What's a good 2nd bike for a novice?
Discussion
Damn silly question I know but.........
I'm a born again (kinda), had 125's etc as a kid but only passed my full test 2 years ago (now i'm 30 :-(). Since then I've been riding my trusty Yamaha Fazer 600 as my first big bike so to speak and have covered about 20k miles. Now, i'll probably hang on to it for a bit. But I'm at the stage where I'm looking at bike mags etc and planning to upgrade at some stage in the future......
But there is too much choice and I don't wanna bite off more than i can chew and end up a) scared to ride the bike or b) kill myself on a bike i'm not skilled enough to handle!
I'm a fairly confident rider (for a novice), and i like to think of myself as relatively safe and in control so to speak and am definately well in my comfort zone when riding my fazer. In fact it has got to the point now where i'd like a bit more power as at times it can feel slow. This is something i never thought i'd hear myself say as 2 years ago when i first passed my test the fazer felt like the fastest thing on the planet :-D
To give you an idea of my level, i've done a few hours of advanced training with a local training school and I did the ron haslam race school. This summer i also wanna do a bike safe course and maybe even the california super bike school? My riding is generally a bit on the cautious side as I like to ride within my comfort zone, and I've never got my knee down :-( though I appreciate that doesn't mean much as I used to get my knee down all the time on 125's when I was a kid and had no fear.....I also used to crash a lot too :-D
I've been looking at all kinds of bikes from the fazer thou (similar to my current bike with a bit more go) a sports 600 (r6/gsxr/cbr/etc) and I actually quite fancy a ZX7R. I think ultimately I'd like to end up with an R1/Fireblade/GSXR1000 but belive this is well above my current skill level and I doubt i'd get insured.
I apologise for waffling but, what does make a good 2nd bike?
I'm a born again (kinda), had 125's etc as a kid but only passed my full test 2 years ago (now i'm 30 :-(). Since then I've been riding my trusty Yamaha Fazer 600 as my first big bike so to speak and have covered about 20k miles. Now, i'll probably hang on to it for a bit. But I'm at the stage where I'm looking at bike mags etc and planning to upgrade at some stage in the future......
But there is too much choice and I don't wanna bite off more than i can chew and end up a) scared to ride the bike or b) kill myself on a bike i'm not skilled enough to handle!
I'm a fairly confident rider (for a novice), and i like to think of myself as relatively safe and in control so to speak and am definately well in my comfort zone when riding my fazer. In fact it has got to the point now where i'd like a bit more power as at times it can feel slow. This is something i never thought i'd hear myself say as 2 years ago when i first passed my test the fazer felt like the fastest thing on the planet :-D
To give you an idea of my level, i've done a few hours of advanced training with a local training school and I did the ron haslam race school. This summer i also wanna do a bike safe course and maybe even the california super bike school? My riding is generally a bit on the cautious side as I like to ride within my comfort zone, and I've never got my knee down :-( though I appreciate that doesn't mean much as I used to get my knee down all the time on 125's when I was a kid and had no fear.....I also used to crash a lot too :-D
I've been looking at all kinds of bikes from the fazer thou (similar to my current bike with a bit more go) a sports 600 (r6/gsxr/cbr/etc) and I actually quite fancy a ZX7R. I think ultimately I'd like to end up with an R1/Fireblade/GSXR1000 but belive this is well above my current skill level and I doubt i'd get insured.
I apologise for waffling but, what does make a good 2nd bike?
I guess the main thing is i don't wanna get a bike I can't handle and either become a danger to myself and everyone else or not ride it much 'cause it's too much. I'm probably worrying about nothing and just try and get a test ride on a bigger bike and see how it goes? Insurance is going to be the biggest stumbling block i think 
My priorities for my next bike are acceleration, confident/stable handling and something that looks pretty ;-) I don't take pillions (the mrs now has her own bike) my riding is generally all about the twisties so I want a bike that loves corners
My priorities for my next bike are acceleration, confident/stable handling and something that looks pretty ;-) I don't take pillions (the mrs now has her own bike) my riding is generally all about the twisties so I want a bike that loves corners
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