Hi guys,
It might be too late (£100 deposit down) but I have just traded in my 02 CBR600FS 55,000 miles on the clock with good service history (service every 4000 miles) to 99 R1 with 22,000 mile on the clock also with full history. What to you guys think? Oh, I had to pay £500 for it cos of the very high mileage on my CBR. Right decison or the most stupid man on earth? Please be gentle cos i bruise easily.
Sounds good to me… 
Would’ve been better if you’d stuck with a Honda though! 
I would say that what ever anyone says on here you will love the performance increase and the lazy way the R1 will pull from everywhere. No more racin up and down the gearbox.
I would say its a good move and you will thoroughly enjoy warp afctor 3 Mr Zulu:P
am i right in thinking you havent been riding long kingdan?
if so, go easy on R1, its a completely diffrent animal to CBR6;)
Yes Ratty. How do you know? I only had my full licence for 2 months and my riding history is scooter for 2 years, NSR125 for 6 month and CBR for 2 months.
I would say no, you have (had?) a perfectly capable bike, and learning to get the most out of it would have been the most productive thing to do…hopefully you haven’t traded up because you thought the bike was the reason you were getting left behind on rideouts…
Just don’t kill yourself on the R1 now!
Oh and on a more productive note, book a bikesafe course when you get it.
I’m with ratty on this one, be careful with the new one kingdan…
I’d say if you had been riding for longer its a great decision! It sounds like you’ve chopped one very good bike in for another one!
But 2 months isn’t very long on a big bike, so i guess you should just take it real easy.
To be fair, the throttle works both ways so as long as you’re sensible you’lll be okay :D:D
i think we have met on a rideout somewhere? or youve mentioned it elsewhere on LB,
anyway just get used to it and go easy, it WILL be alot difrent to a CBR6, remember more power means faster, but it dont mean it can stop any faster than say your CBR6.
keep brain and throttle connected at all times, you be fine;)
Honda more reliable…Stronger engines…oh no what have you done. I can see this situation ending in tears:hehe:
I think the old honda more reliable thing is a fallacy these days.The Hondas I’ve had have been badly built and unreliable.Saying that, the last Honda I had was a superdream 
The 99 R1 is a great choice - proper torquey motor and a proper beast if you want it to be.I’m all for people buying the bike they want, rather than a smaller bike to learn on.Riding a 600 will never prepare you for riding a full fat thou, so just take it a bit easy while you get used to the extra go and enjoy 
R1 a fantastic bike, I’ve had a couple and you’ll have a big cheesy grin on yer face every time you wind it on…
However, as said, can be a beast if you’re too eager, or too cocky, but you’ll be fine if you don’t step too far outside your comfort zone.
Have you checked out the insurance?
One good thing, look after it - early R1’s are now getting to be a modern classic and good early ones’ are now worth serious quids.
wheres sherrie on this topic ???
I’m right here!!!
I agree with what most have said. The R1 is a cracking bike and the 99 R1 is a bit of an animal so practice being smooth. Get to know her slowly and you’ll be fine.
Why on earth are you in a rush to get a litre bike? … Sorry, but that is insane!
Best building up your confidence and experience on a smaller bike. Do many advanced riding courses, then move.
My 2 cents work!
+1Personally, i like making the bike work:D:w00t: and i do have a soft spot for 600 honda’s. :)But R1’s are all good fun, and anyways, you can always change it for another bike once you decided if you like it or not.
Hi Fella,
I went from a 750 V-Twin Aprillia to a 1200 BMW K series, i have taken my time to get to know the bike, not been a complete twonk and am now pretty damn pleased with the trade up. I was on the 750 for 6 months and have now ben on the BM for about 4 months (ish) loving it.
But as the others say, respect the amount of pwer the bike has, mines probably not as powerful as an R1 even so just take your time getting to know it…and enjoy the learning curve!
Just realise you are no way near experienced enough to safely exploit the power of a bike like that, and you’ll be ok.
Ride it as much as possible in all conditions to gain confidence and gradually learn about its potential. I wouldn’t be in a rush to book on to any rideouts…Just go out on your own, preferably when the roads are quiet like a midweek afternoon.
Practice boring stuff like car park slow speed control…Throttle control is everything.
Also, like said, book up a bikesafe and maybe go back to your original training school and ask for a bit of extra tuition.
This doesn’t have to be a bad decision…Just don’t be a muppet…
And saying to yourself, I won’t wind it up isn’t enough because you will…If you do it and you’ve learned enough to know what to expect, then fine, but otherwise…well I’ll leave you to think about it.
Get on the darn thing and wring its neck ! If you’re going to die then it’ll happen anyway . . . (Just try to avoid it being too painful)
Personally, I’m glad I did 20k miles on a 600 before I got the busa . . . on a large engined bike you can be in a simple situation like over taking a car and approaching a corner . . . then realise you’re going +30 mph more than you thought, it’ll take a few weeks to get your brain to acclimatise to the new speed.
Main road/motorways too . . . the busa will creep up to 120+ so easily whereas the 600 made it clear it was going fast.
In some ways a bigger bike is easier to ride, less frantic, less gear changing, more stable and more time for your brain to focus on what you’re doing but a 600 has trouble spinning the rear wheel . . . an R1 will probably spin up quite easily in the wet, cold or when leant over like a busa will.
But have fun ! If it’s not fun then sell it and get something that is
I’m sorry but I think that getting on an R1 after having a full licence for 2 months is a foolish thing to do.
The old saying “Running before you can walk” springs to mind.
