It's frustrating for a soon to be rider...
 

Hello all,


Let me start by saying that I've never been on a motorcycle before!

I'm a teenager living here in Georgia, and I'm going to be turning 17 in 3 months. For a long time I've been both facinated with motorcycles and the idea of riding one. It may help to mention that they run in the family on my mothers side. (Before I was born, she rode a 1978 Honda GW.) I've been looking around for a long time at the motorcycle that I want to start out with. My mother says that I should start out on a GW, but I tell her that 1. I don't have the money, or credit for that. 2. I feel that the bike is too big for me to handle.

I'm one of those types of people that really thinks about the decisions they're making, and to be cautious going about it. I want a motorcycle, but I understand that it would be a squid move of me to get anything bigger than a 500 (Honestly, I don't even want anything bigger than a 250.) With that in mind, I had really started looking at the 125 Eliminator, than I read a few bad reviews and that steered me to look elsewhere. (Mom actually said that I should stick with Honda, but she supports me with whatever I do)

I began looking more into what Honda has to offer, and fell in love with the CBR125, then I found out that they don't sell it here in the US. What a massive dissapointement. In the CBR's, I'm basically left with the 600 and the 1 Liter, which is TOTALLY out of the question, since it is both a RR and too big an engine size.

I looked at the Shadow, and the Rebel, the Rebel proved to be uncomfortable to me, and the Shadow is too big (Of an engine... the Shadow is what I want to work myself up to.) I don't want to stray away and get a 250, nor do I want to get a scooter. I need something that is easy to learn on, won't break the bank, and is forgiving. (As can be) Nevertheless, I am oh so confused as to what I should do! Eventually I want a Shadow VLX or a GoldWing but I'm not sure that it would be good of me to start with such a big bike!

It's not that I can't control myself (From Speeding, Reckless behavior, Stunting, etc...) I just think that it would be irresponsible of me to not start small and work myself up!

Talking about responsibility, I'm going to take a MSF course before I hop on... I haven't yet...



Could someone give me a hand?

Elektron.

RE: It's frustrating for a soon to be rider...
 

i can see you put a lot of thought into it, most people want to ride the biggest and baddest bike off the line, me included. :P
i don't know what your budget is but my 3 personal favourites (of the little bikes) are Honda cbr 125 (my bike), Yamaha yzf 125 and the Kawasaki ninja 250.

the 250 is perfect if you have the funds is exactly 33BHP, the Honda is 13BHP and the Yamaha is 15BHP.


what you can do is pick up a HONDA CBR 500 or 600, and have it restricted down to say 33BHP don't go bigger than 600 because then restricting will ruin the engine. The advantages of restricting a 600cc, is that by the time you take the restricter off you will have a good feel of the handling of the bike and won't have to learn the techniques of handling from scracth, trust every bike is drifferent hence the appeal to biking.
the down points are that you will not get the high acceleration revs, it will wheeze if your try (the restrictor restricks the air intake flow) and you will have to constantly explain to others bikers the reason why your bike seems sluggish, having said that from 0-100KPH she will perform just fine its abouve that you will notice the differance.


now onto the other bikes, i'm sad to hear that honda hasn't realeased the CBR 125 into the USA, its a beautiful bike (little bit skinny) but corners no problem,


the Yamaha is new on the market so your looking at 2995 pounds - US value most likely $4500, or somit like that.



and its the same deal with the Kawi,



but when it boils down it to Honda engines will keep going even when their are no wheels left,
the Bonus of going for a supersport it that they are designed to have the trottle jammed open at ever opatunity so the engines will be just fine,


oh and lastly the 500 honda, i have heard that because of its age design its costly to put restrictors on, so if your gonna get that buy some expensive kit and pe prepaired to fall off, its not as bad as you think,

RE: It's frustrating for a soon to be rider...
 

You could call just about any Honda dealer in Canada and purchase one up here. From what I hear, it isn't hard to bring a vehicle across the border.

I've never looked at bringing one the other way, but from the US into Canada usually isn't a hassle.

Almost every dealer up here has some. You could then take a bus up to say, Niagara Falls Canada (where you could probably purchase one), THEN you get to ride the bike home. It would take a couple days, but it would be a really nice first road trip to do on the bike.

RE: It's frustrating for a soon to be rider...
 

don't play the border game unless you have money to burn.

If I were you, I'd grab a <2007 Ninja 250 (2008 models are more money, and harder to find)... ride it a few years and then buy the 600.

The 125 is a good bike, but at ~13hp is limited in top speed, to a point that the freeway is going to be really quite high revs all the time. It will do it, but you don't have much left over. The 250, on the other hand, will do it all day... every day.

RE: It's frustrating for a soon to be rider...
 

Guys, I'd have to say that I really appreciate all the replies that I've gotten from you all.

Honestly, I've really sunk a lot of thought into what I want to do. I like the Ninja, but I'd rather be on a Honda... However, I think the 600 is too big. The restrictors aren't a bad idea at all either, but CBR600 is STILL a RR. From what I hear, the difference between a sportsbike and a RR is that "a sportsbike CAN kill you, a RR WANTS to kill you." I'm not scared of death, I just want to be able to enjoy motorcycle riding the rest of my life ^_^

For me, I'm going to make budget not be a issue as much as I can, but nevertheless it's not like I'm going to go out there and buy a goldwing. My limits are <600cc, and NO RR's. They both kill me because my dream bike is the 08 CBR600RR... but from my understanding, that's too much for a beginning rider.

When I get some money on me, I'm going to go ahead and buy a full set of leathers, and the best helmet I can possibly afford before I buy my bike. One day, I want to get a 600RR and spend some time at the track. I don't need high speed to enjoy myself though, I just like to ride....

That being said, I wanna do it right.

I think I'm going to go to the nearest motorcycle dealership and take a look at what they got, I'll be sure to take another look at this 250.

I'm a bit upset with the nearest dealership, he tried to put me on a Sun L and I told him "**** no." and got the hell out of there. I'm sure to be a remembered face.

Reply soon all,

Alex