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I agree with Elwood. If one could not steer with the pegs (and other body aspects), then how could anyone steer at all with no hands? Saying that you can steer without your hands and that you can steer without moving the handlebars are not the same statement though. Now, I use countersteering (the traditional way), but I’m just debating whether or not steering can be accomplished without doing it with the hands – and it can.

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One thing to calculate before taking out a loan is how much you will end up paying, all total. Microsoft Excel has a function to do this kind of calculation (you put in downpayment, interest rate, number of payments, etc).

I don’t have much experience with vehicle loans, but I do have experience with student loans. Key things too look at are down payment, interest rate, whether that interest rate is fixed or variable, penalties for paying it off early.

I like loans where you can enroll in automatic debit, or automatic payment on a credit card (even better for me) because then you don’t need to worry about late payments, and I get a little cash back on my credit card.

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Welcome to the forum.

I ride a Ninja 650, and I’m about 230 or 240 pounds. It certainly has no trouble with my weight, and I can’t imagine that the 500 would have any trouble either.

Have fun with the MSF, and be safe.

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There’s a little button above where you type that looks like a sunset (far left). If you click that and enter the image URL, it will display the picture. The problem with facebook is that the webpage isn’t just the image. You could upload them to photobucket or something.

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There are also different standards of bikes that aren’t recommended. A 600 four cylinder isn’t a great beginner bike in most people’s eyes, but a Hayabusa 1300 is unacceptable in anyone’s eyes as a beginner bike. But since we’re just talking about a list of bikes that might be considered beginner bikes, the worst rating (“not recommended” or something similar) *could* be used as a beginner bike. Basically, I’m just noting that we’re leaving off bikes that are horribly not suited for beginners, so that’s something the keep in mind.

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I didn’t realize the Katana is air-cooled. That was a big factor when I bought my bike, and would probably swing this decision for me.

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Bah, I hate you guys with your low insurance. I’m a single male in my early 20s who lives in Boston. My insurance is absurd.

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The first thing that comes to my mind is that you’ll find a pretty significant power difference between the two bikes. The Katana has four cylinders (and a larger displacement) while the Ninja only has two cylinders. There’s definitely no consensus that one is a “better bike” than the other.

As long as it’s in good mechanical condition, and you’re comfortable handling a more powerful bike, I’d go for the Suzuki myself.

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You guys are making me miss North Carolina.

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Man, I’ve pulled up next to a Ferrari twice on my motorcycle. I was too busy picking my jaw up off the ground to race, even if they had wanted to (they barely even glanced in my direction).

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I can second 5,000 rpm at 70 mph in 6th.

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I wouldn’t say that you would lose the bike from under you. If you pop the clutch out too quickly while your starting, it’ll jump a little bit. I did that once and it was frightening, but I wasn’t in any danger of crashing or anything like that. It’s all about the clutch. The only way you’ll lose the bike from under you is if you give it WAY too much throttle and dump the clutch (I wouldn’t worry about that happening unless you’re trying to do something stupid). When I first got the bike, I made sure to err on the side of stalling due to not giving enough throttle until I got a feel for it (I’m still getting a feel for it).

But if I’m cruising down the road and I need some sudden acceleration, I have no problem leaning forward and rolling the throttle on pretty hard.

I think that the reason that powerful bikes aren’t good for many beginners isn’t because of the physical difficulties in controlling a bike, but because of the temptation to accelerate quickly and ride as fast as they can. As long as you truly intend to ride within your skill level, and you aren’t tempted by the power of your bike, then you’ll be fine.

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The 650R doesn’t have ABS. And that Kawi green color makes me cringe…at least it would if it ever ended up on my bike.

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I had the same debate when I was buying a bike. I’m a couple inches taller than you and a couple dozen pounds heavier, but our inseams are the same. I similarly had no experience, so I decided to wait until after the MSF course make a decision. As it turned out, I was pretty comfortable after the course, so I went with the 650R and I’m definitely happy with that decision. (This was just a few weeks ago, FYI). I’ve been out a on the highway a few times, and I can definitely see how a smaller bike would be uncomfortable. I’ve heard that the 250R is just a little small for the highway and that the wind really blows you around. I also like to know that if I see a car coming up too quickly behind me, or something like that, I have enough reserve power to accelerate out of the way – even at 70 mph in 6th gear. I don’t know that the 250R lacks this, but I’d imagine it has less power in that situation than the 650R.

The bottom line for me is that the 250R only had two things in the pro column over the 650R. It was cheaper, and it’s better for people who don’t have a level head, or who can’t control the throttle well (or people who just want to get a 250 for other reasons, but that’s a different thing). Since I have a cool head (and I could afford it), I went with the 650R.

I’d say if you’re really going to be doing 50/50 city/highway, get the 650R as long as you have a cool head (you aren’t prone to racing people just for the fun of it, etc), and you feel relatively comfortable after the MSF course

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My idea isn’t that it would help to prevent theft. It’s more to keep the neighbor’s kids from coming over to check out the bike and taking the cover off of it (or something like that). Easy to defeat, but a minor inconvenience can go a long way against those who aren’t there with thieving in mind.

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