i'm doing my direct access early next year.
a mate has offered me his g-plate gsxr400, the corona coloured one, 12mths tax and test etc. and bennetts only want £122 tpf&t to insure
has anyone ever had one, and would it make a decent first bike?

 

GSXR400's are excellent bikes.

'89 G should look like this:



Quite extreme, aggressive riding position, need revving more than any of the other 400 sports bikes.

If it's an earlier model with a more conventional beam frame they are ok, a bit dated and not as hardcore. Look out for frame cracks on the engine mounts by your knees on that model

I'd think carefully before going for a 400 tho. The 600's ain't that much more to run and a lot quicker!

 

Hmmm, maybe not if you are over 3foot tall Mate had a Yam 400 years back, "Rhino on a Tic-Tac" springs to mind with all those 400s. Having said that another mate when he binned his GSXR4 managed to get it into an Mk3 Astra boot. (Had to fold the seats down though ) so their size can be useful in some ways.

EDIT

However, to answer the original question I would suggest a Hayabusa or ZZR1400 as a first bike. Seems that if you don't want something monunmentally fast you must be a wimp. Have you considered something else though. Perhaps a B King or a Motard. Or even a BMW!

 

400's are all or nothing ie FULL throttle or you aint going any where!

in in a few months of owning it YOU'LL get bored and want more so start of with a 600 would be my advise as their easier to ride!

 

 

i bought a yam thundercat 600 as first bike

cheapish to buy, cheap to insure

and fuck me, if im paying £500 to do the bloody tests i want more than a poxy 400 all imo of course lol

looked at r6/gixxer 600 and ins was twice as much so went for the TC

 

ok... cheers guys.. may need to rethink as i'm 6ft tall and don't want to look like...
say i've got about £1500 to spend next april, what would you recommend... needs to look sporty

 

https://passionford.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=230827

quick at 100bhp

will do 150+ mph

cheap to insure (£200 tpft)

looks good too

 

They're not that bad. I'm 6ft 5in and can get on alright with all the 400's.

The Thundercat's not a bad idea at your budget.
It was never a cutting edge sportsbike, more of an all rounder, but that means it's cheaper than the rest and it's a pretty decent bike

 

as everyone says buy a nice 600

 

even a cbr 4?! Mate had one of them and it was cramped after a while. Short stints were ok maybe! I'm 6ft 4 btw.
Other mate has a vfr4 and LOADS of room on them!!

chop

 

ok guys... i've worked out i can get 2.5k together next spring, so i'll probably go for what i've always wanted as a first bike... a blue/white GSXR600...
all the advice is great, cheers

 

Funnily enough I felt most comfortable on an NC29

They are the most popular choice for shorties due to the lowest seat height to but fit me just fine too!
Other than the RVF the NC29 is my favourite 400.

When I blew up my first blade I did spend a while on a CBR4 with rearsets though. That was a bit of a squeeze

 

gurnE
I thought the cbr 4 i tried was an NC30? Is that possible? It was on a J plate.

Anyways why are we speaking about 4's?

 

Nah, NC30 is the VFR400

The later (89-) CBR4 is the NC29, the couple of years before that was the NC23 and I forget the model name of the earlier CBR400Aeros as they were w**k

Dunno, I didn't start it

 

Wise choice imo

 

nc 23= Tri-arm 87-89, nc29=Gullarm 89-94 and then the nc30 Vfr single swing arm models 88-96 iirc!

 

The NC30 ceased production in '94 to make way for the NC35

 

Check the bike neville's out!

 

Personally having started on a sports 600 i would never advise someone to do the same, cos you wont learn anything about riding. Its a sports bike and isnt really a great begginer bike. Your better off with an SV650 or banit, something that you can learn to ride rather than pose on. Ok so you might be bored of the power in 6 months but at least you will have learnt something about riding, cornering and how to use a bike. Im not saying getting a sports 600 is wrong but its a slow learning curve, great if you want to go fast in a straight line but if thats all you want the stay away from me on a sunday morning on the country lanes cos i dont need a mobile chicane thanks.

 

i started on zxr 400 nice bike good on track days

 

just get a 600 matey dont bother with a 400

 

I bought a cbr600f on a 98 r as my first bike, easy to ride with plenty of power, insurance cost me £250. suitable for any size rider I'm 6'2 & find it comfortable, my m8 who i bought it from is only 5'7

 

+1 u will get used to a 400 really quick, then lose money on it when u sell it for a 600. i had a go on a 400 and got cramp after 10 mins. insurance's not much more for a 600.

as above my first bike was a 98 cbr600f, cracking bike will do what u need it to, and very forgiveing


thats just my view

 

mine woz zxr750h2 good bike

 

what u got now?

 

got 54 plate zx6rr power connander an filter an carbon can wot you got, your only up the roadv from me in south port 15 milesi live in longton near the old little theif

 

nice bike, i pass ur's most wk ends on me bike on way to lakes/ devils bridge.

gimme a shout u ever fancy a ride out



06 plate power commander, yoshi can

do u go on http://www.mcnninjas.co.uk/forum/

 

will do but movin 2 leyland in two weeks near mac dee,s if you no were that is so bit busy but email you or some think if i get time mines not moved 4 about six weeks with sortin this house out

 

mines not moved since 8th of nov track day at oulton

good luck with the house move

 

love 2 do a track day would buy some shitty fairings just 4 it

 

my boss usually does a run out to devils bridge or up the lakes of a sunday mate, feel free to join us one weekend.

the shop is orrell park motorcycles in liverpool

 

I agree with the boys saying get a 400.It ll teach you so much more in control as in when to overtake,ie if you get it wrong you dont have the power to get you out off trouble,or in for that matter.If 135-140 isnt enough from a 400 to use in the lanes,till you gain more knowledge then look out.

 

i've got a zxr400 and it's one of the easyest bikes i've ever ridden
been on gsxr400/600/1000,tlr's, blade's,r1's etc

400's have there place when learning, sweet handling and more importantly if you are a bit rough with the throttle they'r forgiving

second thoughts go with a mille