Hey,
Short summary, have about 5,000 miles on two wheels, currently riding a 2005 Yamaha R6 Raven and love it. Great bike, nice sound, plenty of power (did I say plenty?) and good handling and brakes. Only thing is, its just not my style. I bought it for the sound, the racing appeal and the look but knew I would never use it to even half its potential, and now I realize I could have a lot more fun on a more street oriented bike.
I ride in the 0-90mph speed range, the R6 is made for 70-165mph. I ride a lot of twisties as well as around town and the R6 is obviously an elite bike that handles great but the clip on bars are just not my style, when a quick manuever is needed or a tight series of slow turns comes up I think bars would be a lot more my style, yes the R6 could do it but I think the Buell could do it easier and be more enjoyable to ride. Basically I want something that takes very little input in the bars to turn, I have heard the buells turn intuitively, thats what I want.
I also want a slower bike, its more fun to ride a slow bike fast then a fast bike slow, but dont want to lose to much power. Thus why I think the Buell with gobs of torque but not so much top speed is a great solution.
Other bikes I considered were the Triumph Street Triple but I decided it was to close to the I4 powerband, gorgesous bike though, and the KTM Duke 690 but I decided it doesnt have the engine or ergonomics for longer riding.
I am around 170 pounds and just over 5'11". I love the look of the compact XB12Scg, the 2" shorter wheelbase is also a huge plus as that should make it turn even quicker and with less input. Its also easy to flat foot and I like the way the seat supports you (would probably switch with a City X seat, a little taller but still the bucket shape).
But I did my research and the Ss has a lot of benefits. With a touring seat (lower) it wouldnt be to tall and probably would be more comfortable then the Scg. It also has a stronger (43mm vs. 41mm) suspension with much more travel that I hear is great when the riding gets rough or you need to drop the front wheel down from an "unexpected" ascent
. My concern is that the 2" longer wheelbase will make it less flickable and I will always be thinking about how much better the Scg could've handled.
So you may say you have a great solution, the S! Scg's wheelbase with the Ss's suspension, wrong. I want a 2009, better brakes, all black (gorgeous) and really all I can seem to find around here.
So I need some advice, Scg or Ss!?!?!
I want to test ride both but at my age (17) its hard to find to many places willing to let me take a bike for a spin, and also the type of differences wheelbase and suspension have are to suble IMO to notice on a short test ride.
Tough decision tough decision but I need to live with this bike for 4-5 years, cant put down $12,000 and keep the bike for a few months (like I did with the R6 but it was used so I wont lose more then a couple $100's in resale) only to decide I want something different.
So what do you guys think?
Short summary, have about 5,000 miles on two wheels, currently riding a 2005 Yamaha R6 Raven and love it. Great bike, nice sound, plenty of power (did I say plenty?) and good handling and brakes. Only thing is, its just not my style. I bought it for the sound, the racing appeal and the look but knew I would never use it to even half its potential, and now I realize I could have a lot more fun on a more street oriented bike.
I ride in the 0-90mph speed range, the R6 is made for 70-165mph. I ride a lot of twisties as well as around town and the R6 is obviously an elite bike that handles great but the clip on bars are just not my style, when a quick manuever is needed or a tight series of slow turns comes up I think bars would be a lot more my style, yes the R6 could do it but I think the Buell could do it easier and be more enjoyable to ride. Basically I want something that takes very little input in the bars to turn, I have heard the buells turn intuitively, thats what I want.
I also want a slower bike, its more fun to ride a slow bike fast then a fast bike slow, but dont want to lose to much power. Thus why I think the Buell with gobs of torque but not so much top speed is a great solution.
Other bikes I considered were the Triumph Street Triple but I decided it was to close to the I4 powerband, gorgesous bike though, and the KTM Duke 690 but I decided it doesnt have the engine or ergonomics for longer riding.
I am around 170 pounds and just over 5'11". I love the look of the compact XB12Scg, the 2" shorter wheelbase is also a huge plus as that should make it turn even quicker and with less input. Its also easy to flat foot and I like the way the seat supports you (would probably switch with a City X seat, a little taller but still the bucket shape).
But I did my research and the Ss has a lot of benefits. With a touring seat (lower) it wouldnt be to tall and probably would be more comfortable then the Scg. It also has a stronger (43mm vs. 41mm) suspension with much more travel that I hear is great when the riding gets rough or you need to drop the front wheel down from an "unexpected" ascent
. My concern is that the 2" longer wheelbase will make it less flickable and I will always be thinking about how much better the Scg could've handled.So you may say you have a great solution, the S! Scg's wheelbase with the Ss's suspension, wrong. I want a 2009, better brakes, all black (gorgeous) and really all I can seem to find around here.
So I need some advice, Scg or Ss!?!?!
I want to test ride both but at my age (17) its hard to find to many places willing to let me take a bike for a spin, and also the type of differences wheelbase and suspension have are to suble IMO to notice on a short test ride.
Tough decision tough decision but I need to live with this bike for 4-5 years, cant put down $12,000 and keep the bike for a few months (like I did with the R6 but it was used so I wont lose more then a couple $100's in resale) only to decide I want something different.
So what do you guys think?
