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As Munch mentioned, the Metzeler ME880’s are great tires. I’ve got over 10,000 miles on the rear on my Spirit 1100 and it’s just now down to the wear bar for replacement. The front has in the neighborhood of 17,000 on it and still has tons of tread, but it’s 5 years old now and will be replaced along with the rear for next seaon. The ME880’s are great and the rain, and track really well, ie they don’t get all squirlley on grated bridges or grooved pavement.

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If you live in a cold weather state this is typically the best time for a good deal on a used bike. People not wanting to store a bike for the winter, no demand for bikes, and the need for Christmas cash makes for some fantastic deals. Once the weather breaks in the spring and the demand for bikes increases the prices follow.

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I’m really liking that GSR750, standard riding position of the old SV650 and the power and handling of the GSXR750. Hard to go wrong there.

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In my opinion a Shadow 750 is a reasonable starter bike. Certainly not enough power to overwhelm and the weight is pretty easily managed due to the low center of gravity as you mentioned. Is it a good of learner as a Rebel or Ninja 250? Perhaps not. Then again at 5’10” and “not twig-like” it may just be a better one. A big part of being able to learn to ride is being comfortable and if the Shadow is the one she’s comfortable on, why not?

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I have the same problem with my Bell Zephyr. Really sucks in the rain because water will run down the inside of the visor, that’s really no fun. I sure wish mine had such an adjustment.

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For a vintage styled beginner bike the Suzuki TU250X is a great choice. Vintage styling with modern fuel injection. Should be a great learner.

http://cmgonline.com/images/stories/bikes/Suzuki/tu250x/2009/tu250x_rsf.jpg

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I don’t think they make a Virago 500….they used to make a Virago 535 but it’s been over 10 years since that was in production. It was replace by the V-Star 650. The only 500cc cruiser I’m aware of is the Vulcan 500 which btw gets rave reviews by just about everyone. Other cruisers of similar size are the Suzuki S40 (650cc single), the Honda VLX600 (last produced in 2007) and the aforementioned V-Star. IMO the Vulcan is easily the best bike of that group, though it lacks a bit of the classic cruiser styling being a parallel twin vs. a V-twin as you mentioned. But that 500cc engine is pretty sweet, I’ve put quite a few miles on a Ninja 500 which has the same basic engine and it is easily controlled but has plenty of power.

BTW if you are looking to go used the Virago 535 seems to be a well respected bike, and actually had more power than the 650 that replaced it according to what I have read.

Good luck with your search.

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I like video reviews myself, especially when paired with a written review as you have done. There’s lots of things that are easily shown in a video that are hard or not even possible to describe in words. Such as when she was describing the issue with the zipper on the sleeve. I think your vid is good. Seemed well planned out and to the point, not stumbling along like some reviews do.

Nice job

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GZ250 is what I rode in the MSF class here. Nice little bike, great looking in my opinion. I will say that they don’t seem to have much cornering clearance as I scraped it a few times in the class mostly towards the end where you do the 135 degree turn that you have to accelerate through.

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If I lived in a more urban area, I’d definitely buy a scooter. There’s a place in my town that rents out little ones, I think they are 50cc two strokes. They are a blast to ride around on, and have a ton of storage space. Great for trips to the market and stuff. Of course these ones top out at about 40mph so they’re not very practical anywhere but in town, but a 500cc version would certainly fix that problem, at the expense of some of the fun probably though.

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Skel3tor1 has no problems running his in the interstate:

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The Savage is a nice bike but they are rather small, not much bigger than a Rebel 250. It would have enough power I’m sure, but at your size I think you’d be rather cramped.

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The KLR650 would probably be a good fit for you. Nice big bike with plenty of room. Plenty of power to get you around, but not enough to get you in trouble. Plus if you buy used they can be had dirt cheap, heck even brand new ones are pretty cheap. But the 2007 and older models would be a better machine to learn on simply because they have less plastics and would probably survive the inevitable drop with much less damage.

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I have never ridden a Ninja 250 but one of my good friends has a 500 that I have put quite a few miles on. In my opinion it would make an excellent beginner bike. It’s fairly light weight and the power is easily managed. It can be fast, but you really have to run it hard to get the speed out of it. It’s not one of those bikes that will get you in trouble with the flick of the wrist. I’m sure a 250 would be plenty of bike for you at your weight but at the same time the 500 would in no way be too much. So yeah, you would probably do best to grab which ever you can get a good deal on.

BTW my friend bought his 2006 500 with 6,000 miles on it, in nearly mint condition for $2,000 so there are some great deal out there on them.

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The WR250 is available as a supermoto, it’s the WR250x

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