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In magz i've seen pics of the 400CC Hondas and 400 CC Kawasaki sportsbikes. They look pretty cool, and seem to be an ideal beginners bike with a sporty look. Are there any sold in the US, Are they street legal, and if the answer is YES, where can I buy one.
The only bike I can think of is the '88-'90 FZR400. At least 1/2 that are still around are presently or were racebikes. I have heard of 'grey market' importation of 400cc sportbikes from overseas, however. That could be interesting, though I'm not sure how much of a hassle it would be to import one and to actually get it registered and insured. Good luck.
Jason LaCroix
'02 Honda VTR1000F
IBA #19722
1st bike! I'd like one now. Why they feel that our market wouldn't accept small displacement bikes is beyond me. But they can be found in Canada and Mexico. Registering isn't too bad either. The two strokes are a pain and require a little finesse in the DMV (most states you can't even get away with it). But I have seen them, and in Cali of all places!
'95 ZX7/9
'02 XR650R
'78 KZ1000
Ask and ye shall receive (damn that Fizz is ugly):
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...&category=6718
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...&category=6708
There are always some floating around, usually imported from canada like rachel's saying. I was under the impression they could be registered here without modification but I could be mistaken about that.
IMO not really a worthwhile path to go down, don't get me wrong it would be one wicked bike but IME the ones that come here are usually raced, and because of their rarity often go for much more than they are worth. You'd have a hard time finding parts if and when things went wrong, also.
My advice if you're looking for a good starter bike with a bit of a sproty feel is still to look at an EX500. Are your friends gonna mistake it for the latest RR supersport? Nah, but it looks sporty enough, more so with the lower cowling. Advantages over the current 600s are that it's light weight with moderate (50horses) power, easy to find, replacement parts are everywhere on ebay, if you're interested about learning to maintain/fix your own bike it's a hell of a lot easier to do (because of the lack of plastics, and because everything's not crammed togeterh in a wild attempt to cram more horsepower out of the engine) on a EX than on any modern inline. And when I say cheap, I mean it, picked mine up (ok it's an oldie, 87, first year made) for $1200, which you'd quickly find out is about the cost of a 5 mile per hour parking lot spill with an '03 sportbike.
Ok, I'm done singing the praises of the little ninja. It's just, this is exactly what I did, took the motorcycle course in June and just had to rush out and buy a bike. Didn't have the $$$ or (experience for a modern 600) but I didn't want to sit on my hands for the rest of the season, picked up an EX500 in mid july and had a good 3 1/2 months of learning riding that season, enough that I felt comfortable picking up a ZX6e early next season when a good deal came along. I figure I could easily have sold the EX for $1000 this season, which would have amounted to $200 for 3 1/2 months of learning to ride, a good deal if you ask me. But I decided to keep it, as a beginning ride for my girlfriend / track bike if I ever get there / bike to screw around with and continue to learn basic maintenance on rather than dropping the valve shims down the compression chamber of whatever expensive 600 I buy next
But yah, those CBR 400's are nice looking machines, well except for the tealyou couldn't find a nice red one rachel?
Here you go man, the perfect learner bike for the sport poser
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=38627
That 1990 VFR on ebay looks pretty cool, but its WAY to much money imo