What do you think of my plan?

[jonnythan]

A rider that has never dropped a bike scares the "crumb" outta me. I never relax till the bike has gone down at least once.

Can I ask you why that is??? I mean, I'm relatively green, I've got ab 6 months and 3800 miles under my belt, but I'm a better rider than most of the people around my home town. Why? Honestly it's because I got lucky and I seem to take to it... I've had the rear tire skid, slip out on the stripes, skid out on water, skid out on snow, I've had the front tire lock up, I've had it skid out on the three mentioned above, but I still haven't gone down...
I also have the confidence to ride the "crumb" out of a cruiser... Top speed, no problem, scraping pegs, also not a problem. Still haven't done the top speed scraping pegs though!
So can you explain why it scares you?
Just a relatively new rider asking...
Wrider

I think it's because dropping a bike goes a long, long way to teaching you to respect the machine.

[olebiker]

A rider that has never dropped a bike scares the "crumb" outta me. I never relax till the bike has gone down at least once.

Can I ask you why that is??? I mean, I'm relatively green, I've got ab 6 months and 3800 miles under my belt, but I'm a better rider than most of the people around my home town. Why? Honestly it's because I got lucky and I seem to take to it... I've had the rear tire skid, slip out on the stripes, skid out on water, skid out on snow, I've had the front tire lock up, I've had it skid out on the three mentioned above, but I still haven't gone down...
I also have the confidence to ride the "crumb" out of a cruiser... Top speed, no problem, scraping pegs, also not a problem. Still haven't done the top speed scraping pegs though!
So can you explain why it scares you?
Just a relatively new rider asking...
Wrider

I wish I still had your reflexes. The thing is you just gain a new viewpoint. The fact that you have done everything you say combined with your opinion that you are one of the better riders out there ( I have thought that too) tell me that when you fall it is likely gonna be high speed and hurt a lot. I once thought I was pretty hot stuff till I was riding at what I thought was as fast as humanly possible. I look over and a CMA expert is goin by me like I am in reverse. Gave me a new attitude plus I crashed shortly after that (not one that anyone could ride out) I don't think. This was a long ways from my first time down but that day taught me a bit of humility.

[Brackstone]

I look over and a CMA expert is goin by me like I am in reverse. Gave me a new attitude plus I crashed shortly after that (not one that anyone could ride out) I don't think. This was a long ways from my first time down but that day taught me a bit of humility.

I'm still pretty Green, can you tell me what a CMA expert is please?

[olebiker]

I look over and a CMA expert is goin by me like I am in reverse. Gave me a new attitude plus I crashed shortly after that (not one that anyone could ride out) I don't think. This was a long ways from my first time down but that day taught me a bit of humility.

I'm still pretty Green, can you tell me what a CMA expert is please?

It's not that you are green it is that you are American. CMA is Canadian Motorcycle Association. Expert is the class that this guy rode n.

[flynrider]

I did not say only responsibility. I never said it revolved around responsibility. My point was that even if you have skill, you can get into bad situations if you are not responsible. That is ALL i was saying. And if you truly believe that responsibility has nothing to do with it I find that extremely hard to understand. I DO believe that SKILL is much more important.

The reason I downplay the responsibility angle is because (in my opinion) it doesn't have a great bearing on the first bike choice. If someone is an irresponsible rider, they can easily kill or maim themselves on any type of bike. Even a Kaw 250 will top 100 mph.

When folks post here looking for first bike advice, I usually credit them with a certain amount of common sense and responsibility just for asking the question.

[Duffy]

I maxed out at 110 with the kawa 250. The new 2008 ninja 250 looks really sweet IMO so I think if you want to learn, look good and get an excellent trade in value, might be the way to go (and it still doesn't break the bank to buy or to insure.) Just my quick $.02

[Jadien]

+1 on the '08 250R!!

I hereby retract my earlier post about the GS500F...... That new ninja is very nice looking!

[Bravehearted]

I have taken the first day of the riding part of the course. I enjoyed everything and got a nice feel for everything. I rode a nighthawk, which I really hated. lol I couldn't get my left foot comfortable for upshifting. The peg seemed to close to the shifter. Besides that it was ok, certainly felt to small for my taste. However, I quickly decided that a gixxer is not for me right now or anytime soon thanks to the people here and the course. I want to master the slow speed techniques first and a bike that big would extremely complicate things.


I believe my final choice will be between the ninja 500, gs500f, and the sv650. Please, any suggestions are welcome. Thanks for everything.

[Fast Eddy B]

However, I quickly decided that a gixxer is not for me right now or anytime soon thanks to the people here and the course. I want to master the slow speed techniques first and a bike that big would extremely complicate things..

You sound like you have gained some experience.. Good stuff.

I believe my final choice will be between the ninja 500, gs500f, and the sv650. Please, any suggestions are welcome. Thanks for everything.

Please don't make any final decisions yet. See if you can get some rides on the 500's and 650 before you make anything final. Sounds like the training did its thing. Keep it up!

[olebiker]

Not buying the sport bike yet is a wise decision.