What first bike for my 22 YO Daughter?

[Memnar]

The problem is two things:

1. Learning how to ride a motorcycle.
2. Learning how to become a driver.

I would want her to become real confident on the bike before riding on the street.

I had these motorcycles as a new rider/driver, I would buy and sell them as I outgrew it or had more money.
They were all great for my purposes.
not in order..


Before age 16 in the dirt:

Honda SL 70
Yamaha YZ 80

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At age 16 and beyond:

Yamaha Dual Sport Dt175.(2 stroke!)

Honda CT110 auto transmission (moped looking thing dual-sport)

Suzuki 450 twin (it also had an auto tranny)

Honda XR 250

Ninja 250. ( goes 100mph- ye haw!)

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These were all good bikes for learning..


I'm thinking a dual - sport is good to learn on IF its not to tall for the rider, because riding in the dirt teaches you best how to ride the bike- if your both able to go dirt riding.
then you can ride the street and learn how to survive with the bike skills under the belt.


Good luck, I'm with ya!

I'm looking for a 50cc bike on Craigslist to start my 4 year old..

-Erik

[jd8181]

Have you considered the Yamaha V-Star 650 twins? Low, light clutch, lots of "no stall" torque, big enough for freeway duty, small enough for city commuting. Harley look and "almost" feel... Yamaha reliability, easy to service if you have metric tools. Seems to be lots of them for sale slightly used at bargain prices...
Or the Buell Blast is a great first bike too....



Garry

i had a 2000 yamaha v star 650 that i bought for $3000 a few years ago and it was a very good bike. had over 22,000 miles on it. they are pretty light, low seat heigth and you can ride them on the freeway with no problem. i had a kn filter on mine and rejetted and vance and hines pipe and it would top out at almost 90mph, and still got me 50mpg. when i sold it for my harley i got $3200 out of it and got 2 or 3 calls from ladies wanting to buy it after i sold it because they had heard good things about them and they sit low enough than anyone over 5' can stand flat footed on the ground.

[softailcavie]

bought wife 1100 virago lite easy to handle and can go anywhere she was 5ft 4 120 pds took her up to local highschool to ride  i taught rider course in marine corps made her ride it for 1 yr before buying her wideglide. what ever you get her has to be able to keep up with the big boys or she will get discourage. good luck keep rubber on pavement

[PoorUB]

I have been riding for years, but took a few years off while the kid was growing up. When I wanted to get back into bikes I bought a '85 Honda V30, (500 cc), for $1400 from my neighbor. I rode it for one year, put maybe 3000 miles on it, drug the wife and I all over. We decided we liked riding and started shopping and bought out '05 Ultra. I sold the little Honda for $1500 a year after I bought it! My neighbor still gives me crap that I sold the bike for more than I paid him for it!
Just a caution, I am not sure I would recommend that model to a new rider. For a little cruiser, it hauled some butt! I had it up to 115 MPH in 4th gear once, and it was a six speed!

[76shuvlinoff]

My sister got her endorsement on a Rebel 250. It was a good choice because she shortly lost interest and sold it off, no lo$$.

[RK101]

Ya know it's funny. We talk about Harleys retaining there value more that metric bikes, but as we've heard here from a few members they actually sold them ricers a year or two later for more than what they paid for them. Interesting. Could we be wrong in our thinking??

[Sportsterboy]

My wife had never ridden prior to taking the MSF course.  She is 5'6" and about 125 lbs soaking wet.  We got a Honda VLX Shadow 600 back in 2002.  It was enough to be interesting, but not enough to get in trouble.  A softail type frame, it had a really low seat height.  She had it about 6 months and 3000 miles, then traded for a 883 Hugger.  She had the Hugger for a year and 5000 miles, then swapped for a FXD SuperGlide, which she has had since 2004 and has ridden from NW Arkansas to Sturgis back in 2006.  Key was to not overwhelm at first.  She has even ridden my Road King and done fine with that.

[jaw65]

My 17 year old son just bought him self a HysungGT250 comet for his first bike, Lot of bike for the money, and i must say they seem to be build well.
It is very easy to ride and stops on a dime.
Maybe not the best bike for highway riding but i dont want him playing with trucks on the highway yet. (will do 100mph)


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[hotham]

My wife rode M/C before she drove a car.  She hadn't ridden in 20 years, so after the Saftey course we found a 650 Honda Night Hawk that was in great shape.  Very nice bike and it allowed her some comfort and was fine on the highway.  She sold it a year later, for more then we paid for it.  She then got what she really wanted.  A new candy red Fat Boy.

[apendejo]

She gonna purchase it herself or are you gonna buy it for her?
IMHO the price of admission into this world is you have to buy your own way in.
AP

[82fxrstroker]

  I would not let cc's dictate which bike is right for her to learn on.    Like others have mentioned the comfort factor is probably the most important issue next to the aceleration rate of the bike IMO.  I've been riding almost 40 yrs and do not feel comfortable on a 1200 GS Beemer  because it doesn't fit me,  can I ride it yes, with confidence NO ( I'm 5.8").  One thing I've learned from my two daughters (who have been racing karts since they were five) is they will only go as fast as they feel comfortable.  As long as she is learning on something that doesn't scare her power wise and is comfortable to her,  she should do just fine.  To awnswere the ? I like the Shadow and Virago for newbie cruiser's.

[L-]

Kinda like learning to shoot.  Start out with too big of a handgun or rifle and bad habits may stay all the time or they just may quit before they start enjoying the sport.

L-

[PaJoe]

My girlfriend started on a Buell Blast.  She loved it, a perfect bike for beginners.  It light, dependable, and real beginner friendly, And she can say she rides a Harley.  To a certain extent.

