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My wife and I have decided to buy a motorcycle for us to ride together when we are off work. She has no desire to drive it so that leaves that job up to me. I have never ridden a road bike before and I am going to take the MSF course and ride for at least six months before I allow her to be my passenger. If it was just me I would love to have a 250 or some of the smaller bikes mentioned here. But I am not willing to buy a smaller one and "trade up" within just a few months. I am 5ft 8 in and around 200lbs. She is 5ft 2in and around 130. We will mostly use the bike for short trips on weekends (less than 100 miles round trip) and rarely on the interstate. I want something that has decent power and won't strain when we are both on it but not at the price of control. So far I am trying to decide between a Savage 650, a Shadow 750, or a Vulcan 800. I am leaning toward the Savage due to price and simplicity. Any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions are appreciated.

The Vulcan 800 gets my vote. The 650 Savage is a bit underpowered for the two of you, but the Shadow 750 might be worth considering. There's also the Suzuki Boulevard series, formerly known as the Intruder, that have bikes in the 750cc range.

What I would suggest is that you take your wife around to all the local bike shops and both of you sit on each of the bikes you've mentioned. If she's not comfortable sitting behind you on one in the showroom, you can rest assured she will not enjoy that bike on the road and you can eliminate that one from your list right away. While you're in the shops, talk to the sales people and explain your parameters for a bike purchase, they might come up with some more models that would be better suited to your needs.

BTW, good on you for deciding to get the MSF course first! Double kudos for imposing a 6-month wait period for passengers afterwards. I think you'll do just fine as a new rider.

You may also want to look at the Kawasaki 900. I know it weighs a bit more than the 800, but it has a lower seat height, a lower centre of gravity, and it's fuel injected, water cooled and has a belt drive for the final instead of a chain. Just something to consider.





Then there's always Gummi's favourite, the URAL

My husband and I rode two up on a Vulcan 400 before I moved on to my bike. Any of the choices you mentioned would do you just fine. As Gummi said, take your wife to the shops and you two sit on all the bikes you're considering. You both need to feel comfortable on it.

On a last note, waiting 6mths before she rides with you is a long time! I think it took us about 2wks before I was riding with DH. But you two certainly take it at the pace yall are most comfortable with.

6 months is a fine target for taking a passenger, but I think you will end up with her back there way before that.

I was riding for about a week before I started riding with a passenger.

Thanks for the replies so far. Very informative. Keep em coming!

You didn't mention the length of the rides in general. That makes a real difference. My Vulcan 500 will ride two that are a bit heavier than you just fine on the highway. But the seats comfort is the weak point, not the engine power.

So to answer your question without over spending for things you don't need or want, you need to tell us the length of rides you plan on taking?

I got my Suzuki S50 specifically for 2-up (and long distance) and haven't regretted it. It's a lighter bike with more then enough power for what your talking about. The one issue you will have to address is the seat. It's a brick, but that is the only issue and the price was low enough that even with a new seat (I also got progessive 412 shocks) it was still lower in cost then the C or M model and has better performance then either. The MPG is also quite good for a bike in this class and performance (avg 55 mpg at 75 mph). Good luck.

flw:

I did tell you the length of the rides we would be taking:

"We will mostly use the bike for short trips on weekends (less than 100 miles round trip) and rarely on the interstate."

Thanks for posting.

you may be surprised on the length of trips you take - especially depending on where you live in nc. my neighbor recently bought a bike thinking he was going to use it mainly for commuting to work with the occasional short weekend ride with his wife... now that he's had his bike a few months, they're out almost every weekend - riding all over the place. it's not hard to rack up 100 miles...