Motorbike opinions - CBR6 or R1

Interceptor

I am about to buy a bike and was just about to place a deposit on a '99 CBR600 when I noticed a '99 R1 for the same money...€5,250. Both bikes are pristine, the CBR has 22k mls, the R1 is a UK import and has 18k mls. Both bikes have full service histories and have been well looked after. The R1 has an alarm, is Datatagged and has a carbon end can, the CBR is unmodified apart from a Scorpion end can.

I'm going to use the bike for fine weather runs and summer commuting (40 mile round trip, Co. Galway).

Anyone own either of these and willing to comment on aspects of ownership? Anyone own both and prepared to express a preference? I know the R1 is about as nuts as it can get, but it is also more technically advanced. The CBR is probably better for long distances, but I won't be doing any so I'm currently confused.....

'c

Jefferson Darcy

Owned a 2001 CBR600F4i in South Africa. It was virtually the same as the bike you're considering apart from a more aggressive fairing, fuel injection, digital clocks and a racier riding position. My riding buddy had one of the 99s and we'd swap often. Bike had all the traditional CBR600 virtues - comfortable, very well built, good reliability, sporty enough for track days and comfy enough to tour on. I much preferred the styling of my (newer) bike but other than that they were very similar.

Your choice will be dependent on the following:

- massive power difference: do you need a litre bike? can you handle a liter bike? whats your riding experience like? The power difference is hiuuuuuuuuuuge, 2nd gear wheelies off the gas are common on modern litre bikes.

- costs: 190 back tyres for the Yam will be more expensive. you may go through things like chains and sprockets quicker as well. Insurance will be higher. Check out your local dealers and get an estimate of service costs for each of the bikes. Petrol another consideration. I rode my 600 hard and battled to get more than 150km out of a tank. Litre bikes are worse.

- comfort: testride of both bikes would be ideal, depending on your body dimensions the R1 can be uncomfortable.

- passenger comfort: if you plan on carrying a pillion regularly the R1 will be torture for her.

Other things like brand loyalty/preference, styling also come into it. At the end of the day its your decision but if I were you I'd base my decision on test rides.

Personally of the 2, I'd go with the Yam.

spockety

What bikes have you had up until now?

both of them look in excellent nick..

Interceptor

Thanks for the replies - I've owned several bikes (RD350/RGV250/Bros400/VF500) and ridden plenty of others (ZXR750/FZ750/FZR1000/Z1300) but nothing like the R1. I'm leaning back toward the CBR as its more suited to all-round use. Both bikes are in spectacular condition but I'm not crazy about the CBR colour scheme - I'll put up with it. I lnow that neither is particularly economical but I put up 20k mls on my car last year and if the bike does between 3-5 k and costs 500 in bits then thats ok

'c

JohnCleary

600cc Vs. 1000cc .... :rolleyes:

R1 baby!!!

a_ominous

I was out looking at bikes yesterday. But got a bit of a shock when looking at total cost ie including insurance. I'm on a group 5 bike and had put Hornet on my list. Both 600 and 900cc are group 11 same as a 1100 Pan European and cost > 2000 for fully comp. No wonder the price of more powerful bikes has dropped. The shops are finding it hard to shift the damn things. I might have to look at 15yo large CC bikes for the classic insurance to keep the insurance cost down. There's absolutely no way I'd consider paying an insurance company 2000 for that. Not worth getting TPO on a large bike and reasonably large value IMHO.
Not that that helps Interceptor, he could be loaded for all I know

CBR I believe is a more useful bike all year round, R1 would be nice though and insurance in Galway mightn't be too bad. Any quotes yet?

Interceptor

Eh, no I'm not loaded but I have a large mid-life crisis that requires feeding and my budget won't cover the Honda NSX I so badly need.

Insurance quotes start at 899 TPO on the CBR and climb to 1,560 fully comp on the R1 so not too bad. I just wasn't expecting to ever be able to afford to own an R1. And at that price it could be sitting in my kitchen looking pretty and still be good value.

'c

batman_oh

if you are gettin it to mess about and not as an everyday bike id say definitely get the r1
specially with an older 600 your likely to end up wantin a litre bike after a while on it
u hafta try the 1000s at least once

omb0wyn5ehpij9

batman.......from the cbr boards? If so......hello! I would agree with batman that if its only going to be used every now and then, then the R1 would be great. But if you want to do some commuting on it, i'd probably sway towards the cbr 600......but it all depends on how much commuting you would be doing

Interceptor

BrynW wrote:

cbr boards?

Where this please?

'c

batman_oh

www.cbr250.com
lots of irish people and australians on it
great for random bike chats

Haket

You didnt mention you previous bike experience, if extensive then go for the R1, if "limited" then the CBR.