Want to ride ,never have before, where to start?

[Wander]

Great suggestions guys and yes Marc I think we may have been separated at birth! I was thinking a dual sport type bike in the 400 range would be a good place to start, sounds like is a winner. I was also planning to take the safety course and maybe the course that BMW has at their center in SC. The big GS is well down the road for me so a good D/S should be a good starter while I save up not only for the bike but also for the trip. My brother in law has a D/S he rides to the office on base when he's not in the sandbox or Korea, I think I'll hit him up for some lessons and ride time.

 

[Frank]

Of all of the bikes ive ridden, a KLR650 is probably the best bike I have ridden. I have suggested it to many people. Its light for what it is, its very soft, it has great brakes (08+) its not real tall, you can easily stand up on it, aftermarket support is that of a chevy 350 (meaning there are tons of companies selling parts for it) and its very easy to maintain. Resale value should you not be interested in it is great. Should you end up liking it, you could travel the world on it.

 

[KG6BWS]

Of all of the bikes ive ridden, a KLR650 is probably the best bike I have ridden. I have suggested it to many people. Its light for what it is, its very soft, it has great brakes (08+) its not real tall, you can easily stand up on it, aftermarket support is that of a chevy 350 (meaning there are tons of companies selling parts for it) and its very easy to maintain. Resale value should you not be interested in it is great. Should you end up liking it, you could travel the world on it.

Im gonna throw out another vote for the KLR650, for all of the above reasons, plus a couple more. First, its a great "mid-range" bike. After riding the KLR for a bit, youll know if you want smaller, bigger or good right there. Second, theyre CHEAP to maintain. If (when) you drop it, youre not going to be having panic attacks when thinking about repair costs.

Considering youve never ridden before, Ill also throw out another vote for an MSF course. Personally I think learning on the dirt is the easy part. Depending on how you want to ride, you may never really "test" the limits of traction. Then again, you could grow into wanting to do just that. You could be like me, and just putter around enjoying the scenery as seen from two wheels. On the street however, like someone else said, its not about you...its about all the cages around you. Riding on the steet is comparatively easy. Fairly smooth, normally good traction, etc. The hard part is watching out for granny who cant see over her steering wheel, or Junior texting his buddies while at the same time hes pulling out of a parking lot onto the street and never noticing you coming at him.

The only comment I will wholeheartedly disagree with is new riders getting ABS. In a car/truck its fine. On a bike I see it as a MAJOR crutch to learning to ride. Once someone learns to ride, knows how to safely brake (normal, panic or otherwise), then by all means get ABS. The problem with starting out with ABS is that you will not be able to learn how to ride without it. Theres a big difference between panic braking with and without. Yes, you will be able to learn to ride a little more safely, but the first time the ABS goes out (blown fuse, broken wire, etc.) youre going to be in trouble. And according to Murphys Law, thats when a car will pull right out in front of you and youre going to have to panic stop, without ABS AND without the knowledge of how to safely use your normal brakes to their full potential.

Take it for what its worth. Just my $.02

 

[MarcFJ60]

The KLR is a great bike. Really, it and the BMW F650/G650 are the only fairly cheap "out of the box" adventure (as opposed to simply dual sport) bikes out there. But remember, the OP has a short inseam (not sure how tall). I personally found the 08+ KLR to feel HUGE. It's more than just seat heights, as my bikes have substantially higher seat height. It's more an overall feeling based upon many things: height, weight, center of gravity, etc. For somebody larger, say over 6' and 200lbs, I think it would be hard to beat. But if you're like me (5'8"), I'd be more inclined to get a DR650 and add a bigger tank or get the F650 which is available in different heights. I've never been on a pre '08 KLR so that might be a different story. One thing that's hard to bet about the KLR is that they're cheap, plentiful, and have a huge aftermarket.

I know there's a lot of love here for the DRZ, but I personally think the DR650 has a wider range of uses. I think it would be a better bike for most people outside of doing fairly aggressive trails. Although it's 50 pounds heavier, it's also lower and will do better on anything over 60mph. Although the DRZ is reliable, I think the DR is downright bulletproof.

 

[Wander]

Great advice, I'm absorbing everything I can. If it helps, I'm 5'9" and very equally built-so my legs and torso are very similar, 30" inseam, 30" arms. If I was flexible enough I could fold in half like a jacknife. As for build, I'm a typical stocky Polish guy, wide shoulders, broad chest, hard head currrently about 190 but I'm working on that as I should be about 175.

So far it's looking like the KLR650 and F650/G650 are two to look into. From reading posts here in the past it sounds like Honda and Suzuki don't have offerings for this segment-or at least don't have any know since the Translap is no longer made.

Keep the suggestions and advice coming, I have an idea that others are gaining a lot from this as well. How about gear choices, who should I look to for quality protection at a good value? I am of the mind to not scrimp on protective gear as the stakes are too high so I'd rather pay a little more to get something for the long term but there are limits.

 

[Frank]

There is no magical bike that will fit you perfectly. Its like buying a new gun...you may have to buy new grips to have it fit the way YOU want that gun to feel.

Several companies make handle bar risers, seats, and suspension lowering kits should you need to adjust. I think about 90% of the bike mfg's out there sell you a bike with the intention on you changing the seat.

For gear, check out aerostitch. That is pretty much top notch stuff though. BTW, order one of their catalogs, it's a great bathroom read and once you have it you will know what I am taking about. Whitehorse is a great company for the KLR market. Happy-trail is another great place to shop online. For a helmet, go to a bike shop and put one on...at least that is my recommendation.

