I came across this really interesting review of our bike while doing some Googling. It's by a relative beginner who normally rides a V-Star 650. He rented an FZ6R for a day just to see what a sport bike was like. His review is fun because he describes everything relative to his small cruiser.
I liked his review because it reminded me that even though the FZ6R is considered by some jaded motorcycle types to be a "beginner" bike, in reality it has outrageous acceleration compared to most anything on four wheels.
http://www.beginnerbikers.org/showthread.php?29290-imo-the-FZ6r-is-not-a-beginner-bike
imo the FZ6r is not a beginner bike
Hi everybody. I dropped the FZ6r back off at the rental shop today. Lots and lots of fun.
I'm writing this for anyone who's on their first bike, considering their first bike, and I guess anyone who's switching from the cruiser life to a sportbike. Or, someone like me who will read just about anything and everything they can on any production motorcycle just because.
Preface: I have zero sportbike experience prior to this, don't really know much about bikes to begin with, and haven't been riding very long.
Backstory: Zero riding experience, took an MSF course, did well, bought a Star 650, rode it for 1500 miles. People calling that bike slow are very confused. Slow and fast are relative terms. Relative to 99% of the vehicles on the road today, the V star 650 is fast. Not super ultra fast, but crack the throttle to WOT from a red and you will accelerate more rapidly than most production cars out there today. I don't know if it's faster or slower than a new Mustang GT but it feels a little faster to be honest. Where a car really shines is above 70mph. Most cars are definitely faster than the v star 650 above these speeds.
The reason I wrote all that was to give you what my (more realistic!) perception of "fast" is. Just because your 2010 R6 non-s with full Ti exhaust up to the headers with all cats removed and a remap is faster doesn't change how fast another bike is.
So anyways, 1500 miles later, my birthday comes around and I decide to rent a sportbike. I didn't want anything *too* crazy. This, coupled with the fact that I'm still not 25(1 more year) severely limited my options. Fortunately I was able to find a new FZ6r for only $80/day.($125 a day when all said and done)
I went home and read all the reviews. Heavier and slower than the FZ6, worse suspension, skinny rear tire, way overpriced,possibly more mid-range than the current FZ6, but who knows. Frankly I wasn't super pumped on it. I decided to do it anyways because
A.) It was my only sporty option
B.) fuck it!
So I go, sign my life away(not far from literally!) get a rundown on the bike. This bike is better looking in person than in the pictures. I still don't like a single headlight idea, and probably never will(two headlights make you more recognizable as a vehicle and not some random light, and if one goes out you're not SOL) but whatever.
They hand me the keys and essentially just walk away. I hop on the bike and put the key in.
Wow, this bike is taller. The seat height on the V star is 27.x(4?) and on the fz6r it's 30.9
I can flatfoot the v650 very easily and have bent knees doing so. There's no chance of me(or most people) dropping this bike unless you forget about the kickstand. Forget to put your feet down just to see what happens, you'll catch the bike effortlessly. At 6' with a 30" inseam this is different. I *can* put both feet flat down, but not easily. Most of the time I had the ball of both feet on the ground firmly. Not that big of a deal but the v650 is certainly easier.
I turn the key and I'm instantly greeted with a huge LCD screen that says my mph in a gigantic font as high up as it could be on the HUD. Lots of lights telling me things, and an LCD clock. My two biggest complaints with this were that the turn signal flasher was in a different area than the brights/enigne light/etc and that there wasn't something telling me what gear I was in(six is a lot!)
Very cool. I I push the start button and wow! FI is way cool! The bike turns over probably 900 times a second and in 1/10th of a second the bike is purring smoothly. It's still cold and actually runs like a cold v star. Why do MC engines suck so bad cold vs car engines?
Pop her in to first, already, I'm impressed. The shifter is much more responsive, engagements feel much more positive.
I let out the clutc-wow. If you've never used a Star cruiser, I recommend it. Everything I've ever heard says they have a terrible friction zone. I blamed most of it on my lack of ability. I was wrong(at least a little)
I felt like I was in an automatic. You don't even need the throttle to get it rolling, and it's not like when you do the bike jumps away from you. INSANELY intuitive. I felt like an expert. I take a right out of the place. Handling is very, very nice. I instantly notice it doesn't feel as good as the m696 I tested, but it's still 600 times better than the v650. This is very nice. I take a few turns through some quiet back roads. The rearsets on this are easier to use than a cruiser, you can get to the rear brake faster. I also notice that I can actually feel the rear brake grabbing. Using the rear on the v650 has always felt like stepping on concrete until eventually the rear locked up. To think I was blaming my thick boots. Disc brakes for the fucking win.
