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48 years old, 220# +/-, 6’ tall, 32-33” inseam. Not muscular, but pretty fit (except I’ve developed a bit of a gut).
Riding experience = at the age of 18 a friend showed me how to ride on a Kawasaki 1000, just going around a baseball diamond. I quickly sold the car and bought a Honda CX 500. Ended up selling that and getting a truck when winter came around. Knocked the girlfriend up, and money kept me from riding.
Currently … Divorced for many, many years now, the kids are grown, have a career, I don’t do drugs or drink.
I want to ride again!! Especially enjoyed two lane country roads just north west of the city, back in the day. Leaning into the turns, with few intersections. Little to no traffic. Good times…
Took an MSF class about a month ago. Ride was a HD Street 500 (Only choice as everyone rode one, not what I would choose). Did OK mostly, but I REALLY struggled the second day with the figure 8s inside the box. All of the low speed maneuvering I found challenging (offsets on the first day were tough). The figure 8s were especially tough, I think because as I would make the extreme handle bar turns, my throttle & clutch control would vary. The instructor said it was because I “looked down”. Either way, I withdrew myself from class at the figure 8 portion. Was getting very frustrated, and feeling like I was delaying other riders in the class, and knew (even if the instructor wouldn’t tell me), that I’m not quite ready to be out on the street riding again yet. All in all, I’m glad I took the class, as it re-familiarized myself with motorcycles. I plan to retake it after getting some parking lot time on my own. I live near some decent sized parking lots that will require maybe 1/10th-1/4 mile to access without having to get on major roads.
Planned riding… I want to get back to those country roads, of course. I also would like to ride to work (construction), which often requires some highway/turnpike time, depending on the particular jobsite. I know I will need to work up to that. I imagine that for a while I should stick to parking lots and (after getting the endorsement) weekend mornings downtown Tulsa, where there is almost no traffic, very low speed limits, plenty of intersections and stop lights (every city block), and varying uphill and downhill starts/stops (depending on the chosen street).
So, all that said, my considerations for choosing a ride….
I prefer a cruiser for now, eventually moving up to a touring model.
Prefer air cooled vs liquid, I think. My gut tells me that a radiator is just one more thing to break or leak, if/when I should drop it.
Oklahoma roads are notorious for being “washboard”. Even/especially the turnpikes and highways.
Am thinking it would be wise to get something with “color” instead of black… for visibility sake. Also, I’m confident that black, in the Oklahoma summer sun is not a good mix.
MSF class strongly suggested ABS, and I would tend to agree, but not sure it is absolutely necessary.
I understand that fuel injected is supposed to be better. I assume due to lower maintenance issues.
I sat on a Virago 250 a week back. Thought it was physically small. I liked the slenderness of it, and there was little weight. I wasn’t really comfortable though, feeling as if my knees were poking up in the air.
Saw mention of the V Star 650 here, and they seem priced good on craigslist. So went up to a dealer that has a couple of used ones, before getting the hopes up of those with ads on CL. I felt way more comfortable on it, too a point. Knees didn’t poke up and everything felt good ergonomically, but it did seem bigger than I expected… width wise. Felt like I was sitting on a huge Harley (even bigger than the ‘06 Superglide (loved the feel of that one) I sat on at the dealership, during a break at the MSF course). A bit intimidating even. Maybe it was that fuel tank. The weight wasn’t really off-putting, after leaning her from side to side, but they had them packed pretty close together, and I couldn’t put much lean on it really. Loved the foot boards too. Both feet could easily reach the ground flat footed. It seemed to be what I “think” I am looking for.
I’ve read a number of reviews and discussions here, stating how this is a pretty good starter bike. Have also read about some of its drawbacks, namely the pain in the rear valve adjustments every 4k miles, and the “fraction zone”, which I understand there is a fix for, with an aftermarket part.
I guess what I’m asking here (very long winded and poorly), is would this be considered a good starter bike for ME, considering my difficulty with the low speed maneuvers at MSF. I assume I would likely need to widen that friction zone with the aftermarket clutch handle.
No it’s not Fuel Injected. Nor does it have ABS. While it may be able to handle the 75mph speed limit, as I understand it…with some vibration, it’s not really designed for continuous 75 mph speeds, if I read the reviews correctly.
Also, and probably my biggest question, is the fact that I was a bit intimidated by its perceived width, a “red light” not to go ahead? Or is it possibly like when I went horseback riding, where I was intimidated by the size of the horse they put me on (rented) but it turned out to be the gentlest, most well behaved horse one could imagine renting?
