First motorcycle... undecided
First bike experience with my wife. She never road on a motorcycle before, not once. She got her license through the local HD rider academy and bought a Fat Boy "S". We talked about her getting a "starter" bike but she said bullshit, I will get what I want and I will know what it is when I see it. She fell in love with the fat boy. Added a windscreen and saddle bags and she is a happy camper. She feels safer on a bigger bike, yes, heavy but glued to the pavement. Do not limit yourself (900cc limit seems really random), buy what you want and of course take it easy at first and be safe. Demo rides are also a good idea or even a rental. Good luck!
Road Warrior
Joined: Feb 2017
Posts: 1,268
Likes: 221
From: farmington michigan
Wow so many opinions what are you gonna do? Must of the riders here just like me started riding 650's 750's and if we were going top shelf 1200's now that was many many moons ago. Now what I have seen many times is guys would buy bikes that they felt "safe" buying as a first bike and low and behold after a month of riding they realized it was too small for them. If you're going to do that and that's just fine to do buy s used metric that when your done with it you can get your money back. The other wAy is look at different bikes and like I allways say "you'll know it when you see it" and brand doesn't matter then buy it and get the wind in your face and enjoy. Jmho
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 5,474
Likes: 6,345
From: pacific northwest
I agree with buying a 2nd hand metric for a starter as a good one can be had for a song. now ride it for a while to find out if motorcycling is really for you or just another short term hobby. if you find you are like a lot of us that you just can never get enough riding time in, then go out and splurge on the ride you have been dreaming about.
Road Warrior
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 1,297
Likes: 1,232
From: Depends on where I am
That is the route I took. I had never ridden a motorcycle of any kind 4 years ago. I wanted a Harley when I started riding, but knew I needed to learn to ride first. I spent $4k on two smaller metrics (and sold them for basically what I paid) before getting my Road King. Even if I had been stuck with taking a loss on those two bikes it would have been money well spent.
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Joe Kucinski
Banned
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 8,688
Likes: 1,903
From: Depends on who wants to know.........and why.
That's what I was getting at by suggesting a used Nighthawk, you can get them cheap, lay em down while learning to ride without really caring about the damage to the bike, beat the crap out of it, sell it once you can handle a bike, then get a Harley
It would be a shame to get a nice shiny Harley and lay it down, or lay it down several times, trying to learn how to ride.
just my opinion
The ZX1400 I pictured above was a joke. It's a lot of bike.
Last edited by SixDD; Feb 14, 2018 at 08:32 AM.