Best beater for street use?

[Matt Michaels]

I'm looking at getting a new, to me, street bike. I can't spare the dough for a newer model and want to get a 1000cc bike. I want the liter bike purely for ease of passing and wheelies. I was thinking a 1998-2004 zx9r or the 1998-2002 R1.
Anyone raced either of these bike? Issues to watch for? Other bikes y'all would recommend? Got one you or a buddy wants to get rid of?
Thanks.

[William Guthrie]

ZX9R and get a D&D pipe for it

[Mike Gilliland]

2002 929 Erion that could be had.

[Matt Michaels]

Will, thanks for tip.
Mike, I'll PM you.

[Olay Bayramoglu]

Mike, the Honda liter bike in 2002 is the 954. 929 was only made in 2000 and 2001. Good wheelie bikes...

[Allan Boyd]

I've owned a '98 ZX9R and a 2000 R1. They're both more powerful than you could ever need. The ZX9 was allot of fun, very torqie, had a real hot-rod feel. The R1 was much lighter and better handling. Way smoother and deceptively fast...

[Matt Michaels]

The R1 has the cassette tranny, longer swingarm and better brakes, but the big power of the ZX sounds like a lot of fun.
Do both have fully adjustable suspension?
I guess it'll boil down to which bike I can get at the best price/what aftermarket parts are on it.

[Wallace Lay]

I have a Yamaha FZ1 as my street bike. It is way more comfortable than super sport bikes and is plenty powerful. Being a sport touring bike, the factory suspension needs some work, but you can find these bikes with low miles under or around $5,000. That leaves plenty in the budget to upgrade the suspension. But even with stock suspension, I can keep up with anyone on the street.

[Ryan Warren]

954, f4i are both pretty bullet proof.

[Matt Michaels]

I'd only do an f4i if it was a completely modded out track bike I could put back on the street. Otherwise I'm trying to stick with the liter bike power.

Iv looked at the 929/954 and love the bikes Honda makes, but there seems to be a price premium over the r1 or zx9r. I can get either of those for $2-3000, but the 929/954 are going for the $3000-4000 range. Would you say that the Honda is worth that much extra dough?