As I'm getting used to the bike a little more I turn on some road in Scottsdale that's 3 lanes wide. I'm first at the red, and realize there aren't any cars around me. The inner squid in me shifts in to first and opens the throttle all the way once I've made sure there aren't any cars coming. This is a slow bike after all anyways right?
Holy fucking shit. Anyone calling this bike slow needs to learn how to open the throttle completely(Wide Open Throttle) or spend more time in a car. I've driven a 2008 Foose Mustang(stick), and a base C5 Corvette(automatic) and rode shotgun in a 2008 911(non s, stick) an E46 M3(smg) as well as other pseudo-performance cars like IS350s G35s blah blah blah. Point is, I've been in some "fast" cars. The only car that gave me butterflies was the 911. The Vette and M3 came really close, but the 911 frankly scared me at how fast it was. I loved it.
The 6r is nothing like that. Simply put, you are too busy holding on for dear life to have any time to be scared. Seriously. My ass slide off the bike and I instantly noticed my inability to do ANYTHING(turn, reach the front brake lever, breathe) before I realized what was happening. I let off the throttle and casually mention "wow" to myself. This is really, really, really, really fucking fast. It doesn't do much(and by doesn't do much I mean wot from 2-6k is accelerating like a Honda Fit with the throttle stomped) and once it hits 6k you just hear this loud whine as the bike simply explodes. It doesn't accelerate, it just explodes. One second you're here, and the next you're across the city. It screams all the way up to 12k or something like that. Dyno plots tell me the power wains off near the redline. The receptors in my body don't really care. This bike makes a ton of mid and high end power. If you crack this 100% above 5k you will fly. If you're going up even a small hill, the front end will lighten a little. You might not feel it, but you'll see it.
Presumably way better riders will have the upper body strength to be able to steer when all this is going on, but I had very little control over turning while this was going on. Grabbing the front isn't the easiest of tasks either, it honestly feels like you're doing a chin-up, but sideways. There are now two gravities acting on me. You can still grab the front very fast, but not *as* fast as under all but the more extreme of acceleration.
I rarely look at my speedo when I ride but I happened to notice seeing 56mph in first gear at some point. I doubt it will go much higher than that, but a bike that can do highway speeds in first gear(!!!) is no beginner bike in my opinion.
Another thing to note is first gear in everything I've ever used has been the twichiest of gears especially in powerband. Go from wot to 0% to wot on the v650 and the bike will lunge back and then throw forward. Same in all the cars. On the 6r it's a LOT more pronounced in the powerband. I'd advise against cruising around at 8k in first with cars around.
The first thing I noticed I didn't like was peg vibration, especially in the right. Anyone who's spent some time on a v twin understand bike vibration. Not exactly unpleasant, but not exactly wanted, you'll feel it more the higher the bike revs. In the 6r there's 0 vibration until about 6k rpms. You won't notice it there at first, but at 7k it's quite pronounced, and unwelcome. It calms down a bit it seems after 8 but doesn't seem to ever really go away. You notice it in the seat as well, which, after 150 miles, got rather uncomfortable. From what I understand this isn't uncommon on sportbikes in general, so no big deal. The vibration in the pegs is close to unbearable for sustained periods, but if you keep it in the low revs, it's not too bad.
Personally, I think this is a poor solution. Tell me a sportbike has a peaky powerband, okay. It revs to 12k(or more) I don't really care. I used to own a Miata, and am certainly not afraid of a little noise. I'll ride around at 9,000 RPMs all day. However, don't tell me I need to operate a bike at certain RPMs to use it properly and have the bike run like crap at those RPMs and tell me to lower the RPMs to fix the solution. This is a logic disaster. That doesn't fix the solution at all.Fixing the solution is having the bike make power at low RPMs, or making it smooth at high ones. It's 2010, I should be able to have my cake and eat it too.
However, I'm guessing most people aren't like me, and riding at 4,000 the bike was very smooth.
