Well there goes my sports bike virginity. After riding the KTMs last week i decided to have a crack at a pure sports bike so dropped in to Colin Collins for a go on their GSXR600. I will admit to being a little nervous about this having never ridden anything this shape and being used to riding a supermoto.
My initial impression was “This is too weird to even ride anywhere and i am much too big for it.” Being 6’4 i thought the bike would be a non starter and trying to acclimatise in heavy traffic wasnt that fun especially when i stalled it and hadnt been told that suzukis need the clutch held in to start…
However, out onto the A40 and its all feeling a bit better and i am beginning to understand the riding position. Lets see how it goes then. Drop two gears, still not enough so drop one more and wind it open. Thats a lot of revs and what a great noise form the airbox under your chin! Dropping off the A40 leads to a few roundabouts and straights so i start to actually ride the bike a bit and it feels good, tips in nicely and is certainly damn quick but needs all the revs to really fly. About this point i realised my wrists were hurting quite a lot and this would just get worse until i stopped but i was feeling much more comfortable with the bike in general. Didnt obvioulsy push it in the corners much but overall the bike felt more or less like i expected it to i guess.
Am i blown away by the sports bike experience? In a way but i can see why people have moved away from them: They are too fast. Not in an “oh my god i’m going to die this is lunacy” kind of way but much more in “i’m going to get nicked” kind of way. The acceleration was great up the top of the revs and very addictive but how often can you use it on the road? On a slip road joining the A40 i wound it up through 1st, 2nd and into 3rd and looked down to see 127mph on the clocks! The problem is i would want to do that a lot and it would end in tears i think.
So questions for sportsbike riders:
1.Honestly how often on the road do you go above 110mph? Even if just for a few seconds.
2. Do all sports bike hurt your wrists at anything under 60mph and do you just put up with it?
3. How can you put up with the low speed handling in town and ride one in London regularly?
I am going to ride the Triumph 675 as soon as i can so it should feel less alien and i’ll see how that goes but can i really be trusted on one of these bikes? If i lived in wales then yes id definitely buy one but living in the south east? I dont know…
Glad you enjoyed it mate, welcome to the Dark Side!
Never in town and - aside from a few giggles - rarely on the motorways
You get used to it - the correct technique is to support your body with your back muscles, not your arms. Not really an issue for me, but Im short next to you (only 6’2")
I commute daily through London with no dramas whatsoever. The steering lock is shite, so you cant really move around stationary traffic, but you can use your low/narrow profile to fly through any filtering opportunity. In all, I am easily as quick through traffic as supermoto/hornet riders.
To be honest, I couldnt really live with any other type of bike - and a modern sportsbike can do pretty much anything you throw at it.
They’ll take a bit of getting used to, and without a doubt your body will adapt to the new position with previously unusd muscles getting stronger as you use them.
But they have their weaknesses, I guess all bikes do, it’s just a trade-off.
To answer the questions :
a) rarely unless out in the sticks and open views etc etc
b) my body has adapted I think, even with arthritis in the wrists I don’t get much bother. But I can tell the difference in position from the 7 to the 675. I haven’t quite got used to the new bike yet so 100miles does feel ‘longer’ than 100 on the 7. As previously noted you should try and use your abdoman to support you, rather than ‘flopping’ onto your wrists. you’ll get used to this or go back to SMs in a year !
c) The 7 is a pain in traffic as it has the steering lock of an oil tanker. So I take it into account when plotting the route through a tailback, but I do often have to sit and wait if I can’t nip in front of a car to use another channel.
If I had to commute every day on the bike I prob wouldn’t have two sports bikes. One would be more commute-friendly. Perhaps there lies the answer. TBH the bike isn’t made for that so tyres, chains, sprockets etc etc are gonna suffer if used for commuting if compared to a CB500 or even a Fazer type machine.
So questions for sportsbike riders:
1.Honestly how often on the road do you go above 110mph? Even if just for a few seconds.
The area of Kansas in which I live is quite rural…I open my bike up (read 100 mph+) while out in the Flint Hills every time I ride through the wide open twisties.
It’s all “by the book” while in/anywhere near town, though.
Do all sports bike hurt your wrists at anything under 60mph and do you just put up with it?
I’ve found that I can alleviate excess pressure on my wrists by usings my abs/lower back and giving the tank a squeeze with my legs. The vibration does make my pinky finger on my throttle hand go to sleep now and then though…but every bike I’ve ridden did the same thing. :shrug
How can you put up with the low speed handling in town and ride one in London regularly?
