Afternoon All, I am currently right at the start of the whole process of getting a bike license for the first time (CBT book for Sunday) with no real experience on motorbikes. I have always owned quick cars, so never took the step to motorbikes. Only now that i am commuting into Manchester everyday with travel times becoming longer and longer the wife has sanctioned me getting a bike. The only bike i can remember seeing when younger and thinking very nice was the Fireblade, so this jumps to the front of my mind when looking to get my first bike, hence me being on here. I have already look through posts for advice on best insurances to use and whether the blade would be the best bike considering my lack of experience and still unsure of the best thing to do. Plans are to get my full license before Christmas so still have sometime to decide, any advice would be greatly appreciated!!! Cheers.
First, welcome to the forum. You're bound to get a variety of opinion on this subject. I would say it's a bold move even considering a Blade for a new rider. Sure, the bike is a great bike, but not as a starting point. I speak not only of power, because many will say that power is in the wrist and head and not in the bike. However, it is so easy to get carried away by either moments of adventurousness or egging on by mates or other traffic. Even putting power aside, the weight and balance factor is another thing to consider. Anyone can ride a bike in a straight line. Fine. But come to a service station or situation where you have to do close radius turns or 'walk' it backwards up and inclined parking spot you'll find yourself challenged. I think the best starting point would be with a 'baby' Blade in the form of CBR300 or early CBR600. Keep that until say, Feb/March and then upgrade to the real deal in time for next spring.
Hi, Cheers for the reply, looking at the other threads on here i was expecting a very varied response tbh. My father-in law has both a CBX and VFR and says just go for it, but he made his way up from smaller bikes many a moon ago. I would rather be safe than sorry considering my missus would go nuts if anything happened. Still hard not to look at a blades for sale!
Hi and welcome. I started with a Suzuki TL1000R at 21 after doing my DAS, I had a good few years of experience riding mx when younger to help with general riding and manoeuvring etc. If I was in a similar predicament I’d go with @nigelrb advice and get an old commuter bike such as a bandit 600 to cut your teeth on. Build some experience and realise how everyone else is trying to kill you on a easy to ride bike. After a few months of you feel confident go for the blade
Hi and welcome as advised by others above a 600 bandit would be a good starting point and get a blade next year. Good luck
Yes I agree with what the previous posters have put, an upright 600 to start with, learn the road craft, enroll on your local bike safe course run by the police That will teach you loads about safe road position. Don't be in too much of a rush to get a big bike, there's lots to learn, riding a motorcycle quickly but safely is very different to driving a car
Thanks for the advice, I will definitely look into the 600 route as much as I want a blade, I want to be safe enough to enjoy it going forward. Especially with the winter weather setting in. Fingers crossed I will have passed all the tests for December and on the road for the new year
Good luck but i personally would wait until the spring to start learning to ride, but if you are going to be riding throughout the year I can see the logic in winter training
Hi Marzie and welcome to the forum. As you can see the general consensus would be to start on something a little smaller for your first bike. It's a no brainer really considering you have no bike experience at all. There's no reason why it shouldn't be a sports bike though, my first bike was a GSXR 600 followed by an R6 followed by a CBR 600rr. I didn't even think about a 1000cc until I'd been riding for around 6 years. The point is you CAN learn on a sports bike, it doesn't have to be a Bandit 'sat up' type bike. What got me into bikes was watching World superbikes and Moto gp back in the late 90's so I just wanted to be like my hero's so a sit up and beg just didn't cut it for me..... Jesus I did my CBT wearing a Suomy Ben Bostrum replica lid I'm guessing if you're looking at blades, you're liking the look of sports bikes and if that's your passion try sitting on some 600's and see what you think.
On reflection though......given your age, you might be thinking, fuck it life's too short and I'm jumping in at the deep end!!!! So with that said......I'd say just do what you want to do. If you're anything like me and you've already made your mind up, there is little that can be said or done to stop you
I wanted a TL1000R as my first bike so I just went for it. Didn’t take long to start building the confidence up. I did start off not going over 60 for a couple of days! But got there. Ironically I bought my next bike (bandit 650) because I slid the rear in the wet and it held well, also the inline 4 was much easier to handle than the V-Twin engine (engine braking upsetting the balance of the bike) but after 6 months it had drained my confidence a bit due to not being as “on the edge”
Hello and welcome, ,,,,,,,, yeah go for it ,,,,,,,, you'll never have as much fun with your pants on than your first Blade
Cheers everyone, for the responses. Pretty much as expected a mixed bag of 600 vs 1000. I will definitely look into both options then I suppose it will come down to the day of purchase which ever draws me in. I would like to say I'm pretty cautious and would prefer to gain the experience first, although my inner child would probably steer me to the blade when I'm in the showrooms.
Best of luck with whatever you go for. At the end of the day you’ll know your experience level and how you’ll ride better than anyone else. We all have that inner child
Keep us updated with your progress and what bike you end up with. Once you're on the road you can tag onto one of the now infamous '1000RR' MANCHESTER based ride outs. You don't have to be from Manchester but it helps! In fact I'm the only one from Manchester
I didn't catch your age, but in Ireland, starting off on a 1000cc sports bike will be next to impossible insurance wise. Don't know what it's like in the UK. I started off on a 80cc @ 16 & crashed that after 3 months. Did't get back on bikes again till I was in my 30's. Started back on a Fazer 600, then a naked 1100, then a VFR800, then a Fireblade, then a Gixer1000, then a Africa Twin & now back on a Blade. The only 2 bikes I crashed were the 2 slowest of the above. Just be sensible with your right wrist & you'll be fine.
Just a quick update, managed to pass my CBT on Sunday so happy with that as i was the first time on a bike. Theory pass booked for Thursday so hopefully I'll nail that and progress with further training. Definitely made the decision on a CBR600 as a starter bike, probably around a 1998>1999 model in case of any accidents. Then hopefully move to a blade in a 1>2 years. Cheers for all the advice.
Congratulations on passing, now for the big test! A wise choice on the bike too..... Great reliable bikes them old Cbr 600's!
Cheers for the update. Now for my prophecy: You will not wait 1 to 2 years to get a Blade. I'm tipping March/April!! By the way, stay on the forum to keep up with Blade info.