Everything about this bike is more responsive than the v650. The turn signals especially. Left and right are very definitive with lots of tactile feedback. Every click is felt indisputably. They're not self-canceling, which I actually prefer. The high beam button, kill switch, ignition, even the steering lock have a nicer feel to them. The biggest one obviously being the turn signal. There have certainly been times where I thought I had my signal on while using the V650 and I didn't.
The front brake lever is easy to use and responsive. Supposedly the brakes have been weakened and dumbed down from the FZ6, whatever the case may be, in my limited experience they provide a very nice braking experience, bested only by the Miata after new pads. I never locked up the bike despite a few hard(ish) stops. Again, no better brakes to really compare to. Maybe higher end cruisers have better brakes than mine, I don't know.
The clutch, this was another area I didn't like. At first it felt heavier, and I'm pretty sure it is, but it is certainly farther from the bar than the vstar. I have symptoms of tendonitis, arthiritis and carpal tunnel(wheeeeeee!!) and extending my fingers all the way, grabbing the level with just the tips and pulling it in every single time I had to shift was basically murder on my tendons. If the lever is adjustable, thank god(I didn't know and kept forgetting to look) and if not, I'd look in to this. It's hard to say if it was actually heavier than the v650 or it just felt that way because I was using a very specific set of muscles to pull it.
Another downside for sure was the grips. I don't know what the rest of the sportbike world is like, but these things were way too narrow for me in diameter. My fingers were killing me. All I could think about was the first time I saw the first-gen Mustang steering wheel. It's pencil thin. Imagine grabbing that and trying to wring it around hard. Now go look at a new car, big fat steering wheel. Imagine grabbing that, much easier right? I'd need fatter grips for sure.
60 miles in and I haven't gotten off the bike or eaten. I go to a familiar Subway and get a familiar sandwich. I finish and get back on the bike. OH MY.
I parked down a "hill"(a tiny tiny tiny incline) Backing the bike up a hill was insanely tough. A million times harder than on the v650, despite being ~10% lighter. I put it in to first and effortlessly roll off. Modulating the clutch to stay in that oh-so-delicate low speed of 1-2mph is a lot easier despite being higher off. I'm no expert but I don't look like a total noob in the parking lot traffic.
I ride up to Bartlett lake in... well, nowhere Arizona. I'd never been that way but have covered the area before, low traffic, good riding roads.
A few sweepers come up and I try this "holding a line" thing, and hey look, I can sort of do it! I could never do this on the v650 and just chalked it up to lack of ability. It's good to know it's easier on a bike designed to turn. It is now that I realize that my hud doesn't turn when I do. This is actually kind of strange at first because you don't see anything turning, but it's very good, makes reading output easier.
Hot damn I am flying! This bike feels a LOT more stable and I'm guessing riding position + fairing + screen add to the fact that this bike feels slower than the v650. This, plus effortless power makes it very, very, very easy to blast down open roads at twice the speed limit and not give a shit about it. I know I didn't. The hard turns start coming now. We're talking about turns as sharp as a rotary. I certainly don't take these with much speed, but I was a little disappointed at how comfortable I felt through them. I was already at my comfort level and didn't want to go faster than what I'd already done. I'm sure I could have, but I wanted to have fun, not be scared or get hurt.
Bartlett lake is huge. I definitely wasn't expecting it to be that big. Blah blah blah it's an ocean in the middle of a desert. It was at this point that I realized I was almost completely drowned in sweat.
Back to the bike, I ride around some more and head home. Keep in mind I am cracking the throttle(is there a bike equivalent to "flooring it" that's just as short?) every chance I can. There aren't any cars around so 6k-12k-6k-12k is happening probably more than it should. I can not get over how fast this is.
I take it on the highway. Blessed 101 loop! Best highway ever. Traffic is moderate, and I get to merge! First, second, I'm already going faster than everyone on the highway and I haven't come close to the end of the onramp yet. Wow. I get in the hov lane(seldom used, traffic only on one side, huge shoulder to the left just in case = safeeee) and just ride. Despite what you might think I'm not a huge speeder. I'm not afraid to keep up with traffic when it's doing 80 but frankly the idea of "speeding" doesn't do a lot for me. 12 over and 7 are about the same except one will get you a ticket.
