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It sounds to me that the 650 would be fine. The only caution I would have for you is about the lean. I had to lean my scooter (125 cc Riva) to flat foot at a stop. This gave me a bit of a bad habit to unlearn with the Vstar. Full stop has to be upright and square, because once the bike starts to lean, all of a sudden she weighs 500+ pounds, and she will go where she wants. I dropped my bike 5 times in a week before I took the MSF as a refresher. My instructor (a 5'4" woman who rides an Electraglide, for Pete's sake!) caught my error pretty quickly. On a 250cc bike, I could still get away with it--I didn't drop the bike--but as soon as she told me what I was doing, the light went on.

Surely, you couldn't flatfoot the Burgman, could you? If you can handle that, I'm sure you'll be fine on the 650. If you are worried, have an engine guard installed, so that if you do drop it, you won't hurt it much.

Well, we went to check out the bike today - 150 miles away. It was everything I had hoped - beautiful paint job and sounded great. After paying, I had Hilarye ride her the first 90 or so miles home. She is accustomed to her 750 Shadow Spirit, so it was like second nature to her. I, of course, used to the very light Ninja, was more than a little intimiated.

I did ride her about 40 miles of the trip back and did okay. Still very nervous at stops - worried about getting into first and my feet down before a drop. My first purchase will be the Cobra crash bars LOL.

Anyway, I did notice a fair amount of heat on my right leg if down at a stop from the pipes and some on the left from the engine. With the Ninja, I sit above the engine, so I guess that makes a difference. Anyone else with this bike notice the same thing?

Actually, even at 5' 1 and 3/4" inches, I was able to flat foot the 400 Burgman as a result of the taper of the seat at the front. I had no problem getting my feet down with the new bike - just more an issue of the added weight.

Tomorrow, we are going to spend some time with me getting familiar with the friction zone in the driveway. Once the crash bars are on, I will be practicing low speed exercises from the MSF. I know the more I practice, the more comfortable I will become.

Thanks for all the awesome advice and support!

Ride Safe!

Congrats!! And yes, I do notice heat on the right calf--actually felt nice in cooler weather and I suspect it will feel decidedly not nice in August. But I only notice it when stopped, and I haven't noticed it on the left. There should be an extra chrome piece right where your leg rests near the exhaust, a heat guard to protect you from burns.

Happy cruisin'!

I'm sure you will love it....wait until you are stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for an hour....you will really feel the heat....
but once you get going you won't feel anything.

MJ, congrats on the new bike! I just bought the V-Star 1100 and am really loving this bike. My previous bike was an '81 Honda 650 Custom. It was a bit on the tall side for me (I'm 5'4"), but was good for a first bike and I was able to pick it up very cheap. I like how low the seat is on the Yamaha and I am definitely more confident when I come to a stop.

One of the first things I noticed was how hot the right side of the bike was from the exhaust. What I tend to do is come to a full stop with both feet down and once I am situated, I put my left foot up on the peg. It raises my leg enough so that the heat is not directly blasting me. Seems to help.