How long did it take to get comfortable on the highway?

[touge_dorifuto]

My 3rd day of riding i went out and went on the free way... went well, i enjoyed going faster... which now doesnt seem fast at all (80-90 mph ha ha)

Me too. I bought my Marauder in Hostoun, TX (first bike) on a thursday, and rode with my dad back to Alabama (on I-10) Saturday.

As far as the m50's go, like someone mentioned earlier, the marauder has a similar engine (not the same it's carb not efi) and I had no problem keeping up with my dad's 1100 sabre on the highway or back roads.

[Twisty13]

It did not take me long to get used to the freeway since I usually had to take the freeway to get to my favorite roads. So if you do it enough and don't try to stray away from it, then it will be second nature for you soon.

[BlueBomber]

When I bought my M50 I expected it to have the same power as a Yamaha or Honda 1100, I believed what the salesman told me, I was fooled, now im stuck with the M50 and I hate it!

So what you are *actually* saying is: "I thought my mid sized cruiser would be a power cruiser, and I'm not happy because somebody sold me a perfectly good mid sized cruiser that I assumed would be just like a power cruiser and now I'm going to tell everybody that it's a POS because it doesn't live up to my unrealistic expectations, because I have no flipping IDEA what mid sized means" ?

Thought so.

The bike moves my fat ars around at 70. It can move yours.

\/\/

[Scott58]

Highway ride will become second nature and I prefer them over streets and roads with alot of access (people pulling out infront of you). I haven't riden the C or M 50 models but my S50 will take on an 1100 with no problem. Hell even my Rebel can cruise at 75mph all day with no worries. You'll be hard put to find a bike above 250cc that can't handle highway. It's really just a level of comfort and how well the bike fits you. I'm still comfortable on my Rebel after ten hours in the saddle. If I were 6 ft and had a 34" inseam I probably wouldn't be, but again if you get a bike that fits you highway is no problem.

[Dichotomous]

squeeze the tank with your knees, relax your entire upper body, and back off from those semi's! you never know whats gonna fly up from behind them....
go for the short jaunts on the super slad till you get fully used to it, keep that head swiveling around to see everyone. I dont know how the power is on your bike, but you've got 150cc on me so I bet you can easily pull away from anyone driving odd on the road.
if your head is getting blown around behind your windsheild you can try adjusting it (if it adjusts, poor me mine dont) or you can lean forward a little bit which will center and lower your CG (good for wind) and bring your head down a bit which will get it out of the air, then your head wont get blown so much. if its the whole bike moving, try to distance yourself from those vehicles that tend to move the air the worst, aka, the bigger the truck, the more air's gonna move you. its easy, back off the throttle and problem solved cause you get out of his slipstream, or pull away from the trucks, they REALLY can't mess up the air in front of them so you'll be good to go.
as far as comfortable with all the cars going so fast around you, that will come when it comes for you, dont force it or try to pretend it happens in 3 min, even if you are comfortable at SPEED in that time, getting comfortable at speed with cars all around you is harder. if you have a city near you try going through the main center and dealing with the lights and traffic and turning and all the cars, that will help a bit with feeling comfortable with cars around you and positioning and such.

[blues2cruise]

I am really not concerned about what Moto thinks of my ride. I love my bike. It does exactly what I bought it to do, looks nice, and it's mine. If Moto feels like he got burned by the sales person, then that is a whole other discussion. Some of this thread is getting off topic. The question was, and I quote "How long did it take to get comfortable on the highway?" not "Do you guys approve of my purchase?"

It took me several months before I released my death grip on my grips.
My neck and shoulders used to ache because I was so tense.

Little by little you will learn to relax.

[Koss]

I agree, the Suzuki C50 and M50's are top sellers, yanno why? Cause they are priced cheap, you can't buy any other 800 cc street bike for $5499. Its a cheap made generic bike, you always get what you pay for. I made a mistake buying a M50, I got fooled and I got cheap and greedy thinking the same thing you guys thought, thinking " Oh Wow a high powered street bike for under $6K" After riding it for 1 week the M50 didn't perform as a fast and powerful steet bike, I put the C50 and the M50 in the same class as a 250cc or 500cc street bike, these bikes are not made for long, high speed, comfortable rides, these bikes are designed for the casusal weekend rider that takes on short trips on back roads at low speeds. Your riding habits may change, you need a bike that can do anything, the C50 and the M50 falls short as a do everything type of bike.

Ahahahahah!

My 500 will cruise at 60 mph at 5,000 rpm... the red line is at 10,500 rpm, and my rev limiter bounces off at 11,500 rpm...

Edit: I also ride daily on a near 100 mile commute, never taken my car once in what... 4 months now... and in pure comfort. I just can't wait for my gloves and pants to get in since the temperature is dropping.

At 60 mph in sixth gear at 5,000 rpm I dont have to downshift to pass ANYONE on the highway... theres this guy at my college that has a mustang gt with intake, header, and exhaust and in our top gears I still pass him. I only have to down shift when he does... and its still no contest... im just gone! Theres this guy in my class who has an late 80 to early 90's accord, he threw in an h22, turbo'd it, and wants to race me after hes done tuning his exhaust and fuel delivery/timing. He constantly calls my bike a little or small one, and he still admits it wont be a close race. (btw I really dont race all that often, so far just twice against my friends rustang... in my car though I would do it all the time. I just gotta keep my record clean for the line of work im getting into)

Edit 2: One of the three cars here at home is a 2002 Pontiac Trans Am, 5.7l v8 with the ws6 package and ram air. 6 Speed transmission. This thing has mad torque, and I drove it to a friends house across town the other day. Not only did it feel extremly slow now... on the highway I found myself dropping two gears just to feel I wasn't passing a car like a turtle. Well, not really... I just wanted to have a little fraction of the fun I would have had if I had ridding my bike.

[snwflk303]

I've been riding for 35 years, my last bike was a Vulcan 800A, the only extra was a small tool bag on the bars. That said I rode it every day even during tropical storms. Highways have changed over the years, faster speeds result in more turbulence. I've never ridden your model bike yet I would think it is a great handling machine based on my prior Suzuki ownership.
On busy highways I found that staying right and enjoying the cruise worked best. And the magic of having the bike lifted by a semi's turbulence and moved over a bit is all part of the ride.

In conclusion, relax, take your time, do what feels good and right. If you want to push your envelope do it a little at a time and not necessarily every time.

[BlueBomber]

I would suggest burning it up on backroads for a while. Know any long stretches with nothing going on? Get up to speed as is comfortable...then open it up a bit. Get up to highway speeds.

It's less intimidating in the middle of nowhere.

If you can handle 55 on a back road it won't take much time to handle 75.

I've only got about 230 miles of experience on a bike...but on the backroads I have no problem opening it up to 85.

Then you just have to worry about being calm while people are passing you all over while doing those speeds

Also...don't get too comfortable...ever. It's good to have some respect for the fact that you're fragile object hurling over hard ground exposed to the elements.

But damn if it isn't fun ehh?

\/\/

[intotherain]

Nvm im good now. I ride on the highway frequently to use the full potential of my engine. My bike tops out at about 90mph, which is what I do on the freeway sometimes. Only problem is that, (im not scared of this, just annoying), the wind pushes me around everywhere!. And if I even attempt to look up, it feels like there is a rope on the back of my helmet and some fat dude is pulling on it, trying to tugg me off the bike. dang wind.