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5 Common Wear and Tear Items on Motorcycles
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roborabbitParticipant
If you do end up buying new just remember that if they don’t have the bike on-hand that you won’t be able to deal much price wise. Dealers don’t have much motivation to order a bike and put in all the work that goes into a sale for a low profit. A good general rule for buying a new bike is that 100-200$ under MSRP with tax/title/license + other fees included on a bike they currently have in inventory is a pretty good deal (on entry level bikes IE ninja 250, 500, rebel, KLR, DRZ400 etc; on the higher end bikes (gsrx etc) there is much more room to deal). If they have to order it from a warehouse or another dealer a good deal would be around MSRP + tax with fees included. Depending on the bike. Figure dealer price + tax + 10-20% profit is normally a good deal. You can get a pretty accurate estimate for what your dealer pays for the bike from googling / forums. Just remember you don’t exactly want to reem the dealer incase you need to get the bike serviced there one day . 1 or 2 % profit can make the difference between them being a dealer that goes the extra mile or a place that nickle and dimes you for everything.
roborabbitParticipantGet it, most insurance companies will give you a discount if you get one aswell. Most brands are pretty equal, but it is normally a case of you get what you pay for. Also look at lockable covers aswell, I’ve seen some where the front lock is a disc brake lock aswell as having a secure strap that you can loop a chain / cable through and then pass it through rear wheel / frame.
roborabbitParticipantDon’t worry about the HD 833 sporty pricing. They are pretty common used(in my area) and 2005-09’s usually run around the 3-6k range with low mileage. Funny thing is that I find them mostly used in BMW lots. I asked the managers about this and it seems that most of them are being traded in for the BMW dual sport / adventure tourer series’. Maybe this means that we’ll see Elwood riding a F 650 GS someday .
roborabbitParticipantCongrats! I’m with you on the box turns aswell, not exactly because I find them fun(they are fun tho) but more so because I find them hard(it’s suprising how much easier they are when you aren’t trying to feather a 20 year old clutch, tho)
roborabbitParticipantBuy a bicycle and get a paper route? Honestly though, don’t buy the bike you dream of as your first bike. Hell, don’t buy any of your top 5 favorite bikes. Moslty because you’ll cry when you drop it another reason is that they will prob be too much for you. The VStar 650, while it’s not overly powerfull, is incredibly heavy for a beginner bike (512 lbs!). Imagine tiping that thing over …. it would not be fun to have to pick it back up again. And if you buy it new, it’s also very expensive. The best route for you would prob be to buy some used 90’s 250cc japanese cycle for under 1500$. These guys are plentiful, fairly bullet proof, and excellent to learn on. Hell you can ask the MSF instructors if any of the bikes they have are for sale. And there’s a another plus to buying a 10-15 + year old bike. You’ll get a crash course in motorcycle maitenence and repair . Oh ya another reason to forget about buying a new bike at your age you’ll be paying around 9-18% interest if you finance it. You’ll aslo be paying about 1/8th its value each year to an insurance company . So do yourself a favor get a used 250cc bike and spend the money you’ll save on college, get an education so you can get a good job so you can afford more expensive toys.
roborabbitParticipantOnly good side to this story is that it will probably delay the filming for Passion of the Christ 2. But in all seriousness O_O wtf I hope no one ever throws anything at me while I’m on my bike; much less freaking 20 lbs of steel and aluminium.
July 15, 2009 at 9:17 pm in reply to: Blowing Red Lights when the #@#$ing sensor won’t “see” you #20652roborabbitParticipantLuckily NJ is a bit to cheap to install these actuated traffic lights in any big number ( maybe 1 possibly 2 per town if it’s an upper class area). Hell they’re so cheap here they only pave streets every 6-8 years or if they have more than 9 pot holes per 10 sq ft and even then only if it’s a major road. Sometimes corrupt politicians end up doing good things (inadvertently) when they only support projects that get them or their friends money.