 

[CoastalDefender]

Good call on the bathroom reading.

Get the Touratech catalog while you're at it. DON'T BUY ANYTHING! Just sit there and stare at what makes the difference between an "Adventure Bike", a "Dirt Bike", and an "Enduro".

Touratech is great to sit and discover what great German engineering can do to good German engineering.

 

[grahamfitter]

I learned three years ago when I was 39 and I also have a 30" inseam so I've been where you're going. You're in for some fun, really. :bike_rider:

The most confusing thing about learning to ride is you don't know what you don't know. If you ask ten experienced motorcyclists about what bike you should get, etc. you'll probably get ten different opinions and they're probably all right. So after all that advice you're just as confused as before.

So one of my two cents of advice would be to listen to the folk that say "Just get a bike. Soon enough you'll know what five bikes you want and after a while you'll need to sell some of them to make room for the next few."

The other cent says invest in good riding gear appropriate for the climate you live in. Or get a pirate suit. Your choice.

Since I've run out of cents you can take or leave this advice...

You will find as many small bike advocates as big bike champions but for starters I'd recommend a cheap, used, 250cc or so bike. When you're done with it you can sell it easily for almost what you paid for it (in my case with 10K more miles) and move on.

My first bike was a DR200 and now I have a KLR650. At the time I thought the DR was big and heavy. When I got the KLR I realized that big and heavy is a sliding scale. Fortunately my legs also got longer as I got better and I can easily get enough toe down on the KLR.

I think the DR-Z 400 seat is a shade taller than the KLR. I'd like a DR-Z -- they look like fun. And a Triumph 800XC except the wrinkles aren't ironed out yet so I need to wait a year or so and in the meantime maybe a... oh crap, too many choices.

 

[Frank]

Another proud KLR owner

 

[Pest]

After a bunch of reading, I think I'm sold on the TW200 as our first bike. It appears perfect for what we want. Small, light, easy to learn to ride on, decent power (for what it is), fits 2.

Yep, that seems like a good place to start for us.

 

[NothingClever]

I'm pretty sure I've never seen anybody riding 2up on a really rough road.

Even if you did it once, I'd be willing to bet your passenger wouldn't volunteer to do it twice.

If you want to ride on rough roads your choice is to get your passenger her/his own bike, or get a side x side 4 wheeler that can accomodate 2 people.

Perhaps you haven't but many others have (BTW, are you feeling OK? Did you forget to tuck your chin on a coupla jumps ). In fact, my wife and I rode Engineer Pass (CO) on our KTM 950 a few years ago. She only walked two sections.

 

[NothingClever]

Started riding 4 years ago with no experience on a moto. First step is to take the Motorcycle Safety Course, which is the most important step. Once completed, get your license and start test riding bikes (friends, dealers, etc...).

Buy a used small engine (650 CC or less) dual sport, buy the best gear ( armored jacket, pants, and moto boots) and start riding. :bike_rider:

Excellent advice, IMO.

 

[NothingClever]

After a bunch of reading, I think I'm sold on the TW200 as our first bike. It appears perfect for what we want. Small, light, easy to learn to ride on, decent power (for what it is), fits 2.

Yep, that seems like a good place to start for us.

Very good choice, IMO. I've never seen somebody riding a TW200 who didn't look like they were having a ball.

 

[Ozarker]

I totally agree with Trailsurfer, except: (lol)

Not only is a 650 taller and heavier, it's more powerful. I had a XR650L, it's not a starter bike, get a smaller one 400 to learn, you're big enough to toss that around a little bit if you need to. I started as a kid too, raced bicycles road racing and moved to power. Actually, mountain bikes are good to get some basics, IMHO.

Then I got off two wheels for a long time and went back to larger cruisers. I have a 1600 now and a Honda Transalp dual sport. I can ride 2 up with either one on the highway or over a field that is fairly firm and flat......grassy areas. IMO, you won't be charging up any rocky hill riding 2 up unless the little lady can ride a bronco. Dirt roads and firetrails maybe as mentioned above, but really, it's not that much fun unless your still in the 20s-lower 30s as I recall.

Get the little lady interested and have her learn to ride her own bike! Get a small one, you learn, then her. She can ride the smaller one and you can step up when you're ready, then sell the small bike and get her a bigger one.

While bigger might be macho, it's not really necessary. My 650 Transalp can stay up with any adventure bike on the long haul, cruise at 75 without pushing it and still room to pass quickly enough! A 650 BMW is an excellant choice, but pricy IMO.

I suggest you study the differences in dirt and adventure bikes and really identify what kind of riding you plan on doing. I had an 750 Virago that I rode off road, it's a street bike small cruiser and your 30" inseam would be overkill as you ride low. Street bikes have gone down dirt and mud roads, over hills and through water crossings before adventure bikes were even thought of as a special group of bikes. And riding two up is alot better. Many modify street bikes, with longer forks and shocks/springs, some dual tires and you're off.

Another dimes worth, hearing what others do, when they strated and how they ride may not apply to you....what you really end up doing will only be found by doing. You need to really identify what you want to do and learn before you get that special bike. Just get a bike, ride it and keep the rubber side down! :bike_rider:

 

[Wander]

I appreciate all the great advice, one thing I did want to mention. I don't plan to ride 2 up as my wife is pretty clear she does not share my interest and prefers the pass seat of the DI. I checked the safety course schedule today and will sign up for that soon, I've also been looking around for a used TW200 or similar for my first ride. Realistically this is a long term plan/goal but I can use the time until them to learn and gain experience while I save up and plan the adventure.