Get the bike you think is what you will always want to ride the first time. My wife has never riden a bike until she took a riders course. She is only 5' tall and after completeing the course she decided to get a Fat Boy which I thought would be too much bike for her. 6000 miles later we are glad she purchased the larger bike that she always wanted. The key is to take a training course first, which will be a smaller bike and then find a bike that you can at least touch the ground on. My wife can barely plant her feet flat on the ground with the Fat Boy but rides it like a pro.
What is a good bike for a beginner?
- Thread starter LoverofLife
- Start date
Great stories - all real interesting and I could see myself in a few.
The part about your bike finding you is what tweeked me. I've been riding for about 5 years now and I'm in my 'early' fifties. First bought a Honda VLX 600 and loved the feel of the cornering, but hated the lack of real power and the jolts from the monoshock (I've got a Babies Brain and and old Man's back - thanks Alice!).
Went through several bikes after that. Mostly Hondas and one Suzi. Let's see - Nighthawk 750s, CB900Custom, Magna v30 and v45, and a Suzi GL1000. These were all great bikes (except the Suzi, but that was just neglected), but none of them had the 'spirit' I wanted. Frankly, they all became boring unless I was going fast.
Last May, my cousin Glenn - who really introduced me to bikes - passed away suddenly. Fifty years old and never woke up one morning. We used to ride together and abused each other constantly - mainly the Harley/Honda hazing. Great fun, but I really liked his '02 Wide Glide. He absolutely loved it.
Long story short, Glenn's bike is in my shed now. I never knew I wanted a Harley but, my God, this thing is a dream. Funny, I don't ride it hard and don't feel the need to. It's alway just right there, willing and burbling. Of course, the sentimental attachment doesn't hurt.
And everytime I ride, I see my priviledge through his eyes. We are so lucky to enjoy the priviledge.
Ride on Glenn.
The part about your bike finding you is what tweeked me. I've been riding for about 5 years now and I'm in my 'early' fifties. First bought a Honda VLX 600 and loved the feel of the cornering, but hated the lack of real power and the jolts from the monoshock (I've got a Babies Brain and and old Man's back - thanks Alice!).
Went through several bikes after that. Mostly Hondas and one Suzi. Let's see - Nighthawk 750s, CB900Custom, Magna v30 and v45, and a Suzi GL1000. These were all great bikes (except the Suzi, but that was just neglected), but none of them had the 'spirit' I wanted. Frankly, they all became boring unless I was going fast.
Last May, my cousin Glenn - who really introduced me to bikes - passed away suddenly. Fifty years old and never woke up one morning. We used to ride together and abused each other constantly - mainly the Harley/Honda hazing. Great fun, but I really liked his '02 Wide Glide. He absolutely loved it.
Long story short, Glenn's bike is in my shed now. I never knew I wanted a Harley but, my God, this thing is a dream. Funny, I don't ride it hard and don't feel the need to. It's alway just right there, willing and burbling. Of course, the sentimental attachment doesn't hurt.
And everytime I ride, I see my priviledge through his eyes. We are so lucky to enjoy the priviledge.
Ride on Glenn.
softail00
Active Member
My first and only bike is a heritage softail I thought it was going to be a little big for my first bike but once I got use to it I could not imagine me on any thing smaller. I rode my mother in laws suzuki 450 to practice on to take my test and it was actually alot harder to ride and seemed so hard to steer.