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I took the MSF a few years ago and bought a bike right off the bat from Craigslist, a Yamaha XJ650 Maxim for like $800. I learned that sub $1000 bikes on CL are usually broken and/or in need of repairs. I rode it a bit, but didn't gain a lot of street confidence yet. Eventually my condo management at the time got pissy about me owning a bike and threatened to tow, so I got rid of it - gave it to a friend of mine for free, since it needed some repairs, and he fixed it up and converted it to a bobber or something. Anyway, new condo management, I now have it in writing that I can own a motorcycle and will be getting a parking sticker for it and everything, which is excellent, but I'm now buying my second first bike. I don't want some junker off craigslist, but I also don't have a garage, just a parking lot. So I don't want to break the bank, but want something beginner-friendly, but maybe something to grow into. I'm not a fan of sports bikes, though. I saw these two bikes at a nearby motorcycle dealer: 2004 Honda Shadow Aero, ~$4k 2002 Kawasaki Vulcan 750 ~$2.5k Would probably use some financing to lessen the blow of the purchase, unlike a CL buy. 750s both. I went in today to check them out, and I loooved the feel of the Aero. I'm a short guy, but both feet were flat the whole time. Vulcan has a lot of miles on it. The salesman also tried to talk me into a $1500 Ninja 250, which I don't really think I like, but told him I'd think about. This was a cash-only deal and the bike was cosmetically not great, had obviously taken a fall at some point, broke some plastic and also a huge scrape on the side, but I'm okay with cosmetic issues. I sat on it but don't think I like the feel of sports bikes.
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Jul 5, 2013 20:04
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Oxford Comma posted:So I need to take a MSF course before I can ride a bike. It looks like the ones in Cali are about $250 for the course. Since I'm not in the military are there any other less-expensive options? Pretty much exactly what you're gonna pay. Don't worry, though-- you make back the price through insurance discounts upon completion of the safety course after a few years of riding.
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Jul 5, 2013 20:05
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Just buy the 250 and ride it for awhile. You dont want to finance your first bike, amd you really dont want to spemd over 2.5k on it.
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Jul 5, 2013 20:28
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Xovaan posted:Pretty much exactly what you're gonna pay. Don't worry, though-- you make back the price through insurance discounts upon completion of the safety course after a few years of riding. hahahah, what? I think my MSF discount was worth about 8 bucks over a 6 month term.
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Jul 5, 2013 21:33
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Myriddin, The ninja may look like a sports bike but it's seating position and posture are more standard. It has the bonus of being cheap and already dinged up, so you don't have to worry as much if you accidentally tip it over. I'll step away from the normal recommendation and say you probably shouldn't get the 250 based on your post. You mentioned multiple times that you didn't like the idea of it, and the difference in motors/riding style between the 250 and the v-twin cruisers you posting is huge. From what you've posted I can see you buying the 250 and hating it almost immediately, and going right back to looking for mid level cruisers. I'm usually one of the first people to push someone towards a little ninja for a first bike, but it's not the right choice for everyone, it just a good base to start from. With what I can gleam from your mindset, I'd suggest you stick with the cruiser style but maybe something a bit smaller. Suzuki makes a 650 single cruiser that's kinda in the middle of the 750s you posted and the 250 Honda Rebel that should have never been created. I think there's some other smaller cruisers you could look into as well. They won't be speed demons and they'll probably top out around 85 on the highway, but they'll be lighter and easier to learn on for a bit, and also cheaper. Hopefully then you could avoid financing as well. Just a thought.
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Jul 5, 2013 21:35
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ThatCguy posted:hahahah, what? The difference between MSF and non-MSF status when insuring my bike was about 10%. 
