9K LOL - R6 Raven

[GTBrandon]

I went from one end of the spectrum to the other this past week. I sold my 85' Honda Shadow cruiser and bought myself a 2005 Yamaha R6. Bike clocks in at 12k miles, Yoshi exhaust, GPR 1.0 Stabilizer, Adjustable Levers, and "Raven Edition" trim. Picked it up from CL, the same day I sold my cruiser actually. Was looking at a 50,000 mile CBR 600 first, but it turned out to be a pile, so I sat in MD on craigslist looking for something near me so the night didn't seem like a complete waste. Found this one, albeit a little out of my price range but decided to take a look anyway. I immediately fell in love when I saw how clean the bike was, and realized that I would rather pay more for a cleaner example of a bike, especially if I was already spending this much money (for a college student) on a bike. 

The PO was the epitome of young and dumb, selling this R6 for the R1 he bought after not even putting 1,000 miles on this bike. Wasn't the best person to buy a bike from, but the bike was clean and the deal was good so I sent it that very night(Why am I such an impulsive buyer?). Ended up leaving my car in the mall parking lot, and riding the new bike home just to get a ride back to the mall, later on, to pick up my car (which luckily was not on cinder blocks when I got there). 

This bike is the most fun I think I've had on the street, while simultaneously being the most terrifying experience I've had. It scares me into submission and keeps me in check from being too much of a squid, but god does it open up above 9K RPMs, hence the title of the thread and my new license plate ;p

Some things it needs IMO: Brake fluid flush, tighten levers (they seem loose in an up and down motion, is this normal?), new oil, clean/lube chain, air filter check/clean. 

Now that I have a proper bike, my plan will be to take some track lessons and get into that scene, alongside DE in my car. This means I need full race leathers, proper boots, and stainless brake lines probably. None of which I have money for after buying this and furnishing my apartment :'(

In the meantime, my next moto investments will be riding jeans and a properly fitting jacket that offers more back protection than my current, so any suggestions are welcome on both of those fronts. Now, onto the gallery (most of these were from the sale ad, I haven't got around to taking any myself yet):