18 y/o friends daughter set on an R6

Meh, the bike matters significantly less than rider skill and proper safety gear. The specific bike would be the least of my concerns. She needs to learn how to ride in a controlled environment and develop her skills first. Obtain a crf100 or whatever and take her to a parking lot/empty lot and do drills etc.

 

I predict her desire for an R6 will end when whoever is paying sees the insurance quote.

I remember losing lots of sport bike sales to young adults once they checked full coverage insurance.

 

It's "litter bike".

 

Who will be paying for said bike? If it is her then you can't tell her or make her do anything. If somebody else will be paying then they are the ones you need to influence.
How much credibility and what kind of relationship do you have with this kid? That will be where your leverage is.

 

The focus and goal should be towards helping her develop her riding skills not preventing her from getting a motorcycle. Jesus fellas, some of you are responding as if you yourselves are immune to the risk of riding and the risk is acceptable to yourselves but not acceptable and OK by her. The goal is to bring a new rider into the sport as safely as possible. Focus on how to best position her to increase her riding skills - not on her not getting a bike. Come on, we are supposed to be motorcycle enthusiasts not risk adverse safety weenies. Rant over.

 

Exactly

 

This.

Save for maybe the new R7 and RS660 the industry still suffers from making dopey looking LW bikes. People wanting a sportsbike tend to gravitate to the stuff that looks like somewhat proportional and not China knock off ish.

Talk to her about importance of AGATT and send her to a riding school.

 

Send her to Yamaha Champions Riding School event.

 

Does she have any skills/experience on dirt bikes? I would have killed myself if I had just jumped on a 600 willy nilly with no prior moto experience. Be a mentor to her on the bike and obviously try to get her in the track community instead of the stunt/squid community. That and proper safety gear is really all you can do.

 

Talk her into racing. She won't have any money left for a street bike.

 

Two pages and no one has requested a picture of the 18 year old daughter?

Y'all are slipping

 

Guys & Gals...
Not sure you guys are living in the same world I am?

But kids haven't started on beginner bikes for the last two decades.

Every youngster I've seen that's riding is a minimum of a 130 h.p. 600 , more often a GSXR 1000 and R1 a Ducati etc..

The days of starting on mini bikes 250s 350s 400s, 550s and so on those vanished with the wind ..

Personally I 100% agree with you, I'd go even farther.. I think there should be a structured and tiered learning platform....based on displacement.

I've said this before but I know about 11 people who died on motorcycles in my youth( all street, all speeding & all bikers faults)

Most we're on 550 600s but the majority were on 750s to 1100s...
When it's your time it's your time I guess but?? I believe in trying to prolong it as long as possible...lol

If you are all talking track days / racing.. which you probably are, that's a different conversation....

Which also leads me to this question I have never ridden a bike with any kind of electronic aid not a single bike whatsoever...

So are not motorcycles with ABD, traction control of many different levels, wheelie control, lean control etc..
Does that not make these motorcycles so much more easy for a novice? I would expect it to make it exponentially easier with FAR less skill required nor ever required to actually learn??

Curious?

 

Go rent 50cc scooters and see how she does. Go from there.

 

We saw the same, the monthly insurance payment was more than the bike payment. And then there was a few that put it on a card so they didn't have to have collision...

 

I don’t think any of those items make it any less risky. None of them change the inherent risk associated with riding a motorcycle. Electronic aids are more of way for a rider to get the maximum performance while lowering the risk level of wadding it, out of a bike. A beginner rider isn’t going to have these skill sets to obtain this level of performance to begin with. The largest issue a beginner has is their lack of experience with situational awareness and not knowing how to properly react under an unexpected event. Electronic aids are secondary to this.

 

Many (if not most) motorcycle crashes are single-vehicle, ie the rider fucked up. Aids exist that will keep the bike upright should a rider stab the brake lever with tons of lean angle. This removes one potential fuck-up that would cause a crash. There are other aids that reduce or remove other fuck-ups, of course. So rider aids absolutely do reduce risk of an unskilled person riding a moto.

 

If she insists on an R6, tell her she will be required to go out on a date with me.

Her interest in riding will go POOF and her future web searches will be to look for a knitting club.

 

I suppose it all depends on the severity of the initial fuck up. No amount or level of electronic aids can cover for entering a corner faster than your comfort level and standing the bike up. I just think there is too much reliance on these, when at the end of the day a riders own skill level is more critical and has a far greater impact towards eliminating/reducing fuck ups and the resulting outcome.

I am interested in the aid that eliminates tucking the front while at full lean and stabbing the brakes, I’ve never heard of such a thing.

 

The other "at the end of the day" is that these rider aids reduce risk enough that there is a measurable decrease in accidents, deaths, etc. That's what happens when something like this is applied to a large population, not just people that we know. It's just like seat belts, ABS, TPMS, etc in cars. I agree that rider skill is more helpful in more situations... the cool thing is that we can do both.

I read about that rider aid in an article about a Duc with ABS and electronic suspension IIRC. Riders at the track tried to tuck the front and couldn't.

 

Fuck talking her out of an R6. R6 is the perfect bike for her. Tell her to get the R6.

Then tell her she's not to ride it on the street. R6's are track bikes. She is to ride it on the track.

Shit, that's not even bravado or anything. Sportbikes are legitimately not any fun on the street. She wants an R6, she can ride on the track. If she wants to ride on the street, have her sit on a Ducati Monster, Yamaha MT-09, or equivalent. If she doesn't believe you, go on a test ride with her - she takes the R6, you take the streetfighter, and then slab it down the interstate to somewhere 200mi away and back. See if she still wants the R6 then.