I personally think Jonathan is crazy! haha! I’ve had older bikes before (1984 kawasaki GPZ 900) and they are a pain! You have to check a lot of stuff to get them up to spec, and hope that all the previous owners have been nice to it. With a bike that old you also have to pray that it has been run the whole time and not just stuck in someone garage to rot. Thats what happened with my old kawasaki (never road it by the way, just fixed it up and sold it for a profit, I bought it non-running). There was rust inside the gas tank, one of the cylinders had water or some type of liquid in there, plus it needed a new battery and new tires. I sold it before I wasted too much money on it, but in my opinion old bikes are generally not worth it.
Jonathan does have a very nice bike though, and if I saw a deal like his I might scoop it up as well. I guess it depends on if the bike is in good shape or not. In general I definitely wouldn’t recommend something that heavy or that powerful as a first bike, but people are going to do what they are going to do. I know guys that have started on Yamaha r1’s as their first bike and they are still alive, granted they are slow as hell in the twisties and not very skilled riders. The whole point of choosing a less powerful and less heavy motorcycle as your first bike is it makes it a hell of a lot easier to learn on. You want to ride your bike not be scared of it.
Ben
~Best Beginner Motorcycles Admin