How did you pick your style bike?

[safety-boy]

OK, this is more a question for the new riders, rather than from them. Experienced rider, feel free to comment.

What made you choose the style bike you started on? Cruiser/Sport/Dual-Purpose?

It seems a lot of people go with cruisers because they seem more comfortable. This was my opinion early on, but this has obviously reversed ( ZX-6R ). However, my main reason was that I found a bike I could afford. It was a pseudo-cruiser (Kawa 454 Ltd.), much like a V-Max in seat position, but very cruiser looking (see the Vulcan 500, same bike, essentially).

So, comfort, price, speed, bad-"O Ring" factor, it was like what you learned on? Just interested.

--Dave

[CNF2002]

I sat on it! Then I looked for a cheap one

[jonnythan]

I just never had any interest at all in sportbikes. Going fast does not appeal to me. Cruising through town and down the highway does.

I was always interested in cruiers (well, Harleys.. until recently I didn't really know that there were decent cruisers other than Harleys), and never liked sportbikes at all. Still don't.

[DivideOverflow]

Well, I started with a 250 cruiser because it was a good beginner bike, easy to learn on, and I thought I liked cruisers. (28hp, 18 ft-lbs)

After taking a few corners at speed, I decided I needed something a little more sporty, and something that had more cornering clearance.

My next purchase was the 79 KZ650, a great standard UJM. My brother went in with me on this bike half way, and he recently bought my half, and it is his. This is a very good bike for the money, and I enjoyed the standard seating and cornering clearance, but I didn't like the weight and antiquidated suspension. (55-60hp, 45 ft-lbs)

The next bike I got was a 1984 VF700F Interceptor. This was a great introduction to sport bikes. The seating position was very standard, with only a slight bias forward, and I found that I like to lean forward and take corners aggressively. This was a very easy bike to ride. I sold this bike to my roommate for his first bike. He had practiced on the KZ and took the MSF, he handled it just fine. (70-80hp, ~45-50 ft-lbs).

I decided to go for a newer interceptor, and picked up the VFR750. This was definitely more sporty than the VF700F, had a more modern suspension setup, had a lot more power, and was a great all-around bike. However, I have grown tired of carburated bikes, and wanted something with a little less weight, and I really wanted a Ducati for some time now (since before he VF700F). (90-98hp, 56 ft-lbs)

While looking for a newer bike (with fuel injection and low miles a must), I realized that 80% of my riding is on weekends, and just around the twisty bits I can find around here. That being said, did I really need a bike to go 400+ mile days? Not really. I usually don't go more than 100 miles a day. SOOO, I decided to go for something I really really wanted, and was a good compromise for the street and the "track".

I wrestled between the ducati 749 dark and the SS 1000DS, I ended up picking the1000DS because I am a big guy, and I liked having more saddle room, it had better suspension components than the 749 dark, and it was cheaper! Also, I like the lower maintenance of the aircooled 2 valve engine. (87-95hp, 65-70 ft-lbs)

So, you can see I started at the other end of the spectrum, and slowly migrated further and further towards my true preference. It took me a while to discover the type of riding I really like to do, and what I want in a bike to do it.

Above all, start small and move up! You will find out what you like.

[rapidblue]

Always pictured my self on cruiser, like the victory hammer. After sitting on a few I found that i hated the seating position with a passion. Started looking for standard/naked bike, the rest is history.

[sharpmagna]

I've always wanted a cruiser and was never really a fan of sportbikes to begin with. There is something about that old skewl look that draws me. I'm also a bit on the short side so on my sportbikes I have to tippy toe when stopped. As a new rider I'm not confident in my skills just yet to rely on my tippy toes. I did ride the Ninja 250 during the BRC and since I've been riding, my buddy at work let me ride his lowered Kawa ZX-9. The raw speed is definitely a draw, but the riding position just isn't my style.

