Good Vs Bad

Shift518 Automotive
1

What it takes to be a good starter bike.

Think back to your first car. It was probably a older vehicle, nothing special, and you really happy to have it. It was forgiving, easy to drive, and after a few weeks you got used to it and started putting the money into the piggy bank to save up for something bigger and better
Now imagine if your first car was a Ferrari F40. A bare bones vehicle with tons of power and no compromise for comfort. Tons of power on demand, rough unforgiving suspension, touchy brakes, touchy throttle, and overall very fast and unforgiving. Now imagine if you never had any experience driving it, and it could fall over at any time so you had to balance it any time you slowed down. That is a difference between a good starter bike and a bad starter bike. Modern sport bikes are pretty much race bikes with blinkers. All are capable of running low 10’s in the ¼ mile, and upper hundreds of miles an hour in top speed. That is not something that you want to learn on.
I understand that most of us, presented with a choice between a Ferrari F40 and a Honda Civic, would undoubtfully pick the Ferrari, even though in the back of your mind you knew it was a bad choice.

Disadvantages:
- Slow learning curve

  • High Risk
  • Expensive to fix
  • Expensive to insure.
  • Aggressive seating position
  • Unforgiving throttle/brakes/suspension
  • Premium Gas
  • Worse Gas Milage
2

don’t really agree with the rationale…

.

Slow learning curve - depends on how often you ride the bike. No matter what bike it is, if you ride once a month, your not going to feel comfortable on it for awhile.

High Risk - Are you kidding?? Do they make a safe motorcycle?? no. Its 99% rider and 1% machine when it comes to crashes.

Expensive to fix - Not quite. For example, I can rebuild my bike off ebay entirely, for pretty cheap, while my uncle who has a 22 year old Honda 450 cruiser is going to spend a few hours searching for parts and then pay premium price. So it would depend on how many of that generation of bikes were sold.

Expensive to insure - I bought a new 06 off the dealer floor, no license only a permit and I pay like 500 for a full year. Not too crazy price wise.

Aggressive Seating position - Thats what separates a Cruiser from a Sport Bike, thats just down to the owners preference.

Unforgiving controls - Once again 99% rider fault and 1% machine error when it comes to this.

Premium gas and bad gas mileage - I ride a 600, only need to fill up on regular octane, and I get 38-42mpg (and thats wot alot too) so if you want better gas mileage, better go grab that 10 speed from the basement !!!

What I think you were trying to get at however, is that if you are a new rider, and are trying to decide on what first bike you wish to get, you should definitely do your homework. First mistake I see alot of people doing is downplaying 600cc bikes. Alot of new riders out there with 1000 cc bikes and have no clue as to how to control them. I myself admit that a 1 litre bike is probably too much for me to handle, and I’m perfectly fine on a 600cc bike.

you should also look into insurance quotes on different bikes while your browsing, to see any variation in prices, if any. And if your a brand new rider, DEFINITELY check out the MSF courses held at HVCC. They can teach you a ton of things, and can probably prevent a few accidents.

ride safe

3

If your not an idiot and actually care and really WONT take advantage of the power in a 750 or 1000 I think anyone can learn on it…Just shift earlier and don’t pull the throttle back as much. The problem isssss new riders cant help but wanna know how it feels wide open in 2nd gear at 8k rpm’s and they don’t know the proper way to do it…

so they either accelerate and panic when they feel their neck flying back and grab the front brake and slide out or flip, or they go wide open threw a turn and spin the tire and slide out…you can learn on a turbocharged busa if you want as long as you use throttle cautiously.

4

It’s true, but 99% of people lie to themselves. And think they are better then they really are. Period, that simple.

How can they know if they will be able to a 600 without first being on it? They lie to themselves and say they can handle it just fine. But when tons of experienced riders who’ve been through that, tell them its too much, they don’t really are because they made up their mind.

And it’s not about just being an idiot, a simple mistake or a pull on the throttle on a 1000 in mid turn would have far more disasterous consiquences then on a less powerful bike.

All i know is, there were quite a few moments when I knew if i was just going a bit faster, or had more power or a heavier bike, I woulda gone down, and that made me happy with the bike choice I made.

5

yea, I wasn’t saying your idea was wrong, just some of the reasoning.

Been riding over a year now, still a newb, and I STILL wouldn’t want a 1000cc sport bike. And you know what, I probably never will.

163 is fast enough for me

6

1000cc is an absolute overkill I will agree with you there.

Top I had my SV up to is about 144 indicated and it felt pretty solid at that speed, and I’m bouncing off the rev limiter so I’m gear limited.

You still had room to go?

7

Not really, I was also bouncing off the rev limiter, or starting too.