[zeppelinfromled]

There’s no reason not to check out the bike. It depends on what their definition of “a few scratches” is.

A couple things to find out before you decide. Make sure that the scratches (and the drop the caused them) don’t do anything to void a warranty. Find out how bad the scratches are, and how much it would cost to fix the damage if you decide that you want to (insurance obviously won’t cover it).

Honestly, it sounds to me like you might want to wait and save up some more money before you buy. If you have 5 or 6 hundred dollars in cash, you can figure you’ll probably spend close to half of that on a helmet. Best case, you have $400 to put down, which isn’t going to work all that well for a loan. I’d try to put 20% down (others who have more experience than me with financing vehicles can tell me if I’m being realistic or not).

We’re talking about savings of $800 for a bike that’s been dropped (again, it depends on their definition of “a few scratches”). It may be a pretty decent deal, but I wouldn’t worry too much about missing it. There are plenty of used bikes on the market, many of them much cheaper than this one.

[zeppelinfromled]

Your license would be valid in any state. A permit is often only valid in the state where it is issued, but a license in valid everywhere (full faith and credit).

There’s no specific reason that you can’t get a Michigan license. The most that you would need is a bill with an address on it. Utility bills are the most common. I suppose this could get tricky if you’re living in the dorms and not paying utilities or anything, but I’m sure it can be done. I believe you can use a bank statement with your Michigan address on it to prove residency and get a license there. The MI DMV website can probably tell you what documents you need to get a license.

[zeppelinfromled]

Knowing how to drive is essentially mandatory for learning how to ride a motorcycle. I wouldn’t want to be getting used to riding a motorcycle and dealing with traffic for the first time at the same time. Get your license, and get some miles under your belt in a car first. I just got my motorcycle at age 22, and I had probably driven close to 100,000 miles before I got a bike. You don’t need that many, but you should have at least several thousand. I think other people will agree with me on this. You’ll also need to be 18 in most states before you can get a motorcycle license.

In terms of the winter, don’t expect to use your bike much during the winter. I’m not familiar with New Jersey weather, but I am familiar with weather in northeast Ohio, which is pretty similar to Michigan (I believe we have someone on here who’s from Michigan, so he can give you better specifics than me). Winter used to be my favorite season, until I went to school in Ohio. It gets cold. Not like a little bit, but it gets really really cold. Even if you can deal with the cold, the ice and snow are a different story. I definitely wouldn’t ride in the winter up there. You’ll probably need to put the bike away in October, and you can break it out again in March or April, depending on the winter.

I’m not particularly familiar with Ann Arbor, but I’m sure you won’t *need* a car. Plenty of people go to the University of Michigan without one.

[zeppelinfromled]

First off, if you haven’t taken the MSF course, take it. That will be a good first step in convincing your parents, and it’s also a course that can save your life. So take it if you haven’t.

It’s turned out that most of my gear is from Tour Master/Cortech (boots, pants, and jacket at least). My helmet is a Shoei RF-1000. I’m happy with it, but you can definitely get quality helmets for cheaper than that one. I wrote a post a week or two ago with information about my gear, so you might want to see if you can find that.

My insurance is a little more than $1000 for the year, but I think I pay more than most people on this site. Being a single male in my early 20s in Boston doesn’t help. I would get more than the minimum coverage if I were you. I have a good deal of liability coverage, as well as un/underinsured motorist coverage (but that’s not what is expensive). Collision and comprehensive coverage are good as well, but they cost more for a motorcycle. Collision insurance will cover the bike if you get in a wreck that’s your fault, and that includes things like you dropping the bike. Comprehensive insurance covers things like damage from the weather, or vandalism, or theft (or collision with an animal, at least in Massachusetts).

If you’re a dependent on your parents, or if their name will be associated with the insurance, then it’s especially important to get high liability coverage.

