I am thinking of getting a sport bike. My one question is does the riding style (leaning forward) give you a sore back? I have ridden dual sport bikes a good amount as well as small cruiser style bikes, but I have never ridden a sport bike. I have the MC endorsement on my license.
BTW, I know they are super fast but that is not my reason for riding one. I just got a ticket and I cannot afford another one without my insurance going very high. I would probably get a 600 cc bike rather than a full 1 liter bike.
I ride an R1. I have never had a sore back riding it, nor sore wrists. It’s a very comfortable bike – for about 80 miles when there’s traffic. Stop-and-slow for 20 or 30 miles on a 100+ mile commute is a pain in the butt. Literally. (And I’ve damaged both knees – skiing and a car wreck – so that can be an issue at the end of a long ride too.) The seat is made for maneuvering, and not for long trips.
I also have a '94 XJ600, and I’ve put 80,000 miles on it. It’s pokey compared to the R1, but since it’s a standard the seating is more comfortable. The Seca II is much easier to maneuver in a small area. The R1 is made to maneuver at speed. The Seca II has more travel to its forks, so it has a smaller turning radius when you’re trying to get it out of the yard.
I’ve never ridden a cruiser, but just looking at them makes my back hurt. It looks like you either sit back (feet forward), or you hunch over. On the R1 – despite the crouched riding position – it seems my back is always straight.
I borrowed a coworker’s GSXR-750 once. I didn’t like the seat. I felt I was perched up on a milk crate. So sit on a few bikes to see what feels right.
I used to ride a 2001 Yamaha R6. The first time I rode it my wrists started hurting after 10 minutes. But over time I learned to not rest my weight on my wrists but rather use my back and leg muscles to support my body.
And no, I never got a sore back. I once did a 1100km trip in less than 8 hours. When I got back home I could barely walk, my legs and especially my adductor muscles were sore. But no back pain at all.
Also what Johnny L.A. said, try before you buy. Some bikes are more track-oriented and have the rearsets positioned too high and the clip-ons too low and that’s not very comfortable for everyday use.
BTW, appart from riding without a license plate and running away from the cops, how is the bike going to save you from getting another ticket?
To clear up confusion, I did not mean to say the bike would save me from a ticket. Guess I should have said I will be careful not to get a ticket when riding it. I have an impression that cops love to pull over sport bike riders since I have seen that happen here more than a few times.
I never got a sore back, but I did get sore wrists and shoulders. Especially when riding in town, because you don’t have the wind pushing you back to provide some resistance.
Much as I love the way sportbikes look (and the speed and maneuverability), if I ever got another bike it would have to be a sport-tourer, sporty standard, or other more “upright” bike for this very reason.
I have an 06 CBR600, and yes my back does hurt. However, I always have had a balky lower back. It really isn’t that bad though. You need to kind of jam your knees into the tank so you are kind of stuck. That probably isn’t the best explanation, but the point is that zero weight should rest on your arms. It should all be legs squeezing tank holding your ass from sliding forward, and your abs/back holding you up. This is a safety thing as much as a comfort thing.
I’ve never ridden one, but by MSF teacher (A rough tough Harley looking guy) had a big Honda sport bike and LOVED it. He’s ridden all the way from Wisconsin to Florida and back (in one shot each way I think). He said he would rather of the weight on his shoulders rather then his butt on those long trips.
I’ve got a Yamaha FZ6. It’s got the fun stuff from the R6, but it sits more upright. I’ve taken a few 8 hour one-way trips on it with no problems. If I trade it, I’m getting an FZ1.
Some of the Honda bikes have RR in the model number meaning race replica so I assume those are not comfortable at all.
Are sport bikes expensive to insure vs. other bikes? I wonder if there might be a premium because of the perception that the bikes are dangerous due to the speed they can hit. I read somewhere that a problem is that people with zero experience on a bike get on sport bikes and wreck within a few weeks of owning them.
All sport bikes are race bikes and have similar riding positions.
Some insurance companies calculate rates based on displacement. So my 600 cc bike that can go 140 is treated the same as a 600 cc cruiser that tops out at 95. Others take into account that it is a sport bike. A new sport bike is going to be real expense, i.e. 1-2k a year, for a young inexperienced rider. You can easily find a 4-5 year old 600cc bike with <10000 miles for <5k. At that point its cheaper to just ride without comprehensive insurance.
A properly ridden sport bike is safer than any other style motorcycle because it is lighter, has more power, and better brakes. That means you have an enhanced ability to avoid an accident. Unfortunately road conditions can make it so that you have more power than the tires can handle. The two most common mistakes are grabbing the front brake causing the front wheel to lock up and goosing the gas coming out of a turn causing the real wheel to skid. In the first case, you are going down because the bike is unstable with a locked up front wheel. The second case will cause the dreaded high side crash. What happens is that your rear wheel slips and then regains traction on a different trajectory than where you are going. This causes the bike to jerk up straight and sends you flying off the bike.
