Best starter cruiser bike - Vulcan 500. Ninja 500 engine. Faster than most 600-700 cruisers out there but still light and nimble. Discontinued few years back, can be had dirt cheap.
Starter Cruiser Bike?
- Thread starter supernova12034
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BKnight
Well-known member
+1 on the Vulcan 500. Trust me you don't want a 650 lb bike as a starter. A VLX 600 would also be a good one.
RedDogDarren
Well-known member
Yep, learn to ride on this inexpensive bike and get a newer one next year.
If you must have a newer and bigger bike the Vulcan 900 is a gem.
I think a lot of folks have a dream bike or bikes they want to have or dream to have. Seasoned rider or not.
The best thing to do is do the course first. Depending on the school, they will have different styles to learn on.
After that, do some research and talk to other riders.
There are entry level machines of different engine sizes that can be set up for you. Peg placement, seat and bars and suspension.
Ask a lot of old time bikers about their first bike. Many will talk fondly of their little Honda or Yamaha or Suzuki. Many in the 300 to 500 cc range.
The Stryker is a beautiful machine. Get a couple of seasons under your belt before pulling the trigger on that one.
A Shadow or Vulcan are good places to start. Even for a fella of your stature.
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The best thing to do is do the course first. Depending on the school, they will have different styles to learn on.
After that, do some research and talk to other riders.
There are entry level machines of different engine sizes that can be set up for you. Peg placement, seat and bars and suspension.
Ask a lot of old time bikers about their first bike. Many will talk fondly of their little Honda or Yamaha or Suzuki. Many in the 300 to 500 cc range.
The Stryker is a beautiful machine. Get a couple of seasons under your belt before pulling the trigger on that one.
A Shadow or Vulcan are good places to start. Even for a fella of your stature.
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i looked into the vULCAN 500 before getting my shadow 600.
one thing i didnt like that stopped me from getting it was the engine sound.
if im getting a cruiser its going to be a V-Twin.
supernova12034
Well-known member
Have you checked out the Kawasaki Vulcan S?
http://www.kawasaki.ca/product/vulcan-s-abs
650cc, adjustable ergos.
The Yamaha Bolt is also a nice ride.
If you want to go used there are a lot of clean 750cc Honda Shadows around. Nice bikes.
Yeah I like the vulcan S, and the shadow/phantom, Havent looked at the bolt too much.(maybe i should)
How is the vulcan 900 or boulevard m50 for starter bike? In my head i feel like 600-900cc is the 'starter range' for cruisers, am i wrong????
The vstar 650 i looked at, but didnt like the fact it was air cooled and carbureted
TorontoBoy
Well-known member
Yes, you are wrong. New riders need to master the mechanics of riding, which is usually pretty easy, but they also need to learn to ride safely in traffic, and this is quite difficult. Riding is completely different from driving, and there's a lot more that can go wrong with riding. A larger bike will weight a lot more, be harder to control when going slow, and have a lot more torque, which is much harder to control. What I'm saying is to start small for your first bike. For the second bike get what you want.
For beginners I recommend the first bike to be <50hp <500lb ~<500ccs, but for cruisers you can go up to 750ccs. I also recommend buying used, so that when you inevitably drop your bike, or have some untoward event, it'll not be too expensive. Once you have ridden for a year, sell it and buy whatever you want.
The VStar 650 is an excellent starter bike. There are a lot of bikes that are carbed, with no real negatives. It's harder to start in the cold, but you'll probably not be riding when it is cold. The VStar has low power and will be really easy to learn to ride. The riding position is feet forward, and you may not like it.
The Ninja 500 is an excellent bike, as is the Honda CB500s. Though they are not cruisers, they are more neutral in riding position.
Honda's Shadow 600 is a classic bike, easy to ride, easy to maintain and has lots of power. The Honda Shadow 750 is also good but is a little heavy.
There are also 250s out there that will do the job, be much lighter, and accelerate your learning curve. Check out the Suzuki TU250x, a new bike but classic styled. It will be easy to ride and a great learning bike. Do they still sell Suzuki gz250s?
As others have said, it is your money and your life. Most of us started on small bikes and graduated up to larger ones. This is not your last bike, but your first. A small bike will help you learn the critical basics without excessively putting your life in danger if you make an oppsy mistake, An errant 1/4 turn of the throttle on a 900cc bike can end in disaster, while on a 250 you'll be surprised but usually recoverable.
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-D-
Banned
For your size get the Kawi Vulcan 900. It is Fi and is about the same power as the Vstar1200/1300 carb bike.
650Vstar will be under powered and boring for you.
I can add my 2 cents. Get a smaller used cruiser, ride it for 1 or 2 seasons and then you'll have riding experience and a better sense of what you're looking for in a larger bike. Incremental cost of this buy sell process of the starter bike is probably nil due to insurance savings.
I've seen several riders drop their "first" bike (ST1300) due to inexperience and/or being over confident and it's an expensive lesson at $3k - $4k in plastic, road rash aside.
I've seen several riders drop their "first" bike (ST1300) due to inexperience and/or being over confident and it's an expensive lesson at $3k - $4k in plastic, road rash aside.