If your parents are concerned that riding is dangerous, the best step that you can take is to make sure they know that you’re a responsible person (and to actually be a responsible person. And also make sure they realize that a lot of motorcycle wrecks happen when people are idiots. That being said, don’t fool yourself. Responsible motorcyclists do sometimes get into wrecks, and they can be pretty seriously injured in those wrecks. Safety gear helps immensely, and you should wear it at all times while you’re on your bike, but I think it’s important to accept the risks that you take.

[zeppelinfromled]

It depends on the specifics of distance, but being a fairly new rider, I probably would have slowed down to let them go first (with a few flashes of the brake light for the car behind me). If it looked like the car was clueless and wasn’t slowing down enough, I can always speed up and miss the turn if I have to. Missing the turn isn’t the end of the world.

I run into the same dilemma a lot with bikes going the same direction as me. I could speed up ahead of them and make the turn, or slow down and let them go first.

For now, as a new rider, I err on the side of not forcing myself to take turns quickly. I’d rather set the speed of a turn myself, instead of rushing through it to avoid someone on a bicycle.

[zeppelinfromled]

When I took my MSF course, I had some trouble with stalling. I found that taking an extra 1 or 2 seconds before I started off was helpful. Even saying the word “slow” out loud (to remind myself to let the clutch out slowly) was helpful. When I got my bike, I was riding around on some “back roads” – actually just some quiet roads that I could find in the Boston area, and I would stall a couple times at a stop sign. I would realize that there was no point in trying again and again unless I changed something, so I would take a deep breath, think about what I was doing, remind myself to let the clutch out slowly and roll on the throttle gently, and I almost always got it on that third try.

If stalling is your major worry, then it sounds like the parking lot where you can’t get out of first would be fine. Just start up, get going smoothly, stop, and repeat. Definitely just slowly releasing the clutch until you find the friction zone is helpful. Get it so you get really used to the feeling of going from having the clutch all the way in to having it in the friction zone. Once you get that muscle memory going, it’s a snap.

One problem that I ran into with giving it too much throttle isn’t that too much throttle caused me to stall. It’s that giving it too much throttle caused me to freeze up and let go of everything (drop the clutch and roll all the way off the throttle), which then caused me to stall. Getting used to how sensitive your throttle is is also important. Once you’re comfortable finding the friction zone, try giving it the smallest amount of throttle that you possibly can, and see what happens (and then squeeze the clutch again and stop). Try that a number of times, and then try it with just a little bit more throttle. Eventually, you’ll find a good amount of throttle for starting off, and when you mix that with the friction zone, you’ll have a nice smooth start.

I think a lot of people have a tendency to see a green light and freak out because they need to be moving and they get all stressed out. When the light turns green, just take a deep breath, let it out, and remind yourself to do things slowly. And remember to keep breathing as you ride.

Also, if you’re not comfortable with your riding after some practice in your apartment parking lot, there’s nothing wrong with taking the MSF course again. You could take the basic course again, just to get some extra time on the bike. And while you’re doing their exercises, you can focus on the things that you need to work on. Or you could look into an intermediate class, but I’m not quite sure what those entail.

It won’t be too long until you’re wondering how you had trouble with this in the first place. It’ll just become second nature.

[zeppelinfromled]

It’s definitely possible to buy a vehicle when you’re licensed in a different state, but it’s a bit tricky (I bought a car in Ohio with a North Carolina license). It takes longer, and they have to send mail back and forth with your home state. One potential problem is that the MSF course is for CA, so it would get you a CA license. You would need a Virginia motorcycle license somehow (the Massachusetts permit doesn’t allow you to ride out of state, so you would need the license).

I see two basic options. You could take the MSF course in VA, get your license there, and then buy a bike. Or you could get a NY license, take the course there, etc. Since you’re just working in Cali for the summer, it doesn’t make any sense to get a Cali license. You’ll be paying CA taxes anyway, since you’re working there. And with a CA license, you’ll have to register your bike there, and pay taxes on it there, but that’s easy. The only way it would make sense to get a CA license is if you know you’re going back there after school.

What year are you in school? And do you know where you’ll end up after graduation? It costs money to transfer registration and title to a new state, so doing that as few times as possible is good.

