[Ben]

Hey matt!

I absolutley LOVE the old interceptors! If I were to get 1 bike from the 80’s it would either be the Honda Hawk or the Interceptor. There is one that parks at my work that is all white and it looks so clean for being so old. Older bikes definitely have a much different feel than modern super-bikes, and I think at least some of the time they look a lot better. Take the current crop of yamaha R6’s, I think they look UGLY as all hell. In fact, I think they’ve looked ugly for the past 5 years. They look small, cramped, and their fairings are split into so many pieces it looks like shattered glass.

Give me an old honda over a modern yami any day!

Ben
~Best Beginner Motorcycles Admin

[Ben]

I personally think Jonathan is crazy! haha! I’ve had older bikes before (1984 kawasaki GPZ 900) and they are a pain! You have to check a lot of stuff to get them up to spec, and hope that all the previous owners have been nice to it. With a bike that old you also have to pray that it has been run the whole time and not just stuck in someone garage to rot. Thats what happened with my old kawasaki (never road it by the way, just fixed it up and sold it for a profit, I bought it non-running). There was rust inside the gas tank, one of the cylinders had water or some type of liquid in there, plus it needed a new battery and new tires. I sold it before I wasted too much money on it, but in my opinion old bikes are generally not worth it.

Jonathan does have a very nice bike though, and if I saw a deal like his I might scoop it up as well. I guess it depends on if the bike is in good shape or not. In general I definitely wouldn’t recommend something that heavy or that powerful as a first bike, but people are going to do what they are going to do. I know guys that have started on Yamaha r1’s as their first bike and they are still alive, granted they are slow as hell in the twisties and not very skilled riders. The whole point of choosing a less powerful and less heavy motorcycle as your first bike is it makes it a hell of a lot easier to learn on. You want to ride your bike not be scared of it.

Ben
~Best Beginner Motorcycles Admin

[Ben]

Pants are probably the biggest pain in the ass when it comes to motorcycles, mainly because they aren’t “cool” like motorcycle jackets and motorcycle gloves are. Lets face it, a lot of us (if not all of us) started to ride motorcycles at least a little bit because of the ego factor, and how it gives you at least +10 badass points. That being said, I always wear motorcycle overpants.

It only takes about 20-30 seconds to put on my overpants because they zip all the way up the side. One of the reasons I do this is because when I first started riding my motorcycle mentor Ray said, “When you crash, what do you think you will be sliding on?” most likely its going to be your ass.

The only motorcycle accident I have ever got in was where I flipped over the bars when my front end locked up and I was thrown forward to avoid smashing into another car. When I got up and brushed myself off (I was wearing full gear), the ONLY damage was to my gloves which I used to catch myself, and my first gear overpants which had a few holes in the knees (it just tore the waterproof coating, not the abrasion resistance material https://www.bestbeginnermotorcycles.com/first-gear-textile-overpants-crash-tested ). My jacket and helmet were completely untouched. I was on my way to work at the time and since I was wearing full gear I wasn’t hurt at all and went on to work a full 8 hour shift no problem. If I had been wearing jeans instead I have no doubt that I would have been picking gravel out of my knee, or had a nurse doing that in the ER. It would have turned a minor accident into a large medical bill and a missed day of work.

I really don’t think people realize 2 things:

1. How easily jeans rip

2. How much a skinned knee (or skinned ass) hurts.

I know how easily Jeans tear when exposed to pavement, in fact I demonstrate it in this youtube video I made a while back:

(note, I think some people have said that because I was wearing a knee pad which is a hard surface that the jeans ripped easier, I would have to disagree since your knee is made out of BONE, which is hard as hell. Go ahead, touch your knee, feel how hard it is? It’s probably harder than that kneepad I was wearing).

Now like most people I too have fogotten how bad a skinned knee hurts, but just last week I managed to skin my knee on a mat while sparring with some buddies and that son ofa bitch hurt! It’s just now almost healed, and it was barely a scrape at all!@ I highly recommend people go walk out like I did in the video in a pair of jeans and fall to your knees, it will hurt and you will be cut. Now imagine that at 10, 15, 25, 65 miles per hour!! Plus I don’t know about you but I rarely follow the speedlimit, I usually cruise at 75mph at least.

