Re: Can 600cc be beginner bikes?

Query Approved

Nothing is impossible. But it is surely not something i would recommend to anyone!

Re: Can 600cc be beginner bikes?

Well, a 600cc bike is too much for a beginner to handle. 500-750cc bikes typically are intermediates for jumping from a quarter liter bike to a liter class bike.
I'd advise you to get a 2nd hand 150cc, get accustomed to it and once you are confident and can actually handle tricky situations(where a fraction of second decides life or after-life), jump to anything from 400-600 cc.
Please don't take it otherwise - it's a friendly advise!

Re: Can 600cc be beginner bikes?

Really good advice [MENTION=57323]krishna77[/MENTION]

Re: Can 600cc be beginner bikes?

No, start with D400, RC/Duke series if you are beginning again.
600cc for beginners is a strict no, even other countries have 250cc as their beginner bikes.

Re: Can 600cc be beginner bikes?

Getting a 600cc as your 1st bike is not that great an idea. Lets say if you get it, you need to ride it very carefully for quite sometime so that you get used to the bike. That means you cannot enjoy the power of the bike for quite sometime. Why pay for something that you cant enjoy. Bikes in this category cost quite a bit to maintain. The parts cost quite a lot and most of the time wont be in stock. AFAIK most folks make mistakes with their 1st bikes. If thats a bike in 600cc category, you are looking at a month or maybe more time needed to fix the bike in the svc and bill running maybe into lacs. Do note that these bikes weight quite a lot and might be difficult to manage even for experienced riders.

For beginner I would suggest something in the 200-250cc category. You just have the right amount of power, maintainance is cheap, most have a sweet and forgiving chassis.
You can look at Duke 200, CBR 250R ABS (used), Fz25, etc. RC390/Duke 390 have raw power, hence not recommended.

Remember: With great power, comes great responsibility. Unless one is confident that they can handle the power, they shouldn't play around with them and endanger thier and others lives.

Re: Can 600cc be beginner bikes?

My advice is please don't get the 600cc right away. These powerful bikes and our roads are absolute unforgiving and you may end up in unnecessary complications which may include life risk of you and other road users.
My advice would be first get a proper geared bike and understand rev matching the engine and spend sometime with that bike untill you get experience with all road conditions like sudden speed breakers/pot holes, random auto rickshaws cutting into your lane, panic breaking situation etc. Then go buy your dream bike.
Only money can buy you a bike but proper training and skill is required to stay alive to ride it.
Sorry for using harsh words but that is bitter truth you have to digest

Re: Can 600cc be beginner bikes?

Start riding 150cc bikes then move onto 300-400, r3 is a good starter bike, it's got more linear acceleration than the 390s and power kicks in later, but if your used to a 150cc then shouldnt be a issue, 600+ cc once you've become accustomed to these bikes, you can make the move upto the 600-900cc range, you'll know how to ride sensibly and responsibly, and main thing is throttle control, and having the control of the bike at all times, and having a bigger bike, you have to be more careful and more responsible. The saying goes with great power, comes great responsibility, it all holds true when going for the bigger cc bikes.

Re: Can 600cc be beginner bikes?

Controlling the bike is easy, whats difficult is controlling yourself. Most guys, after riding for a few hundred kms, start thinking they know it all, and get into drag races, burnout, and stunts. When hanging out with friends, the ego takes over, the brain shuts down, and to prove themselves, they take unnecessary risks.

My advice is, get that 650 ninja, and take time out in the night to learn. The first thing is adapting to the higher weight. Move the bike around in the parking lot, sway it side to side, and do slow u turns. It's a frightening, and rewarding experience. Practise sudden braking, clean overtaking, lane discipline and get some riding gear. After riding around 5000 kms on the bike, the basics should be imprinted in your brain.

Most riders are allergic to slowing down at intersections, or giving way to overtaking vehicles. When speeding, if you see traffic up ahead, slow down to their speed, warn them with lights or horn, then only overtake. When faced with a dog or a pedestrian crossing the road, don't swerve away, instead brake hard. Once you make a habit to swerve away, you will do that same thing in an emergency.

Yesterday, I read of two incidents where people died due to swerving on meeting obstacles. One auto guy rammed into a truck and died when he spotted a dog in his lane.

