800 ish maybe more. Plus it will be ten years old. If you like to ride fast then it will become slow pretty quickly and youll be wanting a six. I know I cant wait to get back on mine!

Obviously I'd reccomend the CBR600F, Ive also heard really good things about the Thundercat too. The CBR is as hard as nails, as reliable as people say they are. Ive hammered it for 5000 miles without so much as an oil change. My mates ZX6R which has done about the same about of miles has caused him lots of trouble, such as valve clearances, leaking radiator, dodgy alarm, rattly head stock etc etc.

If I was commuting though I would really be interested in the CB600 Hornet though, with honda build quality and just about enough power it must be a good choice!
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RS125 > CBR6 > SV650S > ZX636R > GSX1300RZ Hayabusa > 06 RSVR Mille > SV1000S > Street Triple 765 RS

[stevo as b4]

surely someone who is likely to ride very fast on the road, could by this logic get bored quickly with the power of a 400 or a 600cc bike.
Personally i think a new rider does not need to be worrying about this for quite some time. You cannot genuinely ride a 400cc flat out all the time on the road, and neither can you ride a 600 that way. It makes me laugh when i hear of road riders with say an R6, and they say that they just cannot keep up with their mates on blades and R1's on a sunday morning rideout, and that they want a litre bike to stay with thier mates. How fast exactly do these guys ride?

Ive had a 600cc sportsbike for 5years, and ive never got bored of the performance, even though id like a bike with much more low down grunt, and maybe 20-30mph less top speed as my next machine. On the road ive never been able to use all of the performance of my little 600cc bike, and ive never found that its lacking in power or performance. I think all you can really say is that whatever capacity bike you own, you will get used of it, and it will feel normal after a while, but that does not mean it's not more than quick enough for road use. Im sure if you go and buy an R1 that eventually it wont feel threatening or intimidating, and you might not want to step down to a smaller less torquey machine afterwards, but it does not mean that you need that level of power to have fun and go as fast as it is possible to do on the road.

[Pat172]

Bandit 600

im not bias coz i have 1 but there cheap (£1500 for a good one) there cheap to insurae as there not sports, there easy to ride on long trips as there abit more upright then the ninja, its more powerful then the ninja, more mpg im sure

its down to personal choice, most kids will choose a ninja coz there sporty but the ninja 400s are usually old things that have been thrashed...
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- Suzuki Bandit N600

[gauloises]

Well if you was to get a sports 600 (r6, gixxer) how much will you be looking to actually spend on insurance is it some what of £2000 upwards (17 years of age and A2 license first bike restricted to 33bhp) .



S.L
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If you tell a lie long enough loud enough and often enough the people will believe it.

[cqueen]

RVF 400

[Villers]

[Pat172]

[kingsknight]

CBR400, not the fastest bike in the world but at least you know it will never let you down. where ever size bike you get make sure its a honda
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TS50 (sold) NS125F (sold) NSR125R-K (write off after 2 crashes) CG125 (nicked) XR125L-3 (Sold )-: ) DR125SM '11 (sold yay) XL125V '12 (In love with this bike) XT600E '04 (fun on the dirt)

[Bendy]

[Dom_]

If i was you i'd get a RVF400, going from 0-60 in 4ish seconds and 130 top speed is plenty fast enough for a 17 year old whose just finished learning on a bike that wont even do 60. A 400 may also give you more satisfaction knowing you can push the limits of it further than you could if you jumped on a 600. Learn to control the power, learn how to corner quickly and safely. Then get on a bigger bike if you think your ready.

I know if i jumped on a 600 at 17 it would be fun yes, but i'd have more fun ragging a 400 than using no where near full throttle/red line on a 600.

[Keen]

if you're 17 insurance is going to be your main problem.

I would say a zxr400 like you say is a good bet, you say you have 4k to spend, so for that you could get a newer (relatively speaking) zxr (they sold them officially in the uk until quite recently, unlike the hondas) and pay for TPFT insurance
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"he who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man"- Dr. Johnson

[Villers]

[Kickstart]