Some further reading:

https://www.bestbeginnermotorcycles.com/top-7-things-will-happen-motorcycle-crash-nsfw-pics-video

https://www.bestbeginnermotorcycles.com/motorcycle-crash-chris-young

Motorcycles are a blast and a great hobby, but I am too goddamn good looking to risk getting road rash to the point of looking like a burn victim. It’s your choice, and you have to decide what level of safety gear you are willing to put on. I ride with textile overpants and I know some people who say that is crazy and will ONLY wear leather pants. It’s all about your personal risk assesment.

~Best Beginner Motorcycles Admin

[Ben]

Hey Everett,

What type of bike are you looking for? A dual sport? A cruiser? or a sportbike?

Ben
~Best Beginner Motorcycles Admin

[Ben]

My absolute favorite cruiser is the Kawasaki Vulcan 500. The engine is based on the ninja 500 engine and it looks like a full size cruiser even though it has a much more forgiving engine. If you were looking for something smaller I would check out the Honda Rebel 250, there is one that parks next to me at school and it looks amazing.

Ben
~Best Beginner Motorcycles Admin

[Ben]

You said

I understand that the normal logic is never buy a new bike for your first ride. I will probably drop it, and that will be much more depressing with a new bike. However, it seems that the upgrades to the 2008 model might be worth the extra 1k I would spend vs a used in this area, even given the danger of dropping.

and I would have to say that the 1k extra is DEFINITELY worth it. The new 08 is a much more solid bike than the older ninja, so much so that I think it really is worth the extra money. The bike has gobs more midrange, feels a lot more solid, is very roomy, and brakes on a dime. The older ninja by contrast feels ‘rickity’, and not very stable, although you wouldn’t be able to tell unless you have ridden both the old and the new. That being said, the old ninja is still good, but I really think that all the improvements made to the new ninja justify the price. Plus if you choose to sell it to get a bigger bike, I bet you will be able to get most of your money back.

Ben
~Best Beginner Motorcycles Admin

[Ben]

Fantastic points SuperMotoRider, I would also like to ad that the breaks on the 08 ninja 250 are vastly improved over the old version. The ninja 250 is going to beat most cars off the line, and the excuse that they aren’t fast enough to get out of trouble is ridiculous. I’ve ridden 250’s, 500’s, 600’s and even 1000cc motorcycles and I don’t think i’ve ever needed to open up the throttle and jet out of a situation at top speed. A good rider will see and anticipate problems before they even arrise.

The only situations I can think of where speeding up might be a viable escape plane is if someone is road raging on you and trying to knock you down (VERY unlikely unless you are an asshole rider), or if someone were to merge into you. Even the merging one is a big stretch for me, whenever someone has not seen me and started to pull into my lane I usually brake/check/swerve. I brake first (because its not safe to swerve while you brake) and as I’m doing so I’m checking the lane next to me for any cars (although usually i’m in the fast lane, so I would be checking the shoulder for obsticals), and then I swerve out of the way of the car. I do this because its MUCH quicker to slow down in a motorcycle than speed up, even if you ride a 600cc+.

If I were to try and speed up to avoid the merging car then I would have to Drop it a gear (normally I cruise in 6th), rev the engine and hope to make it out before the car can run into me. I can speak from experience, even though my bike still pulls at triple digits, it is much faster to make room at 75mph by braking than by trying to speed up.

Ben
~Best Beginner Motorcycles Admin

[Ben]

It’s pretty much the same as washing a car. You can soap the whole thing down, rinse it off etc… bikes are waterproof, you can ride them in the rain. The only thing that you have to do is make sure that you run the bike for a while to dry all the water off the engine, also make sure you grease up the chain when you are done too. Although I know a few riders that don’t bother with any of that, and they just take some windex to the fairings and some sort of green degreaser liquid to anything with built up dirt and grime.

Ben
~Best Beginner Motorcycles Admin

[Ben]

lol, I hope I didn’t sound too much like a tool in my last reply haha. Now that I read it again it seems very “public service announcement”-ish.