July 15, 2009 at 9:11 pm in reply to: Just licensed female– new to riding, which bike do I pick?! #20640roborabbitParticipantCheck out some of the smaller dual sports they have the standard seating / peg position you seem to like. Just one prob is that they’re ugly ducks for the most part and it takes a particularly odd mind to find them beautiful. (Me). You may want to stay away from the Japanese 650s tho they all have seat heights of 35+ inches. And if you’re willing to spend some more money check out the BMW dual sports esp some of the past/discontinued models like the F650 CS(Scarver) from 2007 / earlier. Most of the BMW F-series (non new 2008+ the F-series are now 800cc twin cylinders instead of the calmer 650 singles) dual sports have lower seat heights (around 29-32.5″). If you’re willing to spend the money (7,500 MSRP for the lowest price) check out the new BMW G-series (G650) they all have seats heights at 29/30 inches (cept for the XChallenge) and BMW offers a lowering option that drops them about 1/2 -1″ lower. If you really like the street fighter/ scrambler look check out the Xcountry it’s probably the prettiest of all dual sport machines out there. But if you aren’t willing (and rightly so) to spend that kind of money check out the smaller dual sports like the Suzuki DR200SE, Honda CRF230M/CFR230L( the 230L is more dirt oriented), The Yamahas WR250X/WR250R , XT250, and TW200 for Kawasaki your choices would be KLX 250S / KLX 250 SF(SF is more street focused) or KLX Super Sherpa. All of those have seat heights around 30-32″ and looks only a mother could love. Best of luck to you!
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I know you said you didn’t like sport-bikes but check out the older suzuki GS500’s they have a more standard seat to peg/handle bar setup than other sporty machines; it also comes in a nice standard/naked/cafe racer/ streetfighter look. (ie zero fairing, round lamp headlight, & no windshield)
roborabbitParticipantI went with Rider insurance because it was the best coverage for the $. I’m 23 and male so pretty much every other company tried to rip me off. Progressive wanted to charge more for minimal coverage with a higher deductable and no perks. Geico must be on crack. And Foremost was about average. For a ’09 KLR650 Rider insured me for 100-300-50 (100 per person, 300 per accident, 50 property same for Uninsured/Underinsured) with comprehensive theft, collision, and fire for only 550$/ year (progressive wanted to insure me with 15/30/5 for 750$/year). I also get free roadside assistance :o~(towing up to 35 mi, jump start, fuilds gas/oil/etc) which is a major plus since pushing your bike down a highway shoulder is extremely dangerous and severly detracts from the cool factor of haivng a motorcycle. So if you live in NJ, Penn, or Ohio check Rider out.
roborabbitParticipantDecided on getting a used 2008 KLR650, after searching and reading …. alot of reviews and other things it seems like the best decision. The only real downside is that some, like 10%?, have an oil consumption issue. Which stems from improper break-in and kawi using some 07′ parts in their new 08′ redesigns. After reading about the oil consumption I started to get a wee bit put off of buying a used 08 KLR, since without tearing apart the top end (oil burning stems from the cylinder/piston/seal seating) I wouldn’t be able to find out if it was a “defective” model. After that I started looking into buying a new 09 model instead, in which the manufactuers end of the problem seemed to be solved, but after playing with numbers and adding to the fact that I would have to break-in the bike while learning how to ride, I’ve come back to buying a used one.
’09 KLR650 OTD 4,900-5,200~ + some free gear
’08 Used KLR650 OTD 3,600~ + the cost of having to do a top end rebuild to solve the oil problem = 4,200~4,400 (from what i’ve read the best fix for the oil is to buy a 685 kit which costs about 375$~ add to it 4~hrs of labor and misc and that is where i’m getting this figure)So after a few sleepless nights of deciding what to get I’ve decided to take a chance on the 08 KLR 650, which hopefully won’t have any Oil issues or otherwise, and learn how to do some wrenching if the bike does end up needing some work.
~hoppin along hoping to get on the road… or in a parking lot soon
roborabbitParticipantMost bikes are “Made in America”. Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, and Suzuki make the bikes they market for the USA in the USA. The big four have been manufactering bikes in the USA since 60-70’s. Though they are probably designed in multiple locations.