4 people died when a tempo driver swerved into a gorge. 3 more are in the ICU. The driver spotted a biker in his lane and swerved to avoid hitting him.

Re: Can 600cc be beginner bikes?

Exactly, BRAKING, is one thing that Indian mass avoid, dont know why. Instead they either cut lanes or kill themselves

Re: Can 600cc be beginner bikes?

Exactly and this habit comes only after practice and spending more and more time with the machine. Most common mistake many of us do is brake in wrong proportion in panic situation.

Re: Can 600cc be beginner bikes?

My two cents.

The 1st cent - a little bit of history,

I learned to ride a manual gear bike when I was 22. I was 5'11" and I weighed 56 Kgs at most at that time. Yup, I was thin! My only prior experience with bikes was a scooty and an activa. That's it. Embarrassing? You bet it was! I didn't have access to bikes and I was too reluctant to ask my friends for theirs' cause I didn't want to damage them. But, it was near the end of the final year of my engg. and I was becoming restless! I started having lucid dreams about riding bikes and it was real and intense, I absolutely loved that feeling! So, I forced myself to ask every one of friends to help me learn to ride whenever I could. I finally learnt to ride the passions and the discovers! Yay! It was easy as hell and I loved it. But, the thing is these bikes were owned by one person but, being in college and all, they might as well be free rentals for everyone!!! lol .Some of them were in horrible conditions and struggled to move and made tuk tuk sounds etc - happens if you spend all your monies on movies, street food, beers and become paupers with nothing left to spare for petrol, let alone a decent service!! Anyways, I learnt to ride and it was time to buy a brand new bike and shove in the faces of people who mocked me! (Real naive, town bumpkin!)

Done with college. Somehow persuaded my mom to buy a bike, didn't tell my dad as he knew I was inexperienced but, I went ahead anyway. It was 2010. And I always wanted the best in things - cause anything less is not VFM. One of my juniors owned a black pulsar 220 and it was beautiful! I test rode it with him as pillion, barely made it 100m and that's it. Nothing more. No other experience whatsoever!

Went ahead and purchased the bike! It was heavy - I couldn't even put it on center stand for the 1st month, the engine was big - 220CCs of it, I had no experience with disc brakes and this one had two!! It was scary as hell. But, adrenaline helps. So, I took it to the streets and had fun. It was amazing, it rode fast, cornering was a blast and the brakes were awesome!! Disc brakes are the real deal! The acceleration was unreal. You can't go back after experiencing the best of technology has to offer (at this price).

But, it wasn't all rosy though. I crashed it! Yup, 6 times so far. All 6 times withing the 1st year. 3 at low speeds and 2 at moderately high speeds, and 2 near life misses! All this happened cause I wasn't experienced. They were are all silly stuff which your brain forgets to calculate since, it didn't enough data!! The bike is flawless, it was rider who was prone to errors.

Crashes,

1. Low speed, loose sand on a cement road and slower speed, clueless uncle ahead. Pulled the front brake, the weight was too much (I didn't yet learn the trick to handle it) and I put it down. Ouch! The uncle didn't even bother to look back, let alone stop and help!

2. All hail the mighty buffalo. I think it wanted to kiss my shiny black bike so, I brake again and slip. In Gear 1 too! lol

3. Mis-jugded the gap while overtaking a lorry and there was a rickshaw oncoming with huge logs for load! Swerve and Ding! A dent in the silencer. Gut wrenching! My beautiful silencer has a beauty mark now!

4. Stones. The road was being repaired and one of the stones gave away as my front wheel went on it! Slipped again! In Gear 1. Really now?

5,6. Moderately high speed - jay walking aunty - front brakes! Bam! Crash. The next time was one of those Grim reaper uncles who like to turn suddenly onto on coming traffic without looking back or at the mirrors. These guys are there on the roads to kill you! Trust me on it. They turn suddenly and you hit them and you crash. Real yamadoots I tell you! I was have gifted a slightly twisted wrist, painful but small bruises and a broken headlight, bent forks! Total cost of repair Rs 8000 only. I thank the brakes really! Without them I would have crashed into that grim reaper!