Ben
~Best Beginner Motorcycles Admin

[Ben]

I just had the opportunity to ride Garys 2008 Ninja 250 and I don’t think that thing would have a problem carrying you around, it has a lot of balls for a 250, plus it pulls all the way up the tach.

If you are really worried about it though maybe consider a 500 like the Ninja 500 or the Vulcan 500?

Ben
~Best Beginner Motorcycles Admin

[Ben]

Unfortunately I think it would be cheaper and more comfortable to just get an old beater car, like a mid 90’s honda civic. The money you would spend on gear, the bike, insurance etc… would end up being about the same, plus with the car you will be warmer.

Now that is out of the way, time for the motorcycle advice!

I am in the same position right now, I only have a motorcycle and I don’t have a car. One advantage that I have is I live in caliornia, so even the winters aren’t THAT bad, although they are pretty bad on a motorcycle. I wear full gear all the time, that means leather motorcycle jacket, leather gloves, textile overpants, full face helmet, and motorcycle boots. Even with all of that stuff in the winter mornings it can get COLD.

Because of that I invested in a balaclava and a fleece turtleneck to wear under my jacket.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balaclava

With all of that I am pretty warm on my 25 minute commute, although it rarely drops below 40 F in the winter. I think it would be pretty unbearable. It looks like North Carolina where your college is located gets down to about 25 degrees F in the winter, thats quite a bit colder. Plus if it is that cold there might be snow, and I personally hate riding even in the rain, much less in snowy icey conditions.

Once again, it can be done, but this is my second winter with no car and right now it is getting pretty old haha. In fact I am saving up for a car right now, so hopefully next winter I won’t have to ride when it is pouring rain and freezing out.

Oh yeah one more thing, if you are going to be commuting more than 10 minutes I would suggest getting either saddle bags or this: https://www.bestbeginnermotorcycles.com/tourmaster-cortech-sport-tail-bag-review

It is no fun carrying a heavy load of books and stuff on your back, plus it could be dangerous if you crash. With a tail bag or saddlebags you can load them down and they will be safe and secure. I have even gone a further step and gotten a Givi tail case for my bike, its lockable, waterproof, big, and ugly. Perfect for the type of urban commuting I do.

I would also recommend you get the GS500, Ninja 500, or Vulcan 500 if you are going to be doing longer rides back home. You can make it on a 250, but I think the experience will be much more enjoyable on something with a little more pep. The gs500 is notoriously cold hearted, I should know it was my first bike. That means that in the winter you should store it in a garage where it is somewhat warmer than the outdoors, or perhaps hook it up to a trickle charger at night if you have a lot of problems starting it. I used to have to give the bike full choke and even then it would take me 2-5 tries to get the bike started in the winter.

Anyway, I hope that all helps and I haven’t deterred you too much, if you have some more questions feel free to ask. Riding a motorcycle is really fun, but I might be a little bitter about riding in all this cold weather! I’m glad it’s finally starting to warm up in california now It makes riding much more enjoyable.

Ben
~Best Beginner Motorcycles Admin

[Ben]

Damn! I’m actually really surprised they didn’t amputate half her foot, I mean you could CLEARLY see bone, muscle, and other tissue. It’s amazing what medicine can do, but I always wear all my gear to try and avoid stuff like this. Although, I think if a semi truck spun out on your foot you would need tank armor to come away unscathed.

Ben
~Best Beginner Motorcycles Admin

[Ben]

Shift jackets for the win!

I abosultely love Shift Racing, all their jackets are so comfortable and break in really easy.

Ben
~Best Beginner Motorcycles Admin

[Ben]

Hey Malcontent! I think another member here named Kickprivate is from texas as well. He got a Ninja 500 recently and absolutely loves it. I’ve heard the buell blast is a pretty fun bike, but some people had some reliability issues with the earlier models. Hopefully they have worked out most of the kinks by now.

Ben
~Best Beginner Motorcycles Admin

[Ben]

Man all givi stuff is so expensive! I recently bought a givi monokey system for my bike, the rack and the ‘pod’ cost me nearly 200 bucks, and that was USED. Brand new would have been around 500!

You’ll have to post some pics of your bike (and vid if you can, I’d love to hear how that bike sounds) whenever you get your headlight setup.

Ben
~Best Beginner Motorcycles Admin

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