Carla King’s post on what makes a beginner bike touched off a lively discussion on the Rebel Forum. Many folks were in agreement with her statement that “NOTHING over a 250cc bike, and preferably something smaller, is a beginner bike.” This isn’t surprising coming from a forum dedicated to a 250cc motorcycle. However, several members felt that her “250cc and under” rule was too dogmatic.
Too dogmatic? That sounds like a challenge.
So here’s my answer to the question “What would be a good beginner bike for me?”
- Sit back, relax, and go to your happy motorcycling place. You are riding on your favorite road. What bike are you riding?
- Let’s say your dream bike is some red-blooded ‘Merican Iron code named FLHTDLKTHXBAI or whatever and it’s packing 110 cubic inches of Hot Milwaukee Muscle. That muscle is approximately 1800cc.
- Take 20% of 1800cc and you end up with 360cc.
And there you have it.
But seriously, what motorcycling really needs is a rite of passage like these guys:
“But Stacy,” you might say, “isn’t sticking your hands into mitts full of bullet ants kind of extreme?” Who knows, but I bet I could pack a ton of those suckers into some Hippo Hands.
Maybe it’s riding a Honda Rebel on a 5800 mile trip like Ken did. Maybe it’s riding a 250 down in Moab until you’re beating the pants off your buddies and their fancy 650s. Maybe it’s even simpler: riding a small bike until you know how to squeeze every ounce out of it.
Just think, it’s like hazing without the assault charges and getting kicked off the varsity team.
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First off, I need to say that I am biased.
I am biased because my dream bike is a Honda Rebel (but I have been eyeing the Magna's lately).
I am also biased because I did a lot of research on motorcycles before I started riding and decided on the Rebel because of it's reliability and dependability and forgivability.
I am also biased because I simply don’t care what others think I should be riding. As Jo Dee Messina stated in her song: “My Give a Damn is Busted.”
It is my opinion that starting on a motorcycle larger than 250cc’s is simply foolish.
In my mind, you can start out on a 600, but you have better have some experience in the past, so that you are simply relearning. Well, my cousin is brand-spankin’ new, but he is a rather large man, and I don’t think that a Rebel will hold him, so I will allow him the 600 with a lot of asterisks, and have told him so.
Today our culture that has H3 Hummers and Lincoln Navigators that have not even been off road. In the 70s we had Lincoln Continentals that we still lovingly call "boats".
Our culture also has "instant gratification", and we have been trying to make our lives easier and quicker for generations.
So it is inevitable that our motorcycles would be large and we would want them right now.
Yes, I know that the brand new sport bike looks real cool and can go from zero to sixty in the time it takes to cough, but the new rider that has chosen it will just ride slow and his friends think the motorcycle is cool. Okay, but be sure to let me know what hospital you are in, and I will visit you.
The forgivability factor in the larger motorcycles is rather small, and I shake my head when folks want people to start out with larger cc motorcycles because they have apparently forgotten that they themselves also started out not knowing anything and needed to start somewhere and the larger motorcycles don’t forgive mistakes easily.
Do you think that they allow pilots to fly an F-16 right off the bat, or do you think that they make them learn on something a little easier first?
Motorcycles are the same way.
You need to learn on something a little slower and easier before you graduate up to the cool stuff.
Well said!
WOW, I am famous!
TNX!
I must admit, there were a few instances where the thought of a mitt full of bullet ants might have seemed preferable.
IMHO, the Rebel is the closest thing to a perfect starter bike one could find. The little 250 Nighthawk looks nice and some other small displacement machines also look attractive as starters. Small CC is important for the beginner. They don't support the paradigm that power is the only thing that matters. One must LEARN how to ride them, rather than just throw a leg over the saddle, start it up and give 'r gas.
Now that I do have a larger bike, I can't imagine having it sooner; I was simply not ready for it. After riding my Rebel, I had a pretty good understanding of power management and throttle control. When I graduated up, handling the additional power was not even an issue.
Well, that's not 100% true. I almost dumped her, pulling out of the dealer lot.
On the Rebel I would increase the throttle when coming out of a medium speed turn. Well… Let's just say that a 1200cc engine needs very little increase in throttle to pull out. I gave it too much and the rear wheel started to slide out!
Where was I going with this???
Oh, yes… Engine size. A lot of riders, and I mean a LOT of riders have "Cubic Inch Envy." The larger the displacement, the better the bike. These sort of folks don't take things like cost of ownership, rideability, maneuverability, suitability, power to weight ratio, and a host of other things into consideration.
It may seem that since I do have a Harley Davidson XL1200CKTHXBAI , I am a 'pot calling the kettle black.' Gray perhaps.
Honestly, I wanted a Versys (650cc), SV650 (like Stacy's), VX800 (my project bike) or something else in that general area.
So, if I get tired of my 1200 CCs of ‘Merican Iron, my little Rebel is right here.
I agree with Ken that a newbie has enough to worry about just learning to ride to have to be intimidated by a large displacement bike. Also, mistakes made during the learning process are more dangerous with a bigger bike.
A small bike makes for a relaxing, fun way to learn to ride. I started as a kid with a 50cc Honda, and I've had a number of bikes over the years since then. So, when it was time for my wife to learn, I bought her a 250cc Honda Rebel. She still loves that little bike, even though she now has a 883 Sportster.
I ride a 1200 Sportster, and even that is considered a small bike by today's standards. I guess some people equate displacement with their social standing or what ever lack of self esteem they are trying to bolster.
I'm pretty sure no one's going to accuse you of starting out on the wrong foot, Ken!
You bring up an interesting point in wanting several different bikes. I wonder why folks feel that their first bike has to be the "perfect" one; for example, the common complaint that if one buys a Rebel they'll soon "outgrow" it. Hello, that's the point. Of course you're going to outgrow your first bike. And in the process, you're going to find out what you like and don't like about it so you'll know what you want in the future.
And then there are the poor souls who catch Multiple Bike Syndrome… there's no hope for us, I'm afraid!
You're right about large displacement bikes having small margins of error — I certainly discovered this firsthand when I rode my Rebel into a ditch the first week I had it. Thankfully, I ended up being an amusing sight for some goats in the pen next to the ditch… instead of an EMS call!
After reading today’s post 7/18/2010, I had to come back and read this one. My first bike was and is my SV650, not because of cc envy or because I thought bigger was better, but simply because of ignorance and the advice of my riding friends. Everyone said this was a great starter bike, I liked the naked look of it (Monster-ish without the cost or maintenance), and I got a great deal. I rode it slow and newbie in the beginning and, probably by a lot of standards, I still do. My point is, I don’t think it has anything to do with the bike. Start with whatever size you want. You just need to like your bike and ride safely. It’s all about the rider. But isn’t that the case with anything?
As far as a right of passage, maybe the rider safety class at least? The bullet ants would make it hard to pull on the clutch.
My thought on beginner bikes is…only looking at the size of the bike’s engine is to miss what a beginner bike really is. Its something that someone can get on and be able to learn and grow on. At over 200lbs in Los Angeles traffic, the Rebel would have been the absolutely wrong bike for me…but perfect for someone else. There are 250cc bikes out there where smaller people wouldnt even be able to flatfoot…let alone tippy toe.
That said, I think a biker’s rite of passage is going through something that only a biker would experience. I think that “thing” would be different for each person…and I cant discuss mine here but we all have something that happened once on our bikes that would never have happened otherwise.