After some nudging from Sam I decided to write this little article about who I am, why I made this website, and why you should listen to me and not your buddies. Feel free to post your comments after you read the article with any other questions you might have!

Why I Made This Website

We'll skip to the second question right away, because I think it is more important than who I am. About 4-5 years ago I saw a couple people riding motorcycles in my home town in Idaho and I thought, "Hey, that looks fun, I want to do that!" A few more weeks went by and I saw another guy on a motorcycle, in hindsight it must have been an old brightly colored Kawasaki Ninja 250, and the one thing I remember thinking is, "Man! That is the ugliest motorcycle I have ever seen, why would anyone ride something like that?"

Needless to say I was a potential squid in the making. I went to the Honda website and found my dream motorcycle (the one that looked the coolest since I didn't know anything about engines). The motorcycle I had my eye on was the beautiful Honda CBR 1000. Unfortunately it was very expensive, so even though I had a whole plan on how to save up for it, I would still have to wait a good year or two before it would be mine. I was hooked on motorcycles at this point so I started researching them everyday!

While surfing the Internet I came across a website, I think it was beginnerbikes.com or something like that. Anyway it was a website and motorcycle forum where new riders could ask veteran riders questions about this wonderful sport. That is where I learned that 600cc+ is too much motorcycle for most people to handle, and lots of people crash because they lack the proper throttle control. I also learned that I should wear a leather jacket and other protective gear as well. Before this time I never gave a second thought to anything besides what my future motorcycle would look like, and how cool I would be cruising around on it. It was an awesome forum and I learned a lot, hell, it might have even saved my life!

One day I tried to go back to the forum and it was gone, and I was pretty devastated. I kept checking back again and again but it never returned, I guess the guy couldn't afford the bandwidth or something.

Who I am

A year later I moved to the California bay area where there was (and is) a huge motorcycle community! I got a decent paying job so I set out to buy my dream motorcycle that I had been researching ever since I found beginnerbikes.com: The Suzuki GS500. When I got that bike I was super happy, even if it did stretch my budget a bit. I was surprised at how sensitive the throttle was when I first rode it, and I'm very glad I didn't start off with anything bigger. I learned all the basics on that motorcycle, and then I took the MSF course and got my license. After about 6 months I was forced to sell it because of poor choices I made.

My Honda F2 Ratbike!My Honda F2 Ratbike!All hope was not lost though, my friend had a 2002 Honda f4i that he let me borrow for about 6 months until he sold it. After riding that I had about a year of riding under my belt, not a lot, but enough to know I would be riding motorcycles for life! After much scheming I got a cheap Honda f2 ratbike for $900, and I rode that for a good 8 months before I eventually sold it as well. The main reason I sold it was because so many people had told me it wasn't a safe bike to ride (the front end was from a 1984 Kawasaki GPZ 900 with its infamous anti-dive system) Basically it was a piece of crap and I'm glad I sold it.

I was bikeless for another year, and during that time I posted on other motorcycle forums, but eventually my addiction had grown to the point where I felt I needed to contribute to the community through more than just forum posts. Best Beginner Motorcycles was born!

Why You Should Listen to Me

Well maybe I should title this section, "How I write reviews". A lot of people might not like this, but I haven't ridden every motorcycle that I review. I make a point not to write my articles in a way that people would think that, but sometimes people make assumptions and that's something I can't really avoid. If I haven't ridden the bike, how do I review it? Well I research it!

With every review I literally spend hours combing the Internet, magazine articles, forum posts, consumer reviews, basically everything I can get my hands on to figure out all the pros and cons of the bike. I try to take all that information that is spread out, and bring it together in one well written article so people won't have to spend hours of their time just to figure out that a particular motorcycle isn't for them. The guides on the other hand are 100% all my own experience and knowledge, so when you read them, you KNOW that I have been through whatever it is you are reading.

Should you listen to me more than your friends? I'm not sure. Your friend may be a more experienced rider than I am, but that may also work against them if they can't remember how hard it was to control a motorcycle when they first started riding. My goal is to make people aware that motorcycles are dangerous, but they can be a lot of fun if you have the proper safety gear and ride a motorcycle appropriate for your skill level. If I hadn't found beginnerbikes.com who knows what type of rider I would be today, or if I would even be around today...

My Bike!

I wanted to end this on a positive note so here is a picture of my motorcycle! It's a 2001 Kawasaki ZX-6R! It's still relatively new to me (as of 7-18-07), and I'm having a blast riding it all around the bay area. If you see me at Alices or 4 corners give a wave and tell me what you think of the site!

Hope everyone enjoyed this trip down memory lane. Keep the rubber side down!

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