Why'd you choose it?

[buzzbomb]

I was anticipating a good tax return and being able to get a bike again. My riding style pointed me towards a sport tourer: I liked to take six hour rides, but I liked to play in the corners. A decent rear seat and lower rear pegs were also important, since I'd be putting my 11 year old son there a lot.

Weight wise, I'm pretty light at about 5'9" and 140lbs. I feel I need to be able to put my feet on the ground and back a bike when necessary. I also like to shift, because I like the interaction with the machine. So I didn't want something that would wind to 70mph in first gear. I know I tend to push a little beyond my actual riding ability, sometimes. A big bike would make that rather nasty habit all the more dangerous. So I figured I wanted something around the 600cc range.

Now I'm looking for a middleweight sport tourer. I was sick and tired of the carbs on my '82 CB900F. I wanted fuel injection. At about this time in my decision process, I figured my budget to be about 5k.

So. I wanted a relatively late model, 600cc sport tourer for under 5k. I just spent years with a "quirky" bike with personality. I was seriously tired of spending my riding time working on a bike, and having to trailer it home when I did get to take it out. I also wanted to be able to commute with my new bike. I wanted bullet-proof reliability.

Of the major manufacturers, only the Yamaha FZ6R, Kawasaki Ninja 650R and Suzuki GSX650F seemed to fit my criteria.

After tons of research, everything I read had the FZ6R coming out on top. When I got my refund, I started looking in earnest for an FZ6R. I loved the copper/black but couldn't get one in my price range. I found a yellow, a blue and a black. All used, so within my budget. All were within a few hours driving. I said I'd never own a yellow vehicle, but the more I looked at the other colors, the more the yellow bike called out to me. Plus it only had 1433 miles on it, and had been kept in climate-controlled storage.

So I got a ride up to Charlotte, NC, test drove it, fell in love with it and bought it. Then I rode it home. I'm always going to want bigger, better, faster. But I have not one regret purchasing this bike. It is perfect for me.

 

[nismos14]

I was anticipating a good tax return and being able to get a bike again. My riding style pointed me towards a sport tourer: I liked to take six hour rides, but I liked to play in the corners. A decent rear seat and lower rear pegs were also important, since I'd be putting my 11 year old son there a lot.

Weight wise, I'm pretty light at about 5'9" and 140lbs. I feel I need to be able to put my feet on the ground and back a bike when necessary. I also like to shift, because I like the interaction with the machine. So I didn't want something that would wind to 70mph in first gear. I know I tend to push a little beyond my actual riding ability, sometimes. A big bike would make that rather nasty habit all the more dangerous. So I figured I wanted something around the 600cc range.

Now I'm looking for a middleweight sport tourer. I was sick and tired of the carbs on my '82 CB900F. I wanted fuel injection. At about this time in my decision process, I figured my budget to be about 5k.

So. I wanted a relatively late model, 600cc sport tourer for under 5k. I just spent years with a "quirky" bike with personality. I was seriously tired of spending my riding time working on a bike, and having to trailer it home when I did get to take it out. I also wanted to be able to commute with my new bike. I wanted bullet-proof reliability.

Of the major manufacturers, only the Yamaha FZ6R, Kawasaki Ninja 650R and Suzuki GSX650F seemed to fit my criteria.

After tons of research, everything I read had the FZ6R coming out on top. When I got my refund, I started looking in earnest for an FZ6R. I loved the copper/black but couldn't get one in my price range. I found a yellow, a blue and a black. All used, so within my budget. All were within a few hours driving. I said I'd never own a yellow vehicle, but the more I looked at the other colors, the more the yellow bike called out to me. Plus it only had 1433 miles on it, and had been kept in climate-controlled storage.

So I got a ride up to Charlotte, NC, test drove it, fell in love with it and bought it. Then I rode it home. I'm always going to want bigger, better, faster. But I have not one regret purchasing this bike. It is perfect for me.

That's awesome!

