Sportbikes are not beginner bikes

[Mistress Maygin]

I didn't get through the entire thing, but with me you are preaching to the choir. I've always wanted to get a 500 or 250 as my first bike because I want to learn and get comfortable riding before I start getting into the more expensive and speedy bikes.

It's like jumping in a Corvette as your first car, and driving 180 the first time on the highway. Before you're familiar with road conditions, how to turn and stop safely, etc. It's ridiculous.

What's worse are the people/dealers who will sell these hefty bikes to obvious beginners. I heard of one where the kid bought a 'busa and had to ask, "how do you start this thing?" A couple of weeks later he and his girlfriend were in the hospital after a crash (squids, too. Go figure).

Point being: I agree. And thank you.

[Smittie61984]

Originally Posted by Mistress Maygin

What's worse are the people/dealers who will sell these hefty bikes to obvious beginners.

A lot of times dealers will work great deals on big bikes that you could never get if you were actually wanting a litre bike.

A buddy of mine got a Ninja250 about 2-3 months ago. But he felt very unstable on it and didn't like going above 60mph on it. So he sold it and bought an 08 SV650s. Which I adviced him to get a used SV650 but he really wanted a full fairing bike. So he got it and he has improved greatly since he got it. Anyways he was waiting for his bike to come in for a month and the dealer offered him a SV1000 for an awesome price. He thought about it but I talked him out of it thankfully. He thought he'd be alright with the TQ(Other friends where trying to talk him into it) but I talked him out of it. I tried to get him to hop on the back of a Buddy's RC51 to demostrate what the TQ would be like. Either way a Newbie with a ton of TQ is no good.

Then another guy on a Georgia forum ended up with an R1 for his 1st bike. He wanted a R6(still powerful but better than a R1). But the asshole salesman said he'd get bored with the power of a 600 and he could get him a R1 for a little more than the 600. Which when we are searching for our first bike we'll take just about anything as long as it gets on on the road.

Luckily the kid is a smart kid and posted on the board after he got it and admited he felt he made a bad mistake and that hte bike scared him to death. Too bad for him he is still upside down on his payment but he's been riding very conservitly so he might be okay.

I started out on a POS 1994 Yamaha SecaII. Maybe 60hp and in a drag race would hang dead even with a stock 350z up to 90mph(THen it would leave me). Then moved to a 1996 Honda CBR600 F3 that I had to peice together and with my setup may have 95whp at the most under perfect conditions.