[Clay Dowling]

I love the look of these bikes, although I don’t know if you can get it very cheaply.

[Clay Dowling]

Most bikers aren’t too likely to turn up their nose at a customer just because he rides up on a bike from another manufacturer. A bike is a bike man. No matter what the make it’s better than a cage.

[Clay Dowling]

You’ll need a motorcycle lift at some point, which runs around $200 at Harbor Freight. Oil filter wrench, oil pan, a set of metric wrenches. An inexpensive socket set is probably good too. You might also want to get a tire changing rig, but that’s a moderately advanced project. Although the biggest shop in this area is charging $80/tire for changes, in addition to full retail on the tire, so the rig would pay for itself pretty quickly.

If you buy this bike new, you’ll be doing your first year of service at the dealership, so you don’t need to worry about it right away.

[Clay Dowling]

Establish financial independence. Once you’re living under your own roof and paying your own way, your parents don’t have any say in whether or not you buy a bike.

In addition to the dangers of riding, motorcycles are expensive. You’ll have to buy the bike itself. You should invest $600-$1000 in riding gear. You’ll also find that the routine maintenance on a bike is more expensive. It takes just as much oil as a car and requires a better grade of oil (although Shell Rotella is so common that it isn’t much more expensive, and you can buy it anywhere), and goes through expensive tires much faster than a car. And you can’t skimp on any of this stuff, because unlike a car, it’s a very serious safety issue with a bike.

So get the financial side of things in order first. Once you have that taken care of, your mother won’t be a real worry.

[Clay Dowling]

A friend was riding her new bike home, hit some loose gravel in a curve doing less than five mph, and still managed to scrape her leg up. Not terrible, but it wasn’t her favorite thing either. She was wearing a proper jacket, but only had jeans on her legs.

Riding pants are awesome.

[Clay Dowling]

I have to imagine that our bikes would be scraping pegs all the time. Some day I want to go to a sport bike school, even if I’ll probably never own one. Track days do look fun.

[Clay Dowling]

Any of the CBRs except for the CBR125 is not a beginner bike, unless you were planning on being an organ doner in the near future. And even then, you won’t be donating as many organs as you might. Once the organ has been in a tree, the doctors don’t want it back.

Look to the Ninjas. They’re universally recommended for starter bikes. Once you get those down, get a little instruction at a track and get comfortable, then you can move up to the racing bikes.

Me, I love the looks of the CBR600. I would look awesome riding it, I’m sure. But it’s way more bike than I can handle. My Magna is already way faster than I’ll ever really get the chance to use. I’ve only ever had it up to 90, and I wasn’t near the performance max of that bike.

[Clay Dowling]

My wife is the reason I bought the bike to begin with. If she had opposed it, I probably wouldn’t have it. Squirreling a few grand away without the wife knowing takes more financial resources than I can bring to bear right now.

[Clay Dowling]

Both Elwood and I have dropped our bikes by forgetting to put the kickstand down before stepping off. At that point you’re in a crappy position to stop the fall. Also, if you try to snatch it up with your arms you will get a rude shock. Even a 250 will do serious joint damage that will take weeks to fully heal. They’re lighter than our bikes, but they’re still heavier than you think.

[Clay Dowling]

I was 38 when I bought a motorcycle, married with a kid headed off to college and a home of my own. My mom still wasn’t happy that I bought a motorcycle.

Being financially independent is an important factor is having your own way. My mom let me know she wasn’t happy, but the first she knew about me having one was when I came to visit and parked it in the driveway.

[Clay Dowling]

Your insurance company can probably get you a better rate if you get an MSF certificate. The classes are also a good opportunity to try out different bikes, so it’s probably worth waiting until after the class to buy. Not that there’s anything wrong with the Ninja 250. It’s a very attractive bike with a good reputation. But nothing beats actually riding a bike to get a feel for it, and MSF is your place to do that.

[Clay Dowling]

I’m getting fatter. Bicycle helps to combat that.

It also helps that a friend sold me a really good road bike for under $50, so I can go relatively fast with little effort and little outlay of money. Only down side is that this kind of bike doesn’t work with any kind of saddle bag, so trips into town to the library or grocery store are awkward.

[Clay Dowling]

Second best way to get around, in my book. And if I don’t have to go far, the best way to get around. It’s still got two wheels, and I’m getting in shape by riding it. I’ve found two wheels to be lots of fun with or without the motor.

[Clay Dowling]

Have a very solid reputation. A co-worker has been riding his 1983 CB-400 50 miles one way to work for quite a while. The bike hasn’t given him any trouble.

[Clay Dowling]

And that’s probably a more likely cause of uninsured injury. Helmet laws are just the ones that people get bent about right now. But a mandatory gear law would probably cause at least as big of a feces storm. I know a couple of guys whose only concession to road rash is a thin leather vest.

I have absolutely zero problem with a mandatory jacket law. There would have to be some kind of rating standard for jackets though, which I don’t think there is yet.

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