It's Time to Ride - First Time Motorcycle\Noobe

[matefrio]

Growing up motorcycles were against the rules. Now, almost 40 years later, I'd like to ride. Have an MSI Basic Rider course October 8th. I assume, if they don't scare me off a bike, a bike will be purchased.

I have a friend that goes on weekend jaunts, whenever possible for 3 - 5 hrs., I'm a big guy, don't need the speed but would like to keep up with his Harley Street Glide.

The Street Glide is my buddies 3rd bike, He started with a honda 750 cruzer, then a Dyna Glide and feels he went too small till this one.

Ok, so I've been looking at Victory bikes, Hondas, and Harleys with no love for one over the other. What would you all recommend? Oh, and I love black out\ denim black bikes.

Budget would be around 10k max.

 

[Sugar Land]

I am a Harley man myself but for 10K you wont get much. There are several clones out there that sure try to compete and are nicely priced.

 

[10mm and 45]

It's like buying a gun. Most bikes today are reliable. Just get one you're gonna be comfortable riding for 3-5 hours.

 

[twogunns]

The Honda VTX 1300 and 1800 can be found used alot less than ten grand and would easily keep up with his bike.

 

[ROGER4314]

Your choice must begin with an idea of what you want to do with it. Two bikes ago, I had a Honda Gold Wing 1500 six cylinder and took it all over the western US twice. One trip was 6000 miles and the second trip was 8000 miles. The 'Wing is wonderful on the road but it's a monster in traffic and around town. Get it on gravel, sand or dirt and the bike was what horror movies are made of.

The last bike was a Kawasaki Concours 1000 cc 4 cylinder with windshield and saddle bags. It was an extremely fast bike but wouldn't stand for being idled down or dogged slow in traffic. That bike needed to be revved. It wouldn't stand low speed operation at all.

Both bikes were between 700 and 800 pounds and a real handful.

My Sportster worked perfectly for me! It has a 1200cc Evolution engine and it's real smooth running for a big twin. Since my arthritic joints won't allow me to take long trips any more, the 550 pound bike is exactly the ride that I need. No woman is going to ride on the back so it is perfect for a single rider of "plus" size. The bike goes on reserve at 117 miles and that's plenty of ride for my old body! Galveston is 51/102 miles total. Perfect! Beaumont is 56/112 miles....perfect! Houston is about the same and the Sportster is the ideal ride for my type of riding.

So....you figure out what riding that you want to do then go from there.

Flash

 

[96fordsix]

I work in a bike shop, buy a used Honda VTX1300 or a Yamaha VStar 1100 used would be good to start for the kind of riding you want to do.

Just my 0.02 worth

 

[ROGER4314]

Maintenance is another consideration. Inquire what the periodic service costs. Usually, it's hundreds of bucks.

The sport bikes, my Concours and the dual sport bikes I rode require periodic valve adjustment that gets pretty involved. Cam follower clearances are adjusted by changing shims on top of the valve spring or under a basket that rides over the valve spring. (that's called "on top of the basket" or "under the basket"). You unbolt and pull the camshaft up, install the shim and after reinstalling the cam, recheck the clearance. On the 4 cylinder bikes with 4 valves per cylinder, that's 16 valves to fool with! It's not a cheap job!

The Harley and the Gold Wing have hydraulic lifters. You pretty much set them and forget them. Most of the other twins are like that, too.

Chrome rusts badly in Texas and the first thing I did when I got my Harley is to lay in a supply of chrome cleaner and polishes. Avoid spokes wheels if you can. Cast wheels (without steel spokes) are a lot easier to take care of.

OK....get shopping and good luck with your class!

Flash

 

[matefrio]

Thanks for the advice so far!

 

[mroper]

My first advice would have been to take a rider course but since you already doing that. I would suggest you try alot of bikes out. I am on the short side so I had to keep that in mind. I would start with something smaller and lighter then you can always move up.

 

[macshooter]

Whatever you do, don't waste your money baby stepping up from 250 to 750 to 1300. Especially if you are a big guy. You will adjust to the power of your bike pretty fast and soon you will be wishing you had bought something bigger.

