[JackTrade]

I suppose I was subconsciously thinking Target on that one, whereas the “big trucks” was for Walmart?

http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/wal_mart_shoppers_mocked_by

[JackTrade]

I’d say if you’re worried about your bike at a place with a big parking lot like you mention, park in a regular lane in the midst of other cars (the busy area). Look for luxury cars, sports cars or well-maintained cars to park around; stay away from family cars, junkers, big trucks, etc. Park in the middle of the spot.

That way, less of a chance of someone accidentially knocking it over, and the constant traffic of people is a nice deterrent to theives.

Once of my favorite places (for both my car and my bike) are the spots right next to the cart corrals. Always have people around them, and if someone’s the type to the go to the trouble of bringing a cart back (cf. the douchebags who just leave them in the lot), they’re less likely to actually try to ram it into your vehicle or steal something. Also, you have another vehicle on only one side of you.

Be sure to examine the grading in the parking lot too, so you don’t park on the downhill where a stray cart can get ya (in that case, I park on the OTHER side of the corral, so that any rolling cart will hit it first).

[JackTrade]

…just now it’ll be called just “Blast”. No “Buell”, and certain not “Harley Davidson”. HD has continued need for it for their Rider’s Edge course, so they’ll still be parts. I’m unsure though if they’ll actually sell the “Blast” directly to the public, but I’d have to hope parts will still be available.

Even if they stopped making it altogether, HD, when killing Buell, committed to making parts available for 10 years. How easy they’ll be to come by is another story though.

As a Buell guy, I was pretty annoyed at first with how the Blast thing was handled. I loved Erik for his passion, and his idea that motorcycles were first and foremost about connecting the rider with the experience of riding.

To see my bike model dismissed and be told in essense “you’re not REAL Buell material if you ride one of these” was tough to swallow. How could someone as into bikes like Erik not understand that beginning riders can’t exactly start off on a 1200cc Lightning? Surely he’d want new riders to have a way to *safely* discover how much fun his odd-ball machines could be? It just didn’t make sense to me.

But time passed and more info got out, it’s become clear now that he had very little say in what happened, and that HD was calling the shots…so I forgave him somewhat.

Then HD unceremoniously killed the Buell brand, and I totally forgave him. In the video he released when the news was announced, he’s nearly in tears.

[JackTrade]

Gary’s probably got the best advice here, but for another option, the Buell Blast is a decent first bike in line with your requirements, though it’s a standard (sits between cruisers and sportbikes in terms of style and ridinging position).

The Blast’s 500cc engine pulls nicely on the highway, it’s light (~360 lbs), and can be had with a low profile seat (I think around 25″) if desired. They’re pretty cheap used, and the design is nicely bullet-proof/designed for new riders.

I’ve got one, and I like it; it does fine at highway speeds. They are naked bikes though, so the wind is a factor at those speeds, but to me it’s part of the fun.

[JackTrade]

Read books. Seriously, I’ve seen people driving down the road with a book open on the steering wheel. Of course, that was a few years ago, so now it’s probably “read blogs”.

We’re in a twilight area between low and high tech vehicles it seems. Cars now are adding more and more gadgets that don’t really have much to do with actual driving, but we’re not quite yet to the point where the car has enough tech to take over the driving so you can SAFELY fiddle with your Onstar or whathaveyou.

It’s a bad point right now…there are growing distractions in the car, but human drivers still have to drive them.

While I personally can’t stand the idea of self-driving (or at least self-correcting…think a robust version of ESC) cars, I like the idea of them being available so that all the non-enthusiast drivers (i.e. the cars=appliances crowd, the my-ipod-and-latte-are-more-important-than-manual-transmissions people, etc.) can leave the driving (or at least the emergencies) to something that’s not going to get distracted.

Though I wonder if in the super-high-tech world of our great-grandkids, there’s going to be problems with self-aware cars getting distracted themselves (reading the latest binary feeds from Mars or something) so you’ll have to get a robot to keep the car in line.

[JackTrade]

Go to cyclebuy.com…they’re a dealership that will sell you the pricing structure on any new bike. They give the invoice price, the freight cost, everything you need to understand the pricing dynamics.

Of course, you’ll have to add in a fair profit to the dealer (they have to stay in business), the price of some time for assembly, etc. The cyclebuy report tells you how to do this, what is common, etc.

This way, you get come up with a decent notion of how good a price is, if only for your piece of mind that you’re not getting ripped off.

I’m sure Eternal’s probably right in this case…there’s not a lot of margin on beginner bikes as it is, and given the high demand for the Ninja overall, they probably won’t discount it much. But they might, if you’re armed with the info/have done your homework. Or they may throw in a helmet or gear discounts, or free delivery, etc. It never hurts to ask.

