Total Motorcycle Community Forums

dko683 wrote:I am a complete newb about motorcycles. I tried riding my friend's Suzuki GF500 once and I'm going to take the MSF course soon. I'm thinking about getting the SV650S or YZF600R as my first bike. I'm 5'10 and 190lbs. Which bike do you guys recoomend? I consider myself to be mature and responsible, so I will definitely respect the bike, whatever it is.

Something smaller than the 2 you just mentioned. I'm 5'7" and 165lbs and my Ninja 250 is plenty fast. I even keep up in the corners with some of the local guys on their bigger sportbikes.

Yes, I understand the Ninja 250 is very peppy with an incredibly high red line. If you are looking for a sport bike, I understand that the Suzuki CF500 is somewhat tame. As a beginner, the last thing you want is a screamer. Also, when I took the course last year, one instructor's parting words were, "Your first bike should not be your dream bike." Words to live by.

i have a question. i have been riding dirt bikes since i was 5. i have a honda trx 450 now. i have been looking at the triumph daytona 675. is that a bike i can start out with? or sould i go with something smaller.

m1a1dvr wrote:i have a question. i have been riding dirt bikes since i was 5. i have a honda trx 450 now. i have been looking at the triumph daytona 675. is that a bike i can start out with? or sould i go with something smaller.

you can start w/ any bike you want.

question is... how much are you willing to risk?

anyway, im sure some skills from the dirt will help but you'll still have an easier time learning on a less powerful street bike accdg to experienced riders.

Mikeydude
I have been saying much the same as you. My wife ask me if I am A fool on a 500 what makes the difference if I am on a 1000. She looks at this way if I am going down the freeway and hit a truck and I am on a 500 well I be any better off then if I am on a 1000 anything? She say’s if I don’t have enough common sense to know when I twist the throttle that is well go forward and fast then I should not even be driving a car. I think just about everyone I know that rides at some time has had brain freeze and while stopped and in gear has let the clutch out and jumped. When I did that on my 250 some years back that thing jumped in the air like it was going to fly but yet when I have done that on my 800 all it did was jump about 3/4 feet and died. I don’t know if it is age or from years of riding before I hung it up that I have a certain respect for the big bikes. I have been riding my friends bike a lot lately (Kawasaki 2000) and I don’t know how to put it into words how it makes me feel but I can say when I get back on my bike I feel odd like a pair of shoes that are a size to small. DON’T get me wrong this just how I feel and I still have and open mind about the small starter bike verses the big bike. Does anyone no the numbers from any insurance company those hurt on a 500 or hurt on a 1000cc bike?

Motorcycle accidents are more likely to occur at night-with an increased number of fatal crashes occurring after dark as well (motorcycle accident statistics show that 60% of all fatalities happened at night)
Nearly half of all motorcycle operators involved in fatal crashes were speeding
Around 80% of all motorcycle accidents end in injury or death
Motorcycle operators involved in fatal crashes had higher intoxication rats than drivers of any other type of vehicle involved in a fatal accident
and what I found really odd was it seems that us old guys are on chart as higher risk of going down.
But the one thing I have not found is size of the bike made any
diffrence

so far............I am looking

The stat about older guys is misleading...

The "older guys" represent a larger part of the population... Baby Boomers. Currently it's guys in their 40s & 50s. 10 years ago it was guys in their 30s & 40s, and 10 years before that it was guys in their 20s & 30s. It's the same demographic. It's not related to age, only that there are more of a certain age group riding.


More crashes happen to people with no training.
More crashes happen to people without a license.
More crashes happen to people not wearing safety gear.
More crashes happen to people in their 1st 6 months of riding.

Most crashes happen within 10 minutes of home. This too is misleading because it's the one area where a rider spends the most time on his bike. You always start from and return to home. So naturally you're there more, and more likely to crash in that area.

I plan to survive my 1st six months... It just may take me a year to do it...

The is something to the "older guys" demographic, but as you pointed out, it's linked to another factor. The huge influx into motorcycling for the last decade (last 4 or 5 years in particular) has been due to a large part to the "older guy" demographic. The link is that, to a large degree, this demographic are riding large powerful bikes with little or no training.

Mikeydude I was with you up to the point you came up. More crashes happen to people not wearing safety gear. I am sorry but that one is way out there.
More crashes happen to people with no training?
10 minutes from home

Just where did you get these facts because I sure can’t find them anywhere?
Flynrider:
Where did you get the facts that all are riding large powerful bikes?
From the information I have gotten to date Speed- alcohol seems to be at the top of the list.
I have yet to find any information on the sizes of bikes used in theses accidents; could you please send me the site address?

More crashes happen to people with no training?
10 minutes from home

I can easily believe the training one. It just makes sense.

The 10 minutes thing I've seen a lot before. It's either 10 minutes or 1-10 miles. I've seen both.

The point is you're close to home.

The gear one I have a harder time believing. I suppose that it could make you slightly more visible (more colors/reflective tape) but other than that I don't see how it could help avoid a crash.

Survive a crash, no doubt. Prevent one, not so much.