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Need thoughts on a bike

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Lightcycle said:
As others have mentioned, make sure you sit on each bike before you shortlist it.

A 6'5" guy on a Ninja 400 is a tight fit. You might be wasting time and energy contemplating and searching for a bike that ultimately you're not going to be remotely comfortable on.

Just a my $0.02.
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Makes perfect sense man never gonna buy a bike I haven’t sat on. I will say this got another chance to sit on the 390 Duke as well as the RC 390. The duke felt better than I thought it did the first time (I did have a lot more room to get comfortable on it this time) last time the one they had me sit on was right next to 2 other bikes and all 3 of those bikes had already been sold so I was incredibly nervous and trying not to move around or get comfortable in case I damaged it or the surrounding bikes
 
Did you speak to Chris South? Some companies are not CC based.
What you save in bike purchase and achieve in comfort easily off sets a bit more insurance premium and that only lasts for a couple of years.

Failing that - just get the KTM390 Adventure...it easily could be a long term ride.
 
I believe, rather than price of bikes and anything, you have to define what you want. Street base or off road bike. After that, go sit in some, even maybe, wait up until the you got your M2 so you can actually ride it. Once you got that, buy the correlated gear, from boots, pants, jacket, torso protection, gloves and helmet. Check the money left and look for the bike, and check if you can manage insurance.
One option left for your height are naked bikes. The z400 are more forgiving (imo) ergowise than the ninja. I personally love the Kawasaki ER6N but would be unwise as first bike indication.
 

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This is the definition of beginner bike. Take a look
 
Lightcycle said:
+1 for the GS500. That was my first bike.

Along the same lines, also the EX500.
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Sent the guy a message just gonna get formalities out of the way make sure he has the used vehicle package and proof of ownership then I’ll see about taking a seat on it if it’s all in order
 
Canuckles said:
Sent the guy a message just gonna get formalities out of the way make sure he has the used vehicle package and proof of ownership then I’ll see about taking a seat on it if it’s all in order
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Good luck for you. Hope you manage... I believe you can't go wrong with that
 
Canuckles said:
Nvm parents shot it down they don’t want me spending $3k on a 12 year old bike.
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Yeah, that's one way of looking at it.

The flip-side of that argument is that you can sell that bike for exactly what you bought it for (maybe even more) when you're ready to move up to your next bike.

A new bike loses a sizeable chunk of its value the moment you ride it off the lot.

Your first bike probably won't be your last bike.
 
Lightcycle said:
Yeah, that's one way of looking at it.

The flip-side of that argument is that you can sell that bike for exactly what you bought it for (maybe even more) when you're ready to move up to your next bike.

A new bike loses a sizeable chunk of its value the moment you ride it off the lot.

Your first bike probably won't be your last bike.
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Tried to explain that to them but doesn’t matter they just brushed this off as one of my adhd fuelled ramblings. It’s unfortunate but if I wanna still live here I gotta do what they say
 
Gary said:
Explain to them it's only 12yrs old on paper. Since most bikes are stored ~6months a year, the GS500 is barely 6yrs old.
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Yup but still not gonna work unless I wait a little bit rn I don’t think my parents are in the mood to talk bike so I’m just gonna keep looking around create a list of possible ones
 
Canuckles said:
Yup but still not gonna work unless I wait a little bit rn I don’t think my parents are in the mood to talk bike so I’m just gonna keep looking around create a list of possible ones
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I'm slightly confused, are they on board or not?
 
Canuckles said:
They are on board with me getting a bike but they are being way to damn controlling over how and what I spend my own money on
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But also I kinda get what they are saying why get a used 2009 bike for $3,000 when I can find a used 2017 or 2020 for $4500 or $5500
 
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$1000 used to be the floor for bike prices, but I think it's now more like $2000. In the $2500 - $3500 bracket I'm seeing lots of uninspiring middleweight cruisers, a few mid-90's sport/touring bikes in decent condition, some newer crashed/trashed sportbikes and "the engine has a clanking noise but it should be an easy fix" bikes. Almost everything in this bracket is 10+ years old.

Any good condition starter bikes in this price range are definitely going to be 10+ or even 15+ years old. I'm seeing some CBR125s and CBR250s listed for nearly $3000, which seems like an extraordinarily high price, but maybe that's just what the spring market will bear these days.

People are weird about age and mileage on bikes. One of my bikes is almost 20 years old, has 80k+ on the odometer, and is still as reliable as the day it rolled off the assembly line. Aside from crashes, what usually kills the condition of a bike the fastest is just storing it outside, or having mice chew on the wiring, or having a series of hacked on mods. All of those are pretty easy to spot.

I started on a Ninja 500, which was one of the bikes mentioned earlier. It was a great first bike and rather peppy up above 7k rpm. The knee angle was a bit tight for me on longer rides and would probably be more of an issue for you, but that's common to most of the standard/sporty beginner bikes. Beginner bikes typically have a rather low seat height, but that reduces the seat-to-peg distance and folds your legs up more. That can be solved relatively cheaply with a taller seat and/or lower pegs.

This won't help in the conversation with your parents, unless you can use it recalibrate their opinion on the age of the GS500 :):
www.kijiji.ca

Kawasaki Ninja 500 | Sport Bikes | Markham / York Region | Kijiji

Selling my bike, looking to get a bigger one 600~750. Had it for about 6 years or so now always stored for winter. Been dead reliable, I replaced the clutch last fall and got a new battery for it. It has new plugs, air filter and the carbs cleaned and adjusted 2 years ago. It has bar end mirrors...
www.kijiji.ca www.kijiji.ca
 
Canuckles said:
They are on board with me getting a bike but they are being way to damn controlling over how and what I spend my own money on
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I see.

Well, take it from me then; you've won the big battle. Take your time picking the smaller fights.

"my house my rules" pretty sure most of us have dealt with some form of that growing up.

there's some good advice here, namely that most motorcycle are not driven at the same length of cars, that's why typically the mileage is so low for the year. maybe try to meet them halfway, that you'll have it inspected by a mechanic before you take ownership so HE can tell your parents that it's a safe purchase and STILL a perfectly good vehicle. What they need to perhaps still understand is that the bike market does not equal the car market and both markets are currently upside down.

Someone probably already said it, but you can typically make most if not all your money back on 'starter' bikes, because people are always looking for them.
 
Evoex said:
I see.

Well, take it from me then; you've won the big battle. Take your time picking the smaller fights.

"my house my rules" pretty sure most of us have dealt with some form of that growing up.

there's some good advice here, namely that most motorcycle are not driven at the same length of cars, that's why typically the mileage is so low for the year. maybe try to meet them halfway, that you'll have it inspected by a mechanic before you take ownership so HE can tell your parents that it's a safe purchase and STILL a perfectly good vehicle. What they need to perhaps still understand is that the bike market does not equal the car market and both markets are currently upside down.

Someone probably already said it, but you can typically make most if not all your money back on 'starter' bikes, because people are always looking for them.
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Yup I agree 100% with this but they are flip flopping between “that’s too much to pay” and “we don’t know anything about bikes we can’t help you” so either they know about bikes and how much they cost or they have no clue and are just tryna control my spending
 
Canuckles said:
Yup I agree 100% with this but they are flip flopping between “that’s too much to pay” and “we don’t know anything about bikes we can’t help you” so either they know about bikes and how much they cost or they have no clue and are just tryna control my spending
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indeed, hence my point about giving them the opportunity to speak to a mechanic and ask questions.

you'll need to get the bike saftied to transfer ownership anyways. so, offer them the opportunity to speak to someone who does know what they're talking about.
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