Hey all,

I've been doing more research than I thought possible on getting
started for motorcycles. I've already taken my written test, I have
the course coming up in mid July, and I've been researching bikes for a
while. The problem is that I'm a little worried the bikes will be too
small for me. I am 6"2 (sometimes 6"3) and weight about 215. I was
going to go with the Ninja ex500 or the Virago 535 (probably the Virag
as I've been told that Cruisers are safer). I sat on a friend's ex500
and it seems like it's a little small. I'm worried that the Virago
will also be small.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to a bike that might work for me?
And going further, if anyone's quite experienced, would they be willing
to (for a fee, of course) come with to check out some bikes from
Craigslist?

thanks in advance. And if anyone has any gear they want to pawn off
for a guy who fits my description, that would also be great.

be well.
d

You might look at a Seca II. A friend of mine is 6'4" and rides one
regularly. You might want to take a look at a 600-750cc Nighthawk
as well, if that's your style.

Whoever told you that cruisers are safer doesn't really know what
he's talking about. Safety is in the way you ride, not what you
ride.

-Patti
--
Patti Beadles, Oakland, CA | "Isn't it funny how people say they'll never
pattib~pattib.org | grow up to the be their parents, then one day
http://www.pattib.org/ | they look in the mirror and they're moving
Check out www.tribe.net ! | aircraft carriers into the Gulf region?"

Hi D

I don't think any kind of bike is safer, so long as the bike has good
tires and good brakes. Cruisers and sportbikes are for different
styles of riding, and it's the style of riding that can be safer or
more dangerous.

At 6'2" you will find that some bikes feel a little cramped. The only
way to tell is to sit on the bike! Put it on the centerstand (if is
has one) and sit on it. Think about sitting like that for a couple of
hours. I suspect you'll find most bikes around 500cc are going to
feel a little cramped to a person of your physical dimensions.

There are a lot of 'older' (1980s) bikes in the 500-650cc range that
show up on Craiglist very reasonable, that would make great 'first
bikes', in fact they might last you a while. People will tell you
that you shouldn't get a shiny new bike to start out because you're
going to dump it a few times. Which is true, it's part of learning to
ride.

If you don't feel like a good judge of used bikes and want someone to
come along, well I can understand that. You need to make a friend who
rides, and he'll also come in handy when you go riding together. I
would tend not to trust anyone who did this for a fee, I'd much rather
it was someone I knew and trusted, and who understood my own
requirements rather than pushing me towards a bike -he- likes.


On 24 Jun 2005 14:51:54 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>Hey all,
>
>I've been doing more research than I thought possible on getting
>started for motorcycles. I've already taken my written test, I have
>the course coming up in mid July, and I've been researching bikes for a
>while. The problem is that I'm a little worried the bikes will be too
>small for me. I am 6"2 (sometimes 6"3) and weight about 215. I was
>going to go with the Ninja ex500 or the Virago 535 (probably the Virag
>as I've been told that Cruisers are safer). I sat on a friend's ex500
>and it seems like it's a little small. I'm worried that the Virago
>will also be small.
>
>Does anyone have any suggestions as to a bike that might work for me?
>And going further, if anyone's quite experienced, would they be willing
>to (for a fee, of course) come with to check out some bikes from
>Craigslist?
>
>thanks in advance. And if anyone has any gear they want to pawn off
>for a guy who fits my description, that would also be great.
>
>be well.
>d

This is some great advice.

Thanks all. I'll try some of the suggestions next week and let you
know what I find out. More suggestions are always welcome, too.

On 24 Jun 2005 14:51:54 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>Hey all,
>
>I've been doing more research than I thought possible on getting
>started for motorcycles. I've already taken my written test, I have
>the course coming up in mid July, and I've been researching bikes for a
>while. The problem is that I'm a little worried the bikes will be too
>small for me. I am 6"2 (sometimes 6"3) and weight about 215. I was
>going to go with the Ninja ex500 or the Virago 535 (probably the Virag
>as I've been told that Cruisers are safer). I sat on a friend's ex500
>and it seems like it's a little small. I'm worried that the Virago
>will also be small.

get a Suzuki DR400Z, or other similar dualsport (essentially a street
legal dirt bike). tall, very tall.

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> I've been doing more research than I thought possible on getting
> started for motorcycles. I've already taken my written test, I have
> the course coming up in mid July, and I've been researching bikes for a
> while. The problem is that I'm a little worried the bikes will be too
> small for me. I am 6"2 (sometimes 6"3) and weight about 215. I was
> going to go with the Ninja ex500 or the Virago 535 (probably the Virag
> as I've been told that Cruisers are safer). I sat on a friend's ex500
> and it seems like it's a little small. I'm worried that the Virago
> will also be small.
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions as to a bike that might work for me?
> And going further, if anyone's quite experienced, would they be willing
> to (for a fee, of course) come with to check out some bikes from
> Craigslist?

BMW F650 or Aprilia Pegaso.

At 6'5" and 275 (with a size 13EEE boot), I under stand your question
very well.

You didn't say what type of riding you expect to do? This will have a
significant influence on what bike you get. Are you planning to ride
20-30 minutes of twisties in the Santa Cruz hills and then spend the
rest of the afternoon with your 'Stich unzipped and down to your waist,
drinking coffee and bullshitting at Alice's' or is your pleasure the
other extreme, riding for coffee in Seattle or a wood fired pizza in
Albuquerque or BBQ at a little trailer along side the road in Dallas.
Both ways are fine motorcycling - just very different styles on very
different bikes.

