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I'm 6'10" 270lbs and have a V-Star 650 Classic. Plenty of pep and it just needed a few minor mods to be comfy. A couple hundred bucks later and life is good. While you may wish to upgrade later the little Yammie is dirt cheap fun now, plus you won't lose that much on it when you sell (depending when and how many miles you've racked up).

i would never ask this question in person, but how big is your wife?
you are 270 which any bike from the 650 V-Star on up would handle fine, but when we add your wife into the equation then we might have some issues. If she's a bigger gal then you might want to boost your cc requirements. If she's tiny then the 650-900 range might still be okay.

Some of this decision will be made after you have taken your MSF course and can see how much skill you have. An 1100cc cruiser is not out of the question and might be the right target area to look for if you will be riding two up. If your wife has no desire to get on the back then i'd say around the 800cc mark is a good sweet spot.

Well, my wife won't ride with me. I may take one of my teenagers around; they aren't particularly large.

I wen to the DLR and sat on a few bikes. The Vulcan 800 and the Suzuki S83 felt really good. The the Vulcan 900, Honda Shadow Sabre, and Suzuki Boulevard S50.

Thanks for all the input

The C50 and Vulcan 900 will both do 2-up without issue, should provide adequate ergos for you, and will still be forgiving if you're rusty. My dad jumped on a C50 after an 11-year hiatus and had no problems.

You might wanna look at the Vulcan 1500 Classis as well. Not much more dough than the Vulcan 900 but quite a bit more bike. Might be much for some newbies, but you're a big fella so I think you'd manage.

Just be aware, the 1000cc and up crusiers have frames to match. Being a big dude you should be easily able to manhandle them, just know that slow/low speed stuff is going to be a bit more trickier at first.

I would recommend the Vulcan 900, Shadow Spirit 1100, C50, etc. Most of the ones you already listed.

I'm a personal fan of the Shadow Spirit 1100... very comfy bike, and it is as reliable as they come.

I agree with the people who stated the Honda 100 and Kawa 900. I'm 6'-3 280 and I ride a Suzuki C50. It has 805 cc's and about 59 HP. I can do 2-up riding and have no problems with power.

I am 5' 2" and about 115 lbs., and ride a 750 vulcan. It is easy to control fits a little big and it feels good. I think you need something with a big displacement (1100cc or bigger) and a big frame. You have ridden before and taking the rider class, it shouldn't take long for you to feel comfortable in the saddle again.
There is a guy at work that rides a 750 Honda, he is about your size. The honda has a big frame and still the man dwarfs the bike.

Hello, I'm a newb! I have a question related to this topic, but more for the sport/standard. I have not ruled out the cruiser style, but want open options.

I see a lot of people recommend the Ninja 250/500, Suzuki GS500 or SV650/S. My purpose for getting a motorcycle is to commute to work. about 7 miles of city surface streets and 8 miles of 70mph interrstate.
Also, I'm a pretty big guy 5'11' 265lbs.

Given the info above would the 250 - 500cc bikes still be ideal? Or would I want to lean more towards the SV650/Ninja 650? Personally I like the naked look better.