What else do you recommend I consider, based on all of the above?
Riding experience = at the age of 18 a friend showed me how to ride on a Kawasaki 1000, just going around a baseball diamond. I quickly sold the car and bought a Honda CX 500. Ended up selling that and getting a truck when winter came around. Knocked the girlfriend up, and money kept me from riding.
Currently … Divorced for many, many years now, the kids are grown, have a career, I don’t do drugs or drink.
I want to ride again!! Especially enjoyed two lane country roads just north west of the city, back in the day. Leaning into the turns, with few intersections. Little to no traffic. Good times…
Took an MSF class about a month ago. Ride was a HD Street 500 (Only choice as everyone rode one, not what I would choose). Did OK mostly, but I REALLY struggled the second day with the figure 8s inside the box. All of the low speed maneuvering I found challenging (offsets on the first day were tough). The figure 8s were especially tough, I think because as I would make the extreme handle bar turns, my throttle & clutch control would vary. The instructor said it was because I “looked down”. Either way, I withdrew myself from class at the figure 8 portion. Was getting very frustrated, and feeling like I was delaying other riders in the class, and knew (even if the instructor wouldn’t tell me), that I’m not quite ready to be out on the street riding again yet. All in all, I’m glad I took the class, as it re-familiarized myself with motorcycles. I plan to retake it after getting some parking lot time on my own. I live near some decent sized parking lots that will require maybe 1/10th-1/4 mile to access without having to get on major roads.
Planned riding… I want to get back to those country roads, of course. I also would like to ride to work (construction), which often requires some highway/turnpike time, depending on the particular jobsite. I know I will need to work up to that. I imagine that for a while I should stick to parking lots and (after getting the endorsement) weekend mornings downtown Tulsa, where there is almost no traffic, very low speed limits, plenty of intersections and stop lights (every city block), and varying uphill and downhill starts/stops (depending on the chosen street).
So, all that said, my considerations for choosing a ride….
I prefer a cruiser for now, eventually moving up to a touring model.
Prefer air cooled vs liquid, I think. My gut tells me that a radiator is just one more thing to break or leak, if/when I should drop it.
Oklahoma roads are notorious for being “washboard”. Even/especially the turnpikes and highways.
Am thinking it would be wise to get something with “color” instead of black… for visibility sake. Also, I’m confident that black, in the Oklahoma summer sun is not a good mix.
MSF class strongly suggested ABS, and I would tend to agree, but not sure it is absolutely necessary.
I understand that fuel injected is supposed to be better. I assume due to lower maintenance issues.
I sat on a Virago 250 a week back. Thought it was physically small. I liked the slenderness of it, and there was little weight. I wasn’t really comfortable though, feeling as if my knees were poking up in the air.
Saw mention of the V Star 650 here, and they seem priced good on craigslist. So went up to a dealer that has a couple of used ones, before getting the hopes up of those with ads on CL. I felt way more comfortable on it, too a point. Knees didn’t poke up and everything felt good ergonomically, but it did seem bigger than I expected… width wise. Felt like I was sitting on a huge Harley (even bigger than the ‘06 Superglide (loved the feel of that one) I sat on at the dealership, during a break at the MSF course). A bit intimidating even. Maybe it was that fuel tank. The weight wasn’t really off-putting, after leaning her from side to side, but they had them packed pretty close together, and I couldn’t put much lean on it really. Loved the foot boards too. Both feet could easily reach the ground flat footed. It seemed to be what I “think” I am looking for.
I’ve read a number of reviews and discussions here, stating how this is a pretty good starter bike. Have also read about some of its drawbacks, namely the pain in the rear valve adjustments every 4k miles, and the “fraction zone”, which I understand there is a fix for, with an aftermarket part.
I guess what I’m asking here (very long winded and poorly), is would this be considered a good starter bike for ME, considering my difficulty with the low speed maneuvers at MSF. I assume I would likely need to widen that friction zone with the aftermarket clutch handle.
No it’s not Fuel Injected. Nor does it have ABS. While it may be able to handle the 75mph speed limit, as I understand it…with some vibration, it’s not really designed for continuous 75 mph speeds, if I read the reviews correctly.
Also, and probably my biggest question, is the fact that I was a bit intimidated by its perceived width, a “red light” not to go ahead? Or is it possibly like when I went horseback riding, where I was intimidated by the size of the horse they put me on (rented) but it turned out to be the gentlest, most well behaved horse one could imagine renting?
What else do you recommend I consider, based on all of the above?
nobody will deny the wisdom in that.
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