Passed my A2 - Ninja 250R or Royal Enfield Electra 500?

[Sprocket]

The MT03 is a good looking bike, I suspect its a giggle to ride!

[mikiboy]

Dont be silly.
1st big bike, get something CHEAP.  Chances are you will drop it.  You may have passed your test but it will take you a good 5000 miles plus to be able to ride the bike naturally on the road, whether or not you drive a car.
Yu will suddenly realise, you dont THINK, on the bike, you do it.  When that happens ALL the time, its time to move up  to a decent or new bike.
How do you know you will like the MT?  You have ZIP all experience of bikes.  It may be great the 1st 1000 miles and then not be comfortable at all.
Chances are for the 2st few years if you buy cheap, you can buy and sell every few months untul you find what suits you.
£1500 to £2000 bikes sell all day every day.
All this, I suspect...
Whats fun on twistys can be awful in town.
A comfortable bike, may be horrible on motorways.
A tourer may be too slow.
etc

[Sprocket]

Dont be silly.
1st big bike, get something CHEAP.  Chances are you will drop it.  You may have passed your test but it will take you a good 5000 miles plus to be able to ride the bike naturally on the road, whether or not you drive a car.
Yu will suddenly realise, you dont THINK, on the bike, you do it.  When that happens ALL the time, its time to move up  to a decent or new bike.
How do you know you will like the MT?  You have ZIP all experience of bikes.  It may be great the 1st 1000 miles and then not be comfortable at all.
Chances are for the 2st few years if you buy cheap, you can buy and sell every few months untul you find what suits you.
£1500 to £2000 bikes sell all day every day.
All this, I suspect...
Whats fun on twistys can be awful in town.
A comfortable bike, may be horrible on motorways.
A tourer may be too slow.
etc

Interesting point, I tend to agree with you with buying a new bike...

However as someone who is new to bikes, I wouldn't be able to tell you what is good handling and what is bad handling... I have nothing to base any judgement on... all we "Newbies" can say is "I like the look of that" and "what do you guys think?" and the answers you get tend not to help much as some people love it and other hate it.

The best way is to look at independent reviews, and so far I havn't seen a bad on one the MT-03... but to be fair I havn't been looking for any.

Know one knows if they will like a bike long term till they own one and run one.

If you have the cash why not buy it, its up to you!

[mikiboy]

Reviews are written by journos.  They ride the bike for a day and give an impression of the bike.  They also ride many times better thatn what you or i DO. All thr reviews said my ZX6 was a great tourer for 2 up.  Load of rubbish.  Its ok for a sports bike but to make it comfortable, you have to spend a lot setting it up.
Buy cheap.  If you buy new, YOU WILL drop it and chances are you £3500 bike is now worth £1500.
The MT's didnt sell.  So what if you like it now.  You dont like it when you have it or decide to move on, you have to sell it again. No one wants them.
Raptor.  I have only ever seen one ridden by a guy who had been riding longer than me.  He was awful as the rike has so much tourque, he wasnt using the gears and getting bogged down and being unable to hit the correct points on bends.  Learn to ride before getting oine as it wont help you at all.
A 400 will make you ride well.  Why do you think I have so many.  Its not cos they are expensive, its cos they are brilliant bikes

[Sprocket]

Well the MCN review is good for the MT-03

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/bikereviews/searchresults/Bike-Reviews/Yamaha/YAMAHA-MT-03-2006--current/?&R=EPI-254

[zaksv650s]

to be honest the fazer is probably the better bike why so many people buy em the mt-03 havnt sold well for a reason but the only way to find out is have a go.

[mikiboy]

which is great until its your turn to sell it.
Buy a decent hack for the 1st year.  Ride it and get the hang of REAL LIFE riding.  Look how many people on here have crashes, drops etc.  Not all are newbies, but it is worth hanging in with 1 or more cheap bikes for the 1sst year, and trying to decide the style you like.
I used to love chopper style bikes and bought one.  It killed me to ride it more than 40 miles.  It just didnt suit me.  I perciveered with it for 2 years hardly riding it, though I kept it immacuate.  I had been riding 10 years at the time.  I then bought a gpz900 new.  I dont regret buying hat but it took me 5 years to learn to ride that properly as it was mindblowingly fast compared to anything I had had before and up until then, I had had a lot of bikes including sports and tourers.  I then bought my 1st 400 and found out my riding was pathetic.  The 400 taught me to ride properly.  bear on mind, I had been on motorbikes for over 12 years at the time and had clocked up often 100,000 miles a yeaar plus on them.

[Peter Lightning]

the mt 03 looks great, and that review made it sound great too.  I bet that it haddles having a restrcitor on well aswell.  Looks like a good bike to get if you are going to get a 600.  if not then it has to be the Ninja 250r, looks great, and iv only heard good things about them so far.

[mikiboy]

HOW?
Its only had journo writes up?
They havent been released over here?
If you had some riding experience, fine, buy a new bike.
If not get a cheaper 2nd hand bike.
Doing your test is not experience

[Doug97]

Thanks everyone for your kind advice ... which it appears I have completely ignored. Don't get annoyed, I ignored my own advice too and bought a Kawasaki ER-6n. The dealer threw in free alarm, free restrictor and free ABS version. Plus there's 2.5 years 0% finance. So I'm pretty happy.

[zaksv650s]

nice thats probably the better idea out of the three bikes to be honest

[Paxovasa]

That is a nice bike, and a good deal.

Did you get that bright disc lock thrown in with the deal also?

[Doug97]

I must say, even though it's restricted, compared to my old bike it goes like the clappers, and I haven't even taken it above 4000 rpm yet (still running it in).

[Doug97]

That is a nice bike, and a good deal.

Did you get that bright disc lock thrown in with the deal also?

Nah I had that from my old one. I don't really rely on it though, I have an Almax IV chain.

[Paxovasa]

So come on then, what is first on the wish list for aftermarket extra's?

[Canary Wundaboy]

The man did the sensible thing IMO.
I was in the same boat as you, bought a Hornet 600, got it restricted, havent looked back since.

[Doug97]

So come on then, what is first on the wish list for aftermarket extra's?

Dunno really, definitely a tank protector, but other than that not sure.

[himsteve]

You've got the bike you want, now if you can stretch to it, get the Enfield.    (use it for best)

[steve 1052cc]

Buy a 600 get it restricted 2 years time take the restriction off it will be like a whole new bike but you will be used to the wieght handling and braking just a whole lot more power to play with .the only time a royal enfield will do 110-120 is if it's being towed behind an R1 .