[Andrew]

Not bad. I like naked bikes though. It’s a lot of bike though.

[Andrew]

They had 4 brands but the only ones I can remember are HJC, Shoei and Joe Rocket.

[Andrew]

Do the helmets in the store have a sticker on the helmet or the tag? I tried on some in a local store and didn’t see any tags. Maybe I was looking in the wrong place.

[Andrew]

I have looked online and found Pazzo and some others as I also have smallish hands. It looks like the adjustable levers are mostly for sport bikes.

[Andrew]

I was covering the front brake with my last 3 fingers, thumb and first finger on throttle, during MSF. The rider coach told me not to do it because if things went wrong the lever could break or crack a finger.

[Andrew]

How hard should it be to get the helmet on and off your head? I tried on a few last night and some were a tight squeeze to get on but seemed ok once they were on. Getting them off was a pain, especially since I wear earrings.

[Andrew]

I would say that you could kick up twice but that the engine won’t like it. The revs will be completely off.

[Andrew]

+1 on the Nighthawk. Rode one at MSF and it was good for a noob. The Virago is now called a VStar but most of the used bikes will have the older name. The GZ 250 is the 250cc version of the Suzuki S40 Boulevard. I saw a 750cc Shadow at my local dealer last night and it was pretty big. Someone who hasn’t ridden before will easily get intimidated by it’s size and weight. I can’t even imagine trying to learn the counter-weight u-turns on one of those.

[Andrew]

If it was just a couple of hours on country roads then I’d consider it to be honest. What worries me is getting the bike from somewhere in the Chicago burbs to those country roads. I have passed the MSF but have not ridden in traffic. Chicago traffic would be more of a baptism of fire than I’m looking for.

I will do some calling locally to see whats available but craigslist has no 250 cc bikes in my area and my local Honda dealer has no 250cc bikes of any description until the 2009’s start arriving.

[Andrew]

MSRP on the ’09 is $3999. Spoke to one dealer in Chicago that is expecting another shipment of ’08’s but his OTD price of $4799 is too rich for my blood.

[Andrew]

MSF covered basic shifting and that was it. I got the hang of shifting during the class but not quite the hang of smooth shifting.

[Andrew]

Blipping?

[Andrew]

Are most sellers going to be ok with taking it to a mechanic before buying it?

[Andrew]

I had a look at their website and they have motorcycle trailers that would work. If they don’t have any of those locally wouldn’t a moving truck with a ramp be easier to load? There should be enough surfaces to use to secure the bike inside right?

[Andrew]

“Bob’s your uncle” is a British saying that basically means that something will work well or easily etc. I would have to guess that Matt is one of our Canadian contingent and that it’s also a common saying there.

Andrew

[Author]

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