Korean Job Discussion Forums

[canuckistan]

Hub has a Harley sitting in the garage....and sitting in the garage is what it mostly does. He says because he has no one to ride with. Fine, I'll get one. I used to ride dirt bikes and cage my brother's bike when I missed the bus to go to high school so riding isn't alien to me.

I have no idea what I should get now though. My brother always said don't ride a bike you can't pick up (even though I couldn't pick up his )

I could get a Harley but you know I like racing bikes like Ducatis...which is probably bad for me. Speed is so alluring, but then there's the other people on the road....I've known enough people who got pretty banged up in bike incidents to not want to experience that.

Anyone ride/has ridden out there? I know James T Kirk has a bike. Any suggestions for a girl bike? Homilies? Platitudes? I need some common sense here and not 0 to 100 in 5 seconds like I'd probably pick because I'm a yahoo.

I'm 5'7" and 130 pounds--with a bit more muscle than the average chiquita. Would 600 to 750cc's be ok to be able to pick up if I dumped it?

Going to a dealer and knocking over their bikes to see if I can pick them up doesn't seem like a friendly option.

[Grotto]

go for a 500 cc bike....lots of power for a lightweight like yourself and light enough to pick up.




500cc Class

With the nearly complete demise of the 350-400cc class, 500cc (30 cubic inch) bikes are now the next common step up in displacement from the 250's. To again put it in military aviation terms, a 500 is analogous to an advanced trainer. A 500cc street bike used to be a large middleweight motorcycle. Marlon Brando rode a 500cc Triumph Speed Twin in the seminal motorcycle movie The Wild Ones, which was inspired by the Hollister incident back in the 1950's. Not many outlaws today ride sweet 500 twins!

Once the most competitive class in sporting street bikes (much as the 600cc class is today), the 500cc class has become sort of a sales backwater. Nevertheless, there is a reasonable selection of new bikes available.

The typical 500 has most of the same advantages possessed by the 250's, only more so. A 500cc bike offers more of everything compared to a 250, including greater weight. The adult beginning rider of average or larger than average size, strength, and confidence will be well served by a 500cc machine as long as he or she has a reasonable amount of self-control. The average weight of the 500's discussed below is 388 pounds, 88 pounds more than our average 250.

A 500cc bike is fast enough to run with the big boys, although it will be working harder at any given speed than a larger displacement motorcycle. This is very attractive to most prospective buyers, but bear in mind that a beginner can also get into trouble more quickly than he or she would on a 250. Until 2001, 500cc was the maximum displacement allowed in Gran Prix racing (there are also 250cc and 125cc classes). So while a 500 can be among the most versatile of motorcycles for the solo street rider, it can also be a very high performance motorcycle.

A typical 500cc street bike probably has a top speed of around 100 mph, and can cruise for extended periods of time above the legal speed limit on the highway. It is still light enough to be a good commuter bike in the city, and easy to park. Most 500's have enough acceleration to blow away all but the quickest cars in an impromptu "stoplight Grand Prix." 500's traditionally have the handling and brakes to back up their acceleration and speed.

500cc class bikes are available from Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Yamaha in Japan, as well as from Buell (a subsidiary of Harley-Davidson) in the United States, and Royal Enfield in India (formerly of the UK). The major European manufacturers no longer offer entry level 500cc street bikes, which is a pity. (500cc Grand Prix race replicas are not good first bikes!) As I write this in 2002, most new 500cc class bikes are selling between $4500 and $5500.

[captain kirk]

What about getting an 883 Harley sportster. I think that's the smallest they make. I've never had a Harley but the quality is legendary. Almost like the, God forbid, McDonalds of motorcycles (their best burger of course).

I saw a 650 Ducati Monster and it looked fast. Do you wanna scare yourself and fly like a valkyrie/banshee? Wear leather top to toe and risk being a grinning, permanent skid mark and all for tilted thrills? Do you want to lean forward, squinting into the wind hanging half on, half off, like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible 2? I thought so.

Or lean back on a Harley chugging along like you just can't stop chugging. Going somewhere far, maybe, like 'to the moon over the desert' (which is an impossible destination so might as well be comfortable. I think that's why they make Harleys. To go to 'the moon over the desert'. And people buy that? No wonder they're so expensive).

Do you want to go on long roadtrips with your husband? If so then a bigger Harley could go the long haul and pack light baggage while still having oomph. Down in Colorado there I'll bet it's possible to find some good used Harleys pretty cheap. Do you have a biker tattoo? Maybe you can get a discount.

Or how about that behemoth/Hindenburg of motorbikes, the Goldwing?

The guys riding Honda Goldwings. How do they pick up their bikes? With the chassis on those things (like a car) dumping them would crack, scratch, and break the plastic and anyway they have an immense weight and are long. Maybe take two people to pick it up. Two middle aged persons. It's always middle aged persons riding big Goldwings. Pre-emptive strike at the Grim Reaper, laugh at death and aging, and so buy a Goldwing young? Maybe it'll stave off aging? (I wouldn't be surprised if those big things had ejector seats and parachutes. Have you noticed the passenger seat with armrests for comfort while knitting in the wind as scenery passes by (Auntie, look up!!)).

Riding a highway bike doesn't involve dumping as much as riding offroad because on the highway the earth is flat, as you know.

I can pick up my 750 Yammie. I wouldn't want a bike I couldn't pick up. Sometimes there's nobody around to help pick it up if you need help. And it's night and there's a car screaming around the corner and there's your bike lying on the road and pow, crash, sparks and (you can bet your funky, jive talkin' mama) what a mess. You could get a ticket for that.

[canuckistan]

Thanks for the advice guys...one important thing for me is comfort in sitting--I have a nicely ginked up vertebrae in my lower back and if I'm pitched the wrong way, it starts to hurt and it's no fun. I get this on some bicycles as well. I have yet to figure what the magical combination of seat height vs handle bars is, but I spend more time riding my husband's bicycle than my own because of it. His is perfect for me. I wish I could spend a month just trying motorcycles on long-ish rides--I don't want to end up with something don't want to ride because of pain.

[Bulsajo]

Find yourself an old RZ350, or an RD400 WW special.
Light, and light-year fast!
Those 2-stroke rockets ensure that your death will be so quick you'll never feel a thing when you wrap it around that tree...
unless the engine seizes on you first.