Drennan57
Well-known member
This and I would also add just for variety.
Suzuki S40 (650cc)
Kawasaki Vulcan S (650cc)
Basically don't go above 650cc and it'll be fine.
supernova12034
Well-known member
meh i think if i dont go over 900cc i should be fine, so far im deciding between vulcan s, honda shadow/phantom, vulcan 900, m50
The torque on the 900cc bikes will be a bit milder than the 1300s, so it would be a better choice for a starting bike (but not the best). There are times when I'm riding my Stryker where the throttle gets tweaked because of bumps in the road jerking your bike and entire body (it'll happen because of the cruiser seating position and limited rear suspension travel), and I wonder how badly a noob rider would react to that kind of incident. I've also ridden all of the bikes you've listed for consideration (except the Vulcan S) and they wouldn't get squirrelly as quickly as a 1300, but certainly have enough power to get you into trouble. In the end, it's your choice and you've got to respect what any bike can do.
That's the reason I bought my wife a small beginner bike. I know it'll be a 1 season bike for her (heck, if she picks things up and is as gung-ho as I hope we might be looking for bigger by the fall), but it's super light, super easy to ride, and will be very difficult for her to get in trouble on as a completely new rider. Yes, we'll eat some costs by going small to begin with and upgrading in probably short order, but I didn't care about the cost, I care about the safety. I'd recommend anyone starting out to keep that in mind and put their "dream bike", or their concerns about buying a beginner bike and upgrading "costing a lot of money" second to safety.
As has been mentioned a few times, it's cheaper to drop a beginner bike, and less likely to happen even to begin with.
And yes, you can get in trouble on a big CC cruiser. The torque can be surprising and it's entirely possible to break the rear wheel loose just accelerating moderately hard - I've done it. If that happened to a new rider and the bike got too sideways before getting off the throttle, or it happened in a corner, it's not going to end well.
My Starter Cruiser Bike was a 250. I went to McBride's looking for something in the 400-500 range, and they tried to upsell me to a 750+, "because of my size". I do regret getting rid of it sooner than I should have, and you learn much more on a smaller bike than a larger one. In the end the choice is yours.
-D-
Banned
I think the Vulcan 900 and the Suzuki M50 are both Fi, the others are carbed.
If you can find the midnight blue (metallic flakes) Vulcan 900 and put the matching screen on it, it looks pretty good. Comfy, fun, and easy bike to ride. They are pretty reliable.
The 900 you will keep for a while. Imo a comfy, nice looking, nice riding bike.
Drennan57
Well-known member
Personally i don't think cruisers require the same beginner treatment that sportbikes get. If you are a bigger guy i wouldn't recommend starting on a 250cc paint shaker. You wouldn't tell someone to put a 9.9 Merc on his new bow-rider just because he's never had a boat before.
Personally i don't think cruisers require the same beginner treatment that sportbikes get. If you are a bigger guy i wouldn't recommend starting on a 250cc paint shaker. You wouldn't tell someone to put a 9.9 Merc on his new bow-rider just because he's never had a boat before.
Personally I totally agree, most on this forum will always say to start small. I started on an old Seca 750, then bought v-star 1100, then GSX1250.
I could have started on the 1100 v-twin no problem.
IMHO I was tempted to get the V-star 650, but I'm glad I went to the 11.
I'd say do the mature thing and know yourself as a rider. Consider experience and how you're honestly going to ride that thing. If you're going to hold back until you can handle the machine's potential, then maybe going bigger is ok. That's how I did it, but my perspective isn't for everyone. If you are at all worried, maybe start smaller. Though consider that there's tons of smaller cruisers on kijiji. . . . .I found most got sick of the v-star 650 (just one ex) after like, one season. Just very little power there. If memory serves, I believe the Shadows were lower in power compared to the v-stars. . .though it's been a while since I checked numbers.
Anyway not hating on those who like/recommend starting small. Just found it to be not as necessary a step for everyone....
No, you'd tell them to start on a smaller boat that didn't require a huge engine and get some experience first. See the relation?
People that have never owned a boat before and go out and buy a big or high powered boat always provide endless entertainment to the experienced boat crowd...moments before they end up bumping/scraping/crashing their boat into something and doing a lot of damage. Sometimes they damage is to other people's boats when people with more vessel than they know how to handle end up in tight quarters... IE, 90% of marinas and docks.
As someone who spends a fair share of time at the helm of a fairly large twin engine boat, trust me, that's a bad analogy. If people started small, gained experience, and worked up in size things would go much better for many people.
catzo
Well-known member
Why do you say that? There are always tons of buyers for smaller bikes. If you buy the bike in the fall/winter and sell it in the spring the following year youre almost guarenteed to get your money back. Plus insurance savings.
Depends on the bike though I guess. I made money when I sold my 250r after a year of riding, and that includes the HST I paid.
I don't believe I'm saying this, but, I pretty much agree with what you said ?
OP, As posted earlier, the Shadow 750 is a bit heavier, with low horsepower, but for us bigger folk, it's not so bad. And you can find them cheap.
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