Old guy...young heart


D

Desert Rat

New Member
Hello. My name is Tim and I am considering buying a 2012 FZ6R. After looking at several types of bikes, Versys, KLR, Ducati and others, I was please to come across the Yamaha.
I recently had a friend leave his Sportster at my place, and with his permission, I was able to take it out for rides. Sorry "Harley", but my arms and hands fell asleep in 12 minutes from all the vibration.
At 61 years old, and being a guy who has loved machines his whole life, I want something that is not too outrageous, but not too tame either.
I even considered finding a vintage Honda CBX....just because its awesome, but I know thats not practical.
First I plan I taking a motorcycle safety class, and getting my license. Who knows...perhaps the "desire" will fade. As I have gotten older, perhaps I have gotten wiser..........but heck......that "kid" inside me is alive and well.
Ride safe everybody.
 
B

BKP

New Member
Welcome, Tim...

First, there's no shortage of "seasoned" (read: mature) riders here, with even a few threads dedicated to mods that increase comfort vs cool...

The 6R (IMHO) is the perfect balance between practical (on many levels) and all-out kickin' fun (also on many levels). It's ergos won't bend you into a pretzel, but give you enough of that sporty feel, that running the canyons/twisties feels as natural as running errands downtown...

Vibration (as you already noticed) is practically non-existent, and if you *do* want to mod the bike, it's not a difficult bike to work on.

Best of luck with the new addition -- and great idea going with an MSF class...
 
D

dart1963

Super Moderator
Elite Member
Take the MSF... it's fun all by itself! I've told many people who have a slight interest to do it, if you don't like it, you still got to putt around the parking lot for the weekend on a "rental" bike...

We have a few older riders here, a few with back problems and the like, Stuna has done some great comfort mods... check them out here: http://www.600cc.org/forum/f89/mods-old-farts-18825/

Welcome to the forum!
 
J

jh14

New Member
Tim,
The FZ6R is a great bike to start out on. I've been riding mine for about 6 months and love it. I'm closing in on 50 and still have tons of fun in it. I mainly using for commuting but hit some curves when I can. When the big boys hit the straits and go 100+ I struggle, but running the curves I'm doing OK.

The motorcycle safety class was good for me. I learned some things up front that I didn't have to learn the hard way.
 
S

Spunky99

New Member
Tim,

Do the MSF before you do anything else.
You are old and the streets are very unforgiving so that that with a grain of salt.
I totaled my FZ6R because it was a toy with very limited power to me and had inferior handling and comtrol, I had zero respect and drove it like my 50cc race bike. My bad.

It's a great starter bike to be sure tho and fairly comfortable.
You will probably want a seat upgrade for longer rides.

I'm a lifelong biker and I ride a bike with the bars as low as possible to resemble a MotoGP bike as that suits my riding style and is the most comfortable for me.
The FZ6R seating position is too upright for me and I need a bike with a more aggressive lean forward.

The engine is smooth and the steel frame is nice as it flexes. It is reliable and has plenty of power for most people. The brakes are good and the seating position is pretty good unless you have bad back problems and either need a cruiser position or a full on race bike position.

Go sit on a bunch of bikes with all of your weight supported by your back and no weight on your wrists for at least 10 minutes and see what you like.

It is your responsibility to avoid all the brain dead Grannys and drunk idiots on the road in order to survive so take that into consideration.

I am 58....
 
R

RoadTrip

New Member
One of the best things about the FZ6R is it is very easy to ride, and the powerband is pretty much perfect for a clean pull through corners, finally the insurance cost is very low.

Really depends on what you are looking to do, if you wanna ride a lot with low cost of ownership, FZ6R is a great choice. On the other hand, I saw an old guy, easily 60+, with a gleaming red and white F4 MV Agusta at Starbucks today, he had a crowd gathered around asking questions, including me. His bike made my gixxer look rather ordinary, I had never seen one, it was gorgeous, but he probably just rode it from the house to Starbucks just to chat with peeps, that's cool, it was a badassss bike. But, if you wanna ride and keep costs low, the FZ6R would be a much better choice.

 

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