One Bad L,
What do you for a living. I'm 20 and don't have hardly any money. I want your job!!

 

yeah, what do you do??

 

im a graphic designer for a local company. its great, i work 9-5 mon-fri and IF i want to, over time is always available at time and half. Just have to know a lot about design programs and computer in general.

 

That sounds like an awesome job to me. Two more years of college and Lord willing I will have a good job too. Then comes the Lightning!!!!

 

. . . get the bike! Even a slow-*** bike will beat just about any car on the street and give much bigger thrills in the process.

My Valkyrie is my daily driver. The truck is only for days when I can't ride the bike--very few days indeed in SoCal--or when I need to haul the bike somewhere. Oh yeah, the truck will be autocrossed on the weekends soon also.

 

If you can't afford a new L now, don't worry, there will be other performance vehicles available later. The bike is a much cheaper alternative (except for insurance), but the experience is different. They are two different worlds.

If you get the bike - PLEASE, PLEASE - SAVE SOME MONEY FOR PROPER RIDING GEAR!!! Get a cool looking helmet and a really cool looking jacket and gloves (at least). Wear them!!!

A helmet will increase your chances of surviving a get-off by 10x (Hurt report), and since you are typing on a keyboard it appears you value the use of your hands. Gloves help. Skin grafts are VERY painful. A jacket will help.

I've high-sided at only 50mph on public streets. My helmet (RF200) was cracked, ground up and basically destroyed, my leather jacket was all scuffed up, and my gloves were severely abraded. I couldn't see straight the rest of the day and I had trouble writing for a few weeks, but I walked away and went to work the next day. I keep the smashed up helmet in my office as a reminder (and trophy).

 

Snoopy, thats a VERY GOOD point about the riding gear. I Have a Shoei X-9 which is a badass helmet and a nice HJC CL12. I also wear carbon fiber olympia race gloves ALL THE TIME along with a Joe Rocket "Reactor" leather nylon mesh mix jacket. I religously wear the helmet and gloves and the only time i will come out of the jacket is when its above 90 and i still will wear it when im going on a ride with friends where i know i will be doing ANY wheelies, or see good twisties etc. If you get the bike, be safe and keep the rubber side down

 

J/K....Just go all out and get a Hayabusa. Too much? Just get a gixxer 1000. I've owned an r6 and a gixxer 750. Gixxers may not look as good but they are much better put together bikes. BTW with helmets look no further than Arai's. They are the ferraris of helmets.

 

All these bikes are stupidly fast. All are sub-10 second bikes. You can't use their power on the street. Get what you like, but give it a lot of respect. VERY few riders are every able to approach the limits of these bikes. Almost all the limitations they encounter are those of the rider or the situation.

Arais are wonderful helmets, but they (like Ferraris) are expensive for what they deliver. IMO, all above-$120 helmets provide good safe protection. What you are paying for it convenience, comfort, and 'neato' features.

fwiw - different Arai helmet lines fit differently. The Signet line fit prolate "long-narrow" heads better, while the Quantum line fit the oblate "pumpkin" (aka Shoei) type head better. The /e line are sort of in the middle. They also run a bit small, compared to other helmet manufacturers. If you take an L Shoei or HJC, you'll typically take an XL Arai. You really need to put one on and stand around a showroom for 30 minutes to see which fits you best. This is important, since an uncomfortable helmet will sit in the closet and do no good. It doesn't matter how much you spend. Get what is comfortable, and wear it. Don't skimp here. Make sure it is comfortable so you'll wear it.

 

I love my R6. It has lots of mods and is a wheelie monster. It's a tough call though. Here is my R6 and my Raptor.