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Recommendations for a first motorcycle?


ZeroDamage

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My wife very easily agreed to let me get a bike motorcycle and learn. Never driven one although I did drive a dirt bike a little when I was a teenager.

 

I guess this is my mid life crisis (at least I am not out looking for hookers or an 18-year old).

 

So are there any recommended first bikes motorcycles that are not crotch rockets? Curious what some experienced riders here have to say.

Edited by Flitterkill
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Your budget is a big determining factor, but cheaper cruiser alternatives are Suzuki Boulevard series or Honda Shadows. Do not buy a Goldwing or I will mock you for riding an old man's bike. If you've got a little more scratch, you can't beat a classic Harley. A used Softtail or Dyna would be a good size - comfortable enough for longer rides, but small enough to be easy to handle/maneuver in tight spaces until you're more experienced. My ride of choice is a H-D Roadking, as it's extremely comfortable for both me and my wife on the back. That would be a bike you step up to though - very big and very heavy.

 

MOST IMPORTANT PART:

I cannot recommend highly enough that you take a motorcycle rider training course. I don't care how much you know or how much experience you have, these courses should be mandatory. My dad had been riding for almost 30 years when he took the course, and he learned a bunch during it. I took it before I got my motorcycle endorsement on my license, and it was invaluable. I took it through ABATE of Indiana, and they might have courses available in Virginia as well.

 

A quick search turned up this site:

http://learn2ride.com/

 

At least in Indiana, taking and passing this course counts as the riding portion of your MC endorsement test for the BMV. The course I took also has a classroom aspect that prepared us for the written test.

 

Riding motorcycles is awesome and if you're anywhere near the south-western part of the state near the mountains, you will find some INCREDIBLE roads to ride. Take a course first though so you can be confident and do it SAFELY!

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Your budget is a big determining factor, but cheaper cruiser alternatives are Suzuki Boulevard series or Honda Shadows. Do not buy a Goldwing or I will mock you for riding an old man's bike. If you've got a little more scratch, you can't beat a classic Harley. A used Softtail or Dyna would be a good size - comfortable enough for longer rides, but small enough to be easy to handle/maneuver in tight spaces until you're more experienced. My ride of choice is a H-D Roadking, as it's extremely comfortable for both me and my wife on the back. That would be a bike you step up to though - very big and very heavy.

 

MOST IMPORTANT PART:

I cannot recommend highly enough that you take a motorcycle rider training course. I don't care how much you know or how much experience you have, these courses should be mandatory. My dad had been riding for almost 30 years when he took the course, and he learned a bunch during it. I took it before I got my motorcycle endorsement on my license, and it was invaluable. I took it through ABATE of Indiana, and they might have courses available in Virginia as well.

 

A quick search turned up this site:

http://learn2ride.com/

 

At least in Indiana, taking and passing this course counts as the riding portion of your MC endorsement test for the BMV. The course I took also has a classroom aspect that prepared us for the written test.

 

Riding motorcycles is awesome and if you're anywhere near the south-western part of the state near the mountains, you will find some INCREDIBLE roads to ride. Take a course first though so you can be confident and do it SAFELY!

 

Yes, I am taking a class here in Virginia first. I could take it next week but my mom is visiting so I had to push it back to the end of August. Let's just say that I am quite anxious to do it as there are a lot of bikes for sale locally for pretty cheap on Craigslist.

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When you click to edit a post the fast editor comes up. That doesn't let you change the post title. However now that you are in the fast editor look at the bottom of the text box - click on Use Full Editor and cahnge the title all you want.

 

- I changed it for you already

 

- Let me know if you still can't change the title

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The Rebels and Sportsters are good starter bikes, but if this becomes more than just a once-a-month-around-town hobby, then you're probably going to want something bigger long-term. From my experience, they are not very comfortable for long rides.

 

That Rebel for $2700 would be a good choice if you aren't sure how you will like it or how much you will ride. The Sportster would be good as well, although more expensive. Harleys do tend to hold their value pretty well, but beware! The addicition is strong, and you may find yourself craving just one more custom piece or "maybe I should see how much I can get in trade for this Sportster on this like-new Dyna over here..."

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If that's the case, you would be much happier with something larger than the last two you posted. There is no way I would want to ride 86 miles per day on a Sportster. Call me a wuss if you want, but they are just not comfortable for very long stretches, not to mention you will be very limited on the saddlebag space.

 

Honda Shadow, Suzuki Boulevard, Harley Dyna is about the size range that has a good balance between comfort, carrying ability, and manueverability (read: lighter). I believe the Harley Dyna series is a little larger than the Shadow and some smaller Boulevards, and it will be more expensive as well (great bikes though!) They will be a little pricier than the comparable models you listed, but if you look hard enough you can find used ones roughly in your price range. Last year a relative sold a 2 year old Honda Shadow with barely any miles on it plus side bags, highway bar and windshield for less than $5500. It was very confortable to ride and was VERY easy to handle in slow manuevering and tight spaces.

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I'd definitely recommend a Honda Shadow, I have one it is a good starter bike. I would upgrade but simply right now trying to pay down student loans seems to be more important. Evenually though I want to get this http://www.bmwmotorcycles.com/us/en/index.html?content=http://www.bmwmotorcycles.com/us/en/bike/urban/f800r/f800r_overview.html&notrack=1 Honda shadows are quite easy to manuever and aren't too top heavy. For a 43mile commute that would be pretty solid ride as well. I just took mine 400 miles 2 weekends ago to get it from Wisconsin to Nebraska. 400 miles was a bit far on it but 100 mile trips aren't too terrible.

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I cannot wait a year or two. I will sell my gaming rig and some other stuff first.
So have you figured out what to get yet? Just another thing to note overall there isn't a lot different from an 1980s to a 2000s models on cycles other than the newer ones are electronic for gages. Just something to consider older bikes performance wise of say 500cc 1985 compared to a 2005 of the same model only has a slight increase in power not really enough to notice I think anyways. Style wise too they don't change very much either for what you are looking for. What I am saying you can save yourself some money this way by getting an older model, the downside is the longer they sit in the offseason it seems in my experience anyways on the older bikes always work to be done come time to take them out after the offseason. Though cycles are simply to work on get yourself a manual and you can probably diagnosed and fix your cycle yourself. Edited by Demoner
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