Since the R6 made it's debut in 1999, I've had 4 of them. 99, 00, 02, 03. I think the R6 is a great bike, and the 2003 model is especially refined. It has a great look, it runs very smooth, and the handling is very nimble. The 99 I had was the best for wheelies , but the 03 was a better package in my opinion. The 03 model did have a problem with Denso coils going bad and were replaced by Mitsu in the 04/05 models. I don't know if you've ridden much in the past, but if not, I don't recommend it as a beginner bike at all. I haven't priced the R6 in a while since I sold mine quite a while back, but I'm inclined to think that $6k is a little high. I'd have to check and see what I could pick up an 05/06 for before I could say for sure. Here is an 03 that I listed for sale back in Oct 04. http://www.r6messagenet.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=25687 Hope that helps.