I happen to glance down at the speedo and jesus christ, 94??? I've never gone that fast on a bike(well, when I am speeding I don't take my eyes off the road just to say OH MAN IM SO SICK IM DOIN LIKE, A HUNDRED Y0 but I can't imagine ever doing much more than 80 on the v650. This bike feels very, very docile at these speeds and the engine has plenty, plenty more to give. Oh man, let's upshift! Wow, that's nice and smooth now. Oh man, I have a 6th gear, let's try that! Wowwwwwwwww that's smooth. I try and upshift the bike once more just for good measure and yup, it goes once more.
Up until this moment, I had never gotten above third gear. Man, I don't even want to screw around with all that. I put it in 6th and cruise around at 70 and have fun. I remember riding is fun when you're just riding and not trying to apex perfectly or test the bike's 5-65 performance. The ride is relaxing and enjoyable. I take my left hand off to crack my wrist and WOW. My wrist fucking hurts. The outside joint is destroyed. I then realize it is on both hands. Other than that, I definitely enjoy this bike at all speeds, high, low and in between.
I get in the parking garage dismount as the same time as this chick does the same from her car. The bike and I look really good and she tells me so with her body langauge. She doesn't seem to care that the styling looks front heavy, or the handlebars signify a less-than-supersport ride, or the fact that it's an FZ6r, which as every magazine will tell you is slow and ugly. I take off my helmet in the elevator and she screams in terror and pushes the 2nd floor button and gets off in haste.
Just another reason to wear ALWAYS wear a full-face helmet.
hours pass and my wrists are really hurting despite my conscious efforts to keep the weight off them and on my leg and torso muscles.
I go out for a night ride and decide to stay in downtown Phoenix. Right and left hand turns are easy, but again, not as easy as the M696. If you're looking for a strictly urban bike there are probably better solutions, but this is certainly fine.
I return the bike, disappointed that I have to get on my slow, sluggish, heavy, functionless V650. I fall in to the seat forgetting the 3.5" difference in seat height. I put my feet on the pegs and lose balance and end up stomping the ground. That's right, cruisers keep their pegs up front. I instantly notice MY GLORIOUS, AMAZING, CONTOURED, PADDED COMFORTABLE SEAT. Anyone with a Corbin or Mustang seat on their cruiser please go testride a supersport or the like to remind you way you spent $300 on a seat. My factory cushion is suddenly the most comfortable thing I can imagine. I start it and take off and everything is just, somehow easier again? Turning and acceleration are certainly worse, and I realize this as I drag a peg turning on to a major road. Maybe I wasn't so terrible on the 6r as I thought. Acceleration is reduced, bike-shake more pronounced, but I instantly remember how much I like this bike.
Until then, I was deciding what other sportbikes I should ride before trading the V650 for a "good" bike. Now, I'm pretty sure I'm just gonna keep the V650. It's certainly worse on my lower back, but easier on EVERYTHING else by a lot.
Clearly I just need 2 motorcycles for the rare times I venture out of my house on something other than foot.
Would I recommend this as a beginner bike? When I answer this question I ask myself this: Would I recommend this to my little brother?
Not in a million years. I don't think the v650 is too fast to learn on, but it's close. Acceleration wains off on this the higher you rev, and only in first is the low-end grunt something that can get away from you -- in which case, you'd probably drop the bike, hurt yourself, and feel like an idiot. This is a lot less bad than understeering into a Tahoe.
Yes, you will be fine "as long as you're careful." It took me about 40 miles on my first bike before I realized I was "pretty good" at riding and was definitely good enough to handle all the performance my bike had to offer. I'm guessing on the 6r it would have been closer to 70. (I am speaking tongue in cheek if it isn't clear) People convince themselves they're good. They haven't fallen yet, or come close. Everyone drops their bike, they haven't. Of course they can thrash the bike. Oh man, look at that group of girls leaving Starbucks with their $14/cup coffees! Time to flex nuts.
The things I do like about it as a first bike are it has a lot more road feel vs my bike, it handles better, but didn't feel overly sensitive(to me, maybe a total beginner it might, impossible to say really) and the unquestionably better braking. That said, the engine far outweighs this. It's just way too fun and way too easy to make this bike sing.
