- This topic has 5 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 16 years ago by grizzle.
hopefully new rider
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April 17, 2008 at 1:12 am #1286grizzleParticipant
Hi.
My name’s Grant, I’m 20 years old, and I got bitten by the bike bug a few weeks ago.
I’ve never driven a motorcycle before in my life, but with gas prices going up and up, the bright idea came to my mind that it’d be great to get a small bike to go around town in (I live in the NE FL area)… well, I looked around quite a bit and weighed my options ( and also stumbled upon this site).
So, I’ve been going to a few dealerships in the area over the past couple of days to kinda see what I was interested in.. I’m a taller guy (6’2″, 190lbs), and as much as I’d like to just get a Honda Rebel or a V-star 250 (I /really/ like the styling of that bike), two things conspire against me…
– I drive back and forth from Jacksonville to Orlando about once a month (my fiancee and I both have parents that live there), so I’d like to be able to ride the bike down there instead of borrowing her car to go.
– I feel like a clown sitting on the Rebel, and the V-star to a lesser extent.I’m considering selling my car to finance the bike (It’s my first car, which I got at 16 – had it through four, nearly five of the most dangerous driving years of my life and there’s no scratch on it)… so in my price range, I’ve really taken a liking to the Vulcan 500 LTD.. saw one in a showroom and kinda fell a little in love with it.
So, I’ve never ridden a bike, never driven a stick shift, and pretty much know nothing about bikes other than they look cool, they sip gas, and I really want one.
That’s me in a nutshell right now.
April 18, 2008 at 4:00 pm #5673sandplasmaGuestHi,
I’m in a similar situation. I’ve never driven a bike before but I do know how to drive stick. I would suggest that you learn stick if you have a friend who has stickshift car. At least so you know how the clutch works and get a better understanding of the system. I would recommend also that you sign up for the MSF course. I signed up for mine but its not until september
I wouldnt sell my car for a bike. You never know when you’ll find you need to go somewhere and its raining…
You can still ride I guess but its just that more dangerous.Just my .02c, take it for what its worth since I’ve never been on a bike and I’m just starting. Been doing lots of research though
This site helps alot.April 18, 2008 at 4:41 pm #5678BenParticipantWelcome Grizzle!
The bike bug is a very dangerous disease, if you aren’t careful it will consume your whole life!
The vulcan 500 is a great bike, and I think it would fit your situation well. I would suggest that you do the following:
1. Take the MSF course, they start you on 250cc bikes and go from the very basics to the more advanced skills. It’s a really great class.
2. Buy a used bike if you can, you will get the bike much cheaper and and generally you can sell them again for a few hundred dollars less than you paid originally. With a brand new bike you are taking a huge depreciation hit that you will never recover as soon as you drive the bike off the lot.
3. Keep the car. I did the same sort of thing and got rid of my car and bought a motorcycle. It’s a lot of fun, but it requires a lot of work. I wear full gear which means Leather Jacket, Leather Gloves, Full face Helmet, textil overpants, and motorcycle boots. Whenever I get on my bike I have to put all that crap on, and take all of it off when I arrive at my destination. Thats no problem if I am going to be driving the 20 minutes to work, but if I just want to hop down to the store thats a few blocks away it is a pain in the ass.
Now I know that a lot of people just don’t wear the gear so they don’t have to deal with this, but I would really recommend that you do. Every motorcycle rider I know has crashed at least once (including myself), and generally after they crash they start wearing ATGATT (All the gear all the time). I personally don’t like broken bones and skin grafts, thats why I wear my gear even going to the store a few blocks away.
Anyway I digress. What I was saying is that it is much easier to do small little errands if you also have a car, plus if it gets really hot or really rainy then you can take the car to work instead of the bike which makes things a lot more pleasent.
Hope that helps!
Ben
~Best Beginner Motorcycles AdminApril 18, 2008 at 5:14 pm #5679grizzleParticipantThe errands aren’t that big of a deal, since I’m engaged to a stunner who just happens to have a car of her own.. we usually work similar hours, so for errands, we’d just use her car.
As for the gear stuff, from reading up here and on some other beginner bike sites, I’m quite convinced and don’t need to be reminded about the importance of gear… I plan on factoring the 2-300 dollars for gear into the price that I can afford for a bike. I won’t be ridng without a full helmet, jacket, gloves, knee guards and boots at the least. I don’t plan on losing my skin in the event that I wreck.
As for the rain/heat.. my average commute is 10 or 15 minutes at the most, so I figure I can tolerate it for that long.
Thanks for the advice, all. I’ve learned a whole lot since I started ghosting around these forums a few weeks ago.
April 18, 2008 at 9:01 pm #5683BenParticipantHey Grizzle,
Sorry about jumping on my soapbox about gear, I’m not sure what people know and what people don’t. Let us know when you get your moto and post some pics of it!
Ben
~Best Beginner Motorcycles AdminApril 19, 2008 at 10:50 am #5692grizzleParticipantI didn’t mean to make it seem like I thought were being preachy… from re-reading my post, I must have sounded a little harsh. I apologize. If anything, with something as important as gear, we all *should* be preachy… because of you and some other folks talking about it so much, it convinced me that I shouldn’t ride without it.
I’ll definitely be posting pics, unfortunately though it looks like it’ll be the summer before I actually get my bike… though I suppose that isn’t that far away now!
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