I got to ride on some bikes of my friends yesterday and although it was not long enough to get a full taste I did find their positives and negatives.

Its very short so do not flame me for that. Both bikes were around the same weight however their handling and acceleration were somewhat different in my opinion.


Both bikes were totally stock and I spend about 1hr on each bike.


Bike #1

2001 Yamaha R6

Stunning looks what can I say, is probably the best looking bike in the market if you just plan to look pretty, however this bike is pretty much like the equivalent of the Type R in motorcycle terms, acceleration is awesome (considering the fastest I took it was 90 to 95 mph) it had an acceptable torque delivery. I could push it much more faster but is was not my bike and I did not want to do that or endanger myself.

Throttle was very twichy as well equivalent to some extent to a GSXR with the same displacement.

Handling ?

Lets just say I took a pretty good corner when making a quick corner after getting off the ramp from the interstate and the bike felt very very very twitchy. Now I understand why they recommend some steering dampeners for this vehicle. The bike is very nimble, so nimble that you can easily loose control if you are very new in bikes. It feels much lighter than the 380ish pounds that supposely weights.


The only thing I didn't like about it it was the transmission, and the clutch feel was very different from other bikes i've ridden. I wish I could give you more details but is hard to explain.

Comfortability ?

Lets just say after couple of hours on this bike I can see myself taking a nice break. I did not like the feel of the seat. Maybe that's the same reason I did not feel comfortable in the shifting.





#2 2000 Honda CBR F4

This was the last year where they made a carburated CBR 600 before adding fuel injection to their new CBRs.

The bike a very nice power delivery it lacks on the low end like all of the other Hondas out there but it was very very smooth bike. The throttle was very responsive but not as responsive as the R6, I can see this bike as a good candidate to those with little experience with bikes. However this is not a total newbie bike. This bike can get you in trouble easily... I was going over 100 mph w/o even noticing as soon as I looked at the speedo I immediately backed off and got off the interstate.


Handling ?

Althought it is about the same weight as the R6,the bike felt a tad heavier and more stable in the same corner that I took with the R6. I felt more stable in this bike than I did on the R6 maybe becuase of the twichtyness of the Yamaha ? Not sure.


Transmission shifted very smoothly and it had a better clutch feel than the Yamaha. I bet it all had to do because of the seating position, I think that's what made a difference. Seats were very comfortable and wider than the R6 seats they were still hard but that can be resolved easily with a Corbin seat.



I have some riding experience and although im not a professional rider nor I own a bike at the present time( Hey I used to have an old school Shadow), riding this two popular bikes gave me a much better idea on what to look on a future sportsbike of that category.

 

Yes I would agree woth everything your saying about the way they perform and if you looking into that 600 catagory stick with the 2 that you test drove . You can always come take mine for a spin to feel how a little v-twin handles you may like it better and the seat is way more comfy then both

 

Speaking of comfy, don't get a corbin....get a sargent seat. I have heard bad things about corbin plus I own a sargent seat for my superhawk. Much MUCH better than stock!