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Jul 5, 2013 21:42
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Are you only interested in a cruiser style bike? If so, I just took a quick look on Craigslist and came up with these: Honda Shadow 600 http://worcester.craigslist.org/mcy/3887554621.html I owned a Shadow 600 for my first bike. Picked up a 2003 600 with 7k miles for $1750 with minor cosmetic damage. It was from a Harley dealer, I think they just wanted it gone quick. Rode it for a year and sold it in one day for $2100 with something like 10k miles on it. Great to learn on, light bike, my only complaint was there were only four gears, so doing anything above 65 for an extended period of time made me feel like I was going to blow the engine up. If you're just commuting around town, I think it would be fine for that. Ride it for a year, sell it for a profit, and buy a bigger bike. I'd offer $1900 and see if you can get it for that. Yamaha VStar 650 http://worcester.craigslist.org/mcy/3889735972.html Haven't ridden or owned a VStar, the upgrades are nice but the bars will hurt your shoulders for any extended riding. It does look pretty nice, but I don't think I'd pay $2600 for it. I might try something like $2200 or $2300.
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Jul 5, 2013 21:43
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Neither of those cruisers are bad beginner bikes. I feel that Honda's a little overpriced, NADA puts it at 3500ish dealer retail, and it'd be less on CL. If you must finance, make sure to check with your bank / credit union / USAA / etc., dealer financing is often crap compared to a bank deal. E: You're in Mass, I thought you were in Cali. Used cruisers are a dime a dozen on CL and there's possibly CA members nearby who will help check out the bike with you.
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Jul 5, 2013 21:46
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Snowdens Secret posted:E: You're in Mass, I thought you were in Cali. Used cruisers are a dime a dozen on CL and there's possibly CA members nearby who will help check out the bike with you. americanzero4128 posted:Are you only interested in a cruiser style bike? If so, I just took a quick look on Craigslist and came up with these: I've checked out Vstars and Shadows as well. Part of my problem here is I'm very, very uneasy dropping multiple thousand dollars on a bike off CL after the previously mentioned poor experience. ESPECIALLY to people in the area you're looking (Worcester is a crime ridden den of thieves). The financing thing I mentioned earlier isn't out of necessity, by the way, but more "comfort", I always have an issue dropping a lot of money at once, and always prefer to spread it out a bit if possible. edit: And yeah, I prefer standards or cruisers. Tried out the aforementioned Ninja and I just felt uncomfortably scrunched up, everything was too close. I'm a small guy too, so I just must not like the riding position. Myrddin Emrys fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Jul 5, 2013 |
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Jul 5, 2013 21:53
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nsaP posted:With what I can gleam from your mindset, I'd suggest you stick with the cruiser style but maybe something a bit smaller. Suzuki makes a 650 single cruiser that's kinda in the middle of the 750s you posted and the 250 Honda Rebel that should have never been created. I think there's some other smaller cruisers you could look into as well. They won't be speed demons and they'll probably top out around 85 on the highway, but they'll be lighter and easier to learn on for a bit, and also cheaper. Hopefully then you could avoid financing as well. I do know someone selling a Honda Rebel for $1900 - 1997 with I think 8k miles. I don't know the guy personally though, I might go for it if I can get him to drop the price a bit. There's actually cheaper similar bikes too that I just found, like this one: http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/mcy/3913745220.html Or this Eliminator: http://boston.craigslist.org/bmw/mcy/3878269309.html
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Jul 5, 2013 22:21
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Look more in the 500-650cc cruiser sections. Those 250cc and smaller cruisers are way too slow and super small. Virago 535 was another one. Tho really a 750 isn't a bad starter either. You'll just end up paying a bit more and they're definitely heavier. The Suzuki Savage 650 comes in at under 400 lbs IIRC whereas I'd estimate a shadow at 550 (though I'm pulling that out of my rear end). edit: Also that Kawi..."Original engine was ruined due wrong way putting parts back on during the oil change" 
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Jul 5, 2013 22:34
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Xovaan posted:The difference between MSF and non-MSF status when insuring my bike was about 10%. That's worth about 8 bux based on my premium.
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Jul 6, 2013 00:29
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Old people meet young people. Young people, old people.
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Jul 6, 2013 00:31
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nsaP posted:Old people meet young people. As one of the old people now, I do love my cheap insurance. My one and only attempt at buying new was a ZX-7 when I was 21. I got approved on the loan for the bike, but the $4800 per year insurance I just couldn't swing.
