Tell me what bike to buy-I wanted something that didnt empower me to be such a dong

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Cycle Asylum > Tell me what bike to buy-I wanted something that didnt empower me to be such a dong

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

If you could only have one bike for mostly street riding with the occasional shorter road trips, what would it be?

I know that's a reductive question that needs a lot more specificity to be remotely useful, but just in general I've been wondering if I should break out of my stubborn sport bike mindset. I haven't ridden much else so I bet there's something out there I'd end up loving if I discovered what it is. In a perfect world, I'd have a garage I could start filling with bikes, but current circumstances dictate just one.

The rational part of my mind is saying just get something like a Versys 300, ridiculously cheap, easy to maintain, nice practical dad-grade starter pack windscreen, but practical and rational isn't what got me into these drat things in the first place and I kinda want a ZX-10 or an R1 next. I know stepping down from a 636 sportbike would make me sad for at least a while too.

# ¿ Dec 23, 2019 15:31

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# ¿ Apr 30, 2024 23:34

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

Thanks all, I will start looking into all the recommendations! A 650 would probably be the perfect sweet spot for my next bike.

Rolo posted:

Am I an idiot for loving how the SV650X looks?

Hell no I think it looks rad, and I'm a superficial bastard who shelled out extra for Kawasaki's "KRT" green and black color scheme on my last two bikes because they speak directly to the shiny objects part of my brain

# ¿ Dec 24, 2019 03:28

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

Tyro posted:

Used market is kind of thin/expensive near me though, I guess due to time of year. I was expecting a lot of used bikes for sale due to the overall economy.

People seem to be still buying and riding motorcycles in large numbers despite of, or maybe even because of, all the turmoil. I've been trawling Craigslist and Cycletrader nearly every day and there seem to have been a few more literbikes with low mileage than usual, but there's not this huge surplus like you'd expect.

Same thing seems to be happening with autos in general, I've got a friend who works in banking and the auto loan applications have been surging through, even during the height of the lockdown. People are buying vroom-vrooms in spite of the travel restrictions and worldwide economic uncertainty.

Classical economics models just fall apart when exposed to human irrationality.

# ¿ Jun 19, 2020 03:49

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

T Zero posted:

I feel bad though. I've barely put 10 miles on my first bike and I'm already thinking about my next one.

Completely normal impulse and one you should fight. From what my advice is worth as a currently bike-less perpetual dumbass who went Ninja 300 > Ninja ZX6R > Ninja ZX10 over the space of a few years, small displacement bikes rule in so many ways and I'm currently looking at getting another. Even when you get to the point where you feel like you're "outgrowing" the bike (happens commonly within the first few thousand miles, and is also the most dangerous time for a new rider because confidence starts to outpace ability), there is always something to learn and some capability of the bike that hasn't even been tapped into yet.

Plus insurance is cheap, gas is cheap, maintenance is cheap, and small light bikes can be so much more fun tooling around banging through the gears and tossing around corners.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2021 18:45

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

Slavvy posted:

the notion that you can upgrade somehow as if there's a continuum of bikes to crawl your way up like pokemon

this continuum is 300 > i4 600 > literbike > supercharged literbike, btw
If you live long enough to make it to the top, you unlock New Game+

Hard mode: jump straight to a literbike as your first and skip the preliminary steps :getin:

(You are mandated to get a GoPro if you do that though)

Slavvy posted:

390's are garbage, don't buy one ever. Everything else being said is 100% right.

I saw one when I was trawling local ads for a 300 recently but your words were echoing in my head. Plus I'm superficial and just don't like the look of the KTMs.

You've probably gone over it already but what specifically makes the 390 a bad choice? It pops up in a lot of the motorcycle top 3 beginner sport bikes recommendation lists.

# ¿ Apr 9, 2021 21:51

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

Martytoof posted:

I�m looking at the bill of sale for my N650 right now and the only fees I paid were title to register. Was literally MSRP + tax + registration. I guess this is out of the ordinary? Because that�s pretty much what I would have expected to pay and nothing more.

Sounds like a good deal, maybe they rolled it all into the MSRP or something? Looking at an old bill of sale for a bike I bought once, they had this itemized list of bullshit, I've only bought from a couple dealers so not sure how common this is or if this one was more garbage than usual:

Sale price
Freight
Handling
Tire tax ($2)
License fee
Dealer DOC
Safe tire (should have called them out on this still no idea what the hell this is)
Tax

Not going to post the actual numbers because I know I'll probably rightly get made fun of :mad:

# ¿ Apr 29, 2021 01:10

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

SUPPOSEDLY dealers have a pretty low margin on actual bike prices, especially normal bikes in the $5k-$15k USD range, and make their money off of service contracts, financing, and other bullshit they can sell to you. So I'd be very happy to get one for an MSRP out the door price, which due to taxes and being bad at negotiating and all the itemized fees I've never had happen personally.

