Yamaha r1

[Darkside]

I'm not really quite sure where to begin, i was eighteen when I purchased my first motorcycle an aprilia rs250 madness you may think, (though I am of the opinion that if you can tame an rs250 you should be alrite with most things). Anyway first ride as usual got rather over excited and you probably guessed it, i crashed it. Anyway I am now twenty and am beginning to think I was robbed out of 3000pounds, its a 2000 model with a W-reg 04 plate, am just wondering if i had the wool pulled over my eyes?? also I am interested in a yamaha R1....used of course(madness again i hear you thinking) but I am seeing the 98-99 models being sold off for as little as 2500. How much (tops) do you reckon i would get for the rs250. HELP!! and yep i am sure someone somewhere is going to use me as the prime example of why the power restrictions on bike licences need to be changed. sorry.

[G]

Buying new bikes always means you lose a lot of money. Has someone told you differently.

Buying new bikes when you don't have much experience is even worse as you are more likely to crash them and lose even more money.

I would suspect people are going to say 'you will die on a r1'.

Could you go into a bit mroe detail on all accounts? Spefically, the state of the rs250.

The r1 is a massive jump up from a rs250. I would look at an intermediate bike first.
The rs250 is a good bike to make you a faster rider. The r1 is a good bike to make you a lazier rider.

I have got a 143hp zx9, however I choose a rs250 for fast road riding; you just can't push the zx9 anywhere near it's limits on the road without seriously endangering yourself and your licence.

[Darkside]

Well it has a large scratch down the left hand side of the fairing, apart from that its mint, am fitting some mini indicators also, its a bit tempremental starting in the mornings, other than that it goes like buggery!

[TiN]

So how much have you ridden since you crashed the RS?

You have already mentioned how any machine can be "tamed" (i.e. by controlling your right hand), but of course, you then go off and say how you got a little over-excited...

If you feel that you have learned your lesson, then I'd have no discouraging words to give. The thing is - being a little over-excited on a 2-stroke single is very different to on a 1000cc inline-four. Also, you may need to change the way you think about the bike, so if you're still thinking "need to rev the nuts off the engine to get anywhere", then you'd get yourself in trouble very quickly.

I found the initial "bite" from the R1 to be rather tame (even compared to the downgeared 600 that I was used to previously), but once you go up the rev range (from 6k), then the engine pulls very strongly indeed.
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TiN
dotgems.net

[loply]

Just a little note, on an R1 of that age if you redlined it in first gear you would be WELL over the legal national speed limit,

So i think it would be hard to have fun on it on the road.

And you will never learn how to ride fast on it, as you will extremely rarely push it anywhere near the top of the power curve.
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Yamaha SZR660 Caution to the wind, the throttle pinned!

[Marc_Buck]

It depends on you as a rider, are you a oh look i have an r1 guy, or a good rider like G who rags his rs250 to its limits coz its more fun?

If you like to rag bikes, then the r1 is probably a bad choice as said redlined in 1st can do NSL+.

If you like to just ride and showoff, rev your bike etc then an r1 is good, as they are uber cool bikes.
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94 fzr600r

[slowarse]

your best bet might be to have a look through mcn and autotrader to see what price they're going for!!

[Sparks!]

LOL .. sorry..

You buy a brand new Rs250 as you're first bike, and crash it shortly after... and now you want an R1?

It reminds me of a stupid monkey touching something hot, yet it keeps touching it again and again and burning itself cos' it's so stupid
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Current Toys: 06 Yamaha WR250F | Nissan 350Z GT | Tech 4 Homes

[stevo as b4]

I would say go for the R1 mate. As much as i love 2strokes, ive never ridden anything as focused as an RS250, but the power delivery is such that you cant really ride the bike any other way than to thrash it, which may or may not get you into trouble.
i can see G's point about being able to use all the RS250's power on the road, even though you cant use all of its handling ability on the road, but the ZX9 or R1 would be far harder to use all the performance, firstly as the speeds that 143/150bhp means are much higher, and secondly these bike would end up tying themselves in knotts in terms of handling in public roads if you tried to use all the bikes performance. even on a track you are many many times more likely to reach the handling, braking and suspension limitations of an R1 or 9R before you get close to using all the horsepower available.

