Advantages of 400 frame vs. 600 frame

[rellikmok]

I'm new here but I've been frequenting the archives for just over a year now. I think I like it here Nothing negative about the archives though, I love it there. It's just been kinda slow lately.

Anyway, back to the question at hand, I'm considering putting a project I've had in my head for quite a while down on paper to see if I can financially pull it off. After rebuilding a 600 for my brother over the summer, I've got the itch to do a build of my own. I plan on either doing a plethora of mods to my 600 or selling it in its current form and buy a project 400. This brings me to my first(I'm sure there will be many, many more) question, what are the advantages of the 400 frame over the 600's? I know its made of aluminum thus its lighter weight and in my opinion it looks a little better. But I'm still not sure it will be worth it to me to go through the extra hassle of finding a donor bike, they are pretty rare in my neck of the woods. So are there any other advantages or should I just build on my 600 frame?

[megaloxana]

Detachable subframe might be considered a plus. Its aluminum so you can polish it. Weight weight wight...biggest thing, less weight= faster and better handling.
In my opinion, if you're gonna build an fzr ground up, it would be dumb not to go 400 frame. Also if you get an fzr400 donor bike, you get the wheels and swingarm which are also both lighter than their 600 counterparts. You should consider throwing in a yzf600 motor aswell if its in your budget or you find one or a good deal.

Anyway if there was a 400 frame in my area for sale, i'd definatly snatch it up. The weight of my fzr is about the only thing i hate about it.

[yamaha_george]

Detachable subframe might be considered a plus. Its aluminum so you can polish it. Weight weight wight...biggest thing, less weight= faster and better handling.
In my opinion, if you're gonna build an fzr ground up, it would be dumb not to go 400 frame. Also if you get an fzr400 donor bike, you get the wheels and swingarm which are also both lighter than their 600 counterparts. You should consider throwing in a yzf600 motor aswell if its in your budget or you find one or a good deal.

Anyway if there was a 400 frame in my area for sale, i'd definatly snatch it up. The weight of my fzr is about the only thing i hate about it.

Hi,
being state side has a problem that has not been mentioned about the 400 frame and that is the title, most I have seen have been race bikes and therefor no title.

[sweekster]

First of all, Welcome. Glad you like the site and we're glad to have you. Secondly, you've kind of answered your own question. The 400 is lighter and a little stronger. It also is better looking. Another strong point is a lot of the parts that will fit the 600 will also fit the 400 so that opens up the parts availability factor even more. So you could easily swap in, for example, and YZF 600 front end and gain the adjust ability of that setup. Of course there are numerous other front ends from other bikes can and have been modified to fit. If I recall, a stock and complete 400 tops out at 65HP so you can imagine the gains of maybe swapping in a YZF600. If I were to build an FZR track bike it would probably be a 400 framed YZF powered hyrid.

[rellikmok]

Detachable subframe might be considered a plus. Its aluminum so you can polish it. Weight weight wight...biggest thing, less weight= faster and better handling.
In my opinion, if you're gonna build an fzr ground up, it would be dumb not to go 400 frame. Also if you get an fzr400 donor bike, you get the wheels and swingarm which are also both lighter than their 600 counterparts. You should consider throwing in a yzf600 motor aswell if its in your budget or you find one or a good deal.

Anyway if there was a 400 frame in my area for sale, i'd definatly snatch it up. The weight of my fzr is about the only thing i hate about it.

Thats pretty much the answer I expected. You pretty much described what I had planned out in my head. It's settled let the search begin

One more thing, if I swapped in the yzf motor, I would still insure it as an FZR 400 right? Seeing as the registration goes with the frame/VIN, I don't see why this wouldn't be the case, but I just want to double check.

[nynoah]

Buy my hybrid that I have for sale. You will not find any better deal than my bike.

[rellikmok]

Buy my hybrid that I have for sale. You will not find any better deal than my bike.

Yeah I saw your's in the classifieds. I would love to, but building it more than half of the fun Good luck on the sale though.

[tommyj27]

I know my insurance agent asked specifically for the engine displacement of my bikes, YMMV.