Any good dealer knows that giving you a fair deal will make you want to return later; ripping you off is just going to ensure you never return, and that you tell all your friends what happened. In turn, they like buyers who are serious and don’t waste their time with dumb lowball offers.

That said, do your homework, and you’ll have the maximum possible leverage. It’s your money.

[JackTrade]

They have a wall of electronics-facilitated recoveries, complete with bike specified, and distance at which recovered. Not surprisingly, most of the bikes are the pricey ones…either hypersports (GSXRs) or big power cruisers (VMaxes).

I bet HD dealerships do a huge business in them, given the price/desirability of a lot of their bikes.

[JackTrade]

I’ve always tried to stay in gear, at least until there’s a car stopped behind me. I do get lazy though, usually when outside of the city…”there’s so little traffic, what could happen?”. Thanks for the reminder on exactly what *could* happen.

And for the bigger point, call it old man syndrome (I’m only 37, but still), but WTF with texting while driving? I’d love to hear the rationalization for how this could possibly be considered feasible by those who do it. But it’s only going to get worse, sadly, as car companies build more and more distractions into their vehicles.

Here in the D.C. area, there is a big firestorm ongoing about city bus and train drivers texting while operating their vehicles. It’s illegal, and they get fired, but it keeps happening. Thanks to the internet, passengers catch them, post it, and the transit agency can’t ignore it. But everyone’s dismayed that it keeps happening.

[JackTrade]

used to make a helmet in solid, day-glo, safety-vest orange. That’s probably the ultimate in helmet visibility!

Silver helmets look great with black leather gear IMO, for a cool retro look. Saw a guy this weekend on an old BMW dressed that way.

[JackTrade]

…to Owlie’s advice, if you haven’t already, watch some squid vids on YouTube. Just search for “motorcycle crash” or something similar.

They’ll definitely impress upon you why it’s good to wait to get professional instruction before riding! And they’ll make you feel good about being the kind of person that’s doing this the RIGHT way…

[JackTrade]

For the MSF, they just want exposed skin covered, mostly for liability reasons. Speeds are pretty low, so a fall won’t USUALLY seriously hurt you (though it DOES happen…I’m sure Allen has some stories that will shock/dismay us).

But for the real world, you need real protection.

Fortunately, as Briderdt says, there’s no such thing as beginner gear…provided you keep certain things in mind, most name-brand, made-for-motorcycling gear is a good choice for ANY rider.

Some basic, overall hints (others have covered the details very well so far):

Helmets: Recommend full-face, and don’t buy anything that isn’t DOT rated at the least. Always buy new, never used.

Jackets: Look for jackets with internal amor, preferrably CE rated. Textile is good, leather is better.

Pants: A good solution for everyday riding is to buy overpants that you can wear over your regular pants.

Gloves: All leather is the best choice.

Boots: Look for boots that have internal protection for your ankle. Most motorcycle-specific boots will.

[JackTrade]

…to what SantaCruzRider says about looking like an LEO, a simple one:

Wear a light-colored helmet.

While they’re sometimes hard to find these days, wearing a white, or red, etc. helmet rather than a dark one goes a long way toward helping other motorists see you. It’s the highest point on you, and people’s eyes are definitely drawn to it.

I don’t know if solid color ones are more visible than the racing-inspired multi-colored ones, but I think either is a good for increased visibility.

[JackTrade]

TrailsRider reminds me of an interesting point…the Suzuki GS500f can be easily converted from a faired bike to a naked bike and back again w/a few parts, since all they did in 2004 was stick a fairing on the naked version.

The GStwins website has instructions…looks fairly straightforward.

I know you’re looking at 650cc bikes, but if wiling to consider a 500, that might give you the best of both worlds…

[JackTrade]

(That’s what they call the naked one here in the states). Just not wild about the oddball gauges, and the color we got here this year (flat black) isn’t really my cup of tea. Hopefully maybe in a year or two they’ll have sorted it all out for the U.S. market…bring us the Kawasaki green or the cool Euro orange, and give us proper gauges.

As someone who owns a naked bike (Buell P3 Blast) currently, and has done some sustained highway riding at 120 – 140 kph (75 – 85 mph here), it is doable, but does tire you out after a couple of hours.

I guess it depends on how often you’ll be crusing at those speeds…if it’s just for fun on the weekends, I’d say get the the ER-6n…but if you’re commuting to work everyday, might be better to get the faired version.

[JackTrade]

If I tried to pick up my bike like he did (with his back, bending from the waist), I’d be in more pain than from the crash.

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