18 y/o friends daughter set on an R6

My senior year of high school I was living with my GF who'd already graduated, at a lake cottage we were renting. (I had moved out my parents house at 16). I had a really good fabrication and welding job that was part of an OJT program with my schools vocational/trade center. Because I was 18 I could actually work 40+ hours a week. So I did.

In the spring of 2007 (now 19 at this point) I walked into a dealership on a Saturday and purchased a brand new ZX6R. I had no experience at all other than riding a little dirt bike out at a farm a few times. I rode that thing home with no endorsement/permit nothing. lol I loved that thing.. I got into a TON of trouble with it, and I even went o jail because of it. My high school even banned me from riding it there. I had to park it at a pals house who happen to live right across the street. lmao Did I crash? Yep.. However, I think I would have crashed basically any motorcycle I had purchased. I don't think the CC's really had anything to do with it.

After I got into a bunch of trouble I pretty much gave up motorcycles, as none of my friends were interested in trying to race them with me.. So we stuck with trying to race cars.... 10 years later at 30 years old, I got back into them Strictly because I wanted to try and race them. I didn't even want to do track days... However, I ABSOLUTLEY WILL NOT EVER RIDE THESE DAMN THINGS ON THE STREET EVER AGAIN. IMO the biggest danger lies with everyone you're sharing the road with, not the bike itself.

If I could go back to 2007, I'd still buy a brand new ZX6R, even with no riding experience. However, I would have immediately tried to get into racing instead of street riding.

 

When I was 18, you could have told me anything you wanted... I'm still buying the sportbike! At 18, ergonomics mean absolutely nothing to me. I want to look cool and go fast.

Teach her how to ride safely and get her to a track day ASAP so she can understand what the R6 is all about and then she will want to convert her "street" bike to track.

I'm doubtful you can change her mind so make sure she at least gets a 17+ so she has ABS and TC.

 

What argument would have worked on you?

 

Haaaahaahhaaa thats a good one!!!!!!

If you narrowed that statement to driving/riding, Id agree. Life in general? No fucking way!!

 

I was the same way, I HAD to have this new Honda V45 Sabre when I was 19. When I was in the hospital 2 years later, after someone pulled directly in front of me, bike totaled, other car totaled, the dr said he could show me some pictures that were so bad I would never get on another bike. All I was thinking was I can't wait to get to the Honda shop to order the new 1000 Interceptor! 30 days later it was totaled, so was two cars involved, not my fault again.

 

Since we were talking about motorcycles, didn't know I had to narrow it down

 

Some of y'all sound like that old story of "When I was a kid, my parents taught me to swim by just tossing me into the deep end of the pool."

 

Yours didn’t give you a cinder block?

 

Not until they doubled the life insurance.

 

There is some truth to this.

I can’t ever remember a time in my life not being around motorcycles. From Fox mini bikes with a Tecumseh motor to a YZ80. Then my dad got a Kawasaki dealership to go along with the John Deere stores. So I was regularly taking KZ 900 and then KZ1000 around town when 14. Then to a GPZ550 then GPZ750. Then the Ninja 900 came out and it was game over. I guess I’ve never had to learn to ride as I just rode when I was so young. Although I did run the mini bike up a tree when I was 4 YO and my nuts swelled up like the size of grapefruits. LOL. I vividly remember that.

 

Took me 10 years to get my wife to buy a 250. This one sounds like a keeper.

 

I'm thinking of the mental gymnastics you'd have to perform to convince an 18 year old set on an R6 to buy a 250 Rebel, best of luck to whoever takes that on! Maaaaybe you could switch em to an R7.

 

You have to explain it in car terms for most of them, and the explanation needs to be with whoever is making the payments

 

I think if parents don’t raise their children to have a self preservation instinct when it comes to recognizing their own limitations and articulate it to them in a way that actually sinks in…. Well that’s Darwinism and their dna chain doesn’t propogate. It isn’t my business to tell anyone how to deal with their kids. People die. Shit happens. And when it does it’ll be a lesson for your own kids if they were acquainted.



with that being said nothing stopped me from getting a cbr600rr as a first bike. When I slammed into a guardrail at a hundred and broke my back and my mother asked me if I was done riding while standing beside my hospital bed I replied “never crossed my mind”

let it happen. Offer proper motorcycle training to her. Better than some street hooligan stunt boy teaching her all the wrong things.

 

It is better to train kids to mitigate risk than to convince them not to do something. Sex and motorcycles are only two of many such topics.

 

Point being, no amount of electronic rider aids can compensate for a lack of skill level. I would argue in the larger picture they are significantly less responsible with mitigating the risk of riding a motorcycle.
The risk remain constant regardless while the variable is a riders skill level. You can’t control the risk, you can only identify the risk then prepare and react accordingly.

 

IMHO learning riding skills is a far better approach than electronic aids. They can help once skills are learned, but if you learn to ride with ABS or TC and get on a bike that doesn't have those aids, things can go sideways in a hurry. Overconfidence is almost as bat as insufficient skill.

 

I have a kz1000 and it still is a hairy ride when you twist the throttle... I love it

 

Times changed but it's still like riding a bicycle.

Motorcycles are roughly over 100 lb lighter now they handle far better stop better & exponentially faster.

I can absolutely unequivocally say that if I had started on a big bike I'd be dead...lol

New bikes are extremely fast, but also much safer statistically due to saftey..ABS being the "Golden one"

I started out on the usual mini bikes, then a yg5t Yamaha trail, then an Mt 125 Elsinore a 400 Honda hawk rz350s capping things off with the FZR 1000.

I crashed every one of them except for the FZR, 4Xs from improper brake control which ABS would have saved my ass probably..

1 from going into a corner and hitting some sand, which the modern electronics probably would have likley saved me too, third was just going way too fast standing it up and tossing my rz350 over a cliff..lol I don't think any kind of aid would have helped me there..lol

I've had more close calls than I even care to remember, and unquestionably have cheated death...many a time..most all due to speed.. if I recall right most fatal motorcycle accidents happen at about 40 mph .. that ain't nothing.

I was lucky... And it was BY CHANCE, I did have some skill from instruction from my brothers and self preservation instinct.. BUT IT DID NOT STOP ME FROM MAKING HUNDREDS IF NOT THOUSANDS OF YOUTH RELATED ABSOLUTELY STUPID DECISIONS.

The introductory riding safety courses are great I recommend them to just about anybody and people who think they know everything can still learn something.
Plus insurance companies often give discounts as far as I'm concerned it should be a prerequisite.

It's dumb subtle decisions that put you in a position to take your life and at the speed these bikes are capable of now a little bit of knowledge can go a long f****** way, combine that with some modern technology...

It's just the best you can hope for and that's it....

I never had kids but there's no f****ing way in hell I'd ever let him ride a bike...lol. I don't care if they hated me for 10 years...lol