What's A Good Upgrade?

Originally Posted by fatneck

like the man says, its all too easy to ride too fast...

Amen to that.

Originally Posted by fatneck

there might be something to be said for arm ripping off yet 'disappointing' 70 that doesnt lose your licence as opposed to a 'fuk me i'm doing 120 and dont even feel it' that the zx-6r does in its sleep though?! like the man says, its all too easy to ride too fast...

Yeah, that rings a bell Exactly why I bought the SV650 - but I was still a bit dissapointed today on an old favourite stretch of road not to be doing 120 (ish).

I went from the SV to a gixer thou after 7 months and 10K miles, can't say I regretted getting the gixer one jot. Oh but I have hundreds of years (read old slow fart) experience on bikes. No lack of midrange on the gixer, I'm sure my arms are longer than they used to be though.

[SoulKiss]

Originally Posted by fatneck

Happily this has turned into a zx-6r discussion! I think my next bike is going to be a big grunty naked torquey type bike (bandit 12 or something), as I'm not too sure how useful the whole revvy thing is on the public roads. But its great fun, thats for sure!!! Then again, I like the look of the last of the zx-9r's, hmmn I wonder why!

Sounds like you want an 07/08 Z750 then

[SoulKiss]

Originally Posted by leatherpatches

I have a ZX6R as a loan bike at the moment. 07 plate. It's certainly a beast. However it's totally and utterly different to ride than the sv. Almost nothing happens below 7k revs. I mean really not a lot at all... in any gear. Unlike the sv where the push is available from the start, it's just not there on the zx. You have to spin the motor up to get it going.

Between 7k and 11k revs it has a fairly reasonable midrange, if that's what you can call a mid-range! However, jack it up past 11.5k revs and it howls and simply takes off like a lunatic. The downside is that 11.5k revs is about 95mph in third gear, so it's only really possible to get the revs this high in 1st and 2nd gears on the road so you're talking quick starts, really... not day to day riding.

It's simply a track focussed bike, where you'll spend a lot of time in second and third gear at very high revs. Not great for the road at all.

What a scream I'm having with it though!

Once again the answer is "Z750"

Will happily pull away from doing 30ish in 6th without having to drop a gear or will happily see you to 70 in 1st gear (as I discovered over London Bridge yesterday as I broke out of the "scooter pack" - was a little surprised when I looked down......)

It doesnt really care what gear you are in, or what speed you are doing, it just gets on with it.

Oh, and it has the nicest FI that the wise Squid has ridden, said it was just like having carbs

Originally Posted by SoulKiss

Once again the answer is "Z750"

Will happily pull away from doing 30ish in 6th without having to drop a gear or will happily see you to 70 in 1st gear (as I discovered over London Bridge yesterday as I broke out of the "scooter pack" - was a little surprised when I looked down......)

It doesnt really care what gear you are in, or what speed you are doing, it just gets on with it.

Sounds like the GSX-R 750, that

Originally Posted by SoulKiss

Once again the answer is "Z750"

Will happily pull away from doing 30ish in 6th without having to drop a gear or will happily see you to 70 in 1st gear (as I discovered over London Bridge yesterday as I broke out of the "scooter pack" - was a little surprised when I looked down......)

It doesnt really care what gear you are in, or what speed you are doing, it just gets on with it.

Oh, and it has the nicest FI that the wise Squid has ridden, said it was just like having carbs

I pick up my GSX-R1000 today, actually. The loan bike was to cover the time between handing in my old bike and picking up the new one.

I can recommend the ZX6R. It's a lovely bike and superb performance, but you really have to work at it.

Originally Posted by neio79

Well according to the June edition of Fast bikes magazine the ZX6-R is still the best SS600.

June? That's practically a historical documment in SS600 terms!

Don't you know the 2008 model has another 0.4BHP at 21,000RPM?

The simple question is do you want a screamer or a grunter?

Any inline four, with the exception of some of the thous and bigger, need winding right up to get into their stride. The addictive scream of 14,000 rpm is fantastic. But in day to day riding it just isn't that accessible.

A v-twin on the other hand has great lumps of grunty drive instantly accessible making progress fun and easy.

I have to admit to sitting in two camps. I have lurched from grunty to revy alternating from twins to fours to singles to fours throughout my motorcycling ownership.

My last four was an old school slabside GSXR750 and at twenty plus years old was more than fast enought for the road with third gear turning everything but dead ahead into a mad blur - warp speed Mr Sulo A good indication of life on a GSXR was that the rev counter didn't even bother registering below 3,000 rpm.

On reflection a twin has the best balance between instant grunt of a single and the top end power of a multi. However, this is a personal choice and one you have to discover for yourself.

If money is tight and you want the change do it. There are plenty of affordable bikes that will give you the flavour you want. Old CBR600s and ZX600Rs and GSXR600SRADS and R6s should be fairly affordable cheap and anyone of them will give you a completely different feeling to the SV.

Good upgrades:
1) You. Become a better rider, we can all do that, I know I certainly can. Take the time to learn to ride your bike, 2 months is nothing in the long term.
2) Crash bungs, in case you didn't listen to the previous advice.