Any bike nuts out there?

[cammeddrz]

suzuki ftw

agreed.

 

[fastpakr]

Honestly, there are TONS of decent options on the used bike market. For a first street bike, I'm all for picking a lightweight ride. On the cruiser side, the Vulcan 500 really has sold me. That said, I'm not actually much of a cruiser guy. The 500 kind of fell into my lap.

All of the Japanese manufacturers have built good quality bikes over the years, and the UJM's of the late 70's to mid 80's are certainly no exception. My first was an air cooled Suzuki GS750E. Put 8 or 10k miles on it over a year before sacrificing it to a deer that wanted to share the road with me. Took a couple of years off and picked up a Honda Rebel 250 for a song. Even with the tiny engine, it turned out to be a lot of fun for commuting. Incredibly easy and cheap to work on/maintain, 70+ mpg consistently, and more than enough power to run around on without causing problems in traffic. After a year I went to the 500 and have put almost 9k on it so far. It uses a modified Ninja 500 P-twin and makes 40 or so hp. Compared to most of the other sub 1000cc cruisers on the market, it's actually very quick, and quite a bit lighter. The only reason I'm trying to move on from it now is to pick up hard bags and the more comfortable seating position of the Silverwing.

All that to sum up - you can't go wrong with an inexpensive, relatively light import. Find one that's in decent mechanical shape (or has something wrong that is clearly identifiable and you're comfortable getting into). Don't touch a significantly modified bike as a first ride, or one of the larger sport bikes, or something without a clean title. Take the MSF course to simplify the learning curve. Wear all the gear. Riding is inherently risky, but a lot of that risk can be mitigated by smart decision making.

Here are a few that jumped out at me from Nashville (only went through today's ads):
1981 Yamaha XS650
1982 Yamaha Maxim 650
1982 Honda VF750 Sabre
That last one is a great bike, but you'll be shocked by how quick it is. Not necessarily the best first motorcycle, but you could do worse.

 

[fastpakr]

A few more:
1977 Suzuki GS 550
1983 Yamaha Maxim 750
1982 Honda V45 Magna
Honda Shadow VT500

 

[Beanmachine7000]

Honestly, there are TONS of decent options on the used bike market. For a first street bike, I'm all for picking a lightweight ride. On the cruiser side, the Vulcan 500 really has sold me. That said, I'm not actually much of a cruiser guy. The 500 kind of fell into my lap.

All of the Japanese manufacturers have built good quality bikes over the years, and the UJM's of the late 70's to mid 80's are certainly no exception. My first was an air cooled Suzuki GS750E. Put 8 or 10k miles on it over a year before sacrificing it to a deer that wanted to share the road with me. Took a couple of years off and picked up a Honda Rebel 250 for a song. Even with the tiny engine, it turned out to be a lot of fun for commuting. Incredibly easy and cheap to work on/maintain, 70+ mpg consistently, and more than enough power to run around on without causing problems in traffic. After a year I went to the 500 and have put almost 9k on it so far. It uses a modified Ninja 500 P-twin and makes 40 or so hp. Compared to most of the other sub 1000cc cruisers on the market, it's actually very quick, and quite a bit lighter. The only reason I'm trying to move on from it now is to pick up hard bags and the more comfortable seating position of the Silverwing.

All that to sum up - you can't go wrong with an inexpensive, relatively light import. Find one that's in decent mechanical shape (or has something wrong that is clearly identifiable and you're comfortable getting into). Don't touch a significantly modified bike as a first ride, or one of the larger sport bikes, or something without a clean title. Take the MSF course to simplify the learning curve. Wear all the gear. Riding is inherently risky, but a lot of that risk can be mitigated by smart decision making.

Here are a few that jumped out at me from Nashville (only went through today's ads):
1981 Yamaha XS650
1982 Yamaha Maxim 650
1982 Honda VF750 Sabre
That last one is a great bike, but you'll be shocked by how quick it is. Not necessarily the best first motorcycle, but you could do worse.

Looks like I've got some call to make tomorrow!

 

[crbnunit]

Here is what you need, right here!

Oh yea, you are a Yamaha guy...

Either of these bikes would freaking ROCK on city streets. Talk about a neighborhood terror!

 

[3literEarl91]

Stay away from a Maxim 750 for a first bike. I have an 82 and it is a beast. The engine is not linear in its power delivery. For a first bike I would look at either a Honda shadow 500 or a Nighthawk.

 

[Nhaz]

I just remembered. I would stay away from the vt750 hondas. Its not that they are a bad bike. They have a funky carb design that is not only hard to maintenance, but is inherently going to fail pretty much every year or every other year.

Most bikes with carbs are basic gravity feeds. the VT 750 was a cruiser wannabe, they sacrificed the tank size in order to make it look kewler. so they put half of the tank inside the frame of the bike below the level of the carbs.

So it needed a fuel pump. Not a big deal. Except combined with the rather small size of the tank and aiming for the kewl factor AND the carbs were crammed in between the cylinders at a extream angle. AND which gave them TINY fuel bowls. which could make the bike run poorly for lack of fuel.

Anyways. I never liked it. too many little things to go wrong, I was always tapping the fuel pump to get it going again. even the new ones. It was one of hondas few failures as far as I am concerned.

 

[Beanmachine7000]

Here is what you need, right here!

Oh yea, you are a Yamaha guy...

Either of these bikes would freaking ROCK on city streets. Talk about a neighborhood terror!

I'd love to go out and buy either one of those... I just don't feel like owing any bank any more money...

 

[LearjetMinako]

If you want a motorcycle that go both on and off road, and feel similar to a motorcross. Try getting a dualsport type. I personally own a 2006 Kawasaki KLX250s. It has been a really good motorcycle. Good power, good MPG, easy to maintain. And when you are feeling the need for more speed. You can swap out the 250cc cylinder jug and piston for a 351cc. It will give you an increase from 18HP to 20-22HP. But if you really open of the intake and exhuast, you can sqeeze it to 26-28HP. Cams and port-n-polish will tip it to 30HP. And thats on a motorcycle that weighs around 300lbs.

Another option would be a Yamaha WR250Z. It will cost more, but will have fuel injection. Which makes it more realible to start and gives it a more consistent power band through out the year when the weather changes.

 

[crbnunit]

I remember the first KLX 250. 1980? That thing was aweful! It didn't make enough power to pull the front wheel off the ground. The first Dirt Bike magazine test said the motor would be more suited to run an over sized window fan! That said, I had a friend that could ride the hell out of one. Never did figure out how.

 

[Beanmachine7000]

If you want a motorcycle that go both on and off road, and feel similar to a motorcross. Try getting a dualsport type. I personally own a 2006 Kawasaki KLX250s. It has been a really good motorcycle. Good power, good MPG, easy to maintain. And when you are feeling the need for more speed. You can swap out the 250cc cylinder jug and piston for a 351cc. It will give you an increase from 18HP to 20-22HP. But if you really open of the intake and exhuast, you can sqeeze it to 26-28HP. Cams and port-n-polish will tip it to 30HP. And thats on a motorcycle that weighs around 300lbs.

Another option would be a Yamaha WR250Z. It will cost more, but will have fuel injection. Which makes it more realible to start and gives it a more consistent power band through out the year when the weather changes.

If I were to get a dual sport (which I plan on doing) I would want to buy new... As I currently don't care to have a payment now (just paid off the Camaro), I'm just looking for a cheap project...