Bought my first bike! 

"4B11tFTW!" (4B11tFTW) 10/11/2015 at 19:44 • Filed to: None

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Howdy guys! I posted a couple weeks ago regarding the best time to buy a bike. Well, as it turns out, the best time to buy was Friday, so I obliged. 1998 GSXR 600, 36,xxx miles, $1600. It’s not pretty, it’s been dropped but aside from some scratches along the side no serious issues. It’s gonna need some work but seeing as how I’ve only got about a month (if I’m lucky) of riding time left, so it should be an interesting project none the less.

Current issues are;

-Needs a new front tire (decided to go with the Dunlop Q3, should be here Wednesday)

Previous owner lowered it 2 inches (female), so me and a friend who rides professionally are going to replace the rear shock linkage and completely go through the suspension. It is extremely soft currently, so he’s going to “instruct” me on how to make the adjustments and so on.

-It runs “ok”, I’m pretty confident the carbs need to be gone through, and since I’m a “better safe than sorry” type of guy, he’s going to walk me through rebuilding the carbs. While we’re in there, probably go ahead and do plugs and air filter as well. I put a little bit of seafoam in the tank on my last fill up to see if it would be beneficial at all. Regardless, I’ll wind up rebuilding the carbs anyways.

-Key is broke off in the storage compartment lock, not sure how to remedy this one yet.

-Wind screen is cracked from the drop, doesn’t effect anything but it will bother me, so I’m going to wind up replacing it, and probably the plastics eventually

-Front brake handle is bent, will replace it.

-Pads are a little low but the rotors have less than 2000 miles on them, so I’ll go ahead and replace the pads

-Previous owner added some sort of LED kit, its ricey, and will be removed once I make sure that it isn’t going to screw with any of the electrical components.

Overall the bike seems solid, I’ve gotten about 200 miles in over the weekend. The front tire held me back from really getting into the throttle, once the new one arrives it will be replaced immediately. Carbs are going to be my biggest concern, I haven’t had any issues with stalling, but at low RPM’s (under 2k) it does seem to hesitate quite a bit, anything above 2k and it’s right as rain.

Initial impressions? Holy. Fuck. It’s amazing!

Again, I’ve been very conservative with it, the only other rocket I’ve ridden is my friends R6, and that was a totally different experience. At the risk of sounding like a little girl, it was scary the first few rides. I’m beginning to get the feel of the bike, getting more comfortable with leaning in, but again, this goes back to the front tire, once that’s replaced I’ll feel 100x’s better. I’m hoping once it’s on, I can get a good 250-500 more miles on before she gets torn apart over the winter. I’ll keep everyone posted on any news, updates, issues, or questions.

If you look under the tach you can see a little black box, that’s the led kit the pervious owner installed, that will be getting yanked.

Bad lighting but the front tire is bad

Some of the scratches

It does sound good courtesy of the Yoshi pipe, that’s all that matters right?

bob and john > 4B11tFTW! 10/11/2015 at 19:49

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do you want the ‘yay bike’ or what I actually think of this?

4B11tFTW! > bob and john 10/11/2015 at 19:50

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I’m open for constructive criticism, I am going to say this, thank you for calling me a dumbass for wanting to start on a liter bike... After riding just a 600, it’s blatantly obvious I could NOT have handled anything bigger.

LongbowMkII > 4B11tFTW! 10/11/2015 at 19:55

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yay bike!

jkm7680 > 4B11tFTW! 10/11/2015 at 19:56

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Looks like a fun project! Good color choice also.

bob and john > 4B11tFTW! 10/11/2015 at 20:08

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okay, i STILL think this is too much. anything with R or is a sport bike isnt a starter bike. I dont care who you are. its just a stupid think to start off on.

refer to this as too why

yaya, “i’ll take it easy’ and all that jazz.

yesterday, I got a message from one of my former students that he crashed. Badly. the guy was mid 40s (so not hot headed at all), bought an older R6 (i think it was an 03) and the big just got away from him. If it was a sub-500CC bike, he would have been old. as it is, he is sitting with a leg up on hospital with 2 broken limbs.

So yea. I think this was a stupid idea. The fact that it doesnt have ABS doesnt help


THAT OUT OF THE WAY.

