Ok so I've been into the whole bike thing since I was 12.. Just never was able to even consider one till now. (yay the wife said yes!) Anyway,
I'm looking at the 599 of which is the 04 model w/ 18k miles w/ Micron Exhaust, K& N filter, Brand new tires all for 2500.
Is it worth it?
Is this a bike for beginners?
I'm taking a course in April, but buying now...
I love the look, and it seems like it's a comfy fit...
I'm excited and feel like I'm a bit overwhelmed w/ all the questions.
:D :D :D

Is it worth it?

Maybe. Depends on the condition. At that price, you can afford to have a shop give it a once-over if the seller is cool with that. $2500 sounds like a heck of a deal for a clean bike. It's way too much if the bike's been wrecked and has a frame or internal engine problem you can't see.


Is this a bike for beginners?

Also "maybe." There's a whole thread on this you might want to read. From what I remember, roughly 3/4 of us said "yes" but there are caveats. The caveats are important because of the ramifications if this is not a good beginner bike for you.

Good luck.

Like ^ said, that's a good price if she's in good condition.

I just bought a 599 as my first bike, and she seems just fine as a beginner's bike, though I had been riding my brother's bike for a few weeks before getting the 599. As long as you're easy on the throttle she's tame enough. I still haven't gone over 10k rpms on mine, and I usually just ride her easy between 4k-8k.

What color is the bike your looking at?

And welcome to the site!

Be smart, and the 599 can be a wonderful first bike, be dumb, and it can kill you just as fast as anything else. With taking the course in April, you'll have a good foundation for riding the 599. My uncle did much the same thing you did, he bought a VTX1300, then it sat in his garage till he took the class a few months later. If the bike is in good shape, then I'd jump on the deal, then just keep her covered till you can ride it.

I have to say $2500 seems really low, especially with the stated mods and tires. I think caveat emptor would be applicable here. Not sure where you're from by I think generally a bike like that should probably be running in the mid 3 to low 4 thousands in the US.

I think it's alright as a first bike. The key is to respect its power. This bike can throw you like anybodies business, so I would say if you're sensible and responsible, and you love your wife and want to spend a few more years with her, then you'll probably do alright on this bike.

Welcome to the forum!

Should I be worried that he's going to kill himself??? lol You guys are making this bike sound like a demon in disguise....maybe I should seriously be looking into getting the $1,000,000 life insurance policy on him like I told him I would when he got a bike....

The wifey

Dear Wifey --
he loves you, right? then he won't kill himself on this bike or any other (someone else may, but he won't). But buy him a couple of the motorcycling books on the books thread. riding a bike is primarily a mental thing if you're reasonably coordinated. as for the life insurance, it doesn't make up for him riding smart, but it can't hurt if it's within your reach.

Well well well, she decided to take it into her own hands to get your guys's opinions lol... Thanks for backing me up JWAJACK :D

Almost seems like she's ok w/ the idea of the bike cause of those $$$ signs lol eh i love her even so :D

Alex (since I'm not your grandma.. lol) Here's the bike in questionhttp://images.craigslist.org/3n93kd3o75Of5P05Rca1t2b7563a94f831d1d.jpghttp://images.craigslist.org/3n53pa3le5O85P85R0a1t3000010a5726130a.jpg
Anyway, thanks for the tips guys and thanks for the welcome. I'm thinking this site shall be a gold star on the chore list :D

Let me know if what you see is my soon to be future love :D From my opinion, the only thing i've noticed is the exahst seems to have some rust on it... nothing rubbing compound can't fix.

Well she sure looks pretty, but it's hard to see possible engine/frame issues just by looking at the pics. Have you heard her started up yet? Does she idle well?

If you know anyone who knows bikes you might want to have them give the bike a spin before you fork over the cash.

Is this guy the first owner? Does he seem like a speed demon?

And I reiterate: This bike is fine for beginners, as long as you're easy on the throttle.

If you know anyone who knows bikes you might want to have them give the bike a spin before you fork over the cash.

Good point. You can always take someone who knows what to look for, to have a look-see at the bike. There are "tells" that speak to whether or not a bike has been horizontal and how it has been maintained. Don't let shiny paint on the tank and clean tires take your attention away from the rest of the machine.

You also want to try to see the bike start from cold. If the bike is warm or running when you get there, it doesn't necessarily mean the seller is trying to hide something - but if you can see how the bike starts when it's cold, you get a glimpse into how it's running, generally speaking.

Hard to tell, but do you guys see mirrors on that bike? Looks like a tailectomy and a slipon. Pretty standard mods. It still has the sticker on the swingarm, so the owner can't be all that bad-ass! LOL

To the wifey: the motorcycle is perfectly safe. Some riders aren't safe, and some drivers are dumbasses. There's not sense in being unrealistic about it -- deciding to ride a motorcycle is inherently riskier than sticking to a car (I think I read/heard 37% riskier in terms of significant injury/death). Ways to mitigate the risk:

- Take a motorcycle safety course BEFORE riding it significantly
- Always ride within your limits (even if you feel like a n00b)
- Always wear all your gear
- Save extremes for the track
- Don't stunt

As someone who has been riding off and on for a quarter century, I think I can safely say to any new rider, that you WILL lay it down at some point. It's just better if that happens when you are doing 20 mph, and not 80. IF you live in an urban area and plan to ride daily, you can bet that you will encounter some sort of threatening situation daily (lane drift, unsafe left turn, entering from the right, rear-end). So, an experienced rider will learn to look ahead, expect disaster and ride defensively.

