[Rab]

Yes, 650 cruisers will generally be slower and less top-heavy than an equivalent standard or sport bike.

As you point out, it also depends on the rider’s height, weight, prior experience (if any) and mental maturity in determining what bike is suitable for them to learn on. Thanks for completing my post.

I still believe that a 250 c.c. is the best way for most folks to go from raw beginner to intermediate rider though, but also understand people’s concerns that they’ll grow out of it in 6 months (which they probably will if they ride with any regularity).

[Rab]

Well, I personally don’t think that most of the 650s and the 850s (Triumphs) belong on the list, but so long as they are, the Suzuki GSX650F is missing from your list.

And where’s the old beginner bike mainstay Honda Nighthawk 250?

[Rab]

As SantaCruzRider says, you can usually find a triangle of road beside an inset metered space that you can squeeze into or a cross-hatched area in a parking lot that nobody will miss if you park on it.

Avoid the cross-hatched areas next to disabled parking places though as these are to allow wheelchair access.

[Rab]

I commute all year here in Norcal and visor fogging was a big problem for me; especially in the rain. Anti-fog sprays helped a little, but not much, and you have to re-apply them every other day. Cracking open the helmet to clear the fog lets the rain in which then runs down the inside of the visor making things worse, especially if, like me, you wear glasses.

After reading the reviews, I bit the bullet and stumped-up the cash for a Pinlock insert and a visor with the Pinlock anchors for my HJC CL-15 helmet (yes, I’m frugal).

Put it on and forget about it. Problem solved 100% in all weather. Only drawback I’ve noticed is that on unlit sections of the freeway, I sometimes see a little row of “ghost headlights” reflected on the visor, but it’s really hardly worth mentioning. I can’t recommend this product highly enough. It’s magic!

As I wear photochromic glasses (they go darker or lighter automatically), the clear visor suits me just fine, but for tints, go with a clear visor and a tinted insert or a tinted visor and a clear insert; not both or you’ll go blind

With a Pinlock insert on the inside, some Rain-X on the outside and a finger wiper on your glove, you’ll see just fine no matter how heavy the rain is.

[Rab]

I had about 2000 miles or so experience; on a Honda Nighthawk 250 (same engine as your Rebel) and the transition to the Bonneville just felt like a natural progression.

[Rab]

I had a 2006 Triumph Bonneville for two years and it was totally dependable after a day-one problem with the gas tank breather tube having been kinked during installation. Only other problem I had was one broken spoke (no biggie, and fixed free under warranty). I rode that bike 70 miles a day, 5 days a week for 18 months or more. Triumphs come with a two year warranty whereas most other manufacturer’s bikes come with only one year (I think).

Does great on the freeway and will cruise very smoothly all day at an indicated 80 mph no problem at all. The engine has counter-balancers which virtually eliminate vibration. Top speed is reputed to be ~110 mph, but the steering gets disturbingly heavy at ~100 (cough, I’ve heard). Handling and ride are good for a bike of this old-school design, but definitely not in the same league as my Suzuki GSX650F (“fully-faired standard”), which has obviously benefitted from technology developed for Suzuki’s racing bikes.

I know the Bonnevilles are marketed as “beginner bikes” (as is pretty much everything under 1000 c.c. these days), but definitely a second bike, not a first in my opinion. It’s kinda heavy, but that helps with the ride. Power delivery is completely linear; no surprises. Newer ones are fuel injected, so I don’t know if that changed anything in this regard.

If I were going to do it again, I’d probably get the new Bonneville SE because of the alloy wheels/tubeless tires, as tubeless tires are roadside repairable (Note: Any bike with wire-spoked wheels will have tubes in the tires regardless of what the tire says on the sidewall). I’d also replace the seat, as while it looks really cool old-school, it is agonising after two hours or so. I’m not a loud pipes guy, but this bike would definitely benefit from loud-er pipes.

