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You’ve shown me the real tools! In browsing the Matco site I realize now why all the equivalent tools in the Home Depot catalogue are so damn cheap. But damn, son. It’s going to be years before the dream of a fully equipped garage becomes a reality.

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Enjoy your first ride, and like I said before somewhere (I think), definitely post some pics when you get it!

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Any particular make you’ve had good experience with for wrenches/sockets/wenches/drivers?

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I could be wrong, but I’ve only ever seen a clear pinlock visor. Honestly though, the real problem is the days when the helmet wants to fog up even when you’re moving, and those, like you said, come during the fall/winter. At least in Seattle, you won’t need a dark visor during those days anyway, and if you do, you can always just wear sunglasses underneath your helmet.

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See list above.

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Originally the CBR600 F4/F4i WAS what is today the CBR600RR. The RR was introduced in ’03, and for three years the two models ran side-by-side until they pulled the F4i.

Sounds like you’re making a good decision with the GS500 though. Let us know when you make your move

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First, as others have said, all but one style of helmet WILL fog up if you’re standing still. It’s air flowing through the vents when you’re moving at speed that de-fogs your visor.

Second, Shoei (and Arai) both have pinlock visors which NEVER fog up…EVER. Seriously. They’re amazing. The way it works is that the outer shell (what would normally be the whole visor) has two little pins on either end. You attach a soft silicone-y insert on the inside using the pins to keep it in place. Voila! No fog.

This is the pinlock visor (no insert):

http://www.shoei-helmets.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=36_33_87&products_id=1642

There are many different colors of visor available, but I recommend you ONLY get clear:

http://www.shoei-helmets.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=36_31_77&products_id=1639

The reason is that the colored insert doesn’t cover the whole visor and so a dark smoke insert, for instance, can fail to keep the sun out of your eyes when the sun gets through the clear outer visor around the insert. I almost crashed once when I came around a turn and was unexpectedly blinded for precisely this reason. Turns out there was a woman parked perpendicularly in the middle of street. Who knew. I haven’t used the smoke insert since, and have gone back to a full smoke visor when it’s sunny.

But seriously, if you have the $$$ (about $70 for shield+insert), the pinlock system will never fog up on you. I mean never. You can try your indoor sitting still test again and you’ll be mind-blown.

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These are perfectly reasonable questions. You should ask them of others and think about them yourself.

If I were you I’d buy new. $5K to $6K is an 18% difference, but dropping to $5K you also lose your warranty and your assurance that the bike hasn’t been shot to high hell. Other things to consider:

1) This is your first bike. You won’t be able to discern some problems right away by simple virtue of having nothing to compare to. Having no warranty makes that trickier.

2) Unless I’m mistaken, you’re no mechanic. While what SantaCruzRider says is true, it’s mostly true only for somebody who either has the hook-up or who works on their own bike. A couple of costly issues can easily rocket a used bike above a new bike’s price if you’re paying somebody else to fix them.

3) Break-in restrictions are good for you. If you have the willpower to adhere to them, they will force you to stay within your limits when you first get going.

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If you’re in college (and worse if you’re male), prepare to eat S!@# in insurance rates. Just sayin’.

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Being a sport bike addict, I was really surprised at how much fun I had on the DR-Z400SM (that’s the super-moto version) when I gave it a spin. Really light handling, comfy, zippy…just a blast.

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You and I share a very similar history with respect to two-wheelers, though I was never on a motorcycle as a kid. I spent my late-teens/early-twenties road racing Cat 2, and doing a fair amount of mountain biking. I’ve been riding bicycles since I could walk, and pretty intensely since the age of maybe eight to ten. Let’s get this straight now. There are certain things you can get from racing bikes (the kind you power), things like looking through turns, getting a feel for braking and leaning, carrying speed through turns, and counter-steering. That’s where the similarity ends.

Who knows. You could be more gifted than most, but I bet that in getting back into things you’re going to have the most trouble with the two aspects of motos that don’t come up on man-powered bikes: throttle and shifting. The bike you’re drooling over has way more power than you’ve ever experienced based on your account. And yes, you shift on a road bike, but there’s no clutch and no matching engine revs, etc.

It all depends on money. If you can afford to loose a grand or two in the long run, I HIGHLY recommend getting a dummy bike to get you back into the swing of things, especially before buying a Duc. It’ll get you reacquainted with the feel of powered bikes, the weight, the speed, and give you a sense for what you like and don’t like in your dream bike. Spend six months to a year on it, then ditch it! At that point you’ll know exactly what you want and you won’t have to speculate.

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Most hot 250cc bikes have used prices that are almost identical to new prices. If demand is high and supply is low, sometimes used prices are above MSRP. They were in the Seattle area when the 2008+ Ninja 250R first came out (MSRP $3,499; “market” price $5K+).

When you buy used, you take many risks that you don’t take when you buy new. You have no warranty. You don’t have as good an idea of the mechanical state of the machine. Even a great mechanic can fail to notice a major issue until it’s too late. Things like hard riding or mistreatment don’t always show right away. In the long run it can be much cheaper to buy a new vehicle if the original difference in price is not drastic.

That said, I do own a used car, but I saved 50% over the new model and got manufacturer’s certification and 4-year warranty with it, so there was no contest. Weigh your options and make your own decision.

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No CBR. No way. 0-60 in under 4 seconds might sound like fun, but that only happens if you can keep the front wheel on the ground. Which you won’t. And no, they’re not called wheelies when they’re unintentional and result in crashes. I don’t mean to be harsh, but EVERY sport bike fan here at BBM wanted to get a 600 or 1000 out of the gate, and every one of us was an idiot to think that was a good idea. Learn sooner rather than later.

The SV650 is still no joke. Again, a really good rider would get to 60mph in under 4 seconds. It’s going to be more tractable as a result of being a V-Twin instead of a four, but that said, it’s a lot of bike for the first time out.

I’d go with the GS500 if that’s the only other bike you’re willing to consider.

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It’s being taken up again (so far only in Europe as far as I can tell) under the model line “XJ6.” I’ll add it in for the hell of it.

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