If you don’t mind driving a little you might check into classes in nearby cities as well, surely some of them are more booked up than others.
BRAINS!!!
So, an update. Just finsished the MSF class with (almost) flying colors.
3 days in the class, 3 days on the range, followed by a written and skills test.
The written test I got 50 out of 50 correct.
For those not familar with the skills test, it’s a demerit system. You get 5 points for doing this wrong and 7 point for doing that wrong etc, 20 and under passes, 21+ fails…I should also mention here that our class had about 20 people. We were all together for the classroom portion and then 10 did the range on one Tuesdays and 10 on Wednesdays. So, I took the skills test and mostly fucked it up, got a 25, worst grade in the Tuesday class, they let me retake it the next day with the Wednesday riders, and I got a freakin’ ZERO!!! Also, I was the only one in the section to get a zero. Worst grade in my section, but when I retook it with the other section, I got the only zero.
Now the tough part. A co-worker of my BIL (the one I mentioned upthread) is rides on the same day as me, so he saw me fail. Now I just have to make sure I get word back to BIL that I got a zero the next day (we aren’t entirely on speaking terms at the moment).
Well, now I’m off to the DMV in the next few days to get my Class M endorsement (already took the DMV written test).
Now for a bike. I feel like I made a smart decesion. I was looking at a Sportster for a few days online, then I had a reality check and realized the engine is 3.5 times the size of what we were riding and it weighs about 200# more.
Anyone have any suggestions for a first bike for someone with no actual road experience. I mostly rode a Honda Rebel 250 and liked it, but I was thinking of maybe getting something in the 500 range, or maybe sticking with the 250, not sure yet. I would like to get a Sportster* someday, but I think I’ll be better off tooling around town on a smaller, cheaper bike for AT LEAST a season or a season and a half or whenever I feel comfortable.
*PLEASE don’t give me shit about wanting a Harley, I’ve heard it all before. I’m EXTREMELY open to other suggestions for bike for now and a bike for later, but if I want to read Harley trashing, it’s not hard to find it on this board (and others, I’m sure). Besides, I live in Milwaukee.
ETA for anyone that cares, I took this at MATC, and it was VERY easy to get into, but I think they mentioned that that’s because of the timing. People are taking finals right now, not learning to ride a motorcycle.
A Honda Shadow 750 was my first bike and I still have it. Nice low seat, decent power, 65 MPG. It’s a great bike.
Congratulations! I rode an older Honda Nighthawk, 700 cc, mostly because I wanted a shaft-driven bike. That was my first and only motorcycle, but I rode that as my only vehicle for over a year. I learned on 250 cc motorcycles like you did. By the end of a few months of riding, I was starting to feel like that wasn’t really enough. It would lag severely when my girlfriend rode with me because between the two of us we were putting about 320 lbs. on the bike; she wasn’t a small girl and I was starting to get fat. If you’re riding almost exclusively by yourself a smaller motorcycle is okay, but for carrying two with any regularity I’d say that 700 cc is a bare minimum unless you’re only riding on surface streets, or unless you and your partner are on the small side.
There are some real monsters, with bigger engines than cars. Tuning, engine size, and net weight will make big differences in handling. Funny enough, like a bicycle, seat height will make some motorcycles unridable for you if it’s too high, and that’s not all that adjustable on many bikes.
One of the problems I can think of with a large heavy motorcycle is if you screw up and drop it, it’s really hard to get back up; or if you’re not strong enough to handle the dead weight in odd circumstances it’s kind of dangerous. I had a couple of situations on hills where the Nighthawk was just about as much as I could manhandle alone, and I dropped it in a driveway with a heavy slope once. That was a bitch to deal with.
I pondered the same question as the op and my first and only experience on a bike verifies the sentiment that it’s not a crossover skill. It helps to understand how a clutch works but the autonomic skill doesn’t transfer.
I don’t consider either skill requiring more than 5 minutes of instruction and some practice in a parking lot to learn. Wish I could afford a bike but that got knocked down to the bottom of the toy list.
Joey,
You seem like a smart guy, considering a smaller bike for starters.
You’re gonna hear a lot of guys tell you they started on large bikes and all went well. It cases where it didn’t go well, they don’t (can’t) talk about it.
Buy a used 250cc, ride it for a year, and you can sell it for the same amount you bought it for. Many intelligent new riders get 250s and resell after a year or so. There are always new riders looking for them, and experienced riders selling them.
That’s good. Nobody got a zero in my class. I got the lowest score. I just let off the gas for a moment in a turn. I’d been riding dirt bikes for years though. Then again, nobody in my class failed either. I guess everyone has their off days.
I’d recommend you get something around 500 cc. A 250 is too small to haul most people.
Hi Joey,
Congrats!
I have an older Honda CB500T and it has worked pretty good for a starter bike. When I was first starting to look for a bike one of my work contacts who is a very experienced rider/racer suggested I start with something like a Honda Hawk 450.
After 3-1/2 years I’m still ok with the 500 but I’m working on a Triumph 750 with my brother.
Good luck,
Rob
[quote=“Joey_P, post:1, topic:481385”]
…I’ve always wondered if knowing how to drive stick shift would help in learning to ride a motorcycle…
Learning how to ride a motorbike is incredibly easy (if you can ride a bicycle). In fact, the reason so many newbies crash is that it is so easy. So off goes the newbie handling the bike rather well after minutes of acclimatization.
Then when something unexpected happens: some asshole turns left in front of him (or her), he hits gravel, or one of a zillion other things that can (and do) happen, lack of experience bites him in the ass - majorly.
So yeah, you can ride easily. But for crissake get some proper training first. [End of lecture.]