One other thing I liked about this bike was the exhaust location. This is out of the way, impossible to burn yourself on it. Also, it's in the center, and it's low! This is good.
I liked his review because it reminded me that even though the FZ6R is considered by some jaded motorcycle types to be a "beginner" bike, in reality it has outrageous acceleration compared to most anything on four wheels.
http://www.beginnerbikers.org/showthread.php?29290-imo-the-FZ6r-is-not-a-beginner-bike
imo the FZ6r is not a beginner bike
Hi everybody. I dropped the FZ6r back off at the rental shop today. Lots and lots of fun.
I'm writing this for anyone who's on their first bike, considering their first bike, and I guess anyone who's switching from the cruiser life to a sportbike. Or, someone like me who will read just about anything and everything they can on any production motorcycle just because.
Preface: I have zero sportbike experience prior to this, don't really know much about bikes to begin with, and haven't been riding very long.
Backstory: Zero riding experience, took an MSF course, did well, bought a Star 650, rode it for 1500 miles. People calling that bike slow are very confused. Slow and fast are relative terms. Relative to 99% of the vehicles on the road today, the V star 650 is fast. Not super ultra fast, but crack the throttle to WOT from a red and you will accelerate more rapidly than most production cars out there today. I don't know if it's faster or slower than a new Mustang GT but it feels a little faster to be honest. Where a car really shines is above 70mph. Most cars are definitely faster than the v star 650 above these speeds.
The reason I wrote all that was to give you what my (more realistic!) perception of "fast" is. Just because your 2010 R6 non-s with full Ti exhaust up to the headers with all cats removed and a remap is faster doesn't change how fast another bike is.
So anyways, 1500 miles later, my birthday comes around and I decide to rent a sportbike. I didn't want anything *too* crazy. This, coupled with the fact that I'm still not 25(1 more year) severely limited my options. Fortunately I was able to find a new FZ6r for only $80/day.($125 a day when all said and done)
I went home and read all the reviews. Heavier and slower than the FZ6, worse suspension, skinny rear tire, way overpriced,possibly more mid-range than the current FZ6, but who knows. Frankly I wasn't super pumped on it. I decided to do it anyways because
A.) It was my only sporty option
B.) fuck it!
So I go, sign my life away(not far from literally!) get a rundown on the bike. This bike is better looking in person than in the pictures. I still don't like a single headlight idea, and probably never will(two headlights make you more recognizable as a vehicle and not some random light, and if one goes out you're not SOL) but whatever.
They hand me the keys and essentially just walk away. I hop on the bike and put the key in.
Wow, this bike is taller. The seat height on the V star is 27.x(4?) and on the fz6r it's 30.9
I can flatfoot the v650 very easily and have bent knees doing so. There's no chance of me(or most people) dropping this bike unless you forget about the kickstand. Forget to put your feet down just to see what happens, you'll catch the bike effortlessly. At 6' with a 30" inseam this is different. I *can* put both feet flat down, but not easily. Most of the time I had the ball of both feet on the ground firmly. Not that big of a deal but the v650 is certainly easier.
I turn the key and I'm instantly greeted with a huge LCD screen that says my mph in a gigantic font as high up as it could be on the HUD. Lots of lights telling me things, and an LCD clock. My two biggest complaints with this were that the turn signal flasher was in a different area than the brights/enigne light/etc and that there wasn't something telling me what gear I was in(six is a lot!)
Very cool. I I push the start button and wow! FI is way cool! The bike turns over probably 900 times a second and in 1/10th of a second the bike is purring smoothly. It's still cold and actually runs like a cold v star. Why do MC engines suck so bad cold vs car engines?
Pop her in to first, already, I'm impressed. The shifter is much more responsive, engagements feel much more positive.
I let out the clutc-wow. If you've never used a Star cruiser, I recommend it. Everything I've ever heard says they have a terrible friction zone. I blamed most of it on my lack of ability. I was wrong(at least a little)
I felt like I was in an automatic. You don't even need the throttle to get it rolling, and it's not like when you do the bike jumps away from you. INSANELY intuitive. I felt like an expert. I take a right out of the place. Handling is very, very nice. I instantly notice it doesn't feel as good as the m696 I tested, but it's still 600 times better than the v650. This is very nice. I take a few turns through some quiet back roads. The rearsets on this are easier to use than a cruiser, you can get to the rear brake faster. I also notice that I can actually feel the rear brake grabbing. Using the rear on the v650 has always felt like stepping on concrete until eventually the rear locked up. To think I was blaming my thick boots. Disc brakes for the fucking win.