Finger Prince posted:

Then again, like I said, I've never bought from a dealer. Maybe one day I can afford it.

There's always financing!! It's not real money if you don't have to pay it back right away, right?? :negative:

Only halfway serious, and I wouldn't recommend anyone financing a new bike now with the upcoming economic collapse that keeps getting kicked down the road, but interest rates being what they are now it might not be the worst time to do that. I'm pretty sure I could get around 2-3% from my bank on a loan. Not going to buy anything new for a long while myself though.

# ¿ Apr 29, 2021 16:31

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

What a country!

The only place I ever worked that just rolled sales tax into price and advertised that price was a high school job at a movie theater, of all places. Tickets were straight up $5 (4.xx plus the sales tax, which you only saw I believe if you looked at it on the register). Popcorn was like $4.50 or something ($4.xx plus sales tax). It made so much sense of course no one else does it!

# ¿ Apr 29, 2021 21:03

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

metavisual posted:

To compare -
(This was in February of 2020)
MSRP of a CB300r (NON ABS) is $4649.
--
At the first place, the price broke down this way:
4649 MSRP + 380 + 149 + 179 + sales tax = 5691 OTD
----
At North Reading Powersports - Bike was discounted to 4299 since it was the prior year model, even though it was new.
4299 + 140 doc fee + sales tax = 4716 OTD
--

Also, the first place wanted 100 to deliver the bike....
North Reading threw it in for free when I told them it was my first bike and I was a little nervous pulling out onto a main road.

The guy came on a Saturday morning, took the bike off the truck, and then spent half hour explaining some of the maintenance stuff about my bike with me, in my driveway. For FREE.
I will absolutely be buying my next bike from them.

drat that's a solid deal! I'm still amazed that there are dealers out there who only do tax + doc fee. I guess I should have looked around more, there are quite a few dealers in the city I'm at.

I wonder if early 2020 was just a good time to get a bike. Right before the pandemic shutdowns started making everything go crazy. That's when I got my 2019 ZX-10, and due to it being previous year's model, it was discounted to $12,999. Kind of a wash after all the fees, but still a really solid list price.

Delivery should be standard for those buying bikes for the first time, it's borderline criminally irresponsible to sell a bike to a brand new rider and just go "bon voyage!" That's one thing I did right on my first bike purchase, made them do the delivery, and they didn't charge me for it either.

# ¿ Apr 30, 2021 15:55

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

Yeah it also works both ways, if as a seller you leave out a lot of useful information I need to know, I'm going to ask for that before I waste time driving over to meet you in a parking lot somewhere. I don't understand the number of sellers who act like they're just listing their bike on a sudden impulsive whim and don't bother to put basic information about what services were done and when, how long they've had it/are they the original owner, what's the actual title status, even have to bug some of them to show a pic of the odometer.

# ¿ Apr 30, 2021 20:34

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

I know completely where you're coming from, I'm superficial and hate getting dings on my beautiful bike. It did hold me back a lot because I was less willing to push myself in the past with practicing so I'm in the same boat. Got just a Ninja 400 now and threw some frame sliders on it, although it's far from a beater, it's much easier to practice with and as soon as it's no longer 110 degrees F outside I will be constantly hitting up parking lots.

Did you ever think about getting some bar ends and long, chunky frame sliders on your 650 (can't remember if you have them already)? That way parking lot drops would not be nearly as big a deal.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2021 20:58

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

Are those dyno number graphs usually from CycleWorld? I thought I had bookmarked something that had a pretty good database of them, but can't find it, this seems to be the closest there is and it's a pain to search: https://www.cycleworld.com/tags/dyno/

I'm curious what the ZX-10R looks like, that's probably the most ridiculous bike I've ridden.

Did find the Z400 on there though, which is the same as my Ninja 400 I believe: https://www.cycleworld.com/how-much-power-does-2019-kawasaki-z400-make/

# ¿ Aug 28, 2021 22:13

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

Toe Rag posted:

Phone posting hopefully this works.

Cycle World seems most consistent with doing dynos but they don�t always post the chart which is annoying. They have a bunch of YouTube videos.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL73D603D74057DC0E

Oh sweet thanks, that playlist may have been what I was thinking of, bookmarked it this time.

I did find one buried in yet another video for the 2020 ZX-10RR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNwDjGfXwC8&t=73s

# ¿ Aug 28, 2021 22:52

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

It's always fascinating to hear about places that actually do more than give a pat on the butt and a "godspeed patriot :patriot:

" to new riders for licensing requirements.

LimaBiker posted:

Despite lots of 24 year olds riding high powered bikes, we are the 3rd safest country for bikers in the EU, and have about 80% fewer biker fatalities than the USA has, when measured in fatalities per 100.000 bikes registered.