Near misses,

I was speeding and did not slow at the junctions. Lorry guy was a god! He slowed down as I was in no position to slow at all. I have much respect to these guys after this. The other time was jaywalking students. Zebra crossings are for losers, ye mera baap ka road wala types! Thank god, the braking was beautiful on 220! It was bone chilling but, the rush felt good. Saved again by my bike! Thing is not matter how good your handling is, your bike needs to be good to handle those sudden shocks!


Lessons learnt -

a) Can't avoid sand, buffaloes or uncles out to kill you.
It's always the fault of the biker with big bike. Period.
Most are unaware but, the legal speed limit on Indian roads in 40-45kmph max. in cities.
In villages, you might as well ride a hero cycle and none of those Firefox, Btwin fancy stuff either.

b) Avoid high speeds on roads you are not aware of!
Avoid high speeds if you are not familiar with how local people ride. Fun fact - People ride differently in different cities!! Some places are full of imbeciles, badly cultured brutes who pass off for humans due to their looks but, lack the brains inside.
Avoid high speeds during the night.
If your town or city is known for stray dogs and other sacred animals like gau mata, slow down. Don't you dare go into the 4th gear! You need to know your animals dude! I hear pigs can bring down cars!!

c) Learn to brake properly and to control the weight of your bike! You should ride the bike and not the other way around. Trust me, cause this a thing! You need to learn to hard brake and control the bike or you will just go along with the bike and it will throw you off just for giggles. You should fit properly on your bike!! Ideally it's best if you can firmly place your legs on the ground when you are not in motion.

d) The higher the tech is and the higher your protection is, the lesser are your crashes or injuries!

My highest speed on my bike was 124 kmph on a reltively smaller highway. I avoided going higher cause I knew the bike wouldn't stop early as I wanted it to if a goat decides to high five me! Highways are for a goat herders and their goats mind you! Goat high fives are real.

Anyways, I am in the same boat as you, as in I am looking for my next upgrade which will be a 600cc bike or higher. I have bulked up since my lean days though. I am at my ideal BMI, and I am currently in the look out for something that 'fits' me. No matter how much I like something, if it doesn't fit me, I am not going to ride it! I will buy a poster instead!

2nd cent,

You should try a relatively lower speed bike since, you lack the experience! But, if you are built like a tank then by all means go for a 600cc - hi-tech ABS and all, and a bike which fits you and listens to you. Whatever your 1st bike is, go with ABS! I have had enough of sliding tires, it gets annoying after a while, and people stare at you like you are a murderer! It's not fun. The thing is, every biker moves up incrementally! It's the safer way. I recently saw Hitting the Apex (2015) MotoGP docu - and guess what, all those beautiful devils learnt to ride on mini/pocket bikes and moved up slowly! And every one of them crashed at one point on other. Rossi, Lorenzo, and Marc! All of them! No exceptions.

The golden law of biking - There is no such thing as biker who never crashed!!! You ride a two- wheeler, you will crash!

Now, you decide how bad you want your 1st crash to be.


PS. I am genuinely excited for you! Riding is fun, and you will relish every moment of it. Whichever bike you go with, gain the xp and gear up fully. No cheap jugaad stuff please. Go for the best gear and the best bike which 'fits' you.


End of cents. I am officially a pauper now! ( Saving every bit for those expensive days ahead!)

Re: Can 600cc be beginner bikes?

Absolutely not. Not in India. Never.

If BTW you're in Australia or USA, I would've been the first person to recommend you the Ninja 650.

Right now the best beginner bike in India, in my humble opinion is the Gixxer 155. It has the best and most responsive chassis in the segment, sharp handling, superb brakes and fantastic low-end torque punch up to 85kmph, to keep even a superbike rider entertained. Trust me! The spares and service are very cheap too.

Get this one, hone your skills nicely like many of our members have highlighted in previous posts, for at least 10,000kms. Then and only then, get the Ninja 650 your dream bike. I would also recommend first renting the bike for small long rides to know about machine more.

Indian road conditions are very unforgiving, highly unpredictable and with a populous where even trained engineers and doctors don't follow lane discipline or stop at red lights, Indian roads are every riders worst nightmare. But if you follow defensive riding skills and have a mature habit of live and let live thinking, not boasting your riding experience on public roads and be humble, you can easily ride even the H2 without trouble.

Also remember, with great power comes great responsibility.

Cheers!