Motorcycles and how to Chose yours
There is a lot that has been said and will be said about selecting the right motorcycle for a first motorcycle. I beleive that the most important thing to consider is what the motorcycle will be used for. If you need to go some distance down the freeway on a regular basis then you need a bike capable of going down the freeway at freeway speed. Equally important is your size and strength. On a motorcycle there is no power steering and the rider has to be able to hold the bike up when stopped. There is no reverse gear on any but the biggest bikes so if you pull forward into a parking spot or a garage you will have to move the bike backwards with muscle power. Your bike needs to be something that you can maneuver with engine power and rider power. There are 250 cc bikes that will go down the freeway and they are not too heavy to handle for someone who is not real big. Of course if the rider-to-be is good sized and strong enough to lean a bigger bike over and pull it back upright easily then that rider would be okay with a bigger bike. There is no substitue for sitting on a lot of motorcycles to see how they fit you. If you have sat on a lot of bikes then you get a feel for how they compare to each other. Remember you are going to have to move the bike at times without help from the engine. Most motorcycle riders are friendly, especially to beginner bike riders. Talk to a lot of motorcycle riders and if their bike is similar to what you are thinking about ask if you can sit on it. It is quite a compliment to tell someone that you are considering buying a bike like theirs. They will talk at length with you about motorcycles. Once you get a little bit of feel for what you might want, you will have to decide if you want to buy new or used. For a first motorcycle I would advise buying used but in good condition. On any new motor vehicle there is a considerable initial depreciation. In other words the value drops quite a bit in a short period of time. In other words if you buy a new bike and 6 months or a year later you decide that what you want is something different you will lose a lot more money than if you had bought used in good condition. There are a lot of used bikes for sake in good condition bought by people who decided they wanted something else. So far we have talked a lot about the size and age of the bike to come. There are some bikes out there from China. And so far the quality of the Chinese bikes is not as good as the ones from Japan - Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Yamaha. Hopefully we have helped you to learn more about your bike to come. More important even than bike selection is rider training and safety equipment. Look in your phone book for "motorcycle instruction" and on the internet for training to not only operate your new to you bike, but to operate your bike safely in traffic. Most insurance companies offer reduced rates for having completed a motorcycle safety course and that is because riders who have completed a m/c safety course are involved in fewer accidents. And that is a good thing. Well this brings us up to safety gear or riding atire. You will need a good helmet that is not loose or overly snug on your head, riding gloves are a good idea as is some kind of over the ankle boot. If someone who is riding while wearing shorts and a T shirt finds themselve sliding down the pavement they will wish they were wearing long pants and a good shirt with long sleeves. Save time and anxiety, wear good pants and a good long sleeved shirt to start with then you won't wonder if you should bewearing them. Don't ever think that you have riding all figured out. Always be on the lookout for ways to be smoother and safer. Talk to old riders. They must have done somethings right in order to become old riders. Oh yeah, don't forget to enjoy this neat sport while saving a ton of gas.