I bought my first and current bike primarily because of cost. My friend at work gave me a fabulous deal on it and I saved a ton compared to buying new. This bike is faster than anything I've driven. It isn't so heavy that I feel overwhelmed by it either. Also it is was low production in 1987, so it is a real looker and not something you see everyday.

[-Holiday]

Hmm.

at first, when i was a teenager, it was all about money, so weather the bike was a sportbike, or a cruiser, it didnt matter, it just had to be affordable. What that meant was basically a UJM, and so I ended up with a 78-ish Honda CX-500.

I then went on to ride other cheap UJM's with the standard seating postion (GS550, CB's, Nighthawk 650). It wasnt until I started taking my Cb650sc nighthawk on longer trips that i felt I wanted to actually be leaning forward a bit. I found myself trying to lay on the bars, in a really awkward position. So, I sold the nighthawk and found myself a 86 Yamaha Fj1200. When i first rode it, it hurt my wrists, and im sure its not even as aggresive as newer sport bikes. I probably just needed to build up muscles and get used to it. I did to a degree, but It still made m sore after 250 miles or so and I wanted to be able to do more.
So I ended up raising the bars and moving them closer to me by about two inches. That really helped. Then I started wearing a back brace, and then i could ride up to 700 miles a day virtually pain free, while still having a slightly sporty feel and being able to tuck in when i want to.

For me, riding is mostly about function, and being able to be on the bike for a while, and using it as a tool to get around and see things. I dont really care what genre it falls into as long as it meets my needs.

So the basically, the sport/standard seating position is what i've found works best for my needs. Comfort, yet still being able to lean into a turn.
The KEY for being able to sit on the bike for hours on end is to be able to ADJUST your postion, which you can not do if you're completely bent over, or if you're leaning all the way back into a cruiser position.
You need to have several foot, hands, and back positions to be able to alternate.

So that gets me to my newest bike, a Bandit 1200s. Pretty similiar seating position to the FJ. Forward a bit,but not so much i have to lay down, and no so far back that my back takes all of the brunt when i hit a bump.

Perfect.

For me anyway

[Andrew]

I hated sport bikes, and was convinced I wanted a cruiser. I sat on more than I could count, and came close to buying one a couple times.

But I started to think about what I was going to use the bike for(commuting, long rides, twisties) and realized that comfort and reliability were going to be my primary factors. It took only one visit to a BMW dealer to convince me, and, despite the cost, I came home with a bike that was much sportier than I could ever have seem myself on. It's not a sport bike, but it could be mistaken for one.

Now I couldn't imagine myself on a cruiser or a sport bike. Damn, that's really going to limit my options in the future...

[safety-boy]

When i first rode it, it hurt my wrists

I had the same problem on the 500-R until I found I was sitting on it all wrong. Slid my crotch all the way to the tank and griped with my legs, then I could use the bars without laying weight on the hands.

There are probably more "standards" out there than the industry likes to admit. To me, naked or faired, if the handlebars are upright and the footpegs are under your butt, it is a standard. The 250-R, 500-R, 650-R are all standards in my book, as is the Triumph Bonneville, and probably most Katanas (I am not too up on my Suzuki specs). Standards are certainly the most comfortable all-round.

Changing position while in travel. I call it "motorcycle yoga" The Suzuki Blvd S-40 we had was easily the most uncomfortable bike I have been on. On a trip back from the mountains, I was sitting on the pillion seat for about 50 miles, just to give my butt a change of scenery!

--Dave

[t_bonee]

I've always liked cruisers. I don't like the look of fairings really and the modern standard bikes and naked bikes don't appeal to me at all. That being said, I did sit on them in shops. I found most but not all of them to be uncomfortable for me. Nothing about them really jumped at me to make me change my preference for cruisers.

As a first bike I ended up getting a UJM, Zuk gs650l, that was really cool and rode it for a bit over a year before getting my current Vulcan 900. Once or twice a week I would ride the Suzuki to keep it going and the difference was night and day. All the sudden that Suzuki was uncofortable. I felt very cramped on it and the top heavyness was so much more noticable.