Simantic
New Member
Hi all! New member with a rather audacious question. Is there anyone semi-local to me that would be willing to let me test drive their FZ6R?
I've been riding motorcycles for over 35 years. I'm a very active member of the XJRider forums, known there as "SpeedRacerOnline". I'm now considering moving up from my beloved 1993 Yamaha XJ600S Seca II to something newer with fuel injection. I love my XJ, but am tired of all the gas wasted on warm up time with quad carbs. Plus, I'm a tech junkie, and want to have all the cool gadgets and electronics the new bikes have. I've also got a 1992 XJ600 that I'm in the process of rebuilding. I had high aspirations of big modifications, including fuel injection and replacing the gauges with a tablet. However, as much as I love the XJ's, that's a big expensive way to basically build a FZ6R. So, I think I've decided I'd like to just sell them both and get a FZ6R. (I'd love to have the new XJ6, but not here in the US.)
The problem is, I don't want to go buy a motorcycle, drive it 15 miles, and decide I just really don't like it. However, no dealership within a 2 hour drive of me does test drives on "sport" bikes, for insurance reasons. I'm not a "crotch rocket" rider. I'm not a stunter; if I was, the FZ6R would not be my first choice. I'm a daily commuter that just feels more comfortable on a sport bike than a cruiser. I'm also not rich enough to take a $6,000 gamble on a bike I've never ridden before, either.
I'm looking for someone who has a 2009-2015 Yamaha FZ6R that would be willing to let me take it for a short ride to see how it feels. (Specifically, I'd love to have the white and red 2014.) I have no interest in seeing how fast it can go or anything crazy. I just expect it to be a lot different than the 23 year old XJ I've grown to love, and want to make sure I'll be comfortable on it before buying it. I have a GoPro that I would use during the ride so there's evidence for the insurance company in the unlikely chance that something were to go wrong. I'd like to meet at a local police station so everything should be pretty well covered. I really just want to try one before I buy one.
I'm located right in the Thumb area of Michigan, about 35 miles from Saginaw. I've tried asking around our area, but sport bikes are just so uncommon here. A couple weeks ago, I took a 150 mile ride around the tip of the thumb with a friend on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, and for the whole ride, the only other sport bike we saw was in somebody's front yard with a for sale sign! I'm used to being the odd one out on rides with friends, so that makes it even harder to find one specific sport bike to test ride.
If you can help me out with this, send me a private message so we can work something out. If not, as I don't know what the people are like here yet, no rude comments about what a dumb question this is are needed. I know many people aren't comfortable with letting someone else ride their bike, and I totally understand why. I'm just hoping to find the rare few that might be willing to help a guy out because I'm equally uncomfortable with giving a dealer $6k for a test drive in hopes he'll honor his promise to "void the transaction" if I decide I don't like it 15 miles down the road.
Thanks!
I've been riding motorcycles for over 35 years. I'm a very active member of the XJRider forums, known there as "SpeedRacerOnline". I'm now considering moving up from my beloved 1993 Yamaha XJ600S Seca II to something newer with fuel injection. I love my XJ, but am tired of all the gas wasted on warm up time with quad carbs. Plus, I'm a tech junkie, and want to have all the cool gadgets and electronics the new bikes have. I've also got a 1992 XJ600 that I'm in the process of rebuilding. I had high aspirations of big modifications, including fuel injection and replacing the gauges with a tablet. However, as much as I love the XJ's, that's a big expensive way to basically build a FZ6R. So, I think I've decided I'd like to just sell them both and get a FZ6R. (I'd love to have the new XJ6, but not here in the US.)
The problem is, I don't want to go buy a motorcycle, drive it 15 miles, and decide I just really don't like it. However, no dealership within a 2 hour drive of me does test drives on "sport" bikes, for insurance reasons. I'm not a "crotch rocket" rider. I'm not a stunter; if I was, the FZ6R would not be my first choice. I'm a daily commuter that just feels more comfortable on a sport bike than a cruiser. I'm also not rich enough to take a $6,000 gamble on a bike I've never ridden before, either.
I'm looking for someone who has a 2009-2015 Yamaha FZ6R that would be willing to let me take it for a short ride to see how it feels. (Specifically, I'd love to have the white and red 2014.) I have no interest in seeing how fast it can go or anything crazy. I just expect it to be a lot different than the 23 year old XJ I've grown to love, and want to make sure I'll be comfortable on it before buying it. I have a GoPro that I would use during the ride so there's evidence for the insurance company in the unlikely chance that something were to go wrong. I'd like to meet at a local police station so everything should be pretty well covered. I really just want to try one before I buy one.
I'm located right in the Thumb area of Michigan, about 35 miles from Saginaw. I've tried asking around our area, but sport bikes are just so uncommon here. A couple weeks ago, I took a 150 mile ride around the tip of the thumb with a friend on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, and for the whole ride, the only other sport bike we saw was in somebody's front yard with a for sale sign! I'm used to being the odd one out on rides with friends, so that makes it even harder to find one specific sport bike to test ride.
If you can help me out with this, send me a private message so we can work something out. If not, as I don't know what the people are like here yet, no rude comments about what a dumb question this is are needed. I know many people aren't comfortable with letting someone else ride their bike, and I totally understand why. I'm just hoping to find the rare few that might be willing to help a guy out because I'm equally uncomfortable with giving a dealer $6k for a test drive in hopes he'll honor his promise to "void the transaction" if I decide I don't like it 15 miles down the road.
Thanks!