As I'm getting used to the bike a little more I turn on some road in Scottsdale that's 3 lanes wide. I'm first at the red, and realize there aren't any cars around me. The inner squid in me shifts in to first and opens the throttle all the way once I've made sure there aren't any cars coming. This is a slow bike after all anyways right?
Holy fucking shit. Anyone calling this bike slow needs to learn how to open the throttle completely(Wide Open Throttle) or spend more time in a car. I've driven a 2008 Foose Mustang(stick), and a base C5 Corvette(automatic) and rode shotgun in a 2008 911(non s, stick) an E46 M3(smg) as well as other pseudo-performance cars like IS350s G35s blah blah blah. Point is, I've been in some "fast" cars. The only car that gave me butterflies was the 911. The Vette and M3 came really close, but the 911 frankly scared me at how fast it was. I loved it.
The 6r is nothing like that. Simply put, you are too busy holding on for dear life to have any time to be scared. Seriously. My ass slide off the bike and I instantly noticed my inability to do ANYTHING(turn, reach the front brake lever, breathe) before I realized what was happening. I let off the throttle and casually mention "wow" to myself. This is really, really, really, really fucking fast. It doesn't do much(and by doesn't do much I mean wot from 2-6k is accelerating like a Honda Fit with the throttle stomped) and once it hits 6k you just hear this loud whine as the bike simply explodes. It doesn't accelerate, it just explodes. One second you're here, and the next you're across the city. It screams all the way up to 12k or something like that. Dyno plots tell me the power wains off near the redline. The receptors in my body don't really care. This bike makes a ton of mid and high end power. If you crack this 100% above 5k you will fly. If you're going up even a small hill, the front end will lighten a little. You might not feel it, but you'll see it.
Presumably way better riders will have the upper body strength to be able to steer when all this is going on, but I had very little control over turning while this was going on. Grabbing the front isn't the easiest of tasks either, it honestly feels like you're doing a chin-up, but sideways. There are now two gravities acting on me. You can still grab the front very fast, but not *as* fast as under all but the more extreme of acceleration.
I rarely look at my speedo when I ride but I happened to notice seeing 56mph in first gear at some point. I doubt it will go much higher than that, but a bike that can do highway speeds in first gear(!!!) is no beginner bike in my opinion.
Another thing to note is first gear in everything I've ever used has been the twichiest of gears especially in powerband. Go from wot to 0% to wot on the v650 and the bike will lunge back and then throw forward. Same in all the cars. On the 6r it's a LOT more pronounced in the powerband. I'd advise against cruising around at 8k in first with cars around.
The first thing I noticed I didn't like was peg vibration, especially in the right. Anyone who's spent some time on a v twin understand bike vibration. Not exactly unpleasant, but not exactly wanted, you'll feel it more the higher the bike revs. In the 6r there's 0 vibration until about 6k rpms. You won't notice it there at first, but at 7k it's quite pronounced, and unwelcome. It calms down a bit it seems after 8 but doesn't seem to ever really go away. You notice it in the seat as well, which, after 150 miles, got rather uncomfortable. From what I understand this isn't uncommon on sportbikes in general, so no big deal. The vibration in the pegs is close to unbearable for sustained periods, but if you keep it in the low revs, it's not too bad.
Personally, I think this is a poor solution. Tell me a sportbike has a peaky powerband, okay. It revs to 12k(or more) I don't really care. I used to own a Miata, and am certainly not afraid of a little noise. I'll ride around at 9,000 RPMs all day. However, don't tell me I need to operate a bike at certain RPMs to use it properly and have the bike run like crap at those RPMs and tell me to lower the RPMs to fix the solution. This is a logic disaster. That doesn't fix the solution at all.Fixing the solution is having the bike make power at low RPMs, or making it smooth at high ones. It's 2010, I should be able to have my cake and eat it too.
However, I'm guessing most people aren't like me, and riding at 4,000 the bike was very smooth.