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*goes off to continue splitting hairs*roborabbitParticipantPros:
Close to everywhere; NY, NYC, the beach, PA, Deleware.
An overabundance of motorcycles and dealerships; easy to find a reasonably priced bike.
2 Race tracks within an hour ride.Cons:
It’s NJ
Soccer Moms in what would be considered, by any sane person, light armored assault vehicles. Hummers everywhere, with lil’ women who’s noses barely reach above the steering wheel and think the drivers seat is a place to multi-task.
Geese, they like to cross the streets single file when they are in groups of 100+. Honking your horn just makes them head toward you…
Said geese somehow occupying every road that has a curve in it.
Said geese being considered a protected species.
High population density. And everyone seems to have a LAAV.
Corruption and beautification projects, instead of maintaining roads and highways politicians spend money for themselves or on useless projects like cobble stone cross-walks. As a result there is atleast 1 pot hole every 10 feet and it takes about 5 months for them to even patch it. Also, roads don’t get paved unless they have an avg. of 10 pots per 20 sq ft of road.
Highways, they all converge in central NJ and when an accident happens on one all the rest are affected. (I once sat through a delay on 287 because someone got in an accident 10 miles away on the Turnpike; my avg speed was about .5 MPH, my 2 mile commute home took me 4 hours. Should have walked)
The fact that driving with your windows open on the Turnpike during rush hour for an hour is considered equivilant to smoking a pack of cigarettes.
The fact that swimming at the jersey shore is likley to give you an ear infection (and that’s getting a bit lucky aswell.)
The fact that if you dig in any empty lot in NJ you are likley to find either an old Asbestos factory, agent Orange, medical waste, or some combination of the afore mentioned.After writing down the pros and cons…. I’m seriously wondering why the hell I still live here..
California here I come.
May 20, 2009 at 2:28 pm in reply to: can you insure and register a motorcycle with a permit??? #18738roborabbitParticipantIf you pass the written / skills test they hand the cert to you at the end of the day and you just go over to the dmv pay the fee and get your new license.
roborabbitParticipantDon’t worry so much about the vents. You’ll find that you will always be wishing you had more ventilation anyway .
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Some other tips for keeping your head cool on hot days. Wet bandanas are perfect for keeping you cool on short-ish rides (they dry up after 30min – 1 hour). Use a skull cap / face cover and soak it in water. Aside from keeping you cool it also helps keep your helmet from smelling like a jock strap since you can wash it unlike your helmet liner.
A note about D.O.T. approval. They leave the testing up to the industry and do not even require that manufactuers send them the results. There is virtually no government oversight for DOT approval. The only real time that DOT requests test results or preforms them is when there is a lawsuit or legal problem. While this doesn’t mean that every manufactuer is putting out poor helmets just because they only have a DOT sticker it does mean that every now and then some poor quality helmet that can’t protect your bucket will slip through with a DOT sticker on it. So, basically ignore the DOT and look for the SnellM2005(Soon to be SnellM2010) approval. They actively test all helmets before they get the snell sticker. Also even after the first test they randomly pull samples of helmets they’ve approved from store shelves and test them as long as the helmet is still being made and sold.
roborabbitParticipantDyno charts won’t be useful mostly because they don’t translate into real world riding well. They leave out factors such as wind resistance, road condition(wet/dry/loose), and etc. Which will affect your riding alot more than knowing exactly at which point its best to shift, in releation to engine speed / tire speed, to the nearest .0001. Plus it will cost money. Why spend several hundred dollars for something that you will have to learn on the road anyway? 30 min. of PLP is worth a hundred dyno results. Dyno results / tests = Theoretical Knowledge, Riding your bike for a few hours = Practical Knowledge. Practical knowledge is always worth more than theoretical.
Plus, riding your bike around is alot more fun than sitting in a waiting room while a bunch of techs do who knows what to your bike.
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