Im looking to buy a bike and I am stuck between a gsxr600 and an R6. So far I like everything about the R6, except that I have read and heard that the steering dampner is not so great on them! Ive heard that you get a lot of tank slap. Is there any way around this or is this something you just ahve to deal with? Does anybody have any other suggestions for a first time biker?

In the years and tens of thousands of miles I've ridden my r6 I've only had 5 tankslappers. 3 where at the track, 2 of those were coming out of the same corner under similar conditions of riding warp factor nine. The 2 on the street occured going over the same expansion joint on the peak of a highway exchange, again at warp nine.

Generally yamaha's are thought to have a "nervous" front-end. This basically means they have a tendancy to shake, if allowed. That's the downside, the upside is that this nervousness is also a very quick acting front wheel enabling a rider to change direction and make midcorner correc tions very easily.

Any bike with a damper is goig to be better than without. I've raced my '02 for years without a damper. I've pushed many bikes to the limits without dampers. I think a lot of riders get them because they think a damper will save them. In reality they usually mask the feelings, jiggles, wiggles and feedback of the front-end that tell the rider when something is about to go wrong. Trust me you'll know.

When you get a little headshake the first thing you do is back down a hair. And that's usually enough to save your skin. If you never feel the headshake because you damper took it out. Well.... ebay sells cheap rashed body work.

hey, I'm riding a '99 and I'll certainly say the front end is a little flighty or twitchy or which ever adjective suits best but that makes it far more fun to ride!
I've never had a proper slapper on the R6 (wahay!) but you do get a lot of headshake when accelerating hard (1st, 2nd mainly) over bumps but if you are relaxed on the bars it tends to correct itself. the problems start when you ride so rigidly that you are trying to fight the forces naturally created by riding fast.
with a modern sportsbike you have to accept that they are going to move around and twitch and occasionally slide a little but this is inherent with the type of motorcycle and once you have gotten used to it it makes it that much more involving to ride.
admittadely it freaked me out when I first got on a bike but with time and miles you will learn to accept it.
as Feiro says, a damper tends to remove a lot of the 'feel' in riding.

the gixxer is good bike as well though - whilst I like my 6 I accept that there is so little between the manufacturers that it often just comes down to looks for a lot of people, besides, unless you ride a lot on the track you'll be hard pushed to notice the difference between them when it comes to performance anyways.

keep us posted.

I had a GSXR 600 ( K1 ) 2 bikes ago and have to admit it was a superb bike, but since having the R6 i rate the R6 even higher it faster better acceleration a tad smaller but is far more fun to ride. I personally have a Ohlins Damper and wouldn,t be without it but then who am i iv,e only been riding for 27 years from mopeds to supersports with streetfighters and harleys inbetween my advice is to ride it and enjoy it
Mick