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Hello, I'm new to all this. I have been riding as a passenger with my BF for about a year now and we are both looking into a bike for me. I'm as he puts it 5' nothing (actually 5'1 3/4", hey when ur that short every cm counts ) Anyhoo! I've been looking around and am trying to decide which direction to go. He says he would love to see me on a Ninja 600 but he thinks I should start on a cruiser type. I've been eyeballing the honda shadow 500 and the yamaha vstar 650, they feel good to me as does the Ninja 250 ( lowered of course) I am registering for the msc this month, any suggestions?

by the way he went from a Busa, to a 109 and is looking into getting another Busa. (he's having withdrawls from it )

HSmomma,

Welcome and good for you for taking the plunge.

I hear folks talking about the Honda Rebel as a good entry bike on another thread.

See I like the rebel as far as hieght, but to my eye it is just .... so small. Whatever I will be purchasing I will have for a while. (circumstances I won't bore you with ) so I don't want to get something that I will get bored with or out grow quickly. I'm looking for something I can learn on, grow on and want to spend the $$ and time to customize to my personality.

wow I feel like a schmuck! I just read the " if you plan to buy a 600cc bike read this fisrt thingy. Just to clarrify myself I really don't want to start on 600cc sport bike that is something to work towards.I'm just torn with whether I should start with a sport or a cruiser, I like them both.

The Rebel is a "small" bike. I started with a Rebel, and it was great for about... one month. I then moved up to a Yamaha FZ6 - which for my height (5'3") was a bit much. The bike always felt too twitchy as well.

I think you'd be OK on something like the Shadow or the V-Star that you mentioned. But if you're leaning towards a sporty, give the Ninja 250 a try. People swear by them, and when you're ready to move up in size, their resale value is really good.

Have fun shopping!

Cheers,
Loonette

HSmomma,

Smart you for reading arund. There is so much valuable info hidden about.

You do have a tuff choice buy be smart and wise. Being as you are graduating from passenger to rider its would be both smart and wise to start slow and little. Wait until you are proficient then go out and purchase the bike of yout dream that you can customize and personalize. Haste makes waste and all that. Crawl before you walk. Most everyone had humble beginings and worked there way up. And besides whats the rush? You got a whole life ahead of you. Take the journey wisely and safely.

Hotscootermama wrote:See I like the rebel as far as hieght, but to my eye it is just .... so small. Whatever I will be purchasing I will have for a while. (circumstances I won't bore you with ) so I don't want to get something that I will get bored with or out grow quickly. I'm looking for something I can learn on, grow on and want to spend the $$ and time to customize to my personality.

I understand wanting to avoid purchasing multiple bikes, but the more I think about my bike, the more I think it would have been better to start smaller. I think it is also hard to know what sort of bike would be best for you when you haven't driven a bike much. I'd look for a standard under 400lbs if I were to do it again. A heavy bike is intimidating when you are a chick newbie.