Just about everywhere I went with the Bonnie, riders and non-riders alike would come over and talk to me about it. With the Suzuki? Nah, it’s just another lookey-likey “sport bike”.

If, like most American motorcyclists, you’re going to use your bike as a toy (i.e. for pleasure rides), then you couldn’t do much better than a Bonnie. For regular, distance, commuting in all weather, I’d choose something a little better suited for that.

[Rab]

It doesn’t actually make the lights change to green immediately for you.

It just means that the traffic light sensor “knows” that your bike’s there so that you’ll “get a turn”. If it doesn’t “sense” that there’s any traffic at your light, then it won’t change the lights at all (so you’ll be stuck at red until a car comes up behind you).

There are a few commercial products available, but they’re basically (expensive) strong magnets.

E.g. http://www.cyclegadgets.com/Products/product.asp?Item=GLTRIG

It is possible to get a box of tricks like the fire trucks use, that actually does change the lights immediately to green for you, but it almost certainly would be illegal for the general public to use such a device.

[Rab]

Me? I can only think of about two occasions in the last year that I didn’t wear my textile over-pants when on the bike, and I ride 4-5 days a week.

I’ve got Olympia Airglide armored pants which are a mesh and cordura outer pant with a detachable water/wind proof inner pant (liner), so they’re adaptable to pretty much any weather.

[Rab]

Started on a Honda Nighthawk 250 and wish I still had it for a second bike. It’s good for pretty much everything except long freeway trips.

I moved on to a Triumph Bonneville (fun bike to own but a bit heavy) and now have a Suzuki GSX650F (good all-rounder).

Nothing too big or expensive as I put lots of lane-splitting commuting miles on my bikes.

[Rab]

Okay, so you got the falling-off part over with. Be happy that it went so well.

Many of us who’ve been riding for a while have had an unscheduled get-off. When I did, it cost me an injured foot and about $1000 in spare parts which I paid myself as I didn’t want my insurance premiums to sky-rocket.

I don’t know if it’s true or not and I’m hesitant to perpetuate what I think is probably a myth, but they say that there are two kinds of motorcyclists. Those that have fallen off and those that will fall off.

Congratulations, you’ve now graduated from the group who will fall off, to the group who have fallen off.

That means you’re no longer in the the group who will fall off, so everything’s cool.

Well, at least that’s the way I look at it

Hope you’ve done your MSF BRC. If not, you should (as should everyone who rides a motorcycle).

Congrats on the license.

[Rab]

‘ Glad to hear that’s working for you and I’ll admit that electrically heated gloves do add one more pre-ride task to the routine (plugging yourself in and out!).

I hear those wind deflectors work pretty well and I looked at those as well as Hippo Hands before going the wired route. I discounted the former as the ones I looked at were very expensive for a couple of bits of plastic (of course, heated gloves don’t come cheap either!). The Hippo Hands seemed too restrictive to me; possibly even dangerous.

The main advantage of heated gloves (apart from the heat) is that they are thinner than (e.g.) ski gloves, which gives you better feel of the controls. Also, ski gloves may not offer the same level of protection that purpose built motorcycle gloves do.

Call me a wuss, but I now view heated grips and/or gloves as essential for the year round commuter (I have a 70 mile round-trip commute) as they’re one of those things that once you’ve experienced them, you wouldn’t want to be without them. They’re a real comfort on a cold and/or rainy day.

[Rab]

Never had any problem with my carb equipped bikes and don’t know why people say that they “have to use full choke” for cold-starting (as if that was a problem).

That’s what the choke’s for, use it!

