1972 CB350 identical to my 1st bike.....hand me down from Dad......as was my Yammy 650, & CB750/4
for off road I bought my own MR250, XLR "Elsinore" 250....and I can't remember the letters, Suzuki 250 with the kick paddle for front sprocket shifts......high range / low range.
never owned a sport bike and only 2 HDs ....'02 XLC 1200.....and my current love, in my sig. pic.

 

The basics of riding are so simple, twist this = go, pull this and press that = stop, what could be simpler, unless it's all happening a bit too fast for an inexperienced rider,



Too much bike, too little skill

 

I got my start on a Moped. Don't recall the displacement since it was a LONG time ago...but I'd guess somewhere around 10-12 CC.

 

I agree in part with the OP. I rode dirt bikes as a kid but had no bike from about 18 until my mid 30s when I bought my first HD which was a 2002 WG, my first time riding any street bike was a Softtail Springer. I had always wanted a HD but college, starting my career and family, spending time on the road with my son and his MX career delayed that until the one day a good friend who had been riding for many years convinced me to take a ride and offered his brothers Springer (which was for sale). The plan was my wife and I would ride the Springer on a Sunday ride up the Natchez trace with my buddy and his wife, I did hop on the Springer without my wife first and made a bout a 5 mile loop to make sure I was comfortable before putting my wife on back. I felt comfortable came back loaded my wife on and the four of use hit the Natchez trace and some back roads for a couple hundred miles that day. That was all it took to convince myself and my wife that we had waited long enough to own a HD, I did not want to buy the Springer because at 6'7" I felt I would fit better on a WG. The next week I had located a new 2003 WG at a dealer about 120 miles away, my second ride on a street bike was the 120 mile trip home on that new WG. That was in Sept on 02 and the following Aug my wife and I did our first really long trip on the bike, 2 weeks and 5500 miles to Sturgis and back.

When I bought that first HD my son was racing 85cc and I can tell you throttle and clutch control on his 85cc race bikes was far more difficult than on a HD. Hell at that point his 85s felt quicker than the 125s I raced 20 years prior, they definitely had better suspension. I can see starting on something with less power before jumping on something like a 450 MX bike or a very responsive crouch rocket but an HD is just not that difficult.

A persons size and the weight aspect of a HD may come into play with a less experienced rider but learning to handle the power of a big VTwin is just not that difficult, at least it did not seem that way to me

 

But you just didn't hop on a HD as your first bike, You didn't go take a MSF class on a 250 then hoo on a brand new 800 LB bike, you had years of dirt bike experience. (and in my personal opinion learning to ride on a dirt bike makes you a better street bike rider).

You had years of riding smaller dirt bikes before moving up to a bigger Harley.

 

Cooper.... you have had a lot of advice, suggestions, recommendations, reasons, examples of why one should start with a smaller bike to begin their cycling career. One other valid point I would like to make is not only the riding experience, but situational awareness. There are many dangers out there and many ******** driving cars that don't see you. Most often due to distractions. But there are a great many things you need to know and experience and learn in the start of your riding career. If you are on a big, expensive, heavy bike and have various road situations come up, I pretty much guarantee ya you'll be thinking of your bike rather than how to get out of the situation. You need to have your head on a swivel when you ride. Having an expensive big new bike only adds to the trauma of a new rider trying to gain experience. Tis far better to have something smaller, less expensive, easier to control for probably the first year... until you gain experience and ability to do some moves/controls/evasions without much pre-thought.
Many have jumped right in and started on a big expensive bike and never had an issue. Then there are many garage queens out there that are never ridden because someone thought they were "too good" or "better than most" and could handle a big bike.
My thoughts... my experience... my suggestions. Take 'em or leave 'em.

 

Starting on a smaller/easier to maneuver bike is just the smarter/safer way of going about things. That’s not to say doing it some other way won’t work, it’s just less smart/safe.

 

But how do you learn good throttle and clutch control?

I rode a motorcycle for the first time at age 40. No dirt bike, quad, or anything else with a hand clutch and throttle. Plenty of manual transmission cars, tractors, etc but the whole hand control system was brand new to me. It took some practice before I could consistently turn and lean the bike and control the throttle. I went from a Yamaha Virago 250 to a V-Star 950 before I bought my Road King. If I had started on a touring bike or liter sportbike I would have crashed and either been seriously injured or killed, or just gotten frustrated with riding and quit.

By your logic, beginner pilots should be fine starting out flying a 737 or an F16. As long as they have good pilot skills, it doesn't matter how much weight or power the plane has.

 

My advice, for newer riders, isn't negating a bigger motor f/ learning - I simply don't recommend new riders buying their "Dream Harley" and then learning how to ride it. Hear/see too many tips, slide-outs, crashes, etc..not the way to treat your $pendy ride. >.<

 

Not quite so sure that analogy works. A 737 practically fly's and lands itself.

The reason you start on a single engine Cessna is if you crash it's a couple hundred thousand instead of fifty million.

Actually I take that back, that's a prefect analogy, You start out on a cheap used smaller bike because you probably will make a simple mistake, doesn't hurt the wallet as much to drop a $2,500 used Sportster as it does an brand new $25,000 Street Glide.