Hello all

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av6ex2k1
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Location: Garland, TX

Hello all

#1 Unread post by av6ex2k1 »

Hi all-

I don't have a bike yet, but I'm planning on it here in the near future. I found this site and hope to learn a lot about riding from it. It seems to have lots of good info. I've already started looking around various sites and have gotten a heads up on some things. I keep seeing posts about what bike to start with and I see a pretty wide range of opinions. What I'll probably end up going for is a used Honda Shadow VLX 600. I've seen posts about some recommendations for 250's and such so I haven't set any kind of decisions. I just plan on going with what's comfortable to me. I've heard a lot of recommendations on the Shadow for a beginner bike and I'm hoping that's true. I'm about 5'7" 180lbs and it's supposed to have a low seat height so I'll just go sit on a few and see what feels right. Anyways, hope to hear from a few of you over time. If anybody has any pointers other than some of the obvious, feel free to shoot them at me.

Tim

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Tennif Shoe
Legendary 300
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Posts: 372
Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2007 6:32 pm
Sex: Male
Years Riding: 5
My Motorcycle: VTX 1800c
Location: Houston, Texas

#2 Unread post by Tennif Shoe »

:welcome3: :welcome4: :tmwsign: the shadow is an excellent beginner bike
03 Honda VTX 1800c
87 Yamaha TT350
86 Kawasaki Vulcan 750 (sold) Have fun in Mexico Mr. Vulcan!


YES my spellin sucks, get over it, or you can be my personal spell check

av6ex2k1
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Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:39 pm
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Location: Garland, TX

#3 Unread post by av6ex2k1 »

Thanks for the welcome! I'm really enjoying this site. Seems to be a never ending list of stuff to look at, I don't know where to begin :laughing:

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Gummiente
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Posts: 3485
Joined: Wed May 11, 2005 11:34 pm
Real Name: Mike
Sex: Male
Years Riding: 38
My Motorcycle: 03 Super Glide
Location: Kingston, ON

#4 Unread post by Gummiente »

Welcome!
:canada: Mike :gummiente:
It isn't WHAT you ride,
It's THAT you ride

yippeekia
Tricycle Squid
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Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2009 2:26 pm
Sex: Male
Location: Georgia

Bike choice.

#5 Unread post by yippeekia »

hello,
Honda makes a good bike. I started out on a Yamaha 650 V-Star.
I wanted to get a 250 at first, but my husband said no because I would be wanting a bigger bike in a month. He was right. I started out on my 650. Now I ride a 1500 Vulcan Classic..... not bad for a chick. Riding is a lot of fun you will love it, but don't ever get too cocky. I recommend taking the motorcycle safety course, especially if you have never ridden before. :) [/b]
yippeekia
ride it like you stole it!!!!

av6ex2k1
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Location: Garland, TX

#6 Unread post by av6ex2k1 »

Thanks for the responses. I plan on looking into the safety course in my area. I hear they can be backlogged for a period of time so I might have to wait. I even downloaded a DPS riders manual to look through. I originally thought about a 250 but I started leaning toward a 600ish range knowing that I'd most likely want to go up shortly afterwards anyways. Most likely will get the loud pipes too. Doesn't hurt to be heard :D

Cheers

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dr_bar
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Real Name: Doug
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Years Riding: 44
My Motorcycle: 2007 Yamaha Royal Star Venture
Location: Surrey BC, Canada

#7 Unread post by dr_bar »

Welcome to the site...

Some of the courses have no shows, sign up on a stand by list and you may get in quicker...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Four wheels move the body.
Two wheels move the soul!"

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Gina
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Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2009 6:10 am
Real Name: Regina Russell
Sex: Female
Years Riding: 4
My Motorcycle: 2007 Suzuki Boulevard 800
Location: London, KY

My experience

#8 Unread post by Gina »

Hi. I'm a newby here too. Kudos to the tough biker chick who started out on a 650 but here in my world (which I believe is much more typical,) I started out on a 400. Sad to say but I wrecked it two days after I got it. (I don't think it was too much bike for me. I wrecked it because I fixated on my rear view mirror at the car behind me instead of the curve before me :( I shouldn't have even been on the road yet. ) As far as managing the 400 though, I was learning on it just fine----until the wreck.
I have a 250 now that was a lot less expensive and I wish I had started out with it for that reason. I've read a lot of other people's posts on these sites who say you should start out on something smaller and less expensive to learn on. You can always re-sell it and get a bigger bike later unless you wreck it and ruin it. If you do, you will be glad that you weren't on the more expensive bike when you wrecked. If you don't, you'll probably be more ready for the bigger bike.
So, in hindsite, I do wish I had started out on the 250. The lady above is now on a 1500 so she went bigger anyway, right?
I learned my lesson the hard way and I am scheduled for the MSF test training soon.

Regina
Help me, Jesus!
www.reginarussell.weebly.com

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