Toying with the idea of getting a bike

[Heraclid]

Well, not saying I'll do it yet, but I'm sort of considering a used Ninja 500, which by all accounts seems to be a great beginner's bike. Read a great article and it beats the Suzuki GS500 all to pieces in every way. I'm tempted by the Suzuki SV650S but I'm thinking a 600cc+ anything is probably still too much for a beginner, especially these days. I am a big guy though, but still I don't want gobs of power and nasty surprises. I don't care what's coolest, fastest, whatever - I want something I can handle and learn on without hopefully getting into much trouble. I'm actually scared of these things but fascinated by them too. Can't spend a lot and besides, you know it's gonna get laid down. But the 500 doesn't have a fuel gauge... what's up with that? Anyway, I wouldn't do anything until I've taken the MSF course and know if I really want to do this, but any advice would be much appreciated.

EDIT: See? Shows what I know. Apparently LOTS of bikes don't have a fuel gauge.

[nocturnalVX]

...those that have crashed, and those that are going to crash.

That's a common saying and (as I belong to the former group) I can say it's pretty accurate. However, motorcycling is one of my favorite activities & I've been riding since 1987. I would NEVER discourage anyone from trying it out, but it's not for everyone. You have the right idea starting out with a rider course and a middleweight bike. Starting with a 500cc or 600cc bike is a good idea because you can grow into it as your skills improve, but it's not too small either. Have fun & good luck!

Oh, and yeah... most bikes either have a reserve switch or an "idiot light", but no gas guage. My Ducati only has a low fuel light.

[redline]

I started out on a 82 Suzuki GS750E nice bike if you can find one.The Secretary state back then consisted of driving down the road and coming back explaining the controls to the examiner ,all of 10 minutes. I recently took the Safety course with a friend who wanted to ride.I saw guy's there that also rode before not able to pass the skills test.Just show's what kind of talent we have out there that should not be there.I currently own/ride A 96 Buell S2T,simply a work of art.

P.s. the bikes you use in the MSF course have some bumps and scrapes, make sure you ride all of them because when you get stuck on a bike you havent familiarized yourself with and have to take the road test with ...well you know the rest

[Heraclid]

Thanks a bunch to both of you for some good advice...

Yes, I've seen that saying all over the place as I've been doing some reading on the subject lately. Certainly it is intimidating. My brother dated a girl who works at a local hospital and they call motorcyclists "organ donors". A guy who worked for my Dad wiped out on one, and despite nary a scratch on his helmet, he still sustained head injuries and was never quite right in the head afterward. Sadly, since they work in some dangerous places with high voltage and so forth, and since he was becoming a danger to himself and others, my Dad had no choice but to let him go. Just saw a post earlier today on a sportbike board of a guy whose face got a bad case of road rash and was crushed around the left eye socket. The guy hadn't learned much from it either. A guy I work with loves riding and just got a new bike, but he once crushed his pelvis. I know Joe Black from this board had a nasty crash once too. The stories are endless. I don't know why I'm drawn to this kind of stuff. I want to fly helicopters and ride motorcycles. I need help. LOL! And this would require me to lead a secret life. My mother would not sleep if she knew and would do everything in her power to stop it, and I mean that.

Funny thing is, my Mom is a preacher's daughter who dated a long-haired bad boy on a motorcycle and rode with him despite her father's strictly forbidding it. And the bad boy is my Dad, who had a Norton 750. He almost slid it under the church bus he was next to when he hit some sand once. He quit riding when he became a father.

Of course the faster you're going the scarier it can be, but I am amazed how many people have laid down bikes at 10 mph or just forgetting to put the stand down and dropping one. I would be very cautious and I'm definitely not someone interested in getting anywhere close to exploring my bike's top speed. Just about any of them will go crazy fast, and just moderate speeds on a bike are an entirely different thing than doing it in the VX. I am also blown away by how many people I see not wearing full protective gear. Around here, I may have seen one guy, ever. Usually the most I see is a helmet and armored jacket, but no boots, gloves, and just jeans. Most often it's less than that, many times no helmet, a t-shirt, and jeans or even shorts. That is insane. If it is too hot to wear what you should, then it is too hot to ride. Period.

I was reading a forum for local riders and so many people want to jump right on a hot bike. One person was talking about getting her first bike. A Suzuki GSX-R1000! Everyone was saying she should reconsider but she thought since she lifts weights and her husband has been riding for 20 years, she'd be fine. She was one of those that came on asking for advice but wouldn't heed a word of it. She will probably be a sad statistic sooner rather than later.

My dream bike, if I had the money and was comfortable riding one, would probably be a MV Agusta F4-1000S or one of the high-end Aprilias or Ducatis. In the case of the Agusta, I know that's about 165 hp. If I could afford it, would I start out on that? Heavens no!!! Motorcycles will try to kill you if they sense you don't know what you're doing. Besides, there's no sense dropping much money on your first bike, a bike you are almost guaranteed to lay down.

So far I'm mostly hearing that I should not go over 600cc's and the Ninja 500 or GS500 have been recommended. I've been told the CBR600F4i is a great starter bike, and also that it's not a good starter bike at all. I've heard that just about anything with the letter R in it is probably a bad idea. But I was also told by very respectable source that for my size I should maybe go with the SV650/SV650S, a V-twin which I would not outgrow as quickly and would have more low-end grunt for my size and a bit more comfortable riding position for me. I will certainly take all suggestions into consideration however. But I wouldn't go for a 750 at this point, and I have ruled out the GS500 because the Ninja 500 outclasses it in just about every way imaginable.

I'd never think of doing this without doing the safety course first. I don't even know if I'd want to do it yet, I just think I would. The gear is expensive, ditto for the insurance. It may freak me out. One step at a time, but I'm trying to educate myself in the meantime and get as much input from anyone who will talk to me as I can. Thanks!