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Jul 6, 2013 03:09
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clutchpuck posted:That's worth about 8 bux based on my premium. My bike is $33/month to insure with progressive, clean driving record, MSF, at 23. Granted I have comprehensive for theft, vandalism, fire, etc. but that 10% does add up after a while until I'm an old gently caress and my rates go down. 
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Jul 6, 2013 04:21
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Myrddin Emrys posted:This is EXACTLY what I did last time, had a CA guy check it out, give it thumbs up, and even drive it home for me (it was night and the roads were wet). But, the bike died about a week later. Repaired it over the next few months, died again. Rinse and repeat. This has made me VERY skeptical of Craigslist ads now. Ah, ok then. I just took the address from the shop that listed the Shadow and looked for the closest CL from there. Please don't buy a cruiser under 600CC. It will be an exercise in frustration to do anything above 55.
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Jul 6, 2013 04:35
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americanzero4128 posted:Ah, ok then. I just took the address from the shop that listed the Shadow and looked for the closest CL from there. Please don't buy a cruiser under 600CC. It will be an exercise in frustration to do anything above 55. Yeah, the only reason I go to that shop is it's clean, I've been there before, and I trust the guys working there. It's more like a top-class car dealership, all the other dealers in this area are like, run out of garages and the people seem disgruntled to see you. I wouldn't buy from a private seller in Worcester either. That Shadow Aero is still tempting me. Sitting on it just felt good.
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Jul 6, 2013 04:38
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americanzero4128 posted:Please don't buy a cruiser under 600CC. It will be an exercise in frustration to do anything above 55. I had a girlfriend with a Yamaha Route 66. Cool bike, but when it was having running issues, I rode it for a while to try to sort them out. Highway riding was...um...interesting. Admittedly, at 6'2" and 275lbs I'm a bit of a human air dam, but pegging the throttle just to hit 65 mph is not a fun way to ride.
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Jul 6, 2013 04:51
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I'll be the black sheep here and suggest you don't rule out Sportster 883s. I had a 2006 as my first bike, because I really wanted a cruiser but hated how "fat" all of the Vstars/S40s/Shadows/etc looked. The Sportster just looked right. I had mine for about 9 months and sold it for exactly what I paid for it, and it was a great bike the whole time - I commuted on it daily and flogged the peg-scraping piss out of it up in the mountains during the weekend. It never caused me a single problem. There are generally a ton of Sportsters on craigslist and you can have your choice of styles and features. Yes they will all be overpriced, but after sitting for a week on CL with seven similar bikes you can always find a motivated seller. Offer them your price in cash and if you take care of the bike it will maintain it's stupid Harley value very well. I know you're gunshy of CL, but I've purchased my last three vehicles from it and they've all been great (so far  ). Try to check out vehicles at the owner's house if possible; you can tell so much about someone by the way their home is maintained.
The Royal Nonesuch fucked around with this message at 05:14 on Jul 6, 2013 |
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Jul 6, 2013 05:10
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Flint Ironstag posted:I had a girlfriend with a Yamaha Route 66. Cool bike, but when it was having running issues, I rode it for a while to try to sort them out. Highway riding was...um...interesting. Admittedly, at 6'2" and 275lbs I'm a bit of a human air dam, but pegging the throttle just to hit 65 mph is not a fun way to ride. Yeah, that's a 250 innit? The 500-650s aren't so bad. Granted they will top out at 85 or 90 still, I know my buddies 5 speed virago 535 only hit about 90. It still got there reasonably quick. I wouldn't want one a long time, or to do a lot of highway with it, but for a learner it's small but powerful enough.
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Jul 6, 2013 05:46
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Craigslist is a roll of the dice I've found, especially around Worcester. It worth finding some local riding forums, most will have a for sale section. Nestreetriders.com is one of the most active one that I know of but there are probably more. I haven't had the best experience with Performance Cycle, they won't do anything with tires you don't buy from them and when I was looking for a throttle tube they just told me to go somewhere else since it was a Honda. Hard to support local business when they go out of their way to not take your money.
