The F4i as your first sports bike: good or bad?

User Experience: Alex, Canada

In the spring of 2008, I came across a black/red 2004 F4i with 4,700 miles for a decent price. It was previously dropped with very light scuffs, and in great shape overall. I bought it (300 miles away from home), and had a friend ride it home for me. At that time, I only had my learner's motorcycle license, and although I was signed up for the MSF, it was about a month or two away.

I remember that day like it was yesterday... I tried riding my bike around in my friend's neighborhood (very little traffic), and it was very difficult since I didn't know what I was doing. I could barely turn it, etc. I got it up to 30mph and thought it was INSANE. I was dead set on riding before my MSF, so I had to teach myself how to ride. I bought 8 orange pylons, went to a parking lot and spent about 5-6 hours doing figure-8s and zig-zags around the cones at low speeds, progressively approaching the cones together in order to raise the difficulty.

Then I hit the roads. It was a lot scarier than I thought it would be. It took a good month for me to get used to the fact that there are cars around me and to not be terrified of them. I rode very slow, I barely leaned the bike, etc. Essentially, I did what they call "respecting the bike and the power" and it made for a very scary (although fun) experience. At all times, I felt like the bike's potential was way beyond what I could control and I don't even think I went over 5K rpms in my first month.

With only 3 weeks to go before the MSF course, I had a mishap. While going about 20-35mph, I lost control of my steering which was wobbling left and right. To this day, I still don't really know how I managed to do that. I dropped the bike, and it slid along the road, saved by the frame sliders. Damage was less than $500 luckily. I hurt my left hip, bruised up left leg, almost dislocated my right shoulder and sprained my right thumb. I was upset, unimpressed with myself, and fighting my body from wanting to black-out. After a quick visit to the hospital, nothing serious was wrong with me, and I went home and took the next day off work to rest and recover. All that to say that I'm lucky - lucky that I didn't hit a car or get hit by a car, lucky that my bike only got scratched, etc. I'm certain that if I wasn't wearing my full gear, I would've broken my hip and dislocated my shoulder.

A few weeks later, I went on vacation, and rented a Suzuki GS500 for a day. What a world of a difference. After five minutes on that GS500, which initially felt like a bicycle compared to the size of my F4i, I was already more comfortable on it. It was forgiving, easy to turn, didn't jolt me with every slight twist of the throttle, etc. I could take turns and actually lean into them.

A week after that, I finally took the MSF. I learned what countersteering meant. I learned what emergency braking meant. I learned why you can't brake while turning. And I thought to myself... I can't believe I rode on public roads before knowing these concepts, with an unforgiving sportbike at that.

Fast-forward to today, a month after storing my bike for the winter season. I rode a total of 7,000 miles in 2008 on my F4i. I've always "taken it easy" and could never keep up with other riders, even on leisurely-paced group rides, because they'd always lose me in the turns. It took until almost the complete end of the season for me to have the guts to get rid of the chicken strip on the right side of my tire (on highway on-ramps, middle of the day with full visibility). It's been a great riding year, and I had a lot of fun, but it's very frustrating not to be able to keep up with people, having to "respect the bike" cause you can't ride it to its full potential.

In a nutshell, I now understand why the majority of bike guys recommend small, lightweight 250/500cc bikes such as Ninjas, GS500s, Buell Blasts, etc. Having ridden that GS500, I realize how much quicker it inspires confidence. Smaller bikes are easy to handle, easy to learn, and are fun without being afraid "of the monster under you." Do I regret getting my F4i as a first bike? No. Would I have learned a lot quicker and better had I bought a better starter bike? Absolutely. I am your average first-time-sportbike-rider statistic: bought 600cc sportbike, dropped it, scratched it, got away with it, learned much slower with it, would be a better rider today had I listened to "wiser" advice, etc. So I won't be one of those that say "I was fine so you should be fine". This is a true sport bike not a beginner's/learner's bike.

User Experience: Justin, Texas

In 2008, I picked up a great-looking 2002 F4i with 19,XXX miles. Man I was excited; I had just turned 20-years-old and this was a present to myself! After buying the bike and gear I didn't have any money left over to take the MSF course, but I figured I could always take it later when money was in abundance, typically after Christmas which was five months away.

I road my beast around the neighborhood, practicing shifting, breaking, turning, all the goodies. I found it natural shifting through gears after having always drove a standard-transmission vehicle. What I found terrifying was leaning into turns. I ended up pulling out my dad's mountain bike and took that for a spin for about an hour going as fast as possible around the neighborhood and leaning the bike over. Obviously it wasn't the same because the bicycle weighed next to nothing, but it did help my confidence a lot so that the next time I jumped on the F4i I found myself leaning further than before and feeling just fine with it. After getting out around the neighborhood for a few days I was taking all the turns smoothly and at about 25-30 MPH (40-48 KPH). I basically was pushing it to max that I could within a neighborhood, so it was time to take it to the street. I guess I'm not like most people - I feel very aware of my surroundings and traffic wasn't a problem. 1,800 miles later I was loving it and still hadn't had any problems.

By this time my friend had bought a black Ninja 250r which he let me ride and let me tell you, that thing was a blast. It turned on a dime compared to the F4i. A month later he laid it down avoiding a car and was too scared to get back onto it so I bought it off of him for a good price. Compared to the F4i that bike inspired so much confidence to the point of over confidence. But now I have two bikes, I use the 250 for commuting and such, and the F4i for hitting the highways and going on several trips from Dallas to Austin.