Only his was a salvage-titled GXR1000. I didn’t realize he had never ridden before until about a month after he got the bike, when my wife informed me. On top of this, he never EVER wore a helmet. I begged him to sell that bike and get something else, but he wasn’t having it. It was TOO PRETTY! Repsol replica bike, with the bright orange and green graphics and wheels… it certainly was neat looking but not worth dying over.
Anyway, he did finally lay the bike down one day and it scared him. He fixed the fairings and started riding less and less. He sold the bike for profit, which was cool. After the bike sold he finally admitted it scared him – he even went as far to tell us it shimmied over 120 mph. But he’s got the bike bug again since his dad and I have started bike shopping. His next one? A ‘Busa 1300 he says.
There’s something very exhilirating about driving a slower vehicle to it’s limits, and when you start that far out of your league you’re never going to get that rush. On something like a Ninja 250 (or even 500/600) the new rider is genuinely rewarded – not only by the short-term rush of adrenaline provided by riding closer to the edge – but also in the long-term, as he or she has learned some skills in handling a bike that would have taken them much longer to develop on a big boy.