It seems like you best option would be the see if the VA DMV recognizes an MSF from California. If not, try to get back to the east coast for a weekend to take the MSF. And if neither of those can happen, you’re probably better off waiting until the fall to get your license.

If you do get one in Cali, to get it across the country you could ride it if you’re at a point where you’re comfortable with that, or you could rent a Uhaul or something and put it in the back.

In terms of the winter, my bike will be going into storage for the Boston winter. There’s a dealership that had a deal where they drain all the fluids, put it in a climate controlled garage, hook up a battery tender, and then refill all the fluids when you come to pick it up. The price isn’t bad either. You could accomplish the same thing yourself with a cover and or something. But I won’t be riding on the ice and snow.

For music, I don’t listen to music when I ride, but I’m still a fairly new rider. I would have a problem listening to music in heavy city traffic, but on the highway or out in the “country” (doesn’t even have to be the real country), I wouldn’t have a problem with it. Check the laws. Some states say that one earpiece is ok, but not two. I treat it as a personal choice though, whatever the law says.

[zeppelinfromled]

I’m glad I’m not the only one who drinks Mountain Dew in the morning.

Also, if you’re wearing the Draggin Jeans under the chaps, you’re pretty well protected.

[zeppelinfromled]

I have a pair of the Kevlar-reinforced jeans, and I have the Bohn armor stuff (the material in mine is kind of like pantyhoes, so it’s supposed to be cooler). The Bohn stuff would definitely offer protection, but I don’t find it comfortable at all. In every single case when I want more protection that the jeans alone, I reach for the textile pants that zip into my jacket. They’re more comfortable and they offer better protection. And since I can’t walk around in the Bohn stuff comfortably, I would have to change clothes anyway to walk around. Just my 2 cents, but I don’t like the Bohn armor. You may feel completely differently though.

[zeppelinfromled]

I keep it under the seat in a ziplock bag. In Massachusetts, the registration is your proof of insurance, but I carry a card with my insurance information with it anyway. I also keep a copy of the insurance info in my wallet.

Keeping it in the jacket makes sense though, considering that I only have one jacket. For some reason, I just like keeping it on the bike – kind of like keeping it in the glove box (except I don’t always wear the same clothes while driving my car).

[zeppelinfromled]

That’s fair. I guess when I think of a 600 cc four cylinder being a good beginner bike, I’m thinking of people who have been riding dirt bikes for years, but I hear you about not wanting to recommend it on a general basis nonetheless.

As for format, I think a large Excel file might be a decent way to do it. You could use colored cells to indicate category (green for the 250s, red for the 600s, etc). I’m not sure how well it would actually work, but my mind jumps to Excel for most things where I need to organize stuff.

Let me know if you’d like some help gathering info, putting stuff together, proof reading, etc.

[zeppelinfromled]

Enjoy the work. I know very little about motorcycle engine work, although I’m slowly learning.

Side note: there was another thread, where if you right click, and click on “copy image location,” you can then enter that in the little sunset icon thing on this page, and it should work.

[zeppelinfromled]

Indeed.

In my mind, I kind of divide into 4 categories. There’s the 250, which is great for a beginner. Then there’s the 650 2 cylinder, which is pretty good for a beginner who has a cool head and did decently in the MSF course. Then there’s the 600 four cylinder, which isn’t good for a beginner unless (s)he has some prior experience. And then there’s the larger four cylinders (R1, Hayabusa, etc), which shouldn’t be someone’s first bike.

So saying which category each bike falls into (maybe additional categories) should be the minimum that a list like this would contain. Obviously the more info the better, as long as it’s not completely overwhelming.

[zeppelinfromled]

Haha, I saw someone on a Segway today near the hospital where I work.

Several years ago, I was in Vancouver with my family and we rented some for an afternoon (just to see what they were like, not for transportation). They’re a lot of fun.

By far that hardest part for me was getting on it at first. Because if you push it forward or backward, it moves that direction. But I got the hang of it after a couple tries.

Have fun.

[zeppelinfromled]

I always forget about the “copy image location” option. Much easier than trying to find the actual image location.

[Author]

Posts