Which bike should I choose? Suggestions are most welcome

[Gummiente]

However Randy, Mike, John and the rest of the crew were great.

Oh my gawd, you poor thing! Anyone who survives a weekend with those three lunatics can survive anything.

[warrick]

I can tell you from experience, the Iron is a wonderful bike. It is my first ever street bike and it is just fantastic. Very easy to ride.

[csspostal]

I really like the looks of the Iron but I have considered the 883 low as well. Unfortunately the next demo day ride isn't until October according the the two local dealers websites. And the models they have listed for demo rides anytime the 883 is not among them.

Well seeing I survied the lunatics then a short 50k jaunt shouldn't be a problem if I remember to keep my knees into the tank. They asked what I was going to do with my knees after I said buy a big fat gas tank. Then they told me to get out and don't come back for at least 18 months

I don't plan on buying a bike until at least September. One reason I'll have 2 to 3g saved up for a down payment and two hoping everyone will be trading in to get some 2010 models so I might get decent priced used one from a dealer. There will be some bike sitting and some test drives from now until then I am sure.

Like a couple of you said my first bike most likely won't be my last bike. I'm quite sure of that fact so.

But what would be an awesome birthday present is Harley announces a 400 or 500 cc starter bike

[koji52]

you don't need to wait for a demo day. Just go to the dealer and test ride a bike...you have a motorcycle endorsement right?

[Velocity]

<snip>
as for the Vulcan 500, i have a friend that rides one and when i mentioned to him that it was one i was thinking of for a small upgrade and to get into the cruiser market, he advised against it. it's the same engine as the ninja 500 (which is a darn good engine) with the exception of the cam. they swapped the cam to get more cruiser-like behavior out of it and apparently that cam makes all the difference in the world. he said he doesn't like it. i don't remember exactly all his reasons for not liking it, but there were a few. i'd suggest a test ride on that one before you commit, at least.

jaskc78, I understand that the Vulcan 500 is retuned to provide more power down lower compared to the Ninja 500. You don't have to rev it as high. Each is tuned according to the performance characteristics of its respective platform. If you're looking for sportbike/Ninja type characteristics, you wouldn't like the way the 500cc engine is set up for the Vulcan.

Out of curiosity - if your friend advised against the Vulcan 500, was there a bike he did favor?

But what would be an awesome birthday present is Harley announces a 400 or 500 cc starter bike

What would be awesome would be ANY of the major manufacturers coming out with more 500 cc starter bikes. Kawasaki could stand to update the Vulcan with fuel injection. Honda does not make a 500 cc starter bike that is available here in the States. Nor does Yamaha/Star. Suzuki does make the GS500, but I don't see many of them around.

I'm just not seeing a lot of new 400/500 cc bikes on the 2010 list, though: http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/2010models.htm

(As in... any. I just rechecked. I'm not seeing any new 400s or 500s from HD/Honda/Yamaha/Kawasaki/Suzuki. I'm just relieved to see that the Vulcan 500LTD is still on the Kawasaki list. There are rumors from time to time about Kawasaki dropping the Vulcan 500.)

And yeah, I'd love to see a 500 cc Harley too. And the availability of standard bikes is pitiful.

you don't need to wait for a demo day. Just go to the dealer and test ride a bike...you have a motorcycle endorsement right?

Getting dealers to allow you a test ride on a bike is very difficult, in my experience. Putting aside the issue of the dealer not wanting to allow a test ride to a customer of unknown skills, the dealers around here just don't have that deep an inventory. If they have the major models represented on the showroom floor, they are doing very well. I'm guessing that they don't want to finance a fleet of demo bikes as well (that they will then eventually have to sell at a discount).

[warrick]

you don't need to wait for a demo day. Just go to the dealer and test ride a bike...you have a motorcycle endorsement right?

This is true as far as I know, both HD dealers I went to said I could test ride the bike if I had the endorsement on my license.

I actually never test rode a bike period. I knew I wanted this bike and it felt comfortable sitting on it. I could not imagine having bought anything else.

Great bike.

[Gummiente]

But what would be an awesome birthday present is Harley announces a 400 or 500 cc starter bike

They already have one, it's called the Buell Blast.

[Velocity]

But what would be an awesome birthday present is Harley announces a 400 or 500 cc starter bike

They already have one, it's called the Buell Blast.

Good point. I was thinking more of two cylinder engines, once you get into the 400/500 cc class, but if you're willing to live with a thumper, the Blast could be an option. It is a good looking bike.

http://www.buell.com/en_us/bikes/blast/gallery.asp
http://www.bestbeginnermotorcycles.com/ ... ast-review
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buell_Blast

[koji52]

you don't need to wait for a demo day. Just go to the dealer and test ride a bike...you have a motorcycle endorsement right?

Getting dealers to allow you a test ride on a bike is very difficult, in my experience. Putting aside the issue of the dealer not wanting to allow a test ride to a customer of unknown skills, the dealers around here just don't have that deep an inventory. If they have the major models represented on the showroom floor, they are doing very well. I'm guessing that they don't want to finance a fleet of demo bikes as well (that they will then eventually have to sell at a discount).

It must be a dealer to dealer thing. Prior to my vrod purchase I was in the dealerships looking at the XRs...sales guy was always telling me, bring your bike in and take it out for a test ride. Maybe the fact that I have a bike already shows that I have some experience. I never took him up on it because i knew that I'd be riding home with the XR after the test ride.

[Gummiente]

I was thinking more of two cylinder engines

Ain't ever gonna happen with Harley. The Sportster is and always will be what they consider to be their entry level bike. That's why they took on the Buell lineup, all the work was done for them. It was a lot cheaper that way rather than designing something from the gound up by themselves.