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Jul 6, 2013 15:56
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Anarchist posted:Craigslist is a roll of the dice I've found, especially around Worcester. It worth finding some local riding forums, most will have a for sale section. Nestreetriders.com is one of the most active one that I know of but there are probably more. No poo poo? Performance seemed pretty on the level. Although yes, I did notice that they specifically do not deal with Hondas. Seems they're exclusively Kawasaki, Triumph, Yamaha and... well they had the Honda I looked at but it was the only one. I'll check out those forums for sure, thanks New England friend! edit: You ever deal with Cycles! 128 or any of those affiliated dealers? Just spotted this: http://www.newenglandpowersports.com/c128/preowned_detail.aspx?VIN=JKAVNDA13SB533581 Myrddin Emrys fucked around with this message at 16:24 on Jul 6, 2013 |
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Jul 6, 2013 16:12
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The folks at Performance are friendly and know what they are taking about. I have some friends that bought their bikes from them and have nothing but good things to say about the place. My guess is the level of service generally gets better if you actually buy a bike from them. There are definitely worse shops around here, I'd avoid Motorsports International in particular. I've never dealt with Cycles! 128 or really know anything about them. There is Mom's in Foxboro that I've heard great things about, they have a huge inventory and focus on cruisers more than anything.
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Jul 6, 2013 17:09
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Anarchist posted:The folks at Performance are friendly and know what they are taking about. I have some friends that bought their bikes from them and have nothing but good things to say about the place. My guess is the level of service generally gets better if you actually buy a bike from them. There are definitely worse shops around here, I'd avoid Motorsports International in particular. Good to know. For what it's worth, they had a huuuuge backlog of bikes to be repaired, so that might be their achilles heel. I probably wouldn't go to them for repairs. I know this because they took me out back to check out some of their recent trades and there were like 80 bikes sitting around waiting for repair. Anyway this is still top of my list: http://www.performancecycles.com/new_vehicle_detail.asp?sid=01632349X7K6K2013J10I11I44JAMQ128R0&veh=8777&pov=3294393 I'd probably plop a grand down and finance the rest just for peace of mind. I got to sit on it (not ride it, it was in the showroom and I saw a lot of bikes) and it was VERY comfortable. Looks amazing. Felt very comfortable. Good height for me. Looks like I can grow into a bit. I'm trying to be talked into or out of it though. For some reason this decision is HARD.
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Jul 6, 2013 17:16
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Went around town, looking at some used and new motorcycles. Bolts are selling like hotcakes, apparently, because the local Yamaha dealer has sold their entire lot and has a bunch of pending preorders. Now I have to wait until the next demo event. I am now certain that upright narrow frame cruiser is what I really want. Sportsters feels just right, while Shadows and the likes of it feel really bulbous and unwieldy with their massively wide gas tanks. I haven't been looking long, but what's out there other than above-mentioned bikes that comes close? Here is a Suzuki Intruder that seem to have good ergonomics, the price is reasonable and with less than 1,000 miles, I'm sure it'll be a troubles free ride. Does anyone have experience with one of these? I couldn't ride it because it would have taken them over an hour to prep, but I plan on coming back next weekend. http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/mcd/3893940241.html I'd love to know how it behaves at 70-80 mph.
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Jul 6, 2013 23:03
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Check the date on those tires. I'd wager with 600 miles on the bike they're original. Negotiate with that in mind.
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Jul 6, 2013 23:11
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Edit: poo poo double post. drat phone.
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Jul 6, 2013 23:12
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Xovaan posted:My bike is $33/month to insure with progressive, clean driving record, MSF, at 23. Granted I have comprehensive for theft, vandalism, fire, etc. but that 10% does add up after a while until I'm an old gently caress and my rates go down. Holy poo poo, I pay more than that (~£300 a year) for third party fire and theft on my Shiver and I'm an old fart. Mind you I live in an area where they cut your head off if you think too hard about money so...