I have been driving for over 30 years so I hope I don’t have to pay inexperienced rates for insurance. Also rates are very low here in NC compared to other states. My dual sport bike cost me about $240 per year.
I am wondering how more power makes a sport bike safer? I can see how better brakes would and also lower weight.
It’s certainly the least important of the three but more power means more maneuverability. The best example would be merging onto a highway. I can go from 45 to 70 in the blink of an eye in order to hit a gap. On a less powerful bike you would have to wait for the next gap or hope that someone lets you in.
Not really. The RR designation is mostly a marketing gimmick. Actually Honda CBR has a reputation of being one of the most comfortable sport bikes.
And I wouldn’t consider any sportbike offered by the four Japanese makers as a “real” race replica. A 1098s or an RSV factory is much closer to being called a race bike.
I have seen sport bikes in person and some just in pictures but it seems that if the seat is parallel to the ground that would be more comfortable than the seats that are tilted. Of course other factors can influence comfort such as the placement of the footpegs and handlebars.
When I insured my Honda Shadow 750(Crusier), the insurance agent showed me the computer screen with my quote, it was about $140 per year. Then she said “Watch this” and all she did was click “Sport Bike” and the quote jumped to about $560 I think, then she added that most people that have sportbikes aren’t homeowners, unclicking that discount brought it up into the $600/yr range. She said American Family has an automatic 400% increase for sportbikes*.
While that may or may not be true, the problem is that there’s to many idiots racing down the street going REALLY FUCKING FAST, changing lanes like they own the road, riding wheelies for 50 feet, taking their hands off the handle bars etc etc that they’ve caused the the insurance companies to raise their rates.
*I really don’t want to get into a debate about that, it’s just what she told me.
Hell yeah, if I were an insurance company I’d have a 10x multiplier for <25 buying a new sportbike as their first bike. It doesn’t have anything to do with a bike, just the people that buy them. Same reason a 1000cc or Busa should be another huge increase. It isn’t that those bikes are much more dangerous, its the people that buy them are that much stupider.
I don’t see that. Teams might play with the suspension and brakes, but the engine and frame are the same as the stuff they ride on the Superbike tour. If you take off the stuff that makes these bikes street legal you have a real dyed in the wool race bike.
Late 90’s Katana 600 was pretty easy to ride and extremely comfortable for a sport bike.
'99 R6 was a beast, lots of work done to it, fairly comfortable to ride. I’m not sure it ever bothered me to ride it any distance save times in traffic where it would sit around 210 degrees.
'01 R6 seemed a little more aggressive. Wrists would bother me if I rested weight one them (note: don’t)
My current bike is amazingly comfortable and ridiculously torque and powerful. '05 Buell XB12r. The seating is fairly agressive but the clip on style bars seem really comfortable. On Saturday I did 400 miles no aches and pains.
Really, just go and sit on em, find the one that fits your body style, that is, if you are not brand loyal =)
I agree with this…I wonder, are there any stats on accidents with cruisers vs sport bikes? Yes, objectively, sport bikes are “safer” in the sense that have faster acceleration and better stopping distance. But how much does that really matter to the average rider?
I would think the immense power of those sport bikes can also be an extreme liability. If I accidentally drop the clutch on my cruiser while giving it some gas, big deal–I’ll jerk forward, but I won’t be popping a wheelie or anything. On a sport bike, you’ll be travelling much farther in a significantly reduced time. Then there’s the fact that it’s (imo) hard to resist using power you know is there, particularly when it’s power that you don’t need. No one needs to be doing 100+ unless you’re at a track.
I’m not judging anyone–I’ve even considered getting a sport bike in addition to the cruiser, but in terms of the general populace, I wouldn’t be surprised if sport bikes are involved in a far greater amount of accidents than cruisers. I’ve been riding for three years and have never encountered a situation where I needed to go faster than my bike was capable of–the key is to not put yourself in those situations to begin with.
That’s because the SBK championship is for production motorcycles with minor mods. First they make the production bike and then they make the SBK tuned one, not the other way around
A real Honda race replica should be similar to the RC212V that runs on MotoGP. But the two bikes have absolutely nothing in common. Totally different frame, 800cc V4 vs. 1000cc I4 engines, etc.
We are getting into semantic nitpicks here, but the point is that the CBRs are raced on major tours. And it isn’t like NASCAR where the cars are “stock”. The CBR you buy at a honda dealer is essentially the same bike that the pros race in a major circuit.