 

[Perdurable]

I was browsing looking at what bikes were not a 250 or a 100+Hp 600 and i found the ninja650 and the FZ6R so i found a local dealer right down the road from where i work and they had a 2012 Ninja 650 for 7500 and a brand new 09 FZ6R for 6000 so i went right down there and scooped it up and now its my baby haha the price was right and i did a good amount of research on the bike befor hand and loved it!!!!

 

[Bradlockard]

because is wasnt a supersport, and it looked totally awesome!!!!

 

[alh081]

I'm a beginner (just got m1) so was looking for something cheap to practice on at first. Then decided to take out a loan and finance a used bike but needed to be 06 and up. Was looking at CBR and GSXR but was told the GSXR was not a good starter bike and a 06+ CBR locally was $5k+. I never knew the FZ6R existed until someone told me at work. Looked it up online and loved the way the white one looks. On top of that, it wasn't too expensive for a new one. After that, it was the only thing i was looking at and purchased it a few weeks after. VERY HAPPY w/ purchase.

 

[Nastybutler]

I'm a beginner (just got m1) so was looking for something cheap to practice on at first. Then decided to take out a loan and finance a used bike but needed to be 06 and up. Was looking at CBR and GSXR but was told the GSXR was not a good starter bike and a 06+ CBR locally was $5k+. I never knew the FZ6R existed until someone told me at work. Looked it up online and loved the way the white one looks. On top of that, it wasn't too expensive for a new one. After that, it was the only thing i was looking at and purchased it a few weeks after. VERY HAPPY w/ purchase.

Congrats on a great choice! And welcome to the best forum on the web, as well as your new addiction.

 

[Scott_Thomas]

I was browsing looking at what bikes were not a 250 or a 100+Hp 600 and i found the ninja650 and the FZ6R so i found a local dealer right down the road from where i work and they had a 2012 Ninja 650 for 7500 and a brand new 09 FZ6R for 6000 so i went right down there and scooped it up and now its my baby haha the price was right and i did a good amount of research on the bike befor hand and loved it!!!!

Same here, researched a bit and narrowed it down to a few bike (650R, SV650, FZ6R) and then found a leftover 2011 for $6300. I was looking used for my first bike, but that was too good to pass up. Love my raven 6R.

 

[traverser]

I wasn't ready for a bigger bike. I'll note it is not as fast as my old Suzuki sv650; but I did have a great amount of work done to that bike, GSXR fron forks, 180 wheel conversion,etc. The new Gladius didn't do it for me, Honda didn't have a stand up style 600 cc bike at the time, the Triumph 675 was still to sporty for my taste, I didn't like the fit of the Kawasaki 650. This was the right bike for me, and had the second bit was it had the best bargain out there at the moment of purchase. I also wanted brand new. The next bike for me will most likely be a BMW f800 st. I'm not an ultra supersport kind of guy.

Remember short at the last 3 days of the quarter, you'll get more bike for the money from a dealer.

 

[buzzbomb]

I wasn't ready for a bigger bike. I'll note it is not as fast as my old Suzuki sv650; but I did have a great amount of work done to that bike, GSXR fron forks, 180 wheel conversion,etc. The new Gladius didn't do it for me, Honda didn't have a stand up style 600 cc bike at the time, the Triumph 675 was still to sporty for my taste, I didn't like the fit of the Kawasaki 650. This was the right bike for me, and had the second bit was it had the best bargain out there at the moment of purchase. I also wanted brand new. The next bike for me will most likely be a BMW f800 st. I'm not an ultra supersport kind of guy.

Remember short at the last 3 days of the quarter, you'll get more bike for the money from a dealer.

Yah, the 650SV had gobs of torque. For me, that's about all it had. Granted it was my ex's bike, but I just never really liked it. The torque was awesome. You hit the throttle, and it jumped.

Outside of that it was just kind of "blah." It was jut boring. Oh, and what the hell were they thinking at Suzuki? "We don't need a dipstick, we'll use this little window that you can't see through because it's under the plastic and covered with oil, so you can't see where the oil level is?" The only time I knew what the oil level in that bike was is when I changed it, lol.