I think the beginner market is even more skewed in SA. The basic beginner bikes are things like the Gixxer 150, which can barely touch 120kph. In a small town that isnt so bad, but if you are in places like Guateng its outright dangerous to ride on the freeways. Trust me I did it for quite a while due to circumstances. I very much agree on the resale value though. Taking the gixxer as an example you pay 50k brand new and resale you can find them 20-30k. I feel the beginner category should be made up in tiers though - your really young riders and the more mature riders. Having a 16-20 year old on a 400 could very easily end up in them getting hurt - a 400 is still decently quick to someone who has no riding experience even in the 0-100 speed regon. At 22 I was riding around my ninja 250 and thought it was plenty quick and fun (but back then I was in the small town of East London where I am now in Gauteng). So I think a youngster should probably start on a 150-250 CC bike (buying it used since they dont take the massive depreciation knock and can learn without remorse if they drop it or whatever). This however also depends on the size of the rider and where they live and what they intend of using it for. A bigger rider in Gauteng riding mostly freeways should probably start on a twin 600, I think if one is reasonably sensible and mature they can start on a 400 or if they really mature they can start on the middleweight bikes - the 50-90hp category (Yamaha R7, Triumph Tiger Sport, SV650, Kawa Ninja 650 etc). But if you factor in the cost of say a Ninja 400 (new 110k and second hand about 70-80k) you can get much better although older bikes that seem a lot more appealing. Another thing to factor is that bikes in SA are crazy priced. Take the brand new gixxer for R50k and you can easily get a second hand car (albeit somewhat shit) for the same price. Covid also had a big role in stuffing up and over inflating prices for a while. So my take on the beginner bike thing is buy whatever beginner bike you want second hand, muck about on it and learn and then resell it for not too much less. Invest in some good riding apparel and once you're tired of it get something bigger So depending on age, location and very importantly budget, there's a lot of wiggle room, typically as you get older your budget and sensibility improves, openning up even more choices Second to last, your Daytona would absolutely smoke the ZX4R - its a sweet bike, but its way overpriced. Basically comparable to the ZX6R and in that territory the ZX6R wins hands down. It would have been more sensible at R125-150k Lastly, sweet ride, the Triumph Triples are my favorite. Unique engine sound for sure
It's so shocking to hear that bikes over there are the same price as cars here in the states. I can get a brand new 2024 Hayabusa for about 20k or a used one for less than 10k and a 400cc or 500cc is around 5-8k for a brand new 2024 or used ones for like 2-3k in areas where people are selling their older Ninja 500 or Ninja 400 which no one around me is and the next state over in Colorado has some used Busas which is odd to me. Also I always hear track riders saying that if you ride on twisties then you'll have to be a really good rider to use the full potential of a 400 and they see kids on 400cc bikes out riding people on 1000cc bikes but if you only have straights then higher cc will be more fun
bikes are honestly a bit overpriced here but I think its because there aren't many of them. I mean the US has a riding scene 100X the size of ours in SA. but at the same time, people are wanting a lot of money for their second hand bikes.
I think it’s probably good that the starter bikes have little power, i started on an R3 and i loved it as my first bike, it was by no means fast but it’s pretty quick compared to everyone else on the road unless they’re in a performance vehicle. The power delivery and curve on the small bikes helps to keep it from getting away from you and causing a wreck because you pushed the bike too far past your own limits, with a slower bike it’s harder to do. Now i ride a 07 600 no ABS and i ride more chill on this bike than i did on my R3 😂 I just learned to respect the power.
they have their pros and cons man. I absolutely LOVED my R3 but it just didn't have enough for coming from a dirt bike background. For real bro I ride much safer now that I'm on a 600 unless its on highways or open roads lol.
This is why I don't want to get a bike under 600cc. I do not want to have to sell a bike because I have outgrown it. Sucks to not be able to have it go to a good home and get a good amount of cash you have invested into getting a bike back to you for a deposit on a newer bike at the level you want to achieve
I think the beginner market is even more skewed in SA. The basic beginner bikes are things like the Gixxer 150, which can barely touch 120kph. In a small town that isnt so bad, but if you are in places like Guateng its outright dangerous to ride on the freeways. Trust me I did it for quite a while due to circumstances. I very much agree on the resale value though. Taking the gixxer as an example you pay 50k brand new and resale you can find them 20-30k.
