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If I know a person (that rides) well enough to call them my "friend", yes, they can ride any motorcycle I have now or ever will have. A true friend is very hard to come by, a motorcycle, not so much.
My Husband - He rode my Dyna before I sold it and he can ride my XR anytime. I have heard that even a taller person can fit on an XR but so far he says no thanks. He's 6'4" - I wouldn't choose a Sporter over a Roadglide either if I were him.
My Dad - in the old days he raced small town flat track and rode a Kawi triple (among many others) and lived - lol. Now he rides a Triumph Speed Triple that he let keep purring for him when he was going through cancer treatment and couldn't ride.
I can count the people I would on one hand. Even then, it's very hard to watch it riding away from you. The reason I say that is, after the purchase of my first bike in 1972 I let a friend ride it around the block one morning and around the corner someone turned left in front of him and totaled the bike.
From: Formerly Tampa Bay, FL, Currently Western PA
One major problem with this thread is everyone is thinking about their bike. For me, its not so much about the bike as the friend. If I let someone else ride my bike, and they somehow got seriously injured or killed while riding a bike I loaned them, I couldn't imagine how I would feel around their wife and family. Their is a very real danger that comes with riding, and if someone doesn't want to ride bad enough to buy their own, then tough. (and bikes can be had for less than a grand if you want to ride bad enough, so don't give me any "times are tough BS").
And if the emotions of a tragedy of that sort wouldn't be bad enough, the legal ramifications could be horrendous!
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