Total Motorcycle Community Forums

I just moived to seattle and am in the process of taking a safety course and I need help choosing a used bike (and a year). I dont care about looks or performance, and I would prefer to spend under 2500 if posible. Here is what I am looking for.

1. Safety. I want a bike I can safely learn to ride and trust in the highway under wet conditions. I have never used a bike before.

2. Reliability. I want a bike I can trust mechanically.

3. Highway use. I would be driving the highways a lot, so though i dont care if its fast, it would need to keep up with highway speeds.

Can you please recommend a bike and what its worth? BTW, i am 6 feet tall and weigh 180 lbs.

Thanks guys, this site rocks!

1. Tires are your key priority. New tires function well in rain, old hard tires are crap. Other than that, no bike is "Safe." They say that in car racing, 80% of the equasion is how good the car is, and 20% is how good the driver is ... On a bike it's the other way around - the rider is 'at least' 80% of the equasion. Your safety is up to you not the bike. An imprtant consideration is how the bike fits you, however. Make sure you are comfortable on the bike before you buy!!

2. You can trust most any bike mechanically if its been well look out for, or you are mechanically inclined. Or, just buy a newer bike. But make sure you consider the bike and owner ... I've seen plenty of fragged out 1 year old bikes.

3. Anything 250 or above can keep up with highway traffic. A 250 may or may not have enough grunt for you - depends on how agressively you ride. I know plenty of people (especially in Italy) who ride 250's on the freeway with no problem - and trust me - the speed limits here are only suggestions. There is no speed enforcement.

Look for a newish Kawi Ninja 250, 500 , Suzi gs500e, gs500f, klr650, bmw
f560 , or a cruiser at about the 750 cc displacement level.

awesome, thanks for your post.

so i should be ok if i select a mid-80's bike, 650 cc, japanese brand for around $1000-1500? maybe something a little smaller but strong enough to take on the highway?

acceleration is not that important to me, at least not as much as handling and safety and of course price.

thanks so much for your bike suggestions..... are there any bikes i should avoid?

Thanks again!

TechBMW said it all. I'd probably lean more towards 500cc-750cc (maximum) if you're a new rider who is gonna spend a lot of time on the freeway. But a 250 will do highway speeds as he said, just not as comfortably as a 500cc bike will. Some folks will recommend more, but I'm keeping in mind that you are a new rider. Noobs go out and get 1000cc bikes all the time, but I don't think it's a particularly good idea. I'm in the majority there, but there are those who disagree. The style of bike is very important as well... a 600cc sport bike is way more dangerous for a noob than a 750cc cruiser.

Good idea taking the safety course - it will help you out a lot. I'm in Seattle too and I watch the used market very closely and on a daily basis. Check craigslist.com - probably 100 new listings a day for used bikes. I believe you can find what you want for $2500 on there. I saw a mint cond 02 rebel 250 on there today for $2200. $1000-1500 more would increase your choices infinitely, but you can get a safe, reliable bike for $2500 and have several to choose from. Check the cycletrader too. If you have any more Seattle-specific questions shoot me a message.

thanks for your help. i do actually have a seattle specific question.

do you feel safe riding your cycle after september? i am a little nervous about riding in seattle weather and want to make sure i can be as safe as possible. i just moved here, and if it can be done safely with new tires, i would love to ride my bike year round.

also, since this will be my first bike, i might get an older 80's model for 1500 if the only thing id sacrifice is looks and performance. thats probably why older cruisers seem like the way to go.

i have been checking craigslist quite a bit and there seems to be a lot of 1980's bikes for about 1000-1500. i guess th hard part for me is deciding what is or isint appropriate to my situation, but im doing my best.

thanks again for you help.

one dumb question.... how do i know what models are sports bikes and which are cruisers?

sorry, i know its probably a dumb one, but i honestly dont know....

Just put the exact model name of the bike in google and do an image search - you'll almost always come up with a pic of the bike. Seems like it used to be simpler with the model names, but nowadays it can be hard to tell what's what. If you start seriously looking at this stuff and thinking about bikes and reading magazines and surfing the web and posting on message boards, etc. all will become clearer and clearer. You'll either get the bug or you won't. Most of us here have it pretty bad.

It's cool that you want to ride in the rain - too many folks put the bikes away when it comes. And you can do it safely and relatively comfortably. But it is a different ballgame. you have to go a bit slower and you can't lean quite as far. You can't stop safely as quick. Visibility goes way down. It's harder to identify slicks on the road surface when everything is wet. It will be much colder - 45 feels like 20 when you are soaking wet. It's all about gear really. You will be absolutely miserable if you aren't dressed properly and that can be a pricey proposition. You can do it of course... but I don't know if your first season on the bike is the best time to do it. Read David Hough's Proficient Motorcycling - you'll be glad you did.

I think a 250-500 cc cruiser is a great choice for a first bike. More comfortable riding position. Plenty of quality used choices. Not as responsive a throttle. Easier to put luggage racks and saddlebags on. get a decent used bike and ride for a season or two and then if you feel like you need more you can always move up.

Keep in mind that an old '80s bike is going to have more maintenance issues than a newer model. Most have been left sitting in a garage for much of their life and they deteriorate pretty fast that way. Typically problems with electronic components and internal engine corrosion.

If you're good with a wrench, this isn't a huge issue, but realize that parts for some of those old bikes (Harleys excepted) can sometimes be hard to find.

If one of my big priortiies were reliability, I'd probably go for a newer model with higher mileage, than an old bike with few miles on it. Especially for a first bike. You want to spend more time riding than wrenching

I'd avoid the older bikes, too. The odds are against you when it comes to potential mechanical problems.


Sit on a few in showrooms to get a feel for what riding position you like.


You should be able to get a cared for japanese bike, mid to late 90's, for the price range you are looking at. Heck, I'm trying to sell the wife's 2002 Honda VLX and I'm only asking $3,500. If it was a 97 I'd probably be asking around 2k. Good deals are there, just gotta dig sometimes.

Don't know the Seattle market, but in LA you can find the grand old '80s Nighthawks for about 1K to 1.5K. These are freeway machines. The Suzuki Savage 650 is a one-lung masterpiece of cheap competence. They sell new for 4-ish, so a used deal in the 2k range for some geezer's low mile mid life crisis might be in order.

Rain gear is important if you plan on doing the pacific northwest in the fall... If you can spring for a simple set of rubber gear you will be surprised at how much better you feel at the end of a ride. Buy large enough to go over your regular gear, and consider taking it with you everywhere you go in the fall/spring. I have my gortex over clothes in my saddle bag year round, especially if I'm travelling. They will quickly turn a possibly horrid ride into just another day on the bike... (I have the gortex only because my employer supplies it free of charge... )