Monster Vs GSXR

14152 Views 51 Replies 28 Participants Last post by Hoop, Nov 11, 2006

Motreb

Discussion Starter · Nov 5, 2006

I bought my monster 620 towards the end of summer. This is my first bike, and it has been a lot of fun. My monster lived up to all my expectation and more unitl recently when I rode my brother's GSXR 600. There are cerntainly a lot of differences between how they feel to ride. I found the GSXR a lot smoother, but the monster seemed to be more responsive. This is not something that bothers me, but what bothered me was that I felt more in control on the GSXR than on my monster. I felt at high (60mph<) speed GSXR was more stable.I am wondering if this is how things are or I should be looking for a culprit (air pressure etc.). Input from those who have tried both will be really helpful.
Like many of you, I dig the naked look, but given the smoother ride, lower price, lower cost of maintnance and this higher stability issue, I am trying to find a reason if look will be enough to pick monster over a Jap for my next upgarde.

Thanks

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gm2

· #2 · Nov 5, 2006

tire condition, air pressure, suspension/suspension settings, riding position... all factors. there's a reason why it's not uncommon for monster owners to put rearsets and clip-ons on their bikes.

overall the monster is designed for a more multi-purpose, "city" feel where a gixxer is a track bike with lights and mirrors.

xerces

· #3 · Nov 5, 2006

Motreb,

You are comparing apples to oranges. The M620 is no match for the GSX-R600 when it comes to performance. The gixxer is a bike designed for racing and will feel stable all the way up to and even past 150mph. So 60mph is childs play for it. A direct comparison from Ducati would probably be the 749S or 749R not an M620. The M620 is a good bike that is great for commuting and learning on. I would give that M620 a full year and a bunch of miles. Learn to ring its neck. If you can learn to ride that bike fast, it will make transitioning to a full on sport bike much more fullfilling, if that is something you wish to do in the future.

I would recommend doing some research on setting the "sag" on your shock. My wife started on a 620 as well. We both found it to be rather soft on the suspension. Once the shocks preload was cranked down and the rebound set to about 4-6 clicks out from full stiff, it was a much better handling bike.

Just my $0.02...

Enigmamdw

· #4 · Nov 5, 2006

wow so + 11tybillion to all the last posts. That was everything I was going to say.

To be honest the new GSXR's are amazing. Like someone said it's a track bike with lights and mirrors.

The monster is a GREAT learning bike. Since this is your first bike I would keep it for a bit and get to the point where you feel held back by the bike in your riding.

Oh, and someone is going to say that the GSXR doesn't have the soul of the Duc, etc, etc... but it's all about what your comfortable and happy with.

The 620/800 are generally parts bin bikes and aren't made with the good suspensions so that also contributes to the unstableness.

G

· #5 · Nov 5, 2006

GSXs are really great bikes. The question is: what style of riding are you interested in now? Then, noarrow the field of bikes to suit!

xerces

· #6 · Nov 5, 2006

Enigmamdw said:
...
Oh, and someone is going to say that the GSXR doesn't have the soul of the Duc, etc, etc... but it's all about what your comfortable and happy with.
...

Well, I know my 05 GSX-R1000 (see avatar) most definitely has a soul. I get to see it everytime I twist that throttle wide open. ;D

sconly

· #7 · Nov 5, 2006

I come from a Japanese bike upbringing and I can say that almost any Japanese sportbike is going to feel more planted, its all in what your looking for but dont be surprised as there are riders out there who are comfortable with what they have and will smoke the crap out of someone on a GSXR1000 when it comes to twisties and track days. oh the things I have seen people do on underdog bikes.

xerces

· #8 · Nov 5, 2006

sconly said:
I come from a Japanese bike upbringing and I can say that almost any Japanese sportbike is going to feel more planted, its all in what your looking for but dont be surprised as there are riders out there who are comfortable with what they have and will smoke the crap out of someone on a GSXR1000 when it comes to twisties and track days. oh the things I have seen people do on underdog bikes.

Yes, most Japanese sport bikes will feel planted all the way to redline in 6th gear. Its what they were designed to do.

Ol' Kevin Schwantz proves those last statements!!! With cars, 90% of the race is up to the technical abilities of the car, 10% the driver. In motorcycling, its the other way around. The rider has SO MUCH influence over what the bike does. Hell, even at my local Motocross track, its not at all uncommon to see a 10 year old kid on a little 60 to 80cc two stroke kick the snot out of guys 2 and three times their age riding 450 four strokes.

timphipps

· #9 · Nov 5, 2006

I ride an S2R 800 and my son rides a yamaha R6, sort of Yamaha's equivalent of the 600 GXR. I really like his bike, it is fast, smooth, and has much better brakes and suspension than my stock Duc. But I have put new brakes and suspension on my Duc and would rather ride it than his R6. So would he, he borrows the Duc every chance he gets, and gets dozens of emails every time he rides it (was that you on that yellow Ducati???). I now, after many upgrades, love the sound and feel of the Ducati and would not trade it for anything. But I have put more than $4k into it since I bought it to make it what I wanted it to be.

If I were a young person on a limited budget I would buy the GXR or an R6. Given that this is my 5th motorcycle and that I just hit the double nickle in years and that I know how to work on my own bikes the Duc is my bike. Most guys my age are buying Harleys. It is fun to ride with them and show them what a real bike can do.

You need to decide what it is you want out of a bike. There is no stigma associated with riding a Japanese bike if that is what you want--I owned 4 of them in the past. If Ducati rings your bell, as it does for me, go with it.

Tim

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Rick T.

