About nine months ago I started to take in interest in motorcycling. I have no idea what sparked my interest, but I was hooked on the idea. Standing at 6'3" and being very hefty I didn't fit into many cars well, and didn't like driving larger trucks/ SUVs and really detest taking public transit, but I had not even considering motorcycling before this. Looking back it seems like such an obvious answer, but this isn't what made me catch the cycling bug. If you are reading this, you probably have the bug, something inside you that just draws you to motorcycling and nothing you or anyone do will stop the yearning from getting louder and louder until you are finally in the seat of your own bike.
As the next few months passed I found myself fascinated with every bike I saw driving down the road or in the parking lot, in particular I liked the cruiser style bikes with the nice comfortable looking riding position. Talking to a professor at a local university who drives an older Honda 750 cruiser, I found out he was only paying about $300 a year for insurance and $20 a tank of gas. Considering the cost for me to ensure a $6,000 used car with 100K km on it was almost $2,000 a year and $55 to fill up, the deal was sealed, I was getting a bike.
Before you read any further, sign up right now for a motorcycle safety course. No, seriously, if you are thinking of getting a bike, don't read the next paragraph until you have signed up. I waited too long to sign up for my class, and when I finally decided to sing up in February, all the classes were booked until mid august.
Every website, every book, every video about motorcycling will tell you to take your motorcycle safety class before hitting the road. Commonly in the USA it is referred to as your MSF (Motorcycle Safety Foundation) class, in my province in Canada it is the Nova Scotia Safety Council (NSSC) motorcycle safety class, and each province has its own version. Not only will the things we learn in this class be useful in keep us alive, but it will drastically reduce your insurance.
After paying $400 to register for my saftey course, my next goal was to get all the gear I needed for the class.
On a foggy Saturday I ventured out to Freedom Cycle to get a helmet. When I got off the bus I saw balloons and a BBQ outside the store and a lot of people. I come to find out it was their once a year customer appreciation day, lots of things were on sale, free food and no tax. I had set out to just get a helm, but due to sales and no tax, I ended up walking out fully loaded (with gear and credit card balance) and having made a few mistakes in retrospect.
The three rules to buying a first bike:
Small - From what I understand (remember that I still haven't ridden a bike yet), the heavier a bike is, the more of a work out you are going to have to go through to control it properly. In addition when you drop it, a lighter bike is going to be much easier on you. In addtion, with a smaller engine size, any throttle related mistakes you make, will not be amplified as much.
Cheap - I've been told that 90% of people will drop their bike in their first year. Be it dropping it in a parking lot, or laying it down on an overshot curve, it seems like part of the learing process. If you have a big fancy expensive bike, and you drop it, your wallet will really hate you, if you drop a small bike, your wallet will only be marginally upset at you.
Used - See Cheap, let someone else ride off the large depreciation, and in many cases there are used bikes with little actual wear on them that people bought as toys and ended up keeping in the garage most of the time. I followed none of those rules; I do however suggest that anyone who is able to follow them should do so.
I live in a city of 300,000 which is the largest city within a 13 hour drive; I had a very hard time locating a decently priced used bike. I can recall a 2004 VStar 650 Classic with 5,00 km on it for $1200 less then MSRP and a 1981 750 CB with 55,000 km on it for $1500 obo, and these were basically reflective of the few used cruisers in the area over the last 5 months or so. Eventually I got tired of waiting for a used bike and decided to go new, only marginally more expensive and I wouldn't have to worry about random parts failing nearly as much as I would on a 25 year old bike. As for my violation of the small rule, it was a comfort thing. I literally sat on every cruiser at the local stores I could, ranging from 250cc bikes all the way up to 2,000cc bikes. I did it several times over about the span of two months. Out of all the bikes I sat on, one bike stuck out as by far the most comfortable bike for me, a Yamaha V-Star 1100 classic. When I first sat down, everything just seemed to be in the proper place. The bike had lots of room to fit myself, bags, my fiancee (once I've logged a few thousand km) and we came in 40lbs under the GVWR. After reading as many reviews on the bike as I could find, I came across a new 2005 which was reduced to $9800 plus some free accessories, I decided I didn't want to pass it by. On August 14th I'll be driving it home with a motorcycling friend of mine after some practice in the parking lot.
Hopefully the safety class will give me a solid foundation to build on and I'll be able to adequately handle the bike with some practice. I'm picking the bike up the day after I'm done my safety class, and only time will tell if I've made a decent bike purchase. Again, I would like to say that if you can find a cheap, used, small bike that fits you well, get that first and in a years time when you can handle something bigger, sell the used bike for almost as much as you paid for it, and get your nice new second bike.
I have learned so much by just reading what is out there, and it is not that hard to find. There are several very good websites and books just waiting for the new rider to come along. So far I've read two books on the topic of motorcycling and both were fantastic.
"Proficient Motorcycling" by David L. Hough (ISBN 1-889540-53-6): This book is very well written, good illustrations and humor; I didn't want to put it down. The book seemed to mainly focus on keeping yourself out of trouble, and getting out of trouble as effectively as possible when you find yourself in it. He goes into a lot of detail on what to be prepared for on may different types of rides, cold weather, hot weather, problem weather, different riding surfaces, surface hazards, basically everything besides tsunamis is covered, or at least it seems this way from a beginners stand point. I found the section on counter steering to be a very solid explanation of a topic as well as the visual illustrations relation to the other physics. One of my favourite lines in the book has to be from the first chapter with regards to a diagram of a common driving problem: "Place your left index finger on the location where opposing drivers tend to wander over, make a fist with your right hand and bonk yourself in the forehead while shouting No! No! No!".
"The Motorcycle Saftey Foundation's guide to Motorcycling Excellence 2nd ed" (ISBN1-884313-47-7): This book spends more time on the selection of bikes and gear, and maintenance which the first book did not (it takes up almost half the book). It does not go into as much detail about the hazards you face while driving, but still has lots of good tips. If you could only get one of these two books, I'd get the first one, but if you can get both, do it. Together they gave a very clear understanding on the bike physics as they explain the same things in slightly different ways.
In addition to books, have a look at online forums. I've found a wealth of tips and information by going to forums and reading their new rider FAQs. If you have any questions after that, there are a plethora of riders from all different backgrounds and experience levels willing to help you out the best of their ability. The one I'd like to mention in particular is the forum over at motorcycle-usa.com. It is stockpiled full of great information and frequented by many helpful people.
I came to find out that a friend of mine I hadn't spoken to since high school six years ago has had a bike for two years now. After getting in contact with him, he took me out for a ride on the back of his 2004 Honda Shadow.
After having the rules of being a passenger explained to me, it was time to hit the road. From the time we left the driveway to the time we pulled back in three hours later, I was on an adrenaline high. It was such an exciting experience, with a few moments that gave me quite a scare; high crosswinds on the bridge over the harbor, a low speed 270 degree off ramp turn, a pack of dogs chasing us, and an emergency swerve around an idiot driver. We drove along windy roads by the many lakes in our neighboring city, and along some 'super slab' to give me a taste of everything. I was so up on the whole experience I didn't even notice how sore I was until well after I was back home and sitting down. It was shortly after this ride that I went to purchase my own bike; there was no turning back after that ride.
| Me and the new bike | |
| Me and my finacee on my bike | |
| Me and the smiling man with the commission (Paul Thompson, who was very helpfull and full of knowledge) | |