[A]

I’m always on the lookout for a good deal.

I do weight less than 150 lb., I’ve put over 160 mi. on it so far, the forks do feel a bit soft, but only under heavy braking.. in the corners are still okay.

Progressive springs seems like a bad idea:

Linky

[A]

IMO 500cc bike weigh just about as much as 650cc bike, if you’re a beginner who’s confident enough to feel okay on a 500cc bike, might as well go with a 650cc. But for 102 lb. person, Ninja 250 might be a better beginner who has little experience.
I just bought a 2005 Ninja 250, little roughed up cosmetically, engine needed fresh fuel and carb cleaner, I’ve ridden it for 160 mi. since last week, including 70+ mph on highways. i spent less than $750 including registration and title cost:

[A]

Speed can be your friend when riding off-pvement, too low of speed there won’t be enough momentum to keep your ride stable on rough surface..

If you encouter sand, point your front wheel where you want to go and give more throttle, play in the grass field to practice if you need to..

Keep hands/arms relaxed, no death grips, be flexible in your riding position.

Look where you want to go, not obsticles that you’re trying to avoid.

[A]

I’m 5’9″, 150 lb. I started riding with a 1999 BMW F650:

It was a used bike at a good price, cheap to operate, minimal maintenance, rock solid engine, bought it with 19,000+ mi., sold it 13 months later at 31,000+ mi.

[A]

so, why not try it.. trials riding builds road riding skills, learn better control/balancing skills.. speed is low, so the likely hood for bodily injury is less severe than road riding, less likelyhood of other traffic to run into.

[A]

Awww ‘comon, even girls do it:

[A]

[A]

That helmet just add more weight to your head and the very top of rider/vehicle combination… rider gets tired quicker, bike/rider becomes more top heavy… for $500

[A]

I have been riding road bikes since I was a teenager, I pedaled coast to coast, twice before I turned 21. I was a bicycle messenger in Seattle, SF, CA and NYC. I raced (NCCC, USCF, UCI) road bike, (NORBA, UCI) mt. bike and downhill, I have about 40-50,000 miles in my lifetime. I have also paticipated in AMA sanctioned enduro and hare scramble events on dirt motos.
The cycling experience I have when I was a messenger got me the most road-worthy skill for motorcycling. Sord of develped a sixth sense that anticipate for catastrophic events before they happen in traffic, also the reflex to look for ways out of impact instead of using the brakes when obsticles occur, even if it means to go off pavement (where dirt moto riding skills are helpful).

[A]

These are local supermoto riders:

Me in the backyard:

[A]

I have put about 6600 miles on my Gladius since May 2009, before that about 6,000 miles on a 2002 SV650S. The Gladius is a bargin of a bike for its performance. The wide handlebar, upright riding position and low (and narrow) seat height make it a great starter bike and allow plenty of performance to grow into. The power output is very tame and linear, not as abrupt as earlier FI or carb version of SV650, hence easier to operate for beginners.

[A]

IMO, barend mirrors are bad. Not only do they add width to your vehicle, defeats the nature of a moto to be narrow and nimble to get through tight spaces; but also their location take your eyes off the direction that your moto is traveling. At 40 mph, additional 0.1 second for eyes to return to forward vision, that’s about a bike length extra of braking distance.

There are plenty of (inexpensive) options for wider mirrors, These are pretty cheap.

[A]

I started riding on a 1999 BMW F650, I’m 5’10” w/32″ inseam, I didn’t flatfoot while standing over the bike, I also managed never dropping the bike on pavement.. only while riding in the dirt.

IMO, SV650 is a great bike to start, especially in SoCal where highway speed on a bike is somewhat important. I’d avoid the 600 class sportbikes for beginners.

[A]

As a “do-it-myself” kinda person, I have no fear of looking into Chinese bikes.
My 250cc chinese scooter is likely the best $1699 I’ve spent on a two-wheel vehicle, over 12,000 km since 2008 without any mechanical issues (only a couple of flat tires), it gets well over 80 mpg, $35 to insure for the whole year.
The Chinese brands have come a long way, Lifan is a good brand.

[A]

BTW, Bandits are heavy enough bike if you use sidestand alone, it could sink into the hot pavement.. they are somewhat of a pain to get on centerstand, just make sure you put some good weight onto the foor lever of the centerstand for leverage.

Check out http://www.maximum-suzuki.com for weath of Bandit knowledge.

[Author]

Posts