Earlier this year I started looking for a replacement for my present
ride ('01 HD Road Glide, Mustang seat - 1550 cc) as it is getting very
close to 100K miles. I really, really, really liked the new, blue, non
ABS, FJR1300 that was on the local dealers floor. However after several
hours and a lot of discussion about changes to the seat, handle bars,
the seat, shift lever, the seat, brake lever, the seat, suspension,
etc., etc. to accommodate my size and weight, I realized that there was
no way the FJR1300 was the bike for me. So I found another larger,
comfortable, long distance cruiser with a large (1650 cc) engine and
have it all in pieces installing PIAA 910's, J&M Audio/CB, Mustang seat,
dual Halogen head lights, auxiliary (removable) gas tank, Works Shocks,
raising/stiffining the suspension, etc., etc. It will be my ride for the
next three/four years or 100K miles - which ever comes first.

As usual, all this advice is worth exactly what you paid for it and YMMV.


Paul







(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> I've been doing more research than I thought possible on getting
> started for motorcycles. I've already taken my written test, I have
> the course coming up in mid July, and I've been researching bikes for a
> while. The problem is that I'm a little worried the bikes will be too
> small for me. I am 6"2 (sometimes 6"3) and weight about 215. I was
> going to go with the Ninja ex500 or the Virago 535 (probably the Virag
> as I've been told that Cruisers are safer). I sat on a friend's ex500
> and it seems like it's a little small. I'm worried that the Virago
> will also be small.
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions as to a bike that might work for me?
> And going further, if anyone's quite experienced, would they be willing
> to (for a fee, of course) come with to check out some bikes from
> Craigslist?
>
> thanks in advance. And if anyone has any gear they want to pawn off
> for a guy who fits my description, that would also be great.
>
> be well.
> d
>

Hey Paul,

I'm planning on doing riding around San Francisco to start out, and
then hopefully progress to highway riding, and then onwards to driving
up to my mom's house in New York.

The dirt bike is a good suggestion, but, I'm not too fond of the looks
of it. And I think the bikes you wrote about are way too powerful for
me to learn on (and probably too expensive, too).

So, I guess at first, I'm planning on doing short stints around the
city, up to Twin Peaks, from the Bay to the Breakers, etc.

On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 02:20:52 GMT, bob prohaska's usenet account
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>You're talking about at least two, maybe three bikes. The first is to
>develop riding skill (in what I'd call a rather difficult learning
>environment), the second to cultivate some endurance on long rides
>and finally a comfortable bike to make really long trips pleasant.

I was going to say something like this. But there's quite a bit of
overlap in function here between 'city bike' and 'touring bike'.

At one extreme is that 1500cc cruiser, or a Goldwing, something like
that. It would be great for crossing the continent but in the city it
would be sheer hell, especially for a newbie. At the other extreme is
a 250cc 'trainer' which would be just about ideal for the city but on
the freeway it would wear you out in a hurry.

A mid-sized bike is a good compromise, though. A 600-750cc bike is
small and light enough to get around the city pretty well but has
enough power and stamina to cruise the freeway all day. This was
considered a 'big' bike a few years ago but now is considered
medium-sized.

>> The dirt bike is a good suggestion, but, I'm not too fond of the looks
>> of it. And I think the bikes you wrote about are way too powerful for
>> me to learn on (and probably too expensive, too).

>Looks? You trying to impress somebody? 8-) That's a different question
>than learning to ride! Yes, dualsports look kinda funny, but you can't
>see the bike you're sitting on. You won't care about looks for long.

He's right, looks really don't matter, especially for your first bike.
Please bear in mind that you're going to drop this bike and scratch it
up, you're going to abuse the clutch, etc. Dirt bikes are more hardy,
built to take such abuse. OTOH dual sports are kind of expensive for
a first bike.

>> So, I guess at first, I'm planning on doing short stints around the
>> city, up to Twin Peaks, from the Bay to the Breakers, etc.

If you get 'into' biking at all you're going to want to leave the city
on weekends to go down the coast, up into Marin and Sonoma counties,
etc. Day rides to Santa Cruz and Calistoga will whet your appetite
for longer rides, camping in the Gold Country or the Redwoods, Lake
Tahoe, Mendocino, etc. The real joy of motorcycling is the open road,
getting around the city is just your basic transportation. It's not
as much fun and also more dangerous because of the traffic.

In article <(E-Mail Removed) .com>,
(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> Hey all,
>
> I've been doing more research than I thought possible on getting
> started for motorcycles. I've already taken my written test, I have
> the course coming up in mid July, and I've been researching bikes for a
> while. The problem is that I'm a little worried the bikes will be too
> small for me. I am 6"2 (sometimes 6"3) and weight about 215. I was
> going to go with the Ninja ex500 or the Virago 535 (probably the Virag
> as I've been told that Cruisers are safer). I sat on a friend's ex500
> and it seems like it's a little small. I'm worried that the Virago
> will also be small.
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions as to a bike that might work for me?
> And going further, if anyone's quite experienced, would they be willing
> to (for a fee, of course) come with to check out some bikes from
> Craigslist?
>
> thanks in advance. And if anyone has any gear they want to pawn off
> for a guy who fits my description, that would also be great.
>
> be well.
> d

My two cents: BMWs are quite tall and more than that, place the feet a
bit more forward than many other brands, so your knees aren't so
cramped. They have good all around qualities and mostly place far less
emphasis on power--in the scary acceleration sense--than most other
brands. The GS bikes are dual sport, the R bikes are horizontally
opposed twins and the K bikes are in-line three or four cylinder. All
are shaft drive except the single cylinder F650s, which have chain
drive. These last models are the shortest. Most BMWs for at least a
dozen years have seats that adjust up and down. A good all around bike.
You can zoom the local roads one day and ride to the east coast the next
and that goes for just about any model they've ever made.