· #10 · Nov 5, 2006

Buy what you want - whatever makes you smile the biggest...

My choice of bike to "add" to my 748R and M900ie would be an '06-'07 GSXR 750. [thumbsup]

TwIsTeD

· #11 · Nov 5, 2006

overall the monster is designed for a more multi-purpose, "city" feel where a gixxer is a track bike with lights and mirrors.

Exactamundo!I owned a 03 Yamaha R6 before getting 06 S2R.S2R is more user friendly around town.Still can haul cheeks through the TwIsTiEs though. [thumbsup]

jesse370

· #12 · Nov 5, 2006

I went from a kawi 636 that was a amazing machine, but the riding position was brutal on my body. I'm 25 and have arthritus and it made riding that bike a bitch for anything over a hour or under 70mph. I know have a S4R and I couldn't be more happy on it. The bike is just so much more FUN to ride, it may not accelerate like my kawi, or feel like it, but I sure as hell enjoy it alot more.

G

· #13 · Nov 5, 2006

So many bikes, so little $$$! [cheeky]

MonsterDuc

· #14 · Nov 5, 2006

another reason for its smoothness not yet mentioned is the inline 4 engine vs. v-twin.

Stick w/ you Monster a couple of years, Motreb and get at least 10,000 miles riding experience before you trade for a sportbike, if you are so inclined. The experience on your Monster will allow you to better enjoy and be prepared for riding a sportbike.

fasterblkduc

· #15 · Nov 5, 2006

I've owned several Ducs, Japanese, and British during my approx. 18 years of riding. The modern Japanese 600 race reps are amazing machines. It's not fair to even compare your M600 to the gsxr600. They are not designed for the same riding. You could get your monster set up better and make it handle great but you will have to put $ into it. These responses you're getting are great and I agree 100%. (it's also refreshing to hear common sense instead of the usual everything sucks but a monster)
So, the advice given to keep the Monster for a while is good advice. You can build your skills before stepping up to the gsxr track weapon. However, I know it's hard to wait when you get a taste of that performance then go back to your ride. It will make you a better rider to get faster on the monster first, but that requires patience. I've grown tired of the high maintenance costs and high maintenance attitude of the Duc. I love the twins and yeah they have alot of character, but that character comes at a high cost. I'll always own at least one Duc and my current one is my racebike. My latest streetride is a cbr600rr and let me tell you what I think of the desmo twin having exclusive soul rights :

That cbr will kick the snot out of most all of the "soulful" twins [laugh]
I'm not interested in debating that either. I'm talking same rider, different bikes. My cbr (out of the box), outperforms my Ducati superbike (with ALOT of upgrades).
It's just a matter of time before you will get advice here telling you to get a bigger monster or a sv650 instead of a gsxr. I see it all the time. But even a bigger monster will require $ to make it perform like what you want. And it will require more maintenance.
I don't want to bash ANY bike brand as they all have their advantages/disadvantages. I'm interested in giving a fellow motorcyclist advice based on my longtime riding experience.
So, to sum up. Decide what kind of riding you want to do, how much maintenance and cost you are prepared for, and what really excites you. Then make your decision.

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dan900sie

· #16 · Nov 5, 2006

One thing no one has mentioned as far as the relativef smoothness at speed is the lack of any fairing on the Duc. At 60+ there is alot more noise, and alot more buffeting than there will be in the Gixxer. Again, you're really comparing two entirely different animals.

That Nice Guy Beck

· #17 · Nov 5, 2006

never tried a jap bike

Motreb

Discussion Starter · #18 · Nov 5, 2006

5891jonathan said:
So many bikes, so little $$$! [cheeky]

I couldn't agree more [clap]. Was I not just right out of college with all those student loans.............
I am so impressed by everyone putting aside feelings when giving advice. I think I am going to keep the Duc for a while. It looks great, rides well and I just did the 6k on it and changed tires and brake (I have ~200miles after this service on it). So I would like to enjoy the investment a bit before, I let it go.
A lot of you said that I should look at what I want. I use the bike mostly for recreation. Being in Seattle, I prefer my truck for commute during the rainy season. Maybe this is not a good analogy, but if my truck is the wife the bike is the mistress. I want a lot of reliability and comfort out the truck, but the bike has got to look good (that soul/character factor thing). I don't know if I made things more clear or not, but in a sentence I really like the look of the monster, but I think I had a bit more fun on the GSXR. I think one solution is to get rich fast, and this take me back to the quoted email.

P.S. BTW, I like how GSXR, R6 etc. look, but in my taste monster is just something else.

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asantizo

· #19 · Nov 5, 2006

fasterblkduc said:
So, to sum up. Decide what kind of riding you want to do, how much maintenance and cost you are prepared for, and what really excites you. Then make your decision.

+1

That's why after a lot of thinking, ??? now I have a Yamaha R1 sitting next to the Monster....they actually get along very well [thumbsup]

Motreb

Discussion Starter · #20 · Nov 5, 2006

MonsterDuc said:
another reason for its smoothness not yet mentioned is the inline 4 engine vs. v-twin.

Stick w/ you Monster a couple of years, Motreb and get at least 10,000 miles riding experience before you trade for a sportbike, if you are so inclined. The experience on your Monster will allow you to better enjoy and be prepared for riding a sportbike.

MonsterDuc,

As for smoothness, the 4cyl Vs V2 was exactly what I was thinking to be a factor. However, being more in control I thought might have to do with the different styles of the two bike (or air pressure, shocks etc.)
I take your word for starting with monster making me a better rider on a sport bike, but did I mention, that GSXR seemed easier to ride?

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