How bad would a cbr600rr be for commuting?

I live in Hanoi where the traffic is a mess.. But there are some nice roads to open it up on my on my drive to work and it's a lot of fun on my cb. The drive is only about 20 mins each way so I wouldn't be sitting on it for too long each day.

How would it compare to a 2003 cb400 in terms of nimbleness? I have to constantly hard brake, swerve around old women and generally avoid crashes every couple of minutes and if it was more difficult on a cbr than on the cb, I don't think it'd be that fun. I want to upgrade and this is pretty much the only alternative without it getting very expensive.

Not mad on the colours but this is $7500..
http://www.bikervietnam.com/bfrm/showthread.php/407348-CBR-600-2009-(HN)

blade1

Cbr600 all the way!

Del2005

With a CBR you'd be hunched over the handle bars and wouldn't have as good a view as the CB, the CBR is a sports bike. You can get plenty of pokey bikes which you sit up on, any 600cc+ naked like the Hornet etc, which would be better for dodging the people. The CBR would be better on the twisties but could be a pain with the amount pedestrian traffic.


Or get the CBR, stick some Renthals on and street fighter it.

blade1

Del2005 wrote: »

With a CBR you'd be hunched over the handle bars and wouldn't have as good a view as the CB, the CBR is a sports bike. You can get plenty of pokey bikes which you sit up on, any 600cc+ naked like the Hornet etc, which would be better for dodging the people. The CBR would be better on the twisties but could be a pain with the amount pedestrian traffic.


Or get the CBR, stick some Renthals on and street fighter it.

It's a 20 minute commute.
I've done 4,6 and 8 hour journeys on a fireblade.
No problem when you're used to it.

Del2005

A 1000cc is a totally different bike to 600cc, one of the reasons why I think restricted licenses are a farce since you can run most Superbikes in high gears at low revs at reasonable speeds, Supersports need the neck wrung off them to go.

Theres less people wandering across the road here than Vietnam. I know people who've ridden huge hours on sports bikes. But for a country with less road safety than us the further ahead you can see the better. Go ahead and recommend a CBR if you want, but from reading the OP a street fighter / naked bike would be more practical for the journey. When does anyone really push a bike like a CBR600RR to its limits on a open road? A punchy V twin will bring more smiles on the road than a screaming 4.

I would love a nice V-Twin but a lot of bikes are just too difficult to find here.. And if ya do, they're too difficult to service and get parts for. Maybe I'd be better off saving cash for another couple of months and then looking at a Ducati Monster.. Very expensive here but there's a few around the city so there must be parts for them. And it would be an awesome bike to have for the summer.

You've no idea how lucky you guys are in Ireland to be able to buy whatever bike ya want! Most big bikes here are illegal so even insurance is impossible to get.

Esel

blade1 wrote: »

It's a 20 minute commute.

...in Hanoi.

minidazzler

Deleted User wrote: »

I would love a nice V-Twin but a lot of bikes are just too difficult to find here.. And if ya do, they're too difficult to service and get parts for. Maybe I'd be better off saving cash for another couple of months and then looking at a Ducati Monster.. Very expensive here but there's a few around the city so there must be parts for them. And it would be an awesome bike to have for the summer.

You've no idea how lucky you guys are in Ireland to be able to buy whatever bike ya want! Most big bikes here are illegal so even insurance is impossible to get.

Is that not a HUGE financial risk to take when the cops there could impound your bike if you don't bribe them enough? And the fact they'll expect larger bribes just because they see you on something expensive they may presume you're rich?

I'd say you'd be better off sticking to something that they won't take off you, but I suppose you'd know the place better than me.

KamiKazi

No bother commuting on a SS, you get used to the riding position.

blade1

If you are spending over 7 grand for a bike u should be getting a bike that you can enjoy at weekends and stuff.
Not just commuting.
If it is just for commuting, a Honda 50 will do perfect.

batman_oh

As above. You can commute on a cbr600 but if all you are doing is that and not using it for anything else there are better, more suited bikes and better ways to blow your money!

Hmm I would be using a cbr for fun within the city but been thinking a lot about it over the last couple of days and realise I wouldn't take a cbr to the mountains whereas I would on a naked bike.. The trips are 4/5 days long and patches of bad road would wreck the bike I imagine.

Been looking at a few Ducatis up for sale and it seems to be $10k min.. There's no older Monsters up for sale. I could blow that cash in May/June but as minidazzler pointed out, ya only splash out on a bike here if ya can afford to randomly lose it to the theft or more likely, the police. I could stomach a $5k loss if I had the bike a right while but $10k would really wreck my day.

Think I need to be realistic and look at a Hornet 600. Way too similar to the Cb400 to get excited about but not much I can do.