Buell Blast owners are usually treated rather poorly at most Harley dealers, but then again most Harley dealers don't even treat the evo owners as well as new bike owners and a coworker told me can't even get them to look at his old shovel head - told him right out is was not even a Harley, it was an AMF.  And these guys wonder why some of us don't run out and buy new motorcycles from them.

We have an '05 Buell Blast that only gets used rarely, but the little sucker gets about 60 mpg with premium and can run 70 mph all day long. The tranny feels just like my '90 Ultra but the clutch is not as nice as the Ultra - it tends to grab rather quickly which makes it a bit more to get used to for a beginner. It is a vibrator, shakes my eyes at idle so much it affects my vision, but once it gets up to cruising speed the rubber mounted motor does smooth out - but it's not something for long trips. The Blast handle easily and stops well, it does not have a lot of power, about 34 HP but can be easily modified to get more low rpm torque. As I wrote it will cruise at 70 mph but there is not a lot of acceleration left going at that speed, it will go up to about 90 mph. I some times use ours for work but it is a little too small for me, hurts my knees having them bent up so much, and because there is no frame under the engine you can not easily install forward controls.

The fellow that knows the most about Blasts is :
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EZBlastsBikes/

He runs the "Thumper section at Badweb:
http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/20164/20164.html?1238467145

http://www.sporttwin.com/Forums/viewforum/f=9.html

I think the extra power and torque of the Sportster make it a better bike even for a beginner, but the Blast is cheaper to repair should you drop it. Buell Blasts can usually be found pretty cheap as they don't hold their value. Some dealers that host Riders Edge classes will sell used Blasts cheaper. The 250 Rebel is a really small, cheap bike that seems to be very popular with the new riders. A coworker  that is an instructor for the state said students did not do as well with Blasts.

[Snorth]

I went with the Buell Blast for my 19 yr old son.  He had absolutely zero experience riding a motorcycle before he took the course.  The Blast is 497 cc's and based on the sportster engine.  It's got enough speed he can ride on the highway but it isn't so fast I'm scared of him doing something really stupid.  The body parts are Kevlar and fairly tough.  This is also the bike the HD dealers use when teaching the safe riders course.  A 2008 Blast was under 5K new and came with a 2 year warranty.  All the other bikes I looked at in a similar engine size were more expensive new, plus as far as I know, the Buell Blast is American made.

[driller]

Well, if she has cage she can use for primary transportation for now, I'd try and talk her into a smaller cc dual sport. She can practice her road skills around town and get some good riding skill on the dirt. She sure doesn't need to be on any high speed highways just yet.

[RVN73]

I would look at fit more than size.It needs to feel right and her feet should be on the ground. My wife started with a 883 Hugger. If you get something big enough for the freeway when she pulls the trigger she is going to go.

[Clintster]

I like your thinking on the dual sport, that is what I learned on.  They can be ridden lots of places.  Only problem now the seats are pretty high.  It really needs to be something that the person feels comfortable on.  As far as Sportsters for a learning bike, there are better bikes for learning.  Lots of Rebel 250's out there as learner bikes.  Good luck, put her in some seats first, see what is comfortable.  I like the idea of the blast, I believe it is American Made.

[apes]

I vote for a dual sport or dirtbike so as to build riding skills, how many members of this list started out of dirt bikes and how many times have they been able to save their Bacon using they experience they learned on those bikes.  With a dirt/dualsport  you can get the rear end coming around and figure out how to get out of a slide, in a tight spot learn how to quickly lower the CG by standing the pegs etc etc.  Mistakes are generally made on softer ground going slower.....I have driven the freeways of So Cal and I think they present some challenges and to combine them  learning riding skills riding skills may be a bit too much at this point....but then again, if you can drive the freeways of So Cal, you can drive anywhere.....

[shelleybelle_43]

  Dyna Lowrider! It's perfect!

[IndyHarley]

shadow - my wife started out with the 750 shadwo and is now riding a 1300 VTX - she will be going to a harley as soon as she can afford it - I bought the 1st two she has to buy the next one.

[02rk4cruzin]

Thanks for all the ideas. I have told her to check out the Honda Rebel and the like as well as the Buell Blast. I did a search on Ebay for Buell blast and there are none available in CA for sale used.

Her BF is a KTM race mechanic, so I'm sure he can find some type of dirt bike for her to ride on to get more practice.

Bill

[superglidesport1]

My 22 YO daughter just completed the motorcycle class out here in CA and passed the 4 day class. Now she just has to go to the DMV and take the written test to get her MC endorsement. They provided 125-250cc motorcycles to take the class. Of course they only went into 2nd gear and she will need alot of practice in parking lots and less traveled roads.

Now the million $ question..........What bike should she look at buying used?  I'm thinking she needs something not too big but large enough cc wise so that she can ride on the freeways here in So. Cal. Maybe something like a 450-600cc? I sure would like to see her on a HD someday, but probably not for a first bike that she will learn on. I remember my first bike being a Honda 125 back in the 70's

Any thoughts on what would be best?

Thanks

Bill

Bill,
Kawasaki Ninja 250. It's a standard with mid-controls, upright riding position, 6 speed, liquid cooled with front & rear disk brakes. It's got a better power to weight ratio than almost any air cooled Harley, will cruise at 80+ MPH all day long and weighs less than 300 pounds.

Frank

[TwistedSister]

FXD  or  FXDL  . . . .    but  then. . . those  are  my  FAV's   

Ya  never  said  how tall a  gal  she  is. . .    I'm  5-2 . . .   only  real  issue  I
have  is  being  careful  to  the  lay-of-the-land  since  the  short  legs  make  it
tougher  to  back  up  an  incline.