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2016 Honda CB500X ABS: Another Perfect Beginner Motorcycle
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AmorylParticipant
things like this make me so eager to get on a bike and learn to ride. plus it’ll take time to become comfortable on longer trips…but someday…
AmorylParticipantI’m new yet, but I think I just might be in the “get it” rather than “doesn’t get it” but time will tell
hey I noticed you’re in the bay area, which is where I’ll be when I finally get my bike. maybe one day after I’ve practiced enough to be allowed on the highway, I’ll join in on one of your group rides (if you allow us cruisers with ya )
AmorylParticipantis that here on the site?
if so I think I may have read some of it, I’ll take another look. the sportsbikes aren’t my thing, but I DO like to read up on what else is out there, and how they work. I’m not saying I’ll never get on a sportbike, or don’t like people who like sportbikes, but my preferences lie elsewhere (I’d drive a wrangler over a mustang, for instance…unless it’s a shelby cobra, everyone’s gotta have an exception) but hey, like they say, as long as you’re on two wheels, it’s all good.
AmorylParticipantheh, thats exactly what I want to hear! The Virago 250 is on the top of my current list of “possible bikes to get” I know that it’s not a speed demon on the highways (but then again, neither am I) but it’s nice to know that some people CAN get them on there.
I’m really wanting to get something in the 250 range, both for the fact that it’s smaller, lighter, and cheaper; and for the fact that they’re better on gas than the mid to heavy bikes.
I gather you enjoy your Virago? it looks pretty slick, how’s it ride?
AmorylParticipanta lot of the safety claims I’ve seen about sportsbikes is the way you sit on them, wheras cruisers you sit with your legs a bit forward of you, which makes it a bit more difficult to do sharp low speed turns than on a sportsbike where you’re in a more head forward position. but in the end the bike that you feel comfortable sitting on is going to be safer than the one you’re constantly distracted by being in an unnatural position. in the end the individual quirks of each style of bike (a lot of people say dual sports are easily the safest, best to learn on bar none…) aside, they’re all fairly equally safe/unsafe depending on the rider. as best I can gather. personally I feel the lower seat on the cruiser that makes it easier for me to flatfoot the ground makes me feel safer on a cruiser over a dual sport or a sports bike’s higher seats. choose the bike you want, sit on it to make sure you can sit comfortably, and practice will make it safer thats what I’m planning.
AmorylParticipantoh I much more agree with this site than the other I mentioned, I was just a bit stunned by the difference. I can easily understand people who say the 250’s are too anemic and I should go for the 600 (or 500 if you can find one) but saying I should, or in one case a 5’4 115lb woman should get a 4cyl 100hp bike for their first one just seemed SO far over the top that I had to wonder. heck there’s another site I’ve looked at who still says that a beginner should pick up a 125cc for a year before moving up to the 250cc. so really like has been said, it’s all whats comfortable, and honestly it’s hard to really know what you’ll be comfortable riding out the gate before you ride it but I prefer to err on the side of caution and take the advice of good people like BBM and BB.org over people who’ve been riding monsters for decades and have forgotten what it’s like for us new riders.
in all honesty there was a bit of sarcasm in my topic, as I already leaned far more twards them being nuts over BBM being too conservative.
AmorylParticipantI’ve got a jeep Wrangler and we wave to each other most everywhere, except seattle…someone must have forgotten to send them the memo.
AmorylParticipantI’ve been paying a lot more attention to motorcycles lately (I’ve always been aware of them, but recently developed an interest in having one, resulting in me looking at a lot more of them on the roads) and I’ve been seeing a LOT of women on cruisers lately. I’m not sure if it’s just that I’ve been paying more attention to the motorcycles (other than to make sure I don’t hit them) lately, or if there’s a sudden upsurge of female riders. either way, it’s a pretty cool sight. though I coulda done without the pair of biker chicks coming out of the gas station with a 40oz each in the plain paper bag, slam em down while straddling their bikes, and then hitting the road sans helmet. not to mention just dropping the empty can and bag next to their bikes rather than throwing them away in the trash can 7 feet away.
AmorylParticipantjust as a note, I’ve got a long history of becoming interested in a hobby, studying it for months, up to a year or more, before ever actually getting into the actual hobby itself. paintball being a prime example, I’d been a member of several forums for a good year before ever playing my first game (a game I traveled near 900 miles to attend) when I mentioned at said game that it was my first time playing the response was largely “wow thats a long way to drive to play….er….wait a minute! you’v been on the forum for over a year!”
I guess I just like to be sure of something before I commit
AmorylParticipantyou ever get the feeling that a lot of this is difficult only because we make it more difficult by trying to think too much about it? I rode bicycles all my childhood, and no one ever once mentioned countersteering. not once, not until I started reading about motorcycle riding did I ever hear the word. but I’ll bet you dollars to dingleberries that I countersteered all the time while riding my bike, especially down long hills where I had to turn at the bottom. did I conciously know I was countersteering? did I even know that I was doing what is called countersteering rather than turning like I would in a car? no, it came naturally and without conscious thought. it’s when someone tries to tell you “you need to do this, this, and this at this time” that you’d screw it up, even though that was exactly what you’d been doing all the time. funny thing, the mind
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