Anyone with experience of a ZX-6r ?

I have a J2, and its a cracking bike. I've never ridden an SV (what am I doing here?!) so I can't compare the two. The Kawasaki is a sport tourer by today's standards in terms of riding position and the bike itself being quite large. However, as someone said it is a genuine 150mph+ bike, and it can bite you in the ass if you're not careful. But so can all bikes - take them both out for a spin if you can and see what you think.

Be warned though, once you've had the Ninja screaming at high revs...you won't want to settle for less!

[Sid Squid]

Originally Posted by zsv650

infinitely not as usefull as a sv though imho.

'Scuse me while I laugh. ZX6, that variety particularly, is better in every way than an SV, will cost more to insure of course, but will probably cost less to run.

[yorkie_chris]

Nice bikes and comfy for a sportsbike, I don't think they're particularly dangerous for a newbie, but still easy to get into a lot of trouble quickly. They seem to be of an era before sportsbikes were made for posers who want to look like rossi, hence the sensible riding position.

Though they do have a major disadvantage of having a kawasaki badge on them.

The Kawasaki badge may make it a bit harder to start on a cold morning, but once you've figured out where to put the choke lever you'll have no issues.

And it has the advantage of a proper finish, unlike those that have the Suzuki badge on them *runs and hides*...

[yorkie_chris]

You'll be saying the suzy calipers of the same era seize up worse next...

Heh, nope, I'm going to keep my gob shut now

But back to the original post, the guy needs to ride them both - the V-Twin and IL4 are going to be so different that he should decide on that before worrying about handling, speed, insurance etc.

[mr.anderson]

Depends on which bike suits your riding style better. I find my ZX6R much more comfortable and am much happier on it. That said, if I had not had the SV first, I would have terrified myself away from bikes or into a hospital.

[BigFootIsBlurry]

Thanks guys, lots of really helpful comments. I think I'm gonna wait and see what is available in good nick for my money next week when I start lookign seriously. My sensible head is pretty much telling me to get the SV, even only for 6 months, but I've never been very good at being sensible.

[fizzwheel]

I'm going to echo what the others said, ZXR is probably a better bike, but its far less intimidating than the SV is. I went from my SV to my GSXR-750 after two years on my SV, first time I opened the throttle hard on the GSXR after I'd run it in it scared the cr*p out of me.

I reckon I wouldnt be posting this if I had got on my GSXR after passing my DAS. But I'm much happier on my GSXR, get the SV build your skills up and then get a SS600... you'll enjoy it more in the long run and the SV can teach you alot without being intimidating.

Doesnt matter if you only keep it a few months, just use it as a means to an end...

[Stu]

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

but its far less intimidating than the SV is. ..

unfortunately I suspect you meant to write this the other way around.
But i think it is almost correct as it is.
An IL4 doesn't have the instant punch that the SV does, it's more noticeable above say 8K revs - you don't find yourself above 8K revs by accident, also you don't have such vicious engine braking that you do with the SV that could feel like the back locks up on a poor downshift. So I just don't find the ZX6R intimidating and why I'm slightly glad my first big bike was a Bandit not an SV.
You've already found the insurance not to be prohibative (the fuel saving from the ZX6R over an SV will easily cover £10 a month (almost £10 a week cheaper for me )
A test ride on both is obviously a good idea - but I would just go wth the bike of your dreams you will enjoy it much more if that is the case.

I think my SV is more exciting (because of the noise & the instant torque and probably because I don't rev my ZXR enough) but I choose the ZX6R every day for the fuel saving.

If you get the ZX6r please be very careful when you get over 138mph the extra 12 mph up to 150mph could really get you into trouble