i wouldnt buy one till you get your license anyway. otherwise you just stare at it and that will drive you crazy!!

 

Don't finance a bike for 5 years. You will be upside down the majority of ownership, and most don't keep their first bike for that long to begin with.

I would seriously consider a 1000 (or even larger), i'm a twig (140 lbs) and the smallest bike i ever ride now is 106 CI (1737 CC). Only reason i say larger is if your wife will be on the back the extra power will help, and you don't want to be on such a slow bike you can't get out of trouble if need be.

 

I have an 07 V-star 1100 classic, I'm trying to sell... but in Colorado. They are pretty sweet bikes. It will haul me 165lbs and my wife 120lbs with a weekends worth of gear all over Colorado, over 14,000 ft. mountain passes. It has plenty of power.

After you get some seat time on a 250 in your class, you won't even consider buying a 250.

I got back on a bike for the first time in a long time last spring. I bought a 1982 Yamaha Maxim 650 for $400, I had new tires put on it and had it checked out and just started riding that to see if I wanted to get back in to bikes. It was a pretty cool starter bike. After I realized I did want to get a real bike I cleaned up the 650 and sold it for $1100 and bought my V-Star and put about 6000 miles on it last summer, now I'm just looking to try out a different past time..... probably an ATV once I free up the space in the garage.

 

as a lot have said i would have to agree with the 600cc+ for a starter bike i also took that class with the 250's and was really shocked how slow they were. I have only about 5 years on a bike and have had 3 bikes haha 2 different 600cc "crotch rockets" and and now have an 1100 Vstar that i love. but i have also had a few close calls where the extra power has gotten me out of trouble (and in some as well) so just cause the you don't think you need that extra speed and power it is defiantly nice to have if needed.

 

Thats what I am going to do, take the class and get some seat time. I should come up with anywhere from $500 to $1500 down depending on my weekend job and the weather.

Yeah, 5 years is too long and I just figured I would wait.

I sat on the larger bike, (it was 900 or 1000) and I didn't like the weight. So I plan on saving some cash and buying a nice 600-700 to start on.
I just felt the larger bike was too heavy feeling and that I could not pick it up when I drop it. Cause I likely will end up dropping my first.

Everyone here has been very helpful, thanks everyone!

The 250 felt too small, but the 650 felt "right". It didn't feel too heavy or too light. The seat height was good for me and I felt comfy on it.

I figure if I end up with one, and just pay cash for it I can always sell/trade it on a bigger one when I am ready. a 600-700 should be just right for me after seat testing them.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeLkr...eature=related

Good video to watch on how to pick up a fallen bike. My dad did this when he got back into riding by laying the bike over in the grass

 

I saw Skirt's doing this at BMW rallies decades ago, works great.

For those that think you need to be a man to do this, Skirts is ~ 120 dripping wet, and she can pick up her BMW GS loaded with gear.
I first saw her do it with an Airhead years back.

http://www.pinkribbonrides.com/dropped.html

Before you ask, no she does not ride with the skirt on. She is a ATGATT rider from the days when all you had to wear were waxed Bellstaff jackets & pants. High end riders could afford leathers and racers only had triple layers of leather on knees. Bell still made good helmets back then, and they weighed in like a bowling ball.

 

Since when ??
The STN group I ride with, one guy has ~150k ( could be 170K by now with the mild winter here ) on his FJR.

25K is not a lot on a bike for someone that actually rides it.
It is a lot for someone that only rides on Sunday if the temperature is between 68* and 82* and there is no chance of rain ( my old DDS ).

 

well here in Utah where you can only ride 5 months a year if your lucky.. I can find bikes all day long for sale around here with under 20k on them..

 

This.

My dad i think has around 16k miles on his 14 month old bike. Only time he doesn't ride is the rain (100 mile round trip ride to work) or if the weather is below 10 degrees (it's houston, that NEVER happens)

 

My uncle has over 50k on his Harley. He does a lot of trips. If I had a bike that had fairings, I'd probably have more miles on mine, but no fairings = no fun on interstates, major highways.

 

5 Months if you are looking for a reason not to ride.
You can find bikes like that everywhere, bet a lot of those 20K bikes are 10 + years old. Owned by the type that look for a reason not to ride; it's 84* out, I'll be to hot. It's 28* and the roads are clear, I'll be too cold.
Seem to recall a few of the '05 Ironbutt Rally participants were from SLC and DEN, and you don't ride 5 months out of the year and do 11K miles in 11 days.

Wow, he is hard core.
I stop at 18* now that I am older, If the temp is below that I am not leaving ( that means it is dropping more )
I can still get 12 months of riding. Cages give you strange looks with snow flurries and 28* when I am riding to coffee at night after work.

 

Think this is true of any weather.
What is the point of pounding superslab, not going to find any good riding there.

Change your riding to B roads, you will find a lot of good riding in places you would not expect.
Last coffee meet I was at in OH, I took all B roads through IN, found some nice riding in Northern IN instead of taking 90/94 across.

 

Yea, I always take back roads, etc..... Just saying I'd commute more on my bike, and use it almost daily, if I was able to hope on the major highways more comfortably.

 

First of let me Congratulate you on signing up for the MSF course. Like many on here I've been riding since I was a child and I currently own 3 motorcycles but I probably put more seat time on my ZX10 (street bike) more than any of the others. A lot of the guys here have covered what I would have said. If you need gear speak to Mike at Riders Discount and tell him that pmason718 sent you he has really good prices on helmets as well as other protective gear