Everything about this bike is more responsive than the v650. The turn signals especially. Left and right are very definitive with lots of tactile feedback. Every click is felt indisputably. They're not self-canceling, which I actually prefer. The high beam button, kill switch, ignition, even the steering lock have a nicer feel to them. The biggest one obviously being the turn signal. There have certainly been times where I thought I had my signal on while using the V650 and I didn't.
The front brake lever is easy to use and responsive. Supposedly the brakes have been weakened and dumbed down from the FZ6, whatever the case may be, in my limited experience they provide a very nice braking experience, bested only by the Miata after new pads. I never locked up the bike despite a few hard(ish) stops. Again, no better brakes to really compare to. Maybe higher end cruisers have better brakes than mine, I don't know.
The clutch, this was another area I didn't like. At first it felt heavier, and I'm pretty sure it is, but it is certainly farther from the bar than the vstar. I have symptoms of tendonitis, arthiritis and carpal tunnel(wheeeeeee!!) and extending my fingers all the way, grabbing the level with just the tips and pulling it in every single time I had to shift was basically murder on my tendons. If the lever is adjustable, thank god(I didn't know and kept forgetting to look) and if not, I'd look in to this. It's hard to say if it was actually heavier than the v650 or it just felt that way because I was using a very specific set of muscles to pull it.
Another downside for sure was the grips. I don't know what the rest of the sportbike world is like, but these things were way too narrow for me in diameter. My fingers were killing me. All I could think about was the first time I saw the first-gen Mustang steering wheel. It's pencil thin. Imagine grabbing that and trying to wring it around hard. Now go look at a new car, big fat steering wheel. Imagine grabbing that, much easier right? I'd need fatter grips for sure.
60 miles in and I haven't gotten off the bike or eaten. I go to a familiar Subway and get a familiar sandwich. I finish and get back on the bike. OH MY.
I parked down a "hill"(a tiny tiny tiny incline) Backing the bike up a hill was insanely tough. A million times harder than on the v650, despite being ~10% lighter. I put it in to first and effortlessly roll off. Modulating the clutch to stay in that oh-so-delicate low speed of 1-2mph is a lot easier despite being higher off. I'm no expert but I don't look like a total noob in the parking lot traffic.
I ride up to Bartlett lake in... well, nowhere Arizona. I'd never been that way but have covered the area before, low traffic, good riding roads.
A few sweepers come up and I try this "holding a line" thing, and hey look, I can sort of do it! I could never do this on the v650 and just chalked it up to lack of ability. It's good to know it's easier on a bike designed to turn. It is now that I realize that my hud doesn't turn when I do. This is actually kind of strange at first because you don't see anything turning, but it's very good, makes reading output easier.
Hot damn I am flying! This bike feels a LOT more stable and I'm guessing riding position + fairing + screen add to the fact that this bike feels slower than the v650. This, plus effortless power makes it very, very, very easy to blast down open roads at twice the speed limit and not give a shit about it. I know I didn't. The hard turns start coming now. We're talking about turns as sharp as a rotary. I certainly don't take these with much speed, but I was a little disappointed at how comfortable I felt through them. I was already at my comfort level and didn't want to go faster than what I'd already done. I'm sure I could have, but I wanted to have fun, not be scared or get hurt.
Bartlett lake is huge. I definitely wasn't expecting it to be that big. Blah blah blah it's an ocean in the middle of a desert. It was at this point that I realized I was almost completely drowned in sweat.
Back to the bike, I ride around some more and head home. Keep in mind I am cracking the throttle(is there a bike equivalent to "flooring it" that's just as short?) every chance I can. There aren't any cars around so 6k-12k-6k-12k is happening probably more than it should. I can not get over how fast this is.
I take it on the highway. Blessed 101 loop! Best highway ever. Traffic is moderate, and I get to merge! First, second, I'm already going faster than everyone on the highway and I haven't come close to the end of the onramp yet. Wow. I get in the hov lane(seldom used, traffic only on one side, huge shoulder to the left just in case = safeeee) and just ride. Despite what you might think I'm not a huge speeder. I'm not afraid to keep up with traffic when it's doing 80 but frankly the idea of "speeding" doesn't do a lot for me. 12 over and 7 are about the same except one will get you a ticket.
