First, I want to echo what many people have already stated: This site was a fantastic resource when I started looking into getting a bike a few months ago. I stumbled across it on a search (can’t even remember what bike I was searching) and it ended up being my primary resource for reviews and research. Ben, I’m so glad you set up a site dedicated to this!
I had ridden an XR125 as a kid, both on and off-road, but sold it in college and hadn’t ridden in almost 20 years. I had always wanted to get a bike as an adult, but never found the right time. Not that its the only reason, but with gas prices serving as a catalyst, now seemed like as good a time as any to take the plunge. I took my MSF a week and a half ago and bought a Ninja 650R last weekend.
She’s red and looks totally awesome! She’s very easy to ride, smooth, quick and handles amazingly well. I was looking for a sporty bike with a more upright seating position, and had looked at the GSX650F, but the seat was just a tad too high for me. Or rather, the Ninja seat seemed more of the perfect height for me. I’m 5′ 10″, 165lbs. Of note, the GS500F also seemed like a good height, but I was concerned I wouldn’t be happy with a 500 and didn’t want to deal with cold starts. Not that we have much cold weather in Austin, TX!
I decided on a Tourmaster jacket, Coretech gloves and a Scorpion EX-700 helmet. I’m interested in some Torque Street Jeans or something similar, but haven’t found any locally to try on. I’ve heard that Cycle Gear in Austin has a good selection, but haven’t visited them yet.
Anyway, I just wanted to post my thoughts and initial experiences and thank everyone on the site for contributing – the discussions on each of the review pages were particularly helpful as well! I look forward to getting to know my bike much better over the next few months!
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