Recommendation for Bike - Victorian P Plater

 

My nephew has recently got his licence, and wishes to purchase a bike.  
Given that it has been a long while since I went shopping for bikes, I
was wondering if I could get some recommendations.

He is 19, but small and slight for his age, and is a rather
non-agressive person.  His only experience has been in getting his
licence.

The bike would mainly be for riding around the southern suburbs, but he
would need to be able to take it up to Ballarat on occasions, so would
need to be able to navigate the cross-winds on the Western Highway, as
well as be able to travel at highway speeds, but not much more.

He does not know a great deal about bikes, but would like to be able to
work on it himself, so simplicity and reasonable availability of parts
would be good, as well as as few electronics as possible.

We were thinking something along the lines of: -
  400-650cc
  4 cylinder.
  Reasonably light < 190Kg
  Sports bike, naked
  LAMS approved

He does quite like the Royal Enfield style of bike, but we are having
trouble sourcing one - we just went through six months of hassle
getting one imported, and had to cancel the deal about a week ago.

He can pay up to $8-9K, but something around $5-6K would be
preferrable, inc. ORC.  New or used would be fine - a reliable used
bike would probably be best for him as a beginner.

I would appreciate any suggestions.

Also, does anyone here know of any organisations or people that we
could pay to perform a quick check on any second hand bike that he
looks at if we choose to buy one from a private seller?  We are based
around Cranbourne, and a simple "Its a lemon" or "Its OK" would be all
we would be wanting.


Regards,

Michael Cole.

 

Michael Cole wrote:

It might help if you listed your country.

Ian Singer

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Ian Singer has brought this to us :

Apologies - Victoria, Australia.  I was originally posting this to
aus.motorcycles and missed...

This is the list of acceptable bikes

<http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/CDC3D584-3171-4ADB-8079-DC2F70D8CCE9/0/LAMSlistpublishedWeb29June2010.pdf>

Michael Cole

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Michael Cole

 

Michael Cole wrote:

<http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/CDC3D584-3171-4ADB-8079-DC2F70D8CCE9/0/LAMSlistpublishedWeb29June2010.pdf>  

Yeah, aus.motorcycles seems to have collapsed into a black hole.
I really reckon you're looking at bikes way too big for your son.
Something like a Hyosung GT250, VTR250, GPX250 or ZZR250 twin would be a
better prospect.  It'd be lighter, cheaper to run, (easier to pick up)
and would easily cope with the occasional run to Ballarat (or Sydney).

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Hyosung-GT250R-/170510640417

He's only gonna' keep it for a year and then buy an R1 anyway!

--
Elsie.

 




<http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/CDC3D584-3171-4ADB-8079-DC2F70D8CCE9/0/LAMSlistpublishedWeb29June2010.pdf>  

OK that makes more sense as I just glossed over LAMS as I did not know
what it was/is. Now I know where we are talking about I see it means
Learner Approved Motorcycle and is described at
http://www.hyosung.com.au/lams/

When I started riding it was on a Honda 50. Then moved up to a 160 which
I rode across the US. Then a 450 (only bike I have ever owned that was
new), the quit for 15 years. Then restarted on moped, Honda 360, Honda
750, Honda V45 Magna and now Honda V65 Sabre.

I think a 160 is probably not a bad size to start on and but not being
able to keep up with traffic like on a 50 is good as it teaches safety
and caution. NO ONE should start on a V65 or something more modern.

You should be able to flat foot it with both feet and push it backwards
uphill sitting on it. My V65 has been lowered to 30" seat height but
that is really too tall for 29" inseam, and it is way too top heavy. I
have never cracked the throttle or redlined it since putting on the road
last year and my cruising speed of 105 MPH could cause a $10,000 fine here.

Ian Singer

--


=========================================================================
         See my motorcycles at http://www.iansinger.com/motorcycles
               hosted on http://www.1and1.com/?k_id 623894
    I am near Toronto Canada, can I tell where you are from your reply?
=========================================================================