EXTREME THREAD NECROMANCY! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!
With the springtime, a young (okay, not so young) woman’s thoughts turn AGAIN to finally getting serious about buying a motorcycle. I took the safety course a few years ago and have my license, but I am seriously inexperienced. I want a small cruiser - something bigger than a Honda Rebel (250cc) but smaller than the 600-650cc bikes now considered “entry-level.”
For two years in the 80s, Honda made a 450cc version of the Rebel. There are still a few used ones floating around, I think. Are there any other cruisers in this size class I should be looking for?
One of my best friends started out on a Honda Magna. It looks like the 1984-1985 versions are 500cc which sounds like what you’re looking for, and are a surprisingly light 430 lb.
From a website I found listing some info on entry level cruisers:
If you are a new rider drawn to the classic look of cruisers, you have an embarrassment of riches to choose from. The Harley 883 Sportster, Honda Shadow VLX and Shadow 750 ACE, Yamaha V-Star, Kawasaki Vulcan 800 and Suzuki Intruder 800 are all very good motorcycles that weigh in at less than 500 pounds and don’t give up much to the look of their bigger brothers. (If the idea of an 800 makes you sweat in the bad way, both the Honda VLX and Yamaha V-Star use more humble 650cc engines. I should also note that the Sportster engine makes power that puts it against the 650 Japanese models, making it a good candidate for a beginner bike.)
Some readers might notice that I didn’t include the 250cc cruisers like the Honda Rebel and the late Virago 250 that the factories created just for new riders. These have attracted a lot of women riders to motorcycling and God bless them for that. But in my book they are too small, with inadequate power for anything more than in town riding. The bigger engines of the bikes I listed might sound intimidating, but everyone I’ve ridden has a beginner friendly engine. The MSF program uses 250’s so if you take the class you can see what they are like. But most cruiser riders can start on a 600-800cc bike without problems.
I had myself convinced that I wanted to start riding on the lightest, smallest sportbike possible (like the Ninja 250R) but after getting a 500cc bike I realized I would have made the wrong choice.
Sounds like you may be looking for the Vulcan 500. I’ve always liked the look of them since my friends were into motorcycles when I was younger. That’s probably what I’d start with myself and thanks to the recession if you want a new one there are all kinds of incentives to buying them right now.
Go test ride things, don’t get caught up in the cc’s. Not all 600s are created equal and a lot more of the “feel” of riding the bike is going to come from other factors anyway.
I’m with Mike, I’ve got the bug, and am learning on my neighbors HD 883. When I buy, which sadly will not be this year, just bought a house, I’m not sure if I’ll got with the 883 or a 1200. Sooo many riders tell me not to get the 883…they are caring me away…but I have to say i like the size and feel of the bike.
My dad just got the 1200L. It’s a beautiful bike, with chrome everywhere and the trademark HD sound, but at 530 lb it’s a fucking beast to handle. I feel like I have to force the damn thing off of the kickstand.
But yeah I started on and still ride a Magna V45 from the 80’s, 600cc’s. It’s more than enough for city driving and is excellent for long hot highway stretches, watercooled!
But for a time in highschool when I couldn’t afford to fix it I was riding some 400cc Kawasaki. It worked fine for town driving but on the highway I had to run it full out to hit 110kph and it wouldn’t even do that if I was going up hill or against the wind.
Nowadays with the improvements in motorbike engines 400cc is almost the new 600cc so I’d recommend either getting an older 600cc bike if you intend to take it on the highway or a new 400cc bike.
I’ve driven monster 1200cc bikes and dam are they heavy, you really need to know how to handle a bike to drive one properly. The only reason I could see myself getting one is if I start doing lots of long distance trips with a heavy load or a passenger.
Eh, the 500R is as un-crotch rocket a crotch rocket as you can get. Seating position is fairly upright, power delivery is fairly constant (with a really nice kick in the ass around 6k rpm), so learning at low speeds isn’t a huge exercise in fraction-of-an-inch friction zone technique… etc.
My grandpa built, restored, and rode bikes all his life. He had several accidents but had fun! We’re talking REALLY old Indian cycles like this one:
My Dad got the bug from him and restored and rode bikes. He only got in one accident I know of.
I started riding mopeds and little Honda 50cc cycles (I think it was a '60s Cub). When I was 17 I bought a used 350cc Honda Super Sport from a neighbor. Of course a year later my Dad and I were out riding and I took a spill on a gravel curve - damn those country roads!
I remember the bike fell on me and the exhaust burninating me, and me lifting it with my legs and kicking it off me. It twisted the handlebars off center but I could ride it home. I remember shaking from the trauma but being in pretty good shape overall. My jacket had been all pushed up almost to my shoulder in the slide and … oh yeah, I got the gravel invasion.
If you ride, and you’ve ever spilled on gravel, you know the sweet sound that bloody gravel fresh out of a wound makes when plinking into a sink. Plink. Plink. Plink.
I haven’t ridden since, but I think I could get back into it.
The bike was still on top of you? Sounds like a really low speed spill. At speed, slipping at gravel is apparently highly preferable to the alternative way to wreck… a high side spill.
I leaned over too far a couple days ago during a U-turn (still practicing on private roads until I can take the MSF course in early May). I leaned the bike too far over and didn’t hit the gas until it was too late :(
I know bikes have dangers that don’t exist with cars. But after 42 years, most of which I’ve been both fascinated with and scared of bikes (thanks to my parents), I’ve decided that some things are worse than death, and spending your whole life being afraid is one of them.
When I was 19 my dad let me ride his 1983 Honda Nighthawk for personal use and it was a great ride. It was a heavy mofo for my scrawny ass back in those days.
Yes, there are dangers … but they are also really fun. As I said, given the right storage space (I don’t want to keep a cycle on the street like I do my car) and the right conditions (around here, no offense to Trey, riding would not be as fun as what I’m used to, as there is just TOO MUCH traffic). . . I want to ride again.
I’m taking the MSF course right now (bad weather is forcing it to be several evenings, rather than one weekend.) Pogo, it sounds like you’re doing it right, the main thrust of the classes is low-speed maneuvering. Give yourself a 90-degree angle on the road, and try to turn inside it within 5 feet of the vertex from a stop about 15 feet away. Tough, but very educational.
Also, work on using all four controls simultaneously in a controlled hard stop (clutch, shift to 1st, hand and foot brake) Work on finding the edge of rear wheel lockup, and make a controlled stop with a casual left foot down at the end.
Other than that, weave my son, weave. Slow and hard.
I’m in the hunt for a bike right now. I worked for H-D for about a year, and had access to bikes for free (from the marketing fleet) and fell in love with riding. Had to leave the company, but still have the bug. Unfortunately I don’t have a Harley budget, but I’m trying to find something I still like.
The problem is that every day I decide that I want a different type of bike. Sport bike, dual sport, cruiser, sport touring, sporty standard… it keeps changing. One bike has been a constant lately – a late-model Buell M2. That seems like the right one for me.