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Jul 6, 2013 23:20
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Myrddin Emrys posted:That's more or less the conclusion I came to as well. They let me try it out and I didn't like the seating position or "feel" of how it rode. Funny, I feel the same way with the cruiser riding position. It's less that you're riding the bike and more that you're just hanging on to the bars and trying not to slide off the back. It's terrible, you can't feel how the bike's weight is moving under you, you can't put your weight on the pegs going over bumps/rough patches, you can't really lean your weight well during cornering, you're just kind of hanging on and following the bike's lead instead of actually controlling it. And every bump is like a jackhammer right up your tailbone, so they're terrible for long distance riding too. It's awful and I wish cruisers just flat out didn't exist.
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Jul 6, 2013 23:22
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HotCanadianChick posted:Funny, I feel the same way with the cruiser riding position.  They just aren't for me.
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Jul 6, 2013 23:39
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Don't worry about it, HotCanadianChick has terrible opinions.
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Jul 6, 2013 23:42
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HotCanadianChick posted:It's awful and I wish cruisers just flat out didn't exist.
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Jul 7, 2013 00:41
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HotCanadianChick posted:Funny, I feel the same way with the cruiser riding position. It's less that you're riding the bike and more that you're just hanging on to the bars and trying not to slide off the back. It's terrible, you can't feel how the bike's weight is moving under you, you can't put your weight on the pegs going over bumps/rough patches, you can't really lean your weight well during cornering, you're just kind of hanging on and following the bike's lead instead of actually controlling it. And every bump is like a jackhammer right up your tailbone, so they're terrible for long distance riding too. You can do pretty much all that stuff on a cruiser, but an unfamiliar bike ALWAYS feels awkward. Keep that mind as closed as possible though.
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Jul 7, 2013 01:49
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It's not just a 'omg those are turrible' thing, I actually used to like Harleys when I was younger and dumber and didn't know any better (I think I still have a H-D(TM) bandanna from when I was in high school somewhere in a box). I dislike them from an engineering standpoint - the design does not do anything a good standard or sport tourer does, and does a lot of things (such as going around corners and low speed maneuvering) worse. It's just a bad design. If people want to ride them, whatever, more power to them, I hope they enjoy the image or whatever they get out of being on one, I just don't like the design and wish they didn't exist so more people would ride better-designed bikes (and so that there were more standards and sport-tourers made and sold in the US). I'm very much a function over form person though, so I generally won't buy something based just on it's looks or image, but on how well it does it's job. It's my inner OCD-addled engineer. e: Myrddin Emrys posted:Never once did I wish that sports bikes don't exist I don't really care for sport bikes either, the seating position hurts my back. But the Ninja 250 isn't a sport bike, it's a standard with sport-bikey-looking fairings stuck on. A real sport bike is way more forward leaning. Also, sport bikes, while kind of silly for street use, at least have functional engineering reasons for having such cramped ergos, so while I don't care for them, they don't particularly bother me. Militant Lesbian fucked around with this message at 02:01 on Jul 7, 2013 |
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Jul 7, 2013 01:55
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Spoken like somebody who has rode a couple mediocre UJMs.
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Jul 7, 2013 02:08
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HotCanadianChick posted:It's not just a 'omg those are turrible' thing, I actually used to like Harleys when I was younger and dumber and didn't know any better (I think I still have a H-D(TM) bandanna from when I was in high school somewhere in a box). So what boring UJM do you ride anyway?
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Jul 7, 2013 02:33
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Xovaan posted:Pretty much exactly what you're gonna pay. Don't worry, though-- you make back the price through insurance discounts upon completion of the safety course after a few years of riding. Thanks. I signed up for my class. There is a requirement for the riding portion that I need boots that go above the ankles. The only thing close to this that I have now are my North Face hiking boots, but they are higher than my ankle by a millimeter or two. Gonna guess that these boots won't qualify, so suggestions for some inexpensive boots that will work?
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Jul 7, 2013 03:20
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Find and Army surplus store and pick up a cheap pair of Army boots. I think the pair I grabbed were just under $20
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Jul 7, 2013 03:36
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Oxford Comma posted:Thanks. I wore standard "work boots" that I bought for $19.99 from Payless just for the occasion. Ya know, the tan ones.
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Jul 7, 2013 03:36
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Are Chuck Taylors still cheap?
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Jul 7, 2013 03:53
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