Clueless About Motocycles...
 

I have decided I want a motorcycle. I have been watching that shit on the Discovery channel, and I want Jesse James to make me a bike. One Problem. I don't know how to ride a Cycle.

Can anyone suggest a good bike to start on (dirt bike vs. crotch rocket vs. old harley etc...)..that is cheap and can be treated like shit and still run. Any other cool tips or stories about bike accidents would be cool too.

Thanx.

Take a riders safety course. I will save you $$ on your insurance and it will teach you the baisics. Im a pro Honda fan.. So I stick with them but all of the newer bikes are good. Just use your best judgement and dont just settle for the cheapest bike cause you wont be happy after you learn to ride it will.

( I bought a 02 CBR-600) Love it to death!
My 2 cents..
AT

Definetly take a safety course! As for a starter bike I personally recommend the ex500, enough power to keep you interested in the bike but not enough to get you in much trouble quickly.

concur on the safety course as well. Screw the crotch rocket, go the opposite direction for longer riding and enough speed for anyone. Plus, chicks dig the Harley look and "ride". Also, without getting to preachy, wear a helmet, I had a bike for ten years and always wore one and was happy i did. Remember Gary Busey?

I concur with a lot of that, but in addition:

a) get a brightly coloured lid if you're gonna have a full face, it will make you easier to see, believe me

b) chick dig all bikes, and the ones that don't aren't worth knowing. A chick that's afraid of bikes will be missionary only, so it's a good way of flushing them out early.

c) Cruisers are easier for chicks to like, fair point.

Thanks for the advice....

Hold your breath if you want a westcoast chopper..... they start at $40,000

You can get a nice learner ride for under 2,000.

40k, maybe for a kit.
this is funny.
do you actually want to ride because you think it would be fun to ride, or do you want to ride to be a "badass" biker like jesse james?

Ninja 250
ex500 (larger small ninja)
dirt bikes

Cheap stuff is good, when you trash it by accedent you wont be so pissed.

That is what happened to me. Long story short, my dad tried to tell me to get a junker first and then go better. Well I bought a perfect older bike with perfect paint. My first day learning to ride, dumped the clutch and dumped the bike. I put a huge gash in the tank, I was so pissed.

Not-you, read my comments in the Worth the risk? thread. I strongly advise you to start out on a used dirtbike. You can pick up a cheap dirtbike for $200 which you can beat the shit out of for the summer learning how to ride. I'd also advise getting an enduro, which is essentially a half dirtbike/half roadbike. Will give you a feel for road riding without sacrificing all the fun of a dirtbike. Pluse, you can make an enduro road legal pretty easy (most of them come that way from the factory). So long as all the lights havent been stipped off the used one you buy, it will essentially be street legal. Go with something in the range of 175 to 250cc.

I like Honda's for their durability and reliability, but Yamaha makes the best dirtbikes in terms of performance. But they are also more tempermental. Also, get a four stroke at first, so you can learn to ride without having to worry about keeping the revs in the powerband.

the rest of my advice is in the other thread.

The dirt bike idea is great to get the basics, but when he goes for the safety course, he will have already developed bad habits for the street. So I would take course first and then beat the hell out of a dirt bike for awhile. Just my 2 cents!!! Have fun & be safe

depends on if you want to ride road or dirt or both...
they all require a totally different way of riding.

And in reference to Harleys..my comment on them is ..BLECH..pieces of garbage that spend more time in the garage than on the road.

go with a good quality jap bike (ie a honda or yammy) and have some fun.

Good lord no, if you value anything below your hairline do NOT get anything with a displacement of over 500 cc to start off.

It really helps to know the mechanics of a standard transmission automobile, specifically how to clutch properly. Otherwise, you could be stuck at the front of an advance green, and quite embarassed. Personal experience with that? No, not me... ;)

For cheap and start off, I would personally recommend a '75-85 Honda CB250, just to learn how to ride. Plus they're only $500-1000. Then when you've got everything PERFECT, beyond the shadow of any doubt, go for a more powerful bike.

there's NOTHING wrong with harleys (new ones, except for the fact that they are an incredible waste of money), and old ones if you know what you're doing.

people who tell you otherwise are ignorant and don't have any exerience with anything but just like to take their rice rockets to mechanics to get them fixed/tuned, and these people make me sick with their assumptions.

try everything out, and get what YOU want.

very few things piss me off more than ignorant fools who think harleys are junk, and ignorant HOG BROS who ride harleys for style.