A first big bike for my mate.

Right, my mate passed his test today and is now looking for his first big bike, models he's interested in:

Suzuki SV650s
Yamaha 600 thundercat
Honda CBR600F
Honda hornet


And anything else 600 ish, sportyish and not stupid for a first bike.

Location wise anything from Leeds to Newcastle (he lives in Ripon).

And finally price wise, I think he's looking to spend around 1500 but may be able to stretch that a little bit for something he really likes.

Anyone got anything, or suggestions?

Fazer?

I think the Fazer is an option, but perhaps a little sat up for him. He's going to look in a few stealerships to get an idea of the different bikes in the flesh before starting the never ending ebay/autotrader/mcn search.

The older ZX-6R's are supposed to be quite comfy for a sports bike too? But I think you'd need more than £1500...

Noticed ZX-6Rs going cheap, but wonder if the insurance will be more on them as they are that bit sportier.

I think my mate quite likes the Thundercats as the style has aged pretty well with the restrained graphics and colours. I'll let him dig about a little more, he's even vaguely hinted at purchasing my steady steed.

Get him an SV Tim, those Curvys are bloody cheap at the moment.

Thundercat is a good shout - the Yammy blue ones are particularly nice.

Originally Posted by robchester

Get him an SV Tim, those Curvys are bloody cheap at the moment.

Thundercat is a good shout - the Yammy blue ones are particularly nice.

but the gearboxes suck

i had the same options,
i would/did go for the sv and