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Yamaha Jog (CE50, CG50, CY50)
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January 31, 2009 at 2:30 pm in reply to: Ok, 600cc is not the best bike for a beginner, but what about 500cc? #16177SpoolParticipant
The Ninja 500 is a great starter bike and one that you will not likely out grow too quickly.
SpoolParticipantGetting a factory or Clymers service manual for your particular bike would probably be your best bet. If you truly want a general guide to maintenance then check out The Essential Guide to Motorcycle Maintenance by Mark Zimmerman. It gets great reviews on Amazon.com
SpoolParticipantI bought an old bike for myself as a starter bike. It is an ’81 Honda CM400E. It only had about 18,000 on it when I bought it which is good in that it’s low mileage but bad because it also means the bike spent a lot of time sitting around which isn’t good. I got lucky because the guy I purchased it from bought it to teach his son how to ride. He spent a lot of time making sure it was in good shape for his son. So everything that typically needs replaced on older bikes was already done. New tires, battery, brakes, air filter, oil filter, plugs and wires and the carbs were rebuilt. So the bike is in great running condition. I put about 1,000 miles on it before winter hit and had no problems whatsoever. I’m also fairly handy with a wrench and this bike is pretty simple so I pretty confident that I can fix any problems that do arise.
I wouldn’t be afraid of buying an older bike, but be prepared to do some work on it and spend a good bit of money if it has not been well maintained.
As for the CX500 for a starter bike. When I took the MSF course, one of the other guys had bought an ’81 CX500 as his first bike. He got one in pretty good shape for less than $500 bucks. I checked out myself (didn’t ride it though) and they are a pretty big bike. Fairly tall and kinda of heavy. If you have never been on a bike before or are a small person it might not be the best bike to start out on. I don’t think they have enough power to get you in too much trouble but learning the slow speed maneuvering and stuff on a bike that size could be difficult. I’m sure you can learn on it but there are definitely easier bikes out there (my CM400 for example
I do think that the old CX’s are really nice rides. There just something I really like about the older Hondas. Their older bikes just have a certain “charm” to them that IMO is missing from there current line up.
good luck with you purchase and don’t forget to take the MSF.
here’s a pic of my old Honda the day I brought it home.
SpoolParticipantDon’t stress it over the weave, it’s not part of the test anyway. They only test you on the U-turn box, the swerve, the emergency stop, and a 135 degree turn.
SpoolParticipantCongrats!
I just finished mine this weekend as well. I got three points for putting my foot down in the U-turn box. I was 4th or 5th in line for the curve test and they told everyone before me that they were going too slow. So when I did it I went pretty fast, I ended up scraping the peg for just a second near the end of the curve. I was afraid I would get points for doing that but they didn’t say anything. We were using the Suzuki GZ250’s and they don’t lean very far before the pegs hit.
The course was a great experience and the instructors made it a lot of fun. I’d recommend it to anyone.
SpoolParticipantI love watching Crash’s videos. He’s very good at explaining and demoing techniques and he has a great sense of humor as well. The part in the leaning episode where he gets caught trying to sneak cheesecake is hilarious.
September 29, 2008 at 1:26 am in reply to: bike broken-down (with 532mi on the odo) any mechanics got any ideas? #12917SpoolParticipantSounds like a fuel delivery problem to me. Perhaps your gas tank vent is clogged. Next time it happens open up your gas cap and see if it will start that way.
SpoolParticipantI just bought an ’81 Honda CM400E as my first bike. It’s in great shape for being 27 years old and only has 18k on it. Runs awesome and has plenty of power for a first bike. As long as it was maintained well I don’t see a problem with buying something old. I also wouldn’t worry about it being air cooled. Tons of bikes are air cooled and I look at it as one less thing to go wrong in the long run.
If you guys really want to learn to work on bikes in addition to getting a bike to learn ride on I’d recommend picking up an old “basket case” that is saveable but needs a lot of work. If you completely restore/rebuild an old bike you’ll know it inside and out and learn a ton about working on bikes in the process. This way working on the bike won’t interfere with your riding.
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