Here are some pieces of advice tht i beg of you to take. if nothing else on this world,

LOOK. WHERE.YOU.WANT.TO.GO

dont look at the tree mid corner. dont look at the pot hole. DONT LOOK AT THE GAUGES. keep your head up and looking at where you want to go.


read this: http://oppositelock.kinja.com/riding-in-the-… as a quick little guide for the rain when you eventually will get caught.

and watch Keith codes twist of the wrist2. :

Another thing. when you go out riding with friends and buddy who may be more experienced... ride your own ride. you have nothing to prove to anyone. if they are riding a little quick for you, fall back and meet them at the rest stop. no shame in doing so.

bueno? I dont mean to be a negative nancy, but I’ve seen too many people start on a 600 and hurt themselves (remember, I actually am a motorcycle instructor, its not just a screen name) to no have a small freak out when ppl tell me that they are starting on one.

4B11tFTW! > bob and john 10/11/2015 at 20:19

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Thank you for the advice, I’ve been taking it VERY easy so far, and will continue to do so, I haven’t even taken it above 80. I have NO intention of going out trying to be an idiot, nothing like that. I value my life, and the ability to feed myself and walk around on 2 legs. Even today, my friends and I went out for a cruise, they were showing out, popping wheelies and shit, while I was just putting along, my life is more valuable than what someone else thinks of me, so point taken.

On a side note, I did go and test drive a brand new CBR 300 and a Ninja 300, and both were way to small for me comfort wise. The 500 that I was looking at wound up getting sold, sketchy owner...

I do appreciate you being up front with me, as I said, safety is my number one priority, I’m a veteran so I’ve been through all the safety stuff over and over and over (death by powerpoint etc).

Clown Shoe Pilot > 4B11tFTW! 10/11/2015 at 20:27

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Pete SV already gave you the “a 600cc sport bike is a terrible first bike” speech, so I won’t repeat it. I will tell you that I made the same mistake and that I became a much better rider after I bought a smaller bike.

bob and john > 4B11tFTW! 10/11/2015 at 20:29

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no one plans on crashing. guess what? ppl still crash. esp as its an older carbed bike, that engine will bitch and buck a bit more then a more modern FI bike

if you have the chance, go to a track and see if they offer any racing schools. There is only so much a guy can tell you online, but those course will really really teach how to ride safe. the MSF course is just that./ motorcycle safety foundations. its now up to you to take the knowledge further and higher.

also look into some dirt bike courses. they will teach you how to ride on slippery surfaces, and possibly teach our how to powerslide. this helps a surprising amount on the street, esp if you get caught in the rain and the back end steps out on you.

here is an interesting tid bit...do you know when most crashes happen in a riders life? its not the first year. its second and third. !st year, you KNOW your a new guy, and you dont push it. second and third, you have some miles under you and you think you know what your doing, but you still dont really know. and THATS where its dangerous.

good luck my friend. keep the rubber side down, the shiney side up, and may your lines forever be gravel free :)

JCAlan > 4B11tFTW! 10/11/2015 at 21:01

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I’ll go one step further and say just don’t ever ride with your buddies at all. The biggest idiot with the most reckless abandon leads in a group. Have you ever seen a group of sport bikes riding together that you noticed how responsible and safe they were being? I haven't. I ride solo.

gizmo-ms3 > 4B11tFTW! 10/11/2015 at 21:41

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I had one. Was my first bike. Don’t be an idiot and you’ll be fine. It was fast, but not “flip on your back using first gear fast”.

Mmmmm > 4B11tFTW! 10/11/2015 at 22:12

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Howdy! Whoooo! Congrats. I wish I could relive the excitement of getting my first bike. I would really recommend trying to get your forks and rear shock rebuilt if you can budget it since you are tearing everything apart. I could almost gauruntee that’s why your suspension is so “soft”. Shocks use oil and it has to be changed just like engine oil... and people never change fork oil. Until 8 years in when the seals start leaking haha. Do yourself a favor and go to an empty, clean parking lot and practice some low speed emergency stops. You’ll appreciate the practice the first time you need it on the street. Then go to the track next spring and get hooked :). Q3’s are good tires as well.

Manny05x > bob and john 10/11/2015 at 23:10

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Good vid, makes me wanna get a bike the responsible way.

4B11tFTW! > Mmmmm 10/12/2015 at 19:31

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I actually ordered a used OEM rear shock, gonna run through that and make sure it’s good to go and then move on to the front. It’s all a learning experience to me, just slowly picking things up as I go along.

I actually spent most of Sunday at the local DMV going though all the test sections, acceleration and sudden stop, weaving etc.

Just bought plugs and an air filter today, and filled up again (ran seafoam through the gas tank) and I can already tell a difference!