I can’t imagine riding in London…I’d do it for a week-end or something just to say “yeah, I’ve done that”…but I would think it would have to get terribly boring poking along in 1st and 2nd gear, stopping and starting all the time…when you KNOW the machine you are on was built to really go.
Having spent a couple of hours thinking about it i am getting pretty keen on the idea. It will obviously take some getting used to but thats fine i can handle that. I am sure that i will figure out how to get comfy on it, a half hour test ride was never going to be conclusive. I might see if i can ride it again for longer or something bigger as well and as mentioned i am very excited about a go on the Triumph…
I will be keeping the motard so i will not need to ride in london much, it will be more for long range trips and blats that the moto cant really do.
If you want a bike that turns like a sportsbike but not so imposing or as fast why don’t you try Suzuki’s SV650S ? It handles quite well (can be made better) but only develops about 70bhp, however, as it’s a twin. it has more torque at the bottom end, making what you have more useful.
You can actually have a bike that you can give a good thrashing every now and again without the fear of incarseration (sp?).
Just an idea, but if a supersport 600 feels like too much for “normal” use, give one a try.
I just changed for a bandit 6 to a k4 gsx-r 750 a few weeks back and i still ride across town every day.
When i first got the gixer it felt very strange and hurt me in all sorts of places(i did ride it for 6 hours the day after i got it) but now its second nature a doesnt hurt at all.
riding out of town is what i want to do all summer but i still love it in town.
I didnt buy it for practicalty or for easy riding, call me shallow but i got it because it makes me feel amazing… and i love the way it looks and sounds, its presense
Ideal whould be to have a bike for every day of the week!! lol
well 2 bikes at least…
At the end of the day if you just want something to cut traffic and stick to 30mhp get a speedfire scooter, im going to get one for next winter!!
You get a bike because you love it be it a blade or a beemer.
Very rarely, however, I get it screaming on the track (Thou’ K4)
No problem with comfort,I regularly get out for a 200 plus miles ride on a Sunday.
I commute every day during the warmer months and have no problems with the handling. A scooter woould probably be as quick, however, I do love my bike.
I am also 44, 6ft tall and weigh 17.5 stone, so do not fit into typical sports bike rider age or shape!
i ahve an older,hevier type gsxr…(see avatar)and when i first started riding that.it hurt me like hell…
top of my neck,across my shoulders…and my wrists…ohh lord…“why was i doing this”!!!
i thought…
but as most of these guys said…you do get used to it…and as soon as you hear that POP when you let the throttle go…it just blows you away…and gets you attention from people standing at bus stops…hehe…
so dont think…just doooo mate…you wont regreat it…
i travel from catford to heathrow everyday…you’ll be amazed how small a gap you can get threw…lololol
Anyone that jumps onto a sportsbike often sees the three figures on the dash and thinks EEK!! (or words to that effect!)
especially if you jump from a slower bike…(not insulting anything in particular here) you tend to use the throttle in the same manner but,of course, the results are bigger
Well actually, my 12R is quite comfy … more so than my old bike (GPX750).
My 12R turns very well at low speed. I think this is down to the bike’s superb balance. She’s a bit on/off with the throttle though, but I’ve learned how to get around this now … the bike has a “choke” which isn’t actually a choke at all … it’s a fast idle control. Richening of the fuel/air mixture is done by the injection system, so you can use the fast idle to take the edge off the the very bottom of the throttle response! This makes her much more friendly when filtering in slow traffic.
I’v had a bit of a change of plan perhaps and rather than worrying about having the latest greatest model i might go for the cheaper option so i am off to see a K5 GSX-R750 tomorrow. It is unregistered so will be on an '06 reg and on the V5 so what do you think it should be worth? Its already pretty cheap i think and i will be pushing hard for a deal but what do you guys reckon?
Buying this leaves me the money to do the essential mods to it: Exhaust, PC, crash protection, tail tidy, indicators, double bubble etc.
Sounds like the best approach YRO, no need to have the latest item, the K4 is a VERY sharp bike. You won’t lose as much money as well as Adam says. Mmmm, 750 So, what colour?
The blue/black colour just looks so good on them and you dont see it that much either so thats the one. Might put a deposit down tomorrow depending on what i think of it.
I am going to compare the K5 to the K6 as i think the K6, as nice as it is, is just too small. All shall be revealed tomorrow.
