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2016 Honda CB500X ABS: Another Perfect Beginner Motorcycle
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SafetyFirstParticipant
If I was buying a new bike, I’d let them do their job. If they are in sales at a motorcycle dealer, chances are they are probably passionate about bikes. More passionate about their job than the person at the paint store selling you on paint. So, let them do their job. No, I’m not into high pressure. But use their product knowledge and force them to apply it to your riding.
Salespeople love to rattle off numbers about the engine, blah blah blah, 1/4 mile, blah blah. But what you can do to make them find their job more interesting, is ask them questions. “So, it does the 1/4 mile in blah blah blah, how is it riding around town?” Or better yet, “I heard the Ninja 650 has a more linear throttle response. Is that more of less a benefit for me as a newer rider moving up in size? Would I be doing a disservice getting used to throttle being linear if I move to a bigger sports bike (make sure to mention a model from a line they sell) where it isn’t as linear, and scare myself when I hit a bump and blast it into the top end of the power band?” Questions like that will not only help you, but make them think.
SafetyFirstParticipantI have to admit, I agree with eon.
Car dealers love to say they are “#1” or sell the most of their line in the region, blah blah blah. That’s nice. But what does that mean to me, the buyer?
I don’t care if you have a giant inflatable animal on the roof of your dealership. I don’t care if you are a volume seller.
I don’t care if your young son is telling me to buy a car in your TV ad.People care about what buying a dealership means the them.
Saving money, well a lot of that is just fluff.
Tangible things like free oil changes for life — that could be useful.
Service after the sale is important, especially for a newb on a bike. Mechanical problems on a bike can kill you. I’d rather know that they have well qualified mechanics, rather than one of the salesperson’s high-school son working for the summer who has no clue what he’s doing.And, Elias, I only wish I found a bike dealership that had ambitious sales staff. I walked into ASK Motorsports in Columbus one day to look around. 10 minutes later, not a single person had said hello or even asked me if I needed help finding something. And they really weren’t that busy – it was a rainy day. Even if it was the kid at the parts desk asking me if I needed help, or making a comment about the weather. Anything. I wasn’t going to buy a new bike, yes, I was just window-shopping. Still, I’d never think of buying a bike from there. I’m not saying I like high-pressure sales people, but at least someone could spend 30 seconds asking me what I was looking for.
SafetyFirstParticipantAre the LED bulbs in the 650 built into the assembly or are they socketed?
SafetyFirstParticipant26 in Ohio. Haven’t had a ticket in years. Though the 250 likes to sneak in some speed in the higher end of the gear, but I try to keep it under 5 over (which worst case scenario, has no points in Ohio on any road.) Lucky for you, your 650 is FI and the throttle is more linear.
Try Progressive online. Yes, the lady in their commercials is annoying, but their motorcycle insurance prices are the best I found.
I focused more on insurance to cover my bike and myself getting hurt than liability if I’m at fault. When it’s a bike versus a cage, you know which one going to get more damage and injured more.
SafetyFirstParticipantIs now a bad time to say my insurance was $318 for 12 months on my 03 EX250F?
50K/person,100K each accident bodily
25K each accident property damage25K/person, 50K each accident uninsured/underinsured accident bodily
2.5K medical payments
3K accessory coverage
$100 comprehensive
$250 collisionSafetyFirstParticipantWhat about the Alpinestars Bionic?
SafetyFirstParticipantOnly thing I forgot to mention was picking which gear to be in when making turns after slowing down.
I honestly find it easier to just have to stop at a light, than easing in the clutch and figuring out what gear I want to make that right in. It seems a gear high seems to be more forgiving to a point than being a gear (or two) low, and hearing the sound of an annoyed engine.
I’m sure this will self-correct with riding ( I hope!)
SafetyFirstParticipantNo leads. I’d have to get an aftermarket 1156 or 1157 socket and pop it in.
I bet they didn’t add them to keep costs down. Engineers design something one way, and the bean-counters say “what if we cut wiring them up?” So a savings of probably $5-10 a bike, they could make more $.
SafetyFirstParticipantGet yourself a cold beverage and read this: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2004/octqtr/49cfr571.108.htm
Look at “Table IV–Location of Required Equipment [All Passenger Cars and Motorcycles, and Multipurpose Passenger Vehicles, Trucks, Trailers, and Buses of Less than 80 (2032) Inches (MM) Overall Width]”
SafetyFirstParticipantTrade in for a 650? Geez, I’ve barely have the touched the tip of the iceberg on my 250.
Now this looks interesting, but expensive.
http://www.v-leds.com/Exterior-LED/Brake-Light-LED/Red-LED/V-LEDS-RED-V-STAR-M-SMT-p6472898-1-2.html
SafetyFirstParticipantI picked up two RearAlert brakelight modulators off eBay for a pretty fair price. I’m going to try to install them in the center brakelight of the cage and the Ninja today, if it’ll stop raining. I’ll let you guys know what I think of them.
SafetyFirstParticipantI learned I have more learning to do.
Started out taking it off the center-stand. I didn’t know it, but I bumped it into first in doing so. Got on, and had the clutch ingaged (little habit I picked up when starting in BRC) but not all the way I guess, since when I hit the ignition it starting going forward. Clutch in all the way! That could have been bad if I hadn’t made a habit of that. Time to check for N light first!