For $10K I would be looking at the Jap cruisers. You may need to save up a little more though. I had a zook M109R and a C109R. Those are big powerful bikes and will eat 99% of Harleys for lunch. They are lighter and have a lot more plastic than Harleys do. VTX 1800 would be another one I would look at. Star has some nice big cruisers too. Just get the bike with the power you ultimately want and go easy till you learn it, and that won't take long. There's nothing out there stock that's hard to control if you don't act like an idiot. Even the ZX14 is easy to control. So don't be afraid of power. You'll save a lot of money, and enjoy your ride a lot more if you skip the baby steps.

I started on an '81 zook GS850G, then zook M109r, C109R, and ZX14, (with flys out, power commander, and Muzzy can = 200hp) None of them were hard to control, and I never felt like I needed more horsepower, which is always a good feeling.

 

[mitchntx]

I grew up on a bike ... mostly off-road. But with the in-line 4s came out, I had to have a KZ900. Damn, what a ride.
Went through most brands of Japanese road bikes and a BMW for a short while.

Goldwing was a motorhome ... like said above.
Suzukis could ever keep the carbs synced ... not an issue today.
Kawasakis were road blistering fast ... I'm too old for that now.
My FIL had a Harley ... FLH I believe. Granted it was in the AMF era, but what a piece of crap that thing was.
My last bike was a V-Strom 1000.

I've been without a bike for 3 years now. Kinda, sorta looking at a KLR for local commuting ...

 

[DBDawg]

The Honda VTX 1300 and 1800 can be found used alot less than ten grand and would easily keep up with his bike.

Very true, and great bikes. I ride a 2005 VTX 1300c. Hondas don't have the low end torque of a Harley, but when my Harley friends talking too much smack, I can leave them in the dust. I've made trips from Baytown to Big Bend with no problems...of course, and time you ride for six hours you're gonna be a little sore.

 

[Sugar Land]

If you are looking for a crazy fast bike then the Harley is not for you.

 

[matefrio]

If you are looking for a crazy fast bike then the Harley is not for you.

Don't want fast, just want to keep up with the guys and stay comfortable as possible for 3 - 5 hrs.

I don't see this as a commuter, as I don't plan to drive it down the hall of my home to my office. :-)

 

[Sugar Land]

I can do 6 to 8 hours on my Road King without losing comfort.

 

[4x4kayak2112]

Im a smaller guy, 5 ft 4 inch, 175 lbs. But i went from a ninja 250 to a kawi 636 to gsxr750 back to the 250. I ride with the local VFW and i can keep up with those Harleys. I have over 40k on my baby ninja and i love it. It tops out at 100 and get there quick. But if your any bigger than me then dont get one, its a small bike, but i get 75 mpg on my 4.? ish gallon tank when im riding with the guys. I love my bike, but i do want a Harley.



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[tmd11111]

I've been riding for over 30 years now. Best advice I could give is get some cheap piece of shit that fits you and ride it until you think your proficent and confident enough to step up to the bike you want. Its not a matter of if you drop it, crash it, wreck it, or just plain old screw it up such as tear up the clutch. It a matter of when. Thats right when cause one of the about is going to happen. Do it with a used pos and get it out of your system before you drop the big bucks on a new one.

 

[Jrygrn]

My Suzuki m50 is great for a 800cc with a few performance mod it keeps up with my friends fxtbi just fine and I'm a large guy.

 

[Anger]

I've been riding for over 30 years now. Best advice I could give is get some cheap piece of shit that fits you and ride it until you think your proficent and confident enough to step up to the bike you want. Its not a matter of if you drop it, crash it, wreck it, or just plain old screw it up such as tear up the clutch. It a matter of when. Thats right when cause one of the about is going to happen. Do it with a used pos and get it out of your system before you drop the big bucks on a new one.

I have to mostly agree with this statement. The problem I see is now days $800 don't buy squat like it did 10-20 years ago. A decent pos that doesn't need major work is like $2k to $3k.

With that being said, I'm a big bmw r bike fan. If I had 10k, Buy a two to three year old model r1200r with low miles (under 10k) and good tires. Granted finding the right deal can take time. I'm a big fan of the heated grips, abs breaks, system luggage, and the 110hp at 491 lbs wet weight is a thrill too.

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[matefrio]

This one does look tempting:::

2003 BMW K1200LT