I happen to glance down at the speedo and jesus christ, 94??? I've never gone that fast on a bike(well, when I am speeding I don't take my eyes off the road just to say OH MAN IM SO SICK IM DOIN LIKE, A HUNDRED Y0 but I can't imagine ever doing much more than 80 on the v650. This bike feels very, very docile at these speeds and the engine has plenty, plenty more to give. Oh man, let's upshift! Wow, that's nice and smooth now. Oh man, I have a 6th gear, let's try that! Wowwwwwwwww that's smooth. I try and upshift the bike once more just for good measure and yup, it goes once more.
Up until this moment, I had never gotten above third gear. Man, I don't even want to screw around with all that. I put it in 6th and cruise around at 70 and have fun. I remember riding is fun when you're just riding and not trying to apex perfectly or test the bike's 5-65 performance. The ride is relaxing and enjoyable. I take my left hand off to crack my wrist and WOW. My wrist fucking hurts. The outside joint is destroyed. I then realize it is on both hands. Other than that, I definitely enjoy this bike at all speeds, high, low and in between.
I get in the parking garage dismount as the same time as this chick does the same from her car. The bike and I look really good and she tells me so with her body langauge. She doesn't seem to care that the styling looks front heavy, or the handlebars signify a less-than-supersport ride, or the fact that it's an FZ6r, which as every magazine will tell you is slow and ugly. I take off my helmet in the elevator and she screams in terror and pushes the 2nd floor button and gets off in haste.
Just another reason to wear ALWAYS wear a full-face helmet.
hours pass and my wrists are really hurting despite my conscious efforts to keep the weight off them and on my leg and torso muscles.
I go out for a night ride and decide to stay in downtown Phoenix. Right and left hand turns are easy, but again, not as easy as the M696. If you're looking for a strictly urban bike there are probably better solutions, but this is certainly fine.
I return the bike, disappointed that I have to get on my slow, sluggish, heavy, functionless V650. I fall in to the seat forgetting the 3.5" difference in seat height. I put my feet on the pegs and lose balance and end up stomping the ground. That's right, cruisers keep their pegs up front. I instantly notice MY GLORIOUS, AMAZING, CONTOURED, PADDED COMFORTABLE SEAT. Anyone with a Corbin or Mustang seat on their cruiser please go testride a supersport or the like to remind you way you spent $300 on a seat. My factory cushion is suddenly the most comfortable thing I can imagine. I start it and take off and everything is just, somehow easier again? Turning and acceleration are certainly worse, and I realize this as I drag a peg turning on to a major road. Maybe I wasn't so terrible on the 6r as I thought. Acceleration is reduced, bike-shake more pronounced, but I instantly remember how much I like this bike.
Until then, I was deciding what other sportbikes I should ride before trading the V650 for a "good" bike. Now, I'm pretty sure I'm just gonna keep the V650. It's certainly worse on my lower back, but easier on EVERYTHING else by a lot.
Clearly I just need 2 motorcycles for the rare times I venture out of my house on something other than foot.
Would I recommend this as a beginner bike? When I answer this question I ask myself this: Would I recommend this to my little brother?
Not in a million years. I don't think the v650 is too fast to learn on, but it's close. Acceleration wains off on this the higher you rev, and only in first is the low-end grunt something that can get away from you -- in which case, you'd probably drop the bike, hurt yourself, and feel like an idiot. This is a lot less bad than understeering into a Tahoe.
Yes, you will be fine "as long as you're careful." It took me about 40 miles on my first bike before I realized I was "pretty good" at riding and was definitely good enough to handle all the performance my bike had to offer. I'm guessing on the 6r it would have been closer to 70. (I am speaking tongue in cheek if it isn't clear) People convince themselves they're good. They haven't fallen yet, or come close. Everyone drops their bike, they haven't. Of course they can thrash the bike. Oh man, look at that group of girls leaving Starbucks with their $14/cup coffees! Time to flex nuts.
The things I do like about it as a first bike are it has a lot more road feel vs my bike, it handles better, but didn't feel overly sensitive(to me, maybe a total beginner it might, impossible to say really) and the unquestionably better braking. That said, the engine far outweighs this. It's just way too fun and way too easy to make this bike sing.
One other thing I liked about this bike was the exhaust location. This is out of the way, impossible to burn yourself on it. Also, it's in the center, and it's low! This is good.
