Type of bike for beginner

[Steve G.]

Well, I've seen it before lots of times. A starter bike is one which should be expendable, as in the odd tip over, till she really gets the hang of things. You don't want her to get discouraged, and tipping over her new Breva might very well do it. I think a solidly built Honda XL250, or something similar would be the way to go. If she is shorter, then a used Kawasaki Serow, or similar.

Once she has the hang of things, she should get what she wantsn not what her spouse thinks she should get. If that means a Suzuki Hyabusa, so be it. A v11 Lemans, why not? There is one thing that cheezes me off, is seeing the couple on Harleys, her on a basic Sportster, and him on a Fat Ass, I mean Fat Boy. What's wrong with her getting a big bike?

Ciao, Steve G.

[antonio carroccio]

Breva 750

I couldn't have said it any better!

42263[/snapback]

Me too.

 

Drop all the Jappo's. Stay cool, ride Italian. Even the Monster 600 is good.

[Baldini]

... she should get what she wants ...cheezes me off, is seeing the couple on Harleys, her on a basic Sportster, and him on a Fat Ass, I mean Fat Boy. What's wrong with her getting a big bike?...

 

Maybe she wanted the Sportster ?

[Guest rrbasso]

My wife loves her 1977 honda 400four super sport, its a great bike to learn on and as she gets better she will have a lot of fun on it,

[jimbemotumbo]

Buy Carl's V65.

Great bikes. This one seems well - loved!

[Guest dkgross]

I'm a HUGE fan of taking the MSF course for beginners, and getting SOME kind of smaller, POS bike that she can drop and not worry about. My wife got a little Honda 450 Hawk. Rode the crap out of it for 4 months. Dropped it in the parking lot a few times.

 

then went out and bought a new 1998 Honda Magna Kept that for a few years, and just got a Suzuki DL650 last summer.

[BrianG]

Well, first and foremost, IMHO... you want a used "pre wrecked" model  ... that no one will feel bad about when it gets dropped(because it will).  With that stress removed, she can concentrate on riding.

 

My top picks:

 

- Kawasaki EX250 or EX500 (cheap, lots of parts, and still a sporty ride)

- Honda Hawk (harder to find, but good bike, short range can be an issue though)

- Yamaha Seca II  (easy to ride, air-cooled, a bit tallish, but a great all-rounder)

The SV650 is a good bike, but as a beginner    .... well, it really is quite a "performer".  A lot of folks race these bikes for a reason, and although it's not technically out of bounds for a beginner, I would think twice about putting a new rider on one as opposed to one of the bikes mentioned above.

 

But generally speaking, it is a great bike, better in many respects than any of the ones I listed above, especially as a second(long term) bike 

 

And BTW, unless you can find a well used and "pre-wrecked" Breva 750, I wouldn't put that at the top of my list, just because of cost alone.

 

You want to spend less than $2000, and probably closer to $1000 on a beginner IMHO.

 

al

42266[/snapback]

 

 

Al's right on with ALL of this. Right perspective and right bikes, but I'll add my caution about the SV. It's a lot of bike, and it's a very "sporty" riding position, which is a challenge for even a semi-experienced rider.

[callison]

Buy Carl's V65.

Great bikes. This one seems well - loved!

42356[/snapback]

 

Yeah. Do. It has to go and it really is a good learner bike (read - it's had it's "drops"). It runs a whole lot better since I converted it to a single cable throttle set-up. If you know Pat Hayes, one of the California small-block gurus, this is his wifes former bike. She moved on to an EV and a Centauro, but she started with this one. It's well broke in, 38,000 miles when I got it and I've added another 4,000 or so in the last year while my V11 Sport was being reincarnated. Never gave me any problems, just doesn't get terribly good gas mileage. Probably jetted a bit rich.