I used to race 125cc motocross competitively ~35 years ago. I was, IMHO, quite good in those days and so the mechanics of riding a motorized two-wheeled, inherently-unstable vehicle with a reasonably high power-to-weight ratio was not new to me. But then life got in the way (school, career, marriage, home/mortgage etc) and I didn't get on a bike in the ensuing three decades.
Fast forward to this last summer when the mid-life crisis bug hit. I found myself in a position to say "You know what? I'm going to get back on a bike, this time a street bike." At 47 years of age I wrote the M1 in July.
I made no assumptions about whatever skills may have remained from those dirt bike days of so long ago and enrolled in a well-regarded MSF course at a local college. Yes, it started out with the simplest "this is how you work the sidestand. this is how you walk beside your bike" sort of stuff and moved on to starting the engine, stopping the engine, being pushed around the parking lot and using the brakes, to friction zones and so on. By the end of the course you're doing panic stops and obstacle evasion etc with tons of low-speed cone work in there.
I approached this with the mindset that while I don't feel like a noob, I am. My riding at the college was great. It felt wonderful to get back on a bike (little Yamaha XT250s!) and it all came back very quickly. Still, I'm a noob and I'm taking all of these figure-8s and cone slaloms and 90-degree turns very seriously.
Some others taking the course fared poorly. Some had balance issues, were afraid of accelerating, could not shift if their lives depended on it, were slow, ran over cones, into a curb etc. Some dropped their bikes, were timid about leaning etc.
I ended up buying a CBR500R and rode that for about two months on the street, racking up a very enjoyable and educational 3500kms before trading it on an FZ8 Fazer. Others in that course -- those that didn't fail their M1X, for example, but whom were among the more timid, the less-balanced etc -- might be better served limiting themselves to a CBR250R or even a 125 and polishing their craft on that for a good long time before thinking of moving up. Perhaps one or two of them would be good to go out and get themselves a GSX-R600 and would have no issues.
My point is that there are noobs and then there are noobs. I still consider myself a noob of the former variety (especially a street-noob) and ride like I'm invisible (not invincible) and wear ATGATT etc but I feel I have the skills and confidence and maturity to handle a more substantial bike like the FZ8 with little more risk to myself than if I was on a 250R. But there are noobs of the latter variety that may never be ready for a motorcycle with more than thirty or fifty horsepower, let alone more than a hundred.
There is no one clear, unequivocal demarcation that says this bike for this individual. Just as there are teens with vast seat time in karts and lesser Formula cars now test driving for F1 teams, I've no doubt there are guys with lots of seat time on MX bikes or even road race bikes for whom a supersport would be a natural fit. Conversely, there are a lot of 50 year olds that shouldn't go anywhere near a Harley.
Statistically speaking, a SS in the hands of a young male is a bad idea. But not every young guy comes to the table with the same level of experience and maturity.
so I couldn't grab it...