The big advantage on the road of the R1 though is that its docile and has a very torquey engine with an almost flat torque curve compared to a 2stroke. this means that given self restraint the R1 can pootle about with no effort or need to work the engine, so it is a more relaxed ride, and given good throttle control means you will probably end up riding quicker and more safely than you would on the RS as it does not ever need to be ridden agressively to get plenty of useable performance for any situation.

Id feel far more at home on an R1 than i would on an RS either in town, or out in the twisties, as although i suspect the RS would be the much quicker of the 2 in some situations, on a very technical twisty road that you dont know, the RS could never exploit its handling advantage, and if its not being ridden in a full on commited way the R1 would probably still be in front even if it was cornering much more slowly than the RS could manage on the same road.

[Fortuna]

I'd get an R6 to be honest. Then once you feel it's too slow get the R1.

[BLOFLY 636]

Im with fortuna on that one an R6 will teach you more in real world riding ability
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Those bloody footpegs......they ought to do away with em!

[instigator]

Go for the R6 as well. At least you know that if you get bored with it, then theres soemthing to upgrade to i.e the R1. upgrading past the r1 and erm......

[BLOFLY 636]

[dodsi]

Only Jay leno has one of them bad boys that I know of!

[R4nger]

My advice is get an R6 or lower. There is nothing getting you get an R1 but however if you do get it, expect to die within 12 months and I seriously mean that.

[Fortuna]

[r1_lad]

I think so long as you are sensible, anyone that's ridden a geared bike could ride an R1. It's perfectly slow and easy to ride at slow speeds, it just has the potential to go fast but only if you can't control yourself or have absolutly no throttle control but if that's the case you'd be just as dead on a 600.
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RS50 -> RS125 -> GSXR600 SRAD -> 02 R1 -> Speed Triple 1050 -> Ducati Streetfighter 1099 -> DRZ400 Superetard

[BLOFLY 636]

[Flip]

You crashed a 250 on the first ride and now you want a 1000??

You'll die. You've proved to yourself that you cannot trust yourself with power. Could you trust yourself on a 400 let alone a 1000? I see a restricted CG125 for you

[sickpup]

So hold on here a minute. You can't handle an RS250 which you think is fast and now you want an R1. Can I have first dibs on the salvage please?

[stevo as b4]

The R6 would probably teach him more about going fast, and give greater confidence to both on the road or during track days etc. Alot depends on peoples ability to control themselves and take it easy, as R1 lad says, with sensible frame of mind and good throttle control an R1 cannot bite you! I know its easy to say all this, but i consider myself a fairly restrained rider, and ive always respected my ZX6R and never tried to go faster than i felt confident to do so, or use all of its power and speed on the road. I do however like the idea of big torquey engines and the R1 appeals for this reason, as you can go very fast but for very little effort or bother with gearchanging all the time and so it should be easier to ride in that respect.

The other side to this is that some will say that you will not learn to ride quickly and faster if you have a big engine that you cant use correctly. i.e. on a trackday on the R6 you would learn to ride faster and lap quicker by using the bike properly meaning using all the rev range and always being in the best gear for max drive in any situation. On the R1 you could ride most circuits in say 5th gear only and go very fast, but maybe not be in control so much as you were using it properly.

So when people say get a smaller bike first and learn how to really ride it, i think thats what they mean, rather than getting a litre sports bike and not really being able to use/exploit it? If it were me, for purely road riding i would still have the R1, but id admit id be very likely to get around a race track far quicker and more confidently on a smaller less powerful machine.

[r1_lad]

Good post stevo.
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RS50 -> RS125 -> GSXR600 SRAD -> 02 R1 -> Speed Triple 1050 -> Ducati Streetfighter 1099 -> DRZ400 Superetard

[Fortuna]

Yes exactly. You will get the max from an R6 much quicker on the road than you would an R1. The litre bikes have a steeper learning curve especially for novices.

[mrchips]

Think it's a CG125 you want mate.
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Northern Irish? www.nibikers.com

[MinhDinh]

i doubt its a serious post. if it is a joke then well done as many are replying. if you are actually serious then good luck.