A Newb and His Bike

[shadezilla]

I was gonna keep this to myself, but there's a couple bikes around the area that I've had my eye on and won't be able to scrape together the money for anytime in the immediate future. One's an '89 xs650 special, they're asking $2000 at the moment but I have a funny feeling that the price hasn't finished dropping

The other one's an '81 xj650 that's dropped down to 1 grand and comes with a fairing and hard saddle bags (which I don't much care for personally, but hey you can always sell them and get some cash back, right?)

There's also a few nice and bank-account friendly 400's lurking around on Craigslist. Cheaper insurance brackets can't be a bad thing!

None of them are quite as pretty as the Magna, but I figure that's nothing a little elbow grease can't fix

Anyways if you're interested, I'll send you the links to the ads. Just make sure to take some pictures if you end up buying one of them, I've kind of been considering them 'my' bikes and hoping they won't sell until I can afford to spend the money!

[canuckerjay]

I agree -- that Magna's way overpriced.

I personally wouldn't go so old. That Magna's got over 20 yrs. on it. Parts might be a biitch to get. There are exceptions, but expect to be fixing things that have already been fixed. If you want something for one season to cut your teeth on, fine. But if you want something to last, I'd shell out some extra cash to get something a bit more recent.

Again, personally, I wouldn't go over 10 yrs. old; even for a first bike. I just don't want the level of stress that comes with 20 yr old vehicles.

[nogood25]

So I'm totally going another way now. Some things have changed for me now and I think I might be in a position to get the bike that I really want. I'm going to look at a 2004 V-Strom 650. It is more expensive than I originally wanted and it will be more expensive to ensure but I love the bike. It's listed at $7800 right now with extras. I've also got my road test tomorrow morning so keep your fingers crossed for me.

[Caper#5]

Good luck!!