To start a cold engine:

1. Pull the choke out all the way.
2. Start bike (after ensuring side-stand is up, bike is in neutral and clutch is pulled-in).
3. Push choke in slowly to about half-way (until revs just begin to drop).
4. Put your gloves on and check all your lights are working. A minute or two warm-up time should be all that’s necessary on modern motorcycle engines. You just waste gas, cause pollution and piss-off the neighbors by leaving the bike static and high-revving for 10 minutes or more.
5. If bike mis-fires (stutters) when throttle is gently applied then you need a little more choke, so pull it out a little and re-try the throttle (repeat as necessary until it will throttle-on smoothly and maintain a constant idle on release of throttle). You want to be where idle speed is as low as possible but no mis-fire when throttle is applied.
6. Ride-off. Start off easy, don’t over-rev a cold engine and don’t go fast on cold tires.
7. Push choke all the way in somewhere down the road. If you pushed it in too quickly, you’ll get mis-firing when applying the throttle, so you need to pull it out a little again until it stops mis-firing. After you’ve done this whole procedure a few times, you’ll know that when you get a mile away (for example), that you can push the choke all the way in with no mis-firing. You can also get a feel for this by listening to (or watching the tachometer if so equipped) the idle revs at a stop-light; as the idle speed gets higher, the less choke you need until ultimately, you need no choke. Warm-up time varies with the seasons (air temperature).

Push the choke all the way in as soon as the engine has warmed-up.

This sounds like a lot of hassle, but quickly becomes second nature.

If the battery is good (spins starter motor quickly) and the bike is consistently difficult to start using the above procedure then take it into the shop for a tune-up. This is assuming that the bike is used at least once a week. Bikes left for long time unused may be more difficult to start; that’s just the nature of the beast.

My current bike (Suzuki GSX650F) is Fuel Injected, but it’s no better or worse than the carb equipped bikes for starting. They all started instantly.

[Rab]

When I had the Nighthawk, I lubed the choke cable and the same thing happened. It wouldn’t stay put after that, which was an almighty pain as it meant that I’d have to wait for the bike to warm up before riding off which, as the Nighthawk is fairly cold-blooded (being air-cooled), could be a little while.

I was ready to go buy a new cable when someone on an internet forum told me that there was a little cable grip adjuster under the rubber cover where the choke enters the cable (invisible if you didn’t know about it). I tightened that a little and voila, the choke stayed put from then on.

You might want to look and see if there is any similar mechanism that you could tighten-up on your bike. Look in the MoM (manual) and/or ask on a bike or maker-specific internet forum.

[Rab]

I’ve got the “Hot Hands” from the same web site.

They’re fabric hand (grip) heaters that just wrap around the existing grips with velcro type material and can be easily removed in the Summer.

They work well for me and I’m now into my second winter season with them. Just be careful to put the colder area (where they fasten) in the area uncovered by your hand or fingers.

Heated Grips are good, but I also recently bought some First Gear Carbon heated gloves and find that for the really cold days, both grips (inner hand) and gloves (outer hand) are required to keep my hands warm.

If you wired the grips directly to the battery (not via the ignition switch), be sure to always check that you’ve switched them off when leaving the bike. I inadvertantly left mine on one day and came out to a flat battery.

[Rab]

I did this many times in my youth on crappy old stick shift cars in Winter.

Only tried it once on a bike. It was my last bike, a 560 lb Triumph Bonneville with a completely flat battery (left my grip heaters on all day at work).

As it was a Friday night and most folks had gone home, I made an almighty fool of myself romping it around the flat parking lot without even the slightest hint of the engine firing after I jumped on it and let out the clutch.

Oh well, I got some exercise I suppose

I ended up getting my Wife to drive the 35 miles from home to give me a jump start from the mini-van.

Jump-starting a bike from a car battery is fine, but leave the car engine off, as if running, you could damage the donor car’s and/or your bike’s electrical system I’m told.

I now carry a set of Yuasa motorcycle jumper cables for just such a future eventuality.

S’funny, I’ve bought a load of motorcycle accessories after I’ve needed them and never used them since purchasing

The best tool kit you can carry for most places is a fully charged cell-phone, towing insurance (e.g. AMA MoTow) and a credit card.

[Author]

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