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Hi I'm new to motorcycles {although I had a 3 wheeler for years growing up} and I was thinking a smaller bike would be easier to learn on and before going to the dealers, I was wondering if say a Virago 250 from Yamaha would be too small?

http://www.yamaha-motor.ca/products/pro ... M|&LANG=en

Maybe this one would be about the "highest" I should go for first bike?
http://www.yamaha-motor.ca/products/pro ... contentTop

I've read a lot of topics on this site and many others, I can't believe the information/ questions/ answers that are out there. I feel like I've been given 20 years riding experience.

I'm 25, a former football player who's still fit, I weigh nearly 180 pounds and I'm 6 feet tall. If it's any use, my legs are somewhat short {30 inch pant leg} and I have somewhat long arms and a large/ tall torso.

Thanks for any input you can provide.

Push

you should go to the dealer and sit on them, that's the best answer.

just don't fall for the salestalk when they say you should get a bigger more powerful bike since you'll be bored fast w/ the small ones.

good luck!

I can honestly say that if I were to ride a 250 today like I had in my MSF class I wouldn't be enjoying the ride as much as my vulcan 500. Even the 500 which has enough power to get ahead/away from most city traffic around is adequate for my skill level and overall needs. I could probably easily get myself into trouble on say a vulcan 750. Frankly, it comes down to willpower. If you had a million dollars sitting in the bank, are you itching to spend it and unable to not dip heavily into it? If so, this behavior might apply to the bike you get. If you have plenty of torque and power to spare, you might itch to spend that too. It's a personality thing in my opinion.

Anyhow, you can probably safely take on an average 500cc bike without a problem, especially if you gain experience from taking andpassing an MSF course. This would probably be your safe route, 250-500cc.

Push 540i wrote:Hi I'm new to motorcycles {although I had a 3 wheeler for years growing up} and I was thinking a smaller bike would be easier to learn on and before going to the dealers, I was wondering if say a Virago 250 from Yamaha would be too small?

I'm 25, a former football player who's still fit, I weigh nearly 180 pounds and I'm 6 feet tall. If it's any use, my legs are somewhat short {30 inch pant leg} and I have somewhat long arms and a large/ tall torso.

If you want some advice and perspective on learning to ride, I put up a page here that will give you an idea of the size of bike and power output you may want to consider as a beginner:
www.CaliforniaBikeNights.com/learn.php

Now, if you mean "too small" in terms of physical ergonomics and how comfortable you will be, I have no idea. No one can tell you that. Everyone is different. You need to just go look at bikes and sit on them.

If you mean "too small" in terms of horsepower and carrying you around on the highway, even a 250 will have plenty of power to get you up to legal speeds with power leftover to accelerate faster.

VermilionX wrote:you should go to the dealer and sit on them, that's the best answer.

just don't fall for the salestalk when they say you should get a bigger more powerful bike since you'll be bored fast w/ the small ones.

good luck!

I'm on a second motorcycle site and the exact same idea was mentioned. Thanks.

TheImp wrote:I can honestly say that if I were to ride a 250 today like I had in my MSF class I wouldn't be enjoying the ride as much as my vulcan 500. Even the 500 which has enough power to get ahead/away from most city traffic around is adequate for my skill level and overall needs. I could probably easily get myself into trouble on say a vulcan 750. Frankly, it comes down to willpower. If you had a million dollars sitting in the bank, are you itching to spend it and unable to not dip heavily into it? If so, this behavior might apply to the bike you get. If you have plenty of torque and power to spare, you might itch to spend that too. It's a personality thing in my opinion.

Anyhow, you can probably safely take on an average 500cc bike without a problem, especially if you gain experience from taking andpassing an MSF course. This would probably be your safe route, 250-500cc.

I was told that an 800cc crusier should be the MAX and a 650cc crusier should be great and maybe depending on skill a little small but still loads of power for starting out.

As far as the sportbikes go a 500 is about the MAX in that group as they tend to be tuned and have more HP.

Do these two "limits" in each group sound about right? It seems to be in touch with what you gents have said.

yeah that sounds right.

but if you want to be more general, don't go by cc, go by hp.

generally, keep it around 50hp or less for your 1st bike.

bikes around 70hp is in gray area.

bikes 100hp and above are no noes.

it sounds weird coming from me but im just relaying what the vets say around here.

Dragonhawk wrote:

Push 540i wrote:Hi I'm new to motorcycles {although I had a 3 wheeler for years growing up} and I was thinking a smaller bike would be easier to learn on and before going to the dealers, I was wondering if say a Virago 250 from Yamaha would be too small?

I'm 25, a former football player who's still fit, I weigh nearly 180 pounds and I'm 6 feet tall. If it's any use, my legs are somewhat short {30 inch pant leg} and I have somewhat long arms and a large/ tall torso.

If you want some advice and perspective on learning to ride, I put up a page here that will give you an idea of the size of bike and power output you may want to consider as a beginner:
www.CaliforniaBikeNights.com/learn.php

Now, if you mean "too small" in terms of physical ergonomics and how comfortable you will be, I have no idea. No one can tell you that. Everyone is different. You need to just go look at bikes and sit on them.

If you mean "too small" in terms of horsepower and carrying you around on the highway, even a 250 will have plenty of power to get you up to legal speeds with power leftover to accelerate faster.

That's a great site, I opened a dozen pages and bookmarked them all!

By "too small" I meant HP and the ability of the bike to move me around and later move me on the highway. And the Virago 250 would have enough power to move me on the highway when I get to that level? Wow, I guess I'm not realizing the power to weight ratio of mororcycles very well.

Also, I'm a fairly large guy, big chest, big legs and I'll sit fairly "tall" from the waist up, so the bike can't be too small in terms of height.

I'm also a big highway driver with all of my cars. I drive for fun everyday an usually hit a highway to keep from getting bogged down in traffic. The 250 won't "wind" itself out at 60 mph for long stretches will it?

I don't plan to race or corner hard with whatever bike I buy, that time may never come so for the time being, I just want a safe bike that can get me from A to B with enough power that I can gradually increase my speed from a stop, increase my driving speed so I can get on a highway and stay on said highway.

The more I think about it, the more anxious I become. I can't wait for next summer! {I have to get rid of some cars first}

Thanks everone, I hope to come back and quiz you with ore challenging questions soon!

Push

since you will do a lot of highway, you might wanna go w/ the 650cc Vstar.

Or the Honda shadow 650-750.