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Any small sport bike riders?


CantonKawi11
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45 minutes ago, CantonKawi11 said:

Hows everyone feel about the smaller sport bike class? 

I'm 6' 260...  I never felt comfortable on anything smaller than 500cc, even when I was in my 20's, unless it's on dirt.
And if it's a sport bike... well, let's just say, I'm not excited about dragging my big toe while my legs turn blue.

But more power to those of you who can ride those bikes.  
I would if I could... looks like fun.

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I rode a small naked bike for 4 years (in a city with NO freeways)

Its if funny that so many low cc bikes have fairings with their limited speeds and that they're beginner aimed and likely to get dropped.

And that they're parallel twined when so few large full faired are.

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I still have my Ninja 300, but I want to sell it due to space and needing the cash to cover part of the Ninja 650 purchase. I wanted the 650 for the extra power (still a parallel twin) and comfort. The 300 drops into turns more willingly though. At lower speeds I'd say the 300 is more fun and insurance is half as much. The 300 is also good for learning to feel out the gearing and power band. If I could start over, I might choose a Ninja 500 instead, then move on to something without fairings maybe. Fairings make me nervous.

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3 hours ago, motocat12 said:

I rode a small naked bike for 4 years (in a city with NO freeways)

Its if funny that so many low cc bikes have fairings with their limited speeds and that they're beginner aimed and likely to get dropped.

And that they're parallel twined when so few large full faired are.

Aerodynamics start playing a factor at 25 mph. Obviously the effect is exponentially greater at highway speeds, but a fairing on a 250 might be the difference between 105mph and 90mph. The small bikes need them more than the big bikes on the highway. 

My only bike is 100cc. 

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3 hours ago, motocat12 said:

I rode a small naked bike for 4 years (in a city with NO freeways)

Its if funny that so many low cc bikes have fairings with their limited speeds and that they're beginner aimed and likely to get dropped.

And that they're parallel twined when so few large full faired are.

The fairings DO make more of a difference than you would think!  My Ninja 250 had been down, no fairings when I bought it.  It is definitely a different bike since I put them on it.  Maybe I will get to ride it this year...

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I speak from track experience only, I loved the Yamaha r3...  thing was just as much fun if not a bit more because of the giggle factor of being pretty much WOT everywhere...
I used the STT demo bike to coach for half a day after my R6 stator bit the dust half way through the day last year. I was on a  fairly tight and very technical track (Grattan raceway) the only place I had any issues was the straight where my light frame was able to  keep the aero low enough to manage 90ish mph.
not to much else is ever as fun as  doing a couple hard switch backs  and feeling the bike twist and pop under you and just banging gears every .5 secs hah

the looks are much more on par with the big bikes now and that to me makes them a lot more appealing to the younger rider looking to get into sport bikes but being turned off by small bike aesthetics.
 

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I had a cbr250r that I rode for about 9,000 miles, mostly commuting.  It was a fun bike & I did ride some twisties on it.  My main complaint was that if you got stuck behind a slow car in the double yellows you were pretty much stuck behind that slow car until it turned off or you turned off. IMO it's more fun to ride a fast bike fast than a slow bike fast.  The small bikes are great teachers for taking a good line & keeping up your momentum though.

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4 minutes ago, jschaf said:

My main complaint was that if you got stuck behind a slow car in the double yellows you were pretty much stuck behind that slow car until it turned off or you turned off.

The only 250 I've ridden is a 2013 with a power commander, but at no time was it lacking the power to pass, even on a double yellow. Now if the "slow car" was doing 70... Then maybe?

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8 minutes ago, magley64 said:

The only 250 I've ridden is a 2013 with a power commander, but at no time was it lacking the power to pass, even on a double yellow. Now if the "slow car" was doing 70... Then maybe?

How did it compare to your blackbird in the passing arena? With the power commander it had to be about equal, right?

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1 hour ago, jschaf said:

How did it compare to your blackbird in the passing arena? With the power commander it had to be about equal, right?

Yeah, compared to one of the 10 fastest production bikes on the planet... It's not fast, but what is?

 

It's plenty fast enough to pass most idiots on the road.

Edited by magley64
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