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Passed my basic rider course (DE) a few weeks ago and considering my first purchase. I'm an older (wiser mid-40s) rider and mostly considering cruiser class but friends have urged me to go the small sport bike route as my first (Ninja 300 or Honda cbr 250r). I'm kinda torn between a new Honda 250r (w/abs) and going small Harley Super-Low or Iron 883. I prefer the classic styling of the Harley. My issue is that in class we rode 250s (mine was a Suzuki tu250). I'm 6' 200 and felt really cramped on that small a bike so I'm curious as to others opinions on the sizing. I plan to ride to work on occasion and it would be an hour each way so I want something that is comfortable for that ride.

Thanks

Hello Charlie and welcome to the forum. My advice is to start out on a bike that has 50 hp and isn't over 500lb.

Hi Charlie,

Welcome to the motorcycle community and congratulations on passing your course! As Johnj suggested above, 50 and 500lbs is a great idea for a first bike. We have a great cruiser up on the Cool Wall right now that would work as well: viewtopic.php?f=61&t=46896 and I might even suggest the bike I'm currently riding (my 8th motorcycle), the Moto Guzzi V7, it's 395lbs and a little over 50hp.

Mike

Chabu...you are similar in size to me and I found the dual sport bikes quite comfortable...or a super moto like the DRz400SM...great starter bike...dirt bike for the road, so it's durable enough to take a beating if you drop it a couple of times (I dropped my GS500 a couple of times...first time was on gravel and was fine, but second time was in my driveway and broke bits).

They're not the most comfortable bikes, but an hour wouldn't be too bad...another option is the Vstrom DL650, it's a little higher power, but still light and has the comfort of seat & leg room...

Good luck with the shopping...I love bike shopping!

Later.

I was told flat-out by the better-half that I'm not allowed a sport bike no matter the size, so I'm now focused on cruisers. I visited a Harley dealer yesterday and really like the feel of the superlow and plan on test driving this weekend. My preference is to buy through a dealer and unfortunately a motorcycle dealer with any type of used inventory (other than Harley) is at least 30 miles away so its likely that I'll stick with Harley based on that alone.

Harley's not a bad choice, but you may want to educate the better half on the types of sportbikes. Your harley is going to produce more power than the two you mentioned while still not being anywhere near the mid level in power and certainly light years away from the race replicas.

However, if you think the harley is the bike for you, definitely stick to the less than 500lbs, less than 50 hp rule.

Ended up abandoning the Harley idea as I just thought it was just a tad too big for me to start on so ended up buying a 2007 Honda Shadow VLX 600. So I ended up staying within the rule 34HP and 450 LBs