Yes but what % less freedom does that translate to hmmm?? :911:

# ¿ Sep 18, 2021 01:47

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

LimaBiker posted:

Gonna be even less freedoms in the nearish future because it seems like an MOT for bikes is gonna be required soon-ish.

I don't exactly know why they want that, because apparently accidents caused by bad maintenance/neglect are pretty rare. Something in the 1% range.

I wonder if bikes with remapped ECUs still can pass emissions, and if they finally gonna do something about bikes without type approved exhausts or with exhausts with removed dB killer.
The state of noise regulations is really weird. On tracks, sometimes bikes are refused because they make too much noise, but they are barely ever pulled over when on public roads.
Meanwhile, nimbys are managing to get nice roads along meandering rivers closed off to bikers because of the noise. We don't have a lot of twisty roads so the few that are nice, are very popular.

In any case, i don't worry too much about it because my bikes are mostly bone stock, or built with proper approved parts, except for the front blinkers on my SV and those are pretty cheap and easy to swap out, if the tests are gonna include checking for non-type approved blinky bits.

Seems to largely be the case with noise laws in the US too, I have no idea what they are in practicality. the one time I went to a track I had to make sure it met their fairly stringent requirements (although it's just a few miles from an air force base with regular F16 takeoffs :lol:

) , but I've never heard of anyone here being ticketed for exhaust system. And judging by the craigslist ads, there are a non-zero number of people riding around without an exhaust can on because it "SOUNDS BETTER".

Also in my neighborhood, judging by the cars that love to race their engines and set off car alarms at 1 AM, noise enforcement is basically nonexistent :arghfist:

# ¿ Sep 18, 2021 18:36

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

TorakFade posted:

she already said anything below 400cc is too small, besides we have 2 scooters for that already

This seems arbitrary and excludes a whole bunch of perfectly good bikes, but I believe this is also a cue for me to slide in with a "have you heard about the Ninja 400??" (or the Z400 naked version). Sits somewhere around 380 lbs, ticks the (unnecessary) CC requirement, and is way more upright than it looks.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2021 20:31

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

FBS posted:

I deleted my Facebook account over a year ago and have been completely Facebook-corporate-free and it feels amazing, but I've been considering making a new account just for Marketplace.

I have never used Facebook and refuse to on principle, and block every Facebook domain I know of at DNS level on my home network, but I've been thinking of doing the same, just creating a dedicated account and use it for nothing else. Maybe even only do it through a VPN and on a dedicated VM. Craigslist is still around but slim pickings.

I did buy my last bike on OfferUp, that worked out OK. I hope Facebook gets broken up here soon but lol they have so much money and power it will be a while if it ever happens.

# ¿ Oct 16, 2021 18:26

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

Would you like one on a track?
Would you like one with a passenger on back?

Would you like one on the trails?
Would you like one with race rails?

Would you like one on the freeway?
Slavvy will you ever cut KTM some leeway?

# ¿ Feb 23, 2022 17:22

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

Motorcycles are supposed to be fun and it sounds like you'd hate this one before long based on those early impressions. Unless this is going to be your sole mode of transportation, throw practicality to the wind I say :cool:

Slavvy posted:

The limiter is irrelevant, you can take that limiter off and it won't change anything because the engine simply isn't making power there, you're already on the down slope of the torque curve at like 7000. To get any actual gains you'd need to modify the motor itself.

It is half a fit engine, even runs the same plugs.

Oh drat that's hilarious. The Fit's a great, boring car, shame they stopped making them. Going to drive mine until it falls apart.

I've thought about this a while and if I ended up getting more than one bike, think I'd get something super comfortable/practical (Versys or the like), something small and fun for throwing around on short mountain roads (N400 which I already have), and something absolutely ridiculous like a i4 600 or liter bike. As it is though, unless I sell my car which I've been tempted to do a few times, I'm limited to 1 fun bike.

# ¿ Apr 26, 2022 02:20

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

FBS posted:

The Fit is the Ninja 250 of cars, it doesn't matter what you're doing with it you can have fun if you try.

I did get the manual transmission, so it's got that going for it, I just have so little interest in anything with four wheels outside of a utensil for getting from one place to another. It can be surprisingly zippy, especially when you drop down a gear.

TheBacon posted:

They didn�t stop making them, they just stopped selling them in the US because we are dumb and don�t buy good cars and instead buy brodozers and CUVs

I didn't realize that, we never deserved the Fit in the first place

# ¿ Apr 26, 2022 15:06

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

For anyone who hasn't seen it and/or the CA Service Manual thread, great post archived in there about engines and their different characteristics that helped me a lot in learning about translating numbers and specs to real world experiences:

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3962805#post517389078

# ¿ Apr 3, 2023 21:06

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

Having a less practical and ergonomically more punishing bike can cut down on but not eliminate the multi-day milk runs (or just ultimately result in buying more bikes for dedicated milk run activity). Just happened to take lunch hour to do a milk run myself, the grocery store is less than a mile away, so of course it only took about 45 minutes.