More practice in the hospital parking lot. I noticed I find myself doing a lot of slow turns coasting with the clutch in, which probably isn’t good. More breaking practice. I still don’t do the all-at-once braking the MSF instructor kept wanting. The MOM says to focus all of your energy on braking, and deal with shifting later — I tend to agree. I still need to nip that in the bud, because I’m retaking BRC in August and they are nitpicky about that. Personally, I find 2nd gear more useful than first if I’m moving at all. First has way too much torque.
Turn signals are getting better. I’m not having to look anymore, but canceling still seems to be taking a back-burner to clutch action.
I visited my favorite hilly residential area again. I found a little one-way alley that was steep downhill, gravel everywhere, sharp left at the bottom, when uphill. I was on the brakes lightly the whole way down, coasted around the corner with the clutch in, and then hit the hill in first. At the top is a 4-way stop, which was a fun learning exercise. First time I found myself going backwards because I just stopped and didn’t bother with the friction zone (oops.) That was pretty fun to practice friction zone on, because if you frell it up, you go backwards. Never a car to be seen on it. Good incentive to get it right and hold it when you get to the top.
Still little annoyances like rough first gear starts, getting a lot better. Shifting is rough.. hearing the engine rev then bam clutch out too fast. Hopefully that will self-correct.
I got ambitious and decided to see what happens when I twist the throttle more than I have. I had it up to 40 MPH on a 35 MPH steet, and didn’t feel too scared. Cager behind me, too.
I’m finding that the gears aren’t as pronounced between 2-3-4-5 (never got to 6) as between 1-2. I found myself wondering what gear I was in, because I didn’t notice much difference. I did find myself really able to get to 35 in second quickly by opening up the throttle. I’m questioning my shifting patterns. I’d been shifting before to keep revs down and shift more. With a redline at 14000, I can’t seem to touch it being sane.
Eventually, I decided to head home. I felt like I wasn’t scared enough, and that I was setting myself up for being too brave and something bad happening.
I do need to get some motorcycle boots soon. I haven’t been living up to my name. I’ve been riding with corduroy pants (a little better than jeans) and running shoes. But I do have a Shift Backdraft jacket (it’s OK), Scorpion Exo-700 helmet (love it) and Icon Hooligan2 gloves.
Twice I found the laces getting near caught up on the rear brake pedal. I had to stop and double-tie them.
I took a look at footwear in the bike shop, but I wasn’t sure which was safer — the Alpinestars ‘sneakers’ or the Icon field armor boots. They said the Icons are more clunky, but I might just get them because I need to have boots with ankle support for the BRC.
I’m up in the air if I want to just get knee pads, or if I want to get jeans with CE pads inside of them, or what.
SafetyFirstParticipantMaybe you can handle it, maybe not. You’re the only one to judge your skill.
I never rode a motorcycle in my life, so before I took BRC, I honestly didn’t know much. We had a mix, probably 75% Honda CB125Ts and 25% Honda Nighthawk 250s. I honestly found the power between the 125s and the 250s very noticeable. Also, the Nighthawks seemed a little heavier and more awkward to handle (makes sense, bigger engine.) I honestly didn’t find either underpowered at all. Both are more power than you need for going around a parking lot at 20 MPH tops.
This is coming from the guy who was looking for an Aprilia RS50 for his first bike (found some on eBay, but hardly worth the price and the pain of getting it from states away.)
If there was one thing I wish I did when I was younger, it was ride dirt bikes. It would have been a lot easier to learn to ride without cagers, I’m guessing.
Love to chit-chat, but I got riding to do.
SafetyFirstParticipantI like my Scorpion Exo-400 and Exo-700.
I have yet to fog up the face-shield on either.
I run both helmets with clear face-shields, because the way I see it, I’d like to try to make direct eye contact both-ways with the cager thinking about make a left in front of me at the light when I’m on a green.
I’m not going to back down on being pro-FF. If a juicy bug or a rock from a gravel truck hits you in the face on a half-face, so be it. Never mind a lot of the impact to the head from hurt reports show it being where FF gives protection.
My favorite helmet accessory is the HALO ScotchLite reflective rubber band. That was around $15 well spent.
The liners and cheekpads on both are removable and swappable between shell sizes (I know the XS/S/M use the small shell.) I started off with a medium Exo-400, went through MSF class and realized I could use about a size smaller. $30 later, got a small liner and cheekpads, and I’m fitted great now. And I have a helmet I can convert to a medium when I get a passenger someday.
June 5, 2009 at 7:20 pm in reply to: How to convince dad to let me get a ninja 250 instead of cruiser? #19371SafetyFirstParticipantMaybe try looking at the Buell Blast? It’s sure to keep dad happy. I’ve never rode one, but I’ve heard they can be OK for beginners? Someone who rides or rode one could probably give some words on it.
I love my 07-and-older Ninja. Yes, the styling isn’t as sweet as the newer Ninjas. But there’s a certain feeling I get looking at it and riding it. It’s MY bike. And I love how the seat on the older ones is lower to the ground than the newer ones– it’s very easy to put the feet down. I’d suggest looking at an 07 or older. For one, they’re cheaper, as long as you find that fraction of guys that actually have a decent bike priced less than they bought it for five years ago.
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