As for life insurance. Make sure there's enough to cover to the mortgage at least. :)

Well guys... I'm a proud owner of a 04 599. The bikes in good shape. I didn't see any frame damage and you'd think there would be some type of damage to it if it was laid down, however; I didn't see even a scratch on the side. minor wear and tear on the tank from a magnetic pad and from the rubbing on the side from the legs but over all... this bike looks rather impressive to me. However; it could just be me and having a new bike lol.....
Either way... I'll be picking it up on the 5th! (weather permitting) flippin snowed the day I went to look at it.... The one thing I haven't done was ride it, but I'll test that out on the 5th. I still haven't paid him but he's holding it for me :D He also showed me 12 offers via email saying they'd offer cash so yea.... I think I scored.

The guy seems to know his stuff and might be a bit extreme but I honestly don't think his girl allowed him to do to many stupid things so :D

Yay me!

Now... to learn of the maintence on the 599..... He mentioned a few things such as keeping the chain oiled and changing the oil every 4-5k miles but what else is there?
Keep it coming guys. You're already awesome as it is :D Feed me MOre lol

Congrats on getting the bike (I think)! But you're not picking it up till the 5th - did you put a down payment on it or something?

Have you seen the clean pink slip yet? Are you going to test ride it yourself on the 5th?

As far as maintenance is concerned, it's pretty much the same as any bike: here's a link to a thread that has my new (used) bike To Do List: http://www.honda599.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7068

To Wifey.

Motorcycling isn't much more dangerous than the rider makes it. The warnings about the "demon in disguise" are because there is a lot of pep in this engine if you want to rev it up to find it. As a beginner, it's better to stay away from that for a while. In the lower RPM, this bike is quite manageable.

I don't know how much you know of cars, so I'll get really basic. In a car, your usable RPM range is likely 1,200 to 5,500. Roughly. That's a range of just over 4 thousand RPM. On this bike, it's about 3,000 to 13,000. What you end up with looks kinda like this:

3-5 thousand: Regular car
5-9 thousand: Sports car
10-13 thousand: Ferrari

It's good to be aware, so you can stay out of the Ferrari range until you're comfortable. Heck, I've been riding city streets for 4 years now, and I don't get above 8 thousand much at all.

One thing to think about is gear, however. There's tons of crash vids on youtube of idiots crashing and then showing off their big scrapes. But from being on a couple forums where gear is known to be good, there's a lot of guys saying "Some idiot cut me off and I hit his door and slid 20 feet. Bike is a bit messed up, but my jacket saved my skin, my gloves saved my knuckles, my boots saved my ankles, and my pants saved my knees!" It can help a lot.

And the ones you do hear about some guy rear-ending a truck and killing himself - he was probably doing 150 mph. As long as the rider isn't an idiot, motorcycling is a great thing.

And congrats! You're going to love it! I have eyes for no other bike anymore.

Oh and yea Alex... I do intend on riding it myself. Figure this bike is getting so many hits on the net that once i buy it, if i'm not feeling comfortable w/ it or something else arises there are tonz of other bike fans out there that are sure to buy it from me, (maybe even for a bit more) :D

As for the down payment... There will be one done today w/ a check... He can try and cash it but my bank has already stated that they'll keep an eye for it's deposit and void it if it's done to early. This bike is being bought w/ a sum of my taxs which are due to arrive on the 5th :D haha.... This is going to be awesome! :D

As for the pink slip.. what am I to look for on this Alex? You're help is much appreciated...... ...... .... Really! Thanks a ton guys.

Oh and forgot to mention about the mirrors... The guy custom installed a wider handlebar and to do so, he said he had to grind down a lil pin a bit. I looked into it and I can replace the whole mounting bracket for a lil under 20 bucks so..... Figured that's an easy install. He just is a bigger guy and the short handlebars were a bit to low resulting in him leaning a bit further than wanted.... Which is why there's only one mirror on the left side of the bike

Oh and yea Alex... I do intend on riding it myself.

So you know how to ride a bike, you've ridden before?

As for the pink slip.. what am I to look for on this Alex?

Just as with a car, you'd prefer it not be a salvage title, and you want it to be paid off (nothing listed in the lien section near the bottom).

Oh and forgot to mention about the mirrors... The guy custom installed a wider handlebar and to do so, he said he had to grind down a lil pin a bit. I looked into it and I can replace the whole mounting bracket for a lil under 20 bucks so..... Figured that's an easy install. He just is a bigger guy and the short handlebars were a bit to low resulting in him leaning a bit further than wanted.... Which is why there's only one mirror on the left side of the bike

That sounds kinda suspicious to me...but I could be wrong.

Well Alex,
He has the original handle bars that he's giving me as well.... I'll look at it more closely on Saturday when he's bringing it over. I've ridden before but.... only twice, So i'll be riding on the back w/ him to listen to the high rmps and the gear changes.... Do you have face book alex? We could im there

I don't use Facebook too often, but I'll PM you my email. But I'm no expert in these matters by any means. I'm brand-new to riding myself.

Why is this thread in the "Accidents" forum? Are you being overly pragmatic here?

Haha.. beats me.. I'm new all of it HAHA I just crossed this site in my research on my bike and figured, what better way than to just ask :)

Congratulations and welcome to the pack!

The group has pretty much covered our discussion on the friendliness of the 599 to new riders.

For the bike in the pics, it may just a trick of the light, but it looks like the side panels are different colors. The 04 Asphalt was equipped with grey panels stock.

As for the wife and $$$ issue, ATGATT and life insurace were part of the bargain to get on the bike. As careful as you may be, there are millions of idiots on the road with you. Well, maybe not millions in Idaho, but it only takes one.

For the bike in the pics, it may just a trick of the light, but it looks like the side panels are different colors. The 04 Asphalt was equipped with grey panels stock.



Yeah, I noticed that too and was going to comment on it, but the photo was kinda hard to see. I'd be VERY careful with that bike -- the price seems too low, given the modifications that are visible. My spidey sense is tingling.... or is that something else? LOL