[zadam123]

Cool timing i just bought this on saturday, I havent been on a bike for 12 years and decided to get another one, i used to have a gsxr 1100 back in 92 and then it got stolen but with gass and tolls going up in Ny this will pay for itself, or at least thats what im telling myself lol



adam

[billh23]

I had a 96 Suzuki Katana 600 for a few years. Sweet bike, bought it for the same reason you said -- its a beginners bike, etc. Wished I would have bought an 1100 shortly after because as soon as you learn to ride, you'll wish you had more power. It's not about top speed, because all of them will do 100mph+ and really you can't do more then 120 on any real roads anyway. What you start to wish you had is more "umpfh". Anyway, I drove it for a about three years. In that time, I got rear ended once by a guy who said he totally didin't even know I was there (slow speed, he knocked my bike over and I kind of just fell off and rolled). Another time was worse, I was riding on a freeway around rush hour.. Semi truck put his left turn signal on and just moved over.. only problem, I was half way done passing him on the left. He pushed me into the ditch, I dumped the bike doing about 50mph. I was very lucky and just kind of slid it to a stop. I walked away, but shaved about a .5" off my helmet, gave my whole one side of my body some pretty bad road rash, knocked the mirror and turn signals off the bike, and gave it some pretty good gashes. I still have the scars on the my shoulder and forearm to show for it, but the bike became an engagement ring for my now wife.

Would I ride again? Definitely! Would my wife allow it? No. Would I probably hurt myself again? Likely.

[TechnoPope]

I learned on a chain driven BMW F650 classic and would highly recommend any BMW F bike as a great beginner bike. The riding position, torque and wheel rake make for a very forgiving motorcycle. In 1997 they made an ST version that was more street oriented than many other F650 models. Some F bikes were modified with lowering kits that may or may not make for a better fit. Check out www.f650.com for very supportive owners forum. I chose the F650 because I did not care for the riding position of either the cruiser or sport bikes. Good luck choosing your first bike. There are a lot of great choices out there.
Frank

[CSTYLES]

I just got my first Dirt Bike. I've never ridden before and wasn't ready for the road, still need to get comfortable with the gears. It's a 230cc Honda 4 stroke (lawn mover engine...) but it has been a lot of fun. I plan to graduate to a street bike one day.

Anyone want to get together or knows of a place to ride in Maryland?

[transio]

I've been looking at this possibility too. In fact, I begin my rider training tonight. I've been told the Suzuki SV650 is a great trainer bike, because it's not too big and has no fairings to scratch up.

[morgan-tec]

There are a few things to look at when choosing the bike, first is the rider. Sure someone who wants to go do wheelies and stopies all day will probibly ride beyond their skill level to fast and crash. But if you have someone who is responsible, mature, level headed with some quick thinking skills and the correct training they have a good chance of keeping the rubber down. Next is the bike. We choose the SV650 because it is a very easy bike to ride. has good feedback to the rider without being twitchy or uncontroable the brakes are great and it is not a throw away bike. By that i mean that most people i know that have started on a 250 regret going that small. And then they are ready for a larger bike in one summer. I am not saying that this bike is the perfest starter bike for everyone, no bike is but for a larger guy or girl it seems to work out well. Also it has been pointed out that it does not have lower fairings to destroy so if it is dropped it will be a lot cheaper to repair.

[shoota77]

I'll just let you know what I did and let you sort out what you want to do...
I did a lot of research and heard everything from start out on a 250 to get a bike you can ride for a couple years to "You're 6'5 so you're going to probably want a litre bike...but nothing less than a 600." Anyway, I bought a used Ninja 250 and learned some skills on that. After a year, I sold it for the exact same amount I bought it for and bought a bigger bike. The little Ninja was plenty fast (will beat almost all common cars off the line) and gave me an inexpensive opportunity to see if I even liked motorcycling and start learning motorcycle skills. If I laid it down or anything else parts are plentiful and cheap. Good luck with your decision whatever it may be.

[Heraclid]

Thanks! Yeah, luckily we have a pretty good group of local guys I found out about who have pretty much all said to stay under 600cc, although one is recommending the Suzuki SV650 for my height/weight. One thing about living here is that there are only one or two good reputable shops. I was in the Honda dealership a while back and they were telling me the CBR600F4i is a good starter bike. Suzuki said the GSX-R600 would be okay. Most everyone else seems to disagree on both counts, particularly the Suzuki (the Honda is at least a more forgiving bike). Lots of people start that way and do alright, but I'd rather not. I've heard many bad stories since about the Honda shop and most of the others around here too. Definitely would want to work on it myself as much as possible and cut out the dealer service depts, as I've done with the VX. I don't think bikes should be too hard to work on. The SV650 is appealing for the riding position and lack of expensive fairings, but it's no joke and I'm not sure I'd go there first. I am leaning toward a Ninja at this point. The SV650 looks and performs better, but that's irrelevant at this point. Basically, there aren't but a couple of truly good learner bikes being made these days. They all want to go really fast and most are pretty sensitive to the throttle.

[Dallas4u]

There definitely aren't many bikes good for beginners being import into the US. Over in Europe, they LOVE anything below a 650... there are TONS of options. The thing is, begineer bikes sell like MAD over here. So, don't think about having a problem selling whatever you buy when you are ready for your next bike... it is almost guaranteed to sell, and at a decent price as well.

The Ninja 250 and 500 are also (one of, if not THE) best selling beginner bikes out there. They are kinda hard to come by, so if you find one, and decide you want it, jump on it! Also, if you like the look of the naken SV650, you may consider the Suzuki GS500. Power that won't get you into too much trouble, naked styling, and you can find them pretty cheap.

Good luck, and keep us updated!