For the BEGINNER BIKER

[dieziege]

I haven't really researched it, but it seems like most people pay $225-$350 for the initial service. It's a valve adjustment (among other things)... which is labor intensive. You can do it yourself (I did) but expect to spend a bunch of time on it the first time.

[rhooton]

My first bike was a 65' Honda 305 Dream, had a few other bikes including a Suzuki 380 triple, last one was a KZ1000. As life goes on I got married and bikes were not in the plan for several years. Now I am wanting to start my "biking" life over again. I have looked at 3 different model Hondas and love them all. My problem, after being away from bikes for several years.........ok 15.........do I start with a smaller bike or go for the big one? Bikes considered: VT750 Shadow Aero, VT110C2 Shadow Sabre and the VTX1300R. What are your opinions and thoughts?

[bok]

rhooton, since you have been away for a while, do yourself a favor and take the MSF course. a lot of it will be old hat, but you will still learn some new skills.

after that, sit on each of those bikes. Since you wouldn't be a complete newbie, the 11 or 1300 wouldn't be terribly far out of reach, but the 750s are still capable highway bikes and good commuters as well (i have the 2001 spirit 750 and no real complaints) it will even ride two up nicely in the mountains

[Reflex439]

Mikeydude you stated that: More crashes happen to people with no training. I don’t know if that is true as I have not seen any facts on that as to date but it does make some sense. Especially after seeing the number of accidents from young drivers.

I found this to be a very interesting statistic from Peter Thomson, head of the state Highway Safety Agency for New Hampshire.

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"It's pretty obvious if we can get people into the (training) course, we are going to save more lives," he said.

One of the 27 people killed in 2004 and two of the 42 killed last year took the formal motorcycle riding course, he said.

REFERENCE: http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_ha ... in_deaths/
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In the Hurt Report - "Motorcycle Accident Cause Factors and Identification of Countermeasures", 92% of riders in accidents were self taught or learned though family or friends. That leaves 8% of those in accidents to have had some form of formal training. Of course this doesn't mean all that much unless you know the number of people that have taken formal riding training compared to the number of people riding, nbr of fatalities, etc.

Some other things that I found interesting in that report...
20-24 was the highest represented age in accidents (which also corresponds to the IIHS statistics). Sport bikes also in the highest represented group. Speed and alcohol were also significant factors. Mechanical failures were less than 3% with most being puncture flats (and most being deficient or defective maintenance). Roadway defects 2%. Animal involvement 1%. Weather not a factor in 98%.

And if you look at this study; http://www.iihs.org/research/fatality_f ... cycles.pdf

69% of the fatalities were drivers under 40, with bikes under 1000CC. So while the older riders with 1400cc and larger bikes are increasing, the biggest group is still the younger guys with smaller bikes, and sport bikes being the largest group of those.

The one statistic that I find the most interesting has to do with automobiles. It's that the fatalities for autos from 1975 to 2004 is fairly flat at around 30K to 35K per year. Considering the number of new cars on the road each year as the population increases, its obvious that automakers have made great strides in making cars so much safer in order to keep that statistic flat. The number of cars on the road rises each year, but the number of deaths stays about the same. Kudos to automakers.

Now if they only had air bags and seat belts for motorcycles....
OR, keep those people from turning left in front of us.

[MrGromit]

Interesting article, thanks.

So, um, would a 1980 Honda CB750F be considered a sports bike? I'm getting a sweet deal on one but the last thing I want to buy is a suicide machine...

[MrGromit]

Argh. First post and I did it on the wrong forum...

By "article" I meant the "don't get over 500cc" one on the other sticky. I started to read the posts here but wanted to get this question out right away before I commit to the purchase. Please forgive the newbie mistake.

But I guess it's valid here as well. Is the Honda CB750F (effectively a Nighthawk) a decent starter bike?

[VermilionX]

the nighthawk 750 has around 70hp.

it's along the same line as the SV650.

it's gray area... some say it's too much for a beginner some say it's still fine.

[totalmotorcycle]

Interesting article, thanks.

So, um, would a 1980 Honda CB750F be considered a sports bike? I'm getting a sweet deal on one but the last thing I want to buy is a suicide machine...

to the community MrGromit!



Ah, yes, the CB750F, love the looks of those models myself.

In the day, yes, they were top of the line sportbike. Think of it as a 2006 Suzuki GSX-750R in 25 years from now. Today the GSX-R is a very fast bike, but not a starter bike at all; will it be a starter in 25 years? Nope.

I ride a 82 XJ650R and it has about 78 horsepower and 500lbs, I wouldn't recommend this bike as a 1st bike for a new rider. A 2nd or 3rd bike, sure why not.

Back to your question, it's definately not a bike to start on. While its "low" horsepower for today's 750cc superbikes it is still a superbike non the less. It's also over 550lbs which will make it even that much harder for you to learn on. Have you seen the CB400T Hawk? http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/81CB400T.htm

Thats a nice bike to learn on. If your over 6' get the 1980 bench seat version rather than the 81 or 82.



Thats a nice bike.

Mike

[MrGromit]

Thanks for the speedy replies.

Here's a pic of the bike:

A little loud color wise, but I did grad school at UofOregon which makes it okay. I'm going to be using it as a commuter here in Seattle, so I'm liking the extra plastic.

<sigh>

[bok]

my eyes, the goggles they do nothing!

not my favorite colours there, but at least people will notice you