[quote=“bikebloke, post:49, topic:481385”]
I’m going to tell myself that you read the entire thread and not just the OP and that that’s a general rant and not directed at me.
[quote=“Joey_P, post:50, topic:481385”]
Absolutely, and it wasn’t a rant; more of a plea.
And in case anyone cares, I just went and looked at some Honda Shadow 750’s. I was REALLY surprised. The bike has to be 1.5 to 2 times as wide as the rebels, it weighs, what 200lbs more and the engine is three times as big. Now, I didn’t ride it, all I did was stand it up, but, boy, just based on that, it didn’t feel any heavier. It felt just fine. Tomarrow, I want to sit on them again (if I have time) and really try leaning them back and forth to see if I can still hold the weight, I also need to see if the foot pegs* are in a comfortable spot. The other thing I’ll have to do is run the numbers, see, the 2007 (or 06 don’t remember) 600cc is a lower price, but it would be financed through a third party that the guy said would be about 8 or 9% OTOH, the 2009(or 8) 750cc that I REALLY liked would be financed through Honda at 3.99%. For practical purposes I’d rather take the used bike (but I liked the new one more), so we’ll have to see what the numbers come back as.
*the used bike had foot boards (is that the right term), which they say you get used to, but the seem a little uncomfortable. Any opinions on that? Now that I think about it, it looked like they probably popped off if I didn’t like them.
I wouldn’t worry about the size of a 750. I’m about 140 pounds and have no trouble with mine. Worst case if you drop it, you can lift it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6HTs9x3xBE&feature=related
The nice thing about a 750 is it’s big enough to be respectable, but not TOO big. You might be like me and stick with it for 4+ years, with no plans to upgrade.
I get the feeling I’ll end up (IF I get one) with the smaller 2007 600cc. It’s quite a bit cheaper, and being used, I’m made to understand, it will hold it’s value a bit better then the new one. We’ll have to see what they come up with in prices. On the off chance that with the deal Honda is offering the two bikes come close in price, I’ll have to think about it (hey, maybe I could get them to toss in a helmet to sway me), but I think it’s safe to assume the older model is the one I would wind up with.
BTW Here’s the one I’m looking at. I’m not wild about the color, but overall I still like the bike.
BTW, FWIW, Here’s one I REALLY like (click the red/white color circle to see the color I like.
The funny thing is, the part I’m most nervous about is getting the bike home. it’s about a 5 mile ride on ALL main roads going about 40. I’m thinking I’ll see if they’ll deliver it to my house (I believe the pick up and deliver for maintenance, otherwise I’ll probably find someone to bring it back for me, OR I’ll go WAAAY out of the way to stay on slightly less main roads.)
ETA, they DO pick up and deliver for maintenance, so I assume they’ll be able to deliver it if I buy one.
My first and only was a dirt bike…
I could go forward fine through the gears and me having fun…
But, they were negligent on the stopping procedure…
Like when, I had to stop NOW…:eek:
I did not know the front brakes were separate from the back brakes, buy virtue of a lil’ wee pedal under foot…
Ok, so I went over the handlebars…at a high rate of slow…
yay wee…:rolleyes:
-.-
I rode the hell out of my 600 VLX years ago. And I do mean rode. I put close to 20k miles on it in just over a year. Hit a deer with it, never did much maintenance on it and it ran like a charm for years. I took it through most of the states east of the Mississippi and had few problems taking it that far.
One of the biggest reasons I got a bigger bike was to be able to have more room for stuff when I traveled. I sold it a few years ago and felt a bit of a loss about it as well. But I hope the next owner got as much enjoyment out of it as I did.
Yeah I was a bit nervous too, but I had plenty of seat time during the MSF course. Just gotta relax and use what you know. I rode about 50 miles to get mine home, including a mountain road with switchbacks. Luckily only the first 3 or 4 miles was in an urban area.
Howyadoin,
Thanks for taking, and congratulations for passing the MSF course. Another thing I’d recommend… Pick up a copy of “Proficient Motorcycling” by David Hough. It’s probably saved my life on more than one occasion.
The VLX is a great bike, and buying used is definitely the way to go for your first bike. A good guide to what to look for and at when buying used is Used Motorcycle Evaluation Guide
Also - be conspicuous! Until your spidey senses are fully developed, don’t give the other guy an excuse to say “I didn’t see you”. Yellow attracts attention, just ask McDonalds! A yellow helmet will help in the daytime, reflective tape on the helmet and/or reflective fabric on your gear will help at dawn, dusk and night.
One problem new riders have is that in most cases, the turn signals aren’t self-cancelling. Drivers don’t have to think about this, but it is crucial for you. Don’t put yourself in the situation where you’ve just taken a right turn and don’t shut off your signal, and approaching the next intersection the car perpendicular to you thinks you’re turning right and pulls out. This is a Bad Thing. Practice hitting the turn signal button when you shift into second gear.
If things get confusing, in most cases all you have to do is squeeze… Pull in the clutch and apply the front brake judiciously. It beats stopping via impact.
Always pre-flight the bike. You don’t have to go crazy, unless the bike has sat a while. Look at the chain for looseness or corrosion, look for puddles, etc. The valve caps that show green/yellow/red based on pressure are a great thing, especially if your valve stems are in a hard-to-reach spot.
Remember where your fuel reserve switch is, and practice going back and forth while you ride
After you’ve got your first season under your belt, think about taking the MSF Experienced RiderCourse. It’s basically the same curriculum as the Basic RiderCourse, but you do it on your own bike.
Be safe,
-Rav
2007 Shadow Spirit.
They are gonna run the numbers Thursday morning and if I like what I hear, they’ll deliver the bike Friday.
Nail 'em to the wall on those numbers, they can’t be selling a lot right now. Now is your time for a good deal.