what to get

[iwannadie]

If you are starting without much experience, a vespa is not that much safer than an R1 - you're going to have to kid glove them both until you get some mileage under your belt.

a vespa wont propell you from 0-80mph in first gear in the blink of an eye. nor will the front brake grab to sudden causing you to to a front flip. a vespa doesnt weigh 400+ pounds with an akwardly high centre of gravity, which will cause easy slow speed drops. the vespa wont put you into a wheelie with a fraction too much clutch/gas. the vespa doesnt have the power to spin the back wheel out during a turn as easy.

im not sure how you can say the vespa isnt much safer than a r1? a vespa with relativly no power, low centre of gravity, weighs very little, most have no gears to shift through, forgiving handling and brakes. compared to the r1 is just the very sense of safety vs insta-death.

[varenka]

I can say it because I've ridden both, and I bought the R1. I'm 5'8", 150lbs, and 'a fraction' too much gas does not start a wheelie. Likewise, grabbing a handful of brake WILL flatten your groin, but doesn't cause immediate flip-over stoppies. Sorry to break it to you, but don't believe the hype. You only get 180ish horsepower way up high in the RPM, and that doesn't happen so fast that you can't back off the throttle.

[iwannadie]

for someone that has no concept they literally go full throttle not knowing any better, pop the clutch and off they go on the r1, or if they keep the wheel down and get a fist full of throttle their body gets thrown back causing them to stay full throttle with no idea what to do and they see those high rpms real quick. i remember your post a while back about dropping your r1, something that wouldnt happend on a vespa im sure.

beleive what you want i guess. if the r1 is equal to a vespa youd think more people would be on them and handling them just fine. we wouldnt read so many stories or see so many videos of people getting taught a lesson them when they wreck doing something that should be very simple on a lesser bike. all the stickies would recomend an r1 not a meger 250 to learn on, a ninja 250 and an r1 are a world apart why do you think a ninja250 gets the recomendation every single time over the r1?

the video i posted a while back with the kid on the suzuki that hit the tree. obviously got on the throttle didnt know what to do and hit a tree. a vespa would have hit the curb and stopped. or he could had put his feet down and slow himself enough, or just got off the gas and been fine.

the other video i posted of a guy on i think its a honda was trying to stop hit the front brake to hard and went right over in a split second. im not sure bout you or your bike but i see people doing stoppies all the time and not on purpose either. all it takes is a hard grab on the brake and over you go.

I can say it because I've ridden both, and I bought the R1. I'm 5'8", 150lbs, and 'a fraction' too much gas does not start a wheelie. Likewise, grabbing a handful of brake WILL flatten your groin, but doesn't cause immediate flip-over stoppies. Sorry to break it to you, but don't believe the hype. You only get 180ish horsepower way up high in the RPM, and that doesn't happen so fast that you can't back off the throttle.

[witewrapkrew]

a scooter eh, well at least ill have more fun on that than to be a 'moderator' for a bike site, holy i guess religion takes a new meaning. i asked for a kind of bike based on my experience not my devotion level so it really isnt applicable to go off on how you guys are serious and iam not. short answer was what i was looking for. not a bunch of bull.

[witewrapkrew]

buzz, you dont know me, uh ah girl friend. wanna a piece of this milk shake you better bring yo bib cause ill spill somthing all over yo white "O Ring".
holy i am kidding, go and write me a sermon about scooters and such. man you need to pull yo head out of your monitor and lighten up. i post one reply and you go holy war on me.

[BuzZz]

buzz, you dont know me, uh ah girl friend. wanna a piece of this milk shake you better bring yo bib cause ill spill somthing all over yo white "O Ring".
holy i am kidding, go and write me a sermon about scooters and such. man you need to pull yo head out of your monitor and lighten up. i post one reply and you go holy war on me.

You come in shootin' blanks in this gunfight, Kid. You fire off insults and expect people to answer you with any kind of respect? Why should I show you any when you can't seem to muster up an intelligent comment or even answer a simple question like what style of bike your after? I ain't wasting any more time on you.

Do your fly up, Kid, your ignorance is showing. While your zipping things up, your yap should be next and permanent.

And what's this facination you have with my azz? If you want to pack fudge, go do it someplace else. I don't play that way.

[varenka]

I guess I have to give you that, iwannadie, I was thinking about myself - 32, overly concerned about gas prices, etc. I suppose if I were 18 I would not have been so cautious - but at that age I was riding dirtbikes, where you were supposed to keep the thing pinned.

[High_Side]

Everybody, step back and take a deep breath.....ok, feeling better????

[storminsince73]

John,

Kal offered some really good advice. I have been riding for 35 years, and still have all my skin and parts... there is definitely something to be said for having the right gear.

You mentioned gravel roads... a few, or many? I'm not up on dual-purpose (on and off road, we used to call them enduros many years ago) bikes, but based on the terrain you will be riding on, that might be a good fit. UNLESS your have a short inseam. The dual purpose bike generally sit higher than do cruisers, sportbikes also usually sit higher than cruisers. If you have your heart set on a sporbike, the advice was good... don't go big. On my 2nd cross-country, I rode with a kid on his way to Marine Corps bootcamp, once he got back. He was riding a Kawasaki 500, I think it was an ES 500. Light and nimble, and plenty of power. That holds for a dual purpose bike too... most of those have a LOT of torque, and are pretty light.

Feel free to email me if you have any othere questions, and I will try to help.

Norm

[storminsince73]

oops, that was a suzuki es500