are salespeople paid to over sell

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ronboskz650sr · Tue Aug 30, 2005 7:26 am

I'm pretty sure he was referring to a stopped, or nearly stopped situation...maybe even on a hill, or high crowned road. I don't think he meant stabbing your foot in a turn to stay up. I could be wrong, though.

wally hooker · Tue Aug 30, 2005 7:30 am

ronboskz650sr wrote:I'm pretty sure he was referring to a stopped, or nearly stopped situation...maybe even on a hill, or high crowned road. I don't think he meant stabbing your foot in a turn to stay up. I could be wrong, though.

Thank you. Right, i said at a stop sign. Or maybe a very slow roll. And again, I'm 6'2" with a 34" inseam. Other's results with other bikes may vary.

My original point is a big dude can handle a pretty big cruiser for a first bike. Cruisers by nature have a low center of gravity, and his size will give him an advantage.

Wally

#43 Unread post by **ZooTech** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 7:35 am

iwannadie wrote:too many bad things can come from trying to steady a heavy rolling bike with your foot.

Change "heavy rolling bike" to "top-heavy bike" and we got an agreement. Point is, if the bike is well-balanced you're less likely to get yourself in the situation he's describing, and engine displacement is a poor way of telling which bike has the type of balance a new rider needs. I've sat on a V-Strom 650, which overall is a pretty light bike (and about 950cc's smaller than mine). But due to its height, any momentum carried into a tipover will be more difficult to manage than the same amount applied to my bike. I have owned three bikes so far, and the smallest of the three (my 500) was the only one I ever came close to dropping. I was just sitting on it in the parking lot talking on my cellphone. I bent over the left side to look at something and about had a hernia trying to get the bike upright again. It was a tall bike with a heavy transverse V-twin mounted high in the frame, and that's the kinda thing a new rider should avoid.

canuckerjay · Tue Aug 30, 2005 8:08 am

After learning at the MSF course on a DT50, I bought my first bike, an '82 Seca 650 -- weight 500lbs. It took me about an hour to get used to it, and after, I wasn't really confident on it for a short while. But I knew that I was a rookie, and treated it with respect.

I've ridden a wide variety of bikes since then with various power and weight; all of which I've had the sense to hold that respect and get used to them before relaxing on them. To me, the big cruisers are no different. As long as a machine is run conservatively in the learning period, one can learn how to control it. get cocky on any machine and kiss your legs goodbye -- just don't be an arrogant idiot on it.

iwannadie · Tue Aug 30, 2005 8:49 am

ZooTech wrote:Yeah, I got the part about not sticking your foot down while the bike is moving, but am having trouble figuring out how it correlates to the discussion of bike size. I wouldn't stick my foot down on a Ninja 250 either. I'm recommending well-balanced bikes, regardless of size, in an attempt to address that very issue. The assumption that the smaller the bike the better the balance is misleading, as anyone who's ridden a '78 CX500 can relate.

well it would be alot easier to stick your foot down and stop a 400 pound bike than it would be to stop an 800 pound bike. also at a dead stop it would be alot easier to hold up a 400 pound bike vs an 800 pound bike. of course where the weight is makes a difference but still you cant say a lighter bike isnt over all easier to keep up when at a stand still.

"When you get squirly at a weird stop sign on a hill or other funky situation, long legs make it way easier to plant down and get it stable."

when i read that i was thinking he ment while the bike was in motion as in coming to a stop down hill and the bike is rolling forward on you. 'funky situation' can mean alot of things so it wasnt clear to me he was saying hed only try to put his foot down when the bike was Stopped.

besides ZooTech we all know you recomend the 'meanie' im starting to think you work for kawi as every other post you make has something amazingly great to say about the 'meanie'. it may be perfect for you but doesnt mean its the end all bike as you seem to say it is.

#46 Unread post by **ZooTech** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 9:00 am

"Funky situation" to me means setting your foot down in loose gravel or an oil spill, and suddenly struggling to keep the bike upright. In that instance, a bike's center of gravity will make or break you, regardless of the overall weight (avoiding extremes like a cardboard bike).

And as for touting the Mean Streak as an "end all" bike, that just isn't true. And I'm no different than anyone else here, relating personal experience with the bike I happen to own. Everyone does it and some even write lengthy blogs about their bike. My underlying point is that big bikes are not inherently difficult to handle as some who have never ridden one imagine they are. It's easy for me to relate since I have ridden smaller displacement bikes AND this one. But not too many people have only ridden big bikes and not smaller ones. So, I'm just trying to reassure anyone who reads my posts that the very skills they already possess in being able to ride a motorcycle will allow them to hop aboard a "big" bike and ride it just fine. And some are big, cumbersome, and top heavy [cough*VTX1800*cough] but those two attributes are not mutually inclusive.

chris66 · #47 Unread post by **chris66** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 9:09 am

Both the 1100 vstar classic and the vulcan 800 classic. feel about the same when I'm sitting on them. I havent been to the suzuki dealer yet,
My question I guess is if bike "a" has a smaller cc's and less weight than bike "b" which has a slightly bigger engine and more weight. do those two factors kind of offset each otherand wont the performance be similar

bikeguy joe · Tue Aug 30, 2005 1:58 pm

chris66 wrote: do those two factors kind of offset each other and wont the performance be similar

Yes and no...
A lot of times a smaller displacement, lighter bike can be faster or quicker.
Not always true, too many variables.

How much "performance" you lookin' for Chris?

DivideOverflow · Tue Aug 30, 2005 2:15 pm

iwannadie wrote:
well it would be alot easier to stick your foot down and stop a 400 pound bike than it would be to stop an 800 pound bike. also at a dead stop it would be alot easier to hold up a 400 pound bike vs an 800 pound bike. of course where the weight is makes a difference but still you cant say a lighter bike isnt over all easier to keep up when at a stand still.

I completely disagree. My 460 lb KZ650 is really top heavy (and has a high seat), and a bit of a pain to lean at a stop. I sat on a 606lb Yamaha Warrior, and just because of the seat height and the center of gravity, it was MUCH easier to hold up, and actually felt lighter. I would venture to say that the Warrior didn't feel much heavier than my 250cc Alpha at a standstill. Center of gravity and seat height makes a HUGE deal.

I can, and I am saying that my lighter bike is much harder to keep up at a standstill.

chris66 · #50 Unread post by **chris66** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 1:01 am

How much "performance" you lookin' for Chris

most of my riding will be in town and on numbered rural routes here in new england . so the speed limit on most of these roads are about 45-50, but highway speed in slow lanes are 65-70 which to be honest is fast enough for me. I'm not looking for a speed demon just something big enough to move me around confortably