# ¿ Apr 11, 2023 20:40

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

Mr. Wiggles posted:

City streets of Vegas. So, 10 miles or so one way of 60 mph traffic flow and lots of stoplights.

Sounds absolutely hellacious on a CBR600RR, won't ever get to tap into the fun parts of the rev range, outside of maybe a few seconds if you jump on a freeway. At least it should be over pretty quick if it's only 10 miles right, or will your schedule regularly get you caught up in stop and go Vegas traffic?

I had a similar ~10 mile commute years ago when I had a ZX-6R, but also had a car as backup when it started to get old, which it often did in the summer. If I left early enough to avoid the worst of the traffic crush I'd often take the longer way around via the freeway.

# ¿ May 2, 2023 15:13

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

Finger Prince posted:

It looks like a Michael Bay Transformer, but somehow in a good way??
I guess in a sort of look at all this crazy nonsense that could only ever work in CGI, but they somehow built out of real materials.

I legitimately love the winglets, they look much better than they have any right to, you'd think they'd just be odd protuberances sticking off those minimal fairings but they make it work. BMW makes some good looking bikes

# ¿ May 2, 2023 18:32

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

Slavvy posted:

This is killer thinking McDonald's tastes great

Wouldn't that be more like KTM, gets your attention and feels satisfying but leaves you filled with regret

# ¿ May 2, 2023 20:12

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

Hey I know that route, even though I've never been there and live an ocean away.

Is the 40 mile long way home for you up over the mountain? :swoon:

# ¿ Jul 11, 2023 03:49

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

Ninja H2 SX SE

# ¿ Nov 4, 2023 18:24

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

I've gotten an itch to pick up a cheap mini bike I can use to play around with to get more comfortable with grip and leaning the bike over and dropping a lot in parking lots. I did a school a while back that had Yamaha TT-R125s (I think that's the model) that were a blast to practice with, I've been trying to keep an eye on anything used that pops up but haven't seen much, what else would be good to look for that is meant to fall over a lot? I don't know dirt bikes at all. The ones at the school had street tires but I think you could do a lot of the slow speed practice stuff with dirt tires too?

Found this TT-R125 that seems to have carb issues, not sure if I'm up for fiddling with that but might be a good learning experience, or does that path lead to madness especially for someone who hasn't owned a carbed bike
https://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/mcy/d/phoenix-2002-yamaha-tt-125l/7692682711.html

Here's professional hooligan Stefano Mesa at the school showing me how easy it should be

# ¿ Dec 1, 2023 19:17

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

Ohh makes sense, never been on anything with knobbies I don't think.

Next question, what are sump wheels? Searching just gives me engine oil sump bits.

# ¿ Dec 1, 2023 20:34

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

bizwank posted:

Pretty sure he meant sumo aka. supermoto

Ah that makes more sense

opengl posted:

You could go the Grom/Z125 route too. I've been having a blast on mine doing parking lot practice and kart track.

How droppable are those? That's definitely an option, and I would love to find one that's already a bit scuffed and hasn't been stretched/farkled/UpGrAded

e: lol the first Z125 I can find on Craigslist has a full exhaust and they added a NOS tank. And knobbed tires. At least they're "only" asking $2400

https://lasvegas.craigslist.org/mcy/d/las-vegas-2020-kawasaki-z125-pro-must/7691852695.html

RightClickSaveAs fucked around with this message at 23:16 on Dec 1, 2023

# ¿ Dec 1, 2023 23:11

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

Slide Hammer posted:

It's a furious novelty for sure, but I'm disappointed in that tach. Just a convex line? It should spiral inward over the whole screen in 500 RPM increments, what with how many revs you get to play with.

Tach design peaked with the ZX-10 pre-(2021? 22?) kickass rainbow spanning the whole display, I wish more designs would have cribbed from that instead of all moving to the generic TFTs.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2024 21:37

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

moxieman posted:

Yes I want Winamp skins for my digital gauge clusters.

Not joking.

knox_harrington posted:

Honda SP1

Retracting my earlier statement, this is the new peak design, everyone please go back to copying that

# ¿ Mar 4, 2024 15:39

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# ¿ Apr 30, 2024 23:34

RightClickSaveAs: Mar 1, 2001; Tiny animals under glass... Smaller than sand...

Do Triumphs have any maintenance gotchas? Specifically I'm looking at a 2023 tiger sport 660 a dealer has for near MSRP out the door. I hate dealers and all but swore I'd never buy from them again but this one actually gave me a price without too much dicking around.

# ¿ Apr 17, 2024 03:57

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Cycle Asylum > Tell me what bike to buy-I wanted something that didnt empower me to be such a dong