I feel the beginner category should be made up in tiers though - your really young riders and the more mature riders.
Having a 16-20 year old on a 400 could very easily end up in them getting hurt - a 400 is still decently quick to someone who has no riding experience even in the 0-100 speed regon. At 22 I was riding around my ninja 250 and thought it was plenty quick and fun (but back then I was in the small town of East London where I am now in Gauteng). So I think a youngster should probably start on a 150-250 CC bike (buying it used since they dont take the massive depreciation knock and can learn without remorse if they drop it or whatever). This however also depends on the size of the rider and where they live and what they intend of using it for. A bigger rider in Gauteng riding mostly freeways should probably start on a twin 600,
I think if one is reasonably sensible and mature they can start on a 400 or if they really mature they can start on the middleweight bikes - the 50-90hp category (Yamaha R7, Triumph Tiger Sport, SV650, Kawa Ninja 650 etc). But if you factor in the cost of say a Ninja 400 (new 110k and second hand about 70-80k) you can get much better although older bikes that seem a lot more appealing.
Another thing to factor is that bikes in SA are crazy priced. Take the brand new gixxer for R50k and you can easily get a second hand car (albeit somewhat shit) for the same price. Covid also had a big role in stuffing up and over inflating prices for a while.
So my take on the beginner bike thing is buy whatever beginner bike you want second hand, muck about on it and learn and then resell it for not too much less. Invest in some good riding apparel and once you're tired of it get something bigger
So depending on age, location and very importantly budget, there's a lot of wiggle room, typically as you get older your budget and sensibility improves, openning up even more choices
Second to last, your Daytona would absolutely smoke the ZX4R - its a sweet bike, but its way overpriced. Basically comparable to the ZX6R and in that territory the ZX6R wins hands down. It would have been more sensible at R125-150k
Lastly, sweet ride, the Triumph Triples are my favorite. Unique engine sound for sure
It's so shocking to hear that bikes over there are the same price as cars here in the states. I can get a brand new 2024 Hayabusa for about 20k or a used one for less than 10k and a 400cc or 500cc is around 5-8k for a brand new 2024 or used ones for like 2-3k in areas where people are selling their older Ninja 500 or Ninja 400 which no one around me is and the next state over in Colorado has some used Busas which is odd to me. Also I always hear track riders saying that if you ride on twisties then you'll have to be a really good rider to use the full potential of a 400 and they see kids on 400cc bikes out riding people on 1000cc bikes but if you only have straights then higher cc will be more fun
bikes are honestly a bit overpriced here but I think its because there aren't many of them. I mean the US has a riding scene 100X the size of ours in SA. but at the same time, people are wanting a lot of money for their second hand bikes.
I think it’s probably good that the starter bikes have little power, i started on an R3 and i loved it as my first bike, it was by no means fast but it’s pretty quick compared to everyone else on the road unless they’re in a performance vehicle. The power delivery and curve on the small bikes helps to keep it from getting away from you and causing a wreck because you pushed the bike too far past your own limits, with a slower bike it’s harder to do. Now i ride a 07 600 no ABS and i ride more chill on this bike than i did on my R3 😂 I just learned to respect the power.
they have their pros and cons man. I absolutely LOVED my R3 but it just didn't have enough for coming from a dirt bike background. For real bro I ride much safer now that I'm on a 600 unless its on highways or open roads lol.
and yea not having all the tech was a huge change for me. but I find the breaking to actually be nicer without the ABS for some reason
This is why I don't want to get a bike under 600cc. I do not want to have to sell a bike because I have outgrown it. Sucks to not be able to have it go to a good home and get a good amount of cash you have invested into getting a bike back to you for a deposit on a newer bike at the level you want to achieve
I'm happy you're so glad to see me😂
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Got over my BMW g310r in like a month. Paid 70k, getting offered like 40k...
that's absolutely ridiculous ! same thing happened with my R3 bought it for 80K and I was only able to get 50K when I sold...