a newbie with a fresh driver's licence calls for help...

 

Hi all, and finally I can say, fellow motorcyclists!

Being as happy as happy can be, I have finally passed all the tests, and are
now looking at my fresh, oh so fresh, drivers licence!

But since I am a complete newbie, I have a few questions I hope You all can
help me with. I am currently looking to buy myself a rider, and are hoping
for some input on the following:

1. Someone is selling a cheap Honda Shadow 600 '98.
2. Someone else is selling a Ducati 600 '01, slightly more expensive.
3. I haven't tried any of the above, thus cannot tell wether they are any
good or not. Maybe I'm better off with another bike? I am a complete
newbie...

I have been all over the 'net looking for info, but all I find is sellers or
manufacturers biased opinion. That's why I thought I could ask you, people!

I would appreciate your opinion!

Thanks!

-Peter

 

P Bassarabbas wrote:


Smells like a troll.  He tries to pass himself off as Indian (India
Indian, not native american) and then asks about Cruisers and Ducatis.
Everybody knows that all good Indians ride Royal Enfields.  I give it a
3 on the troll-o-meter.

 

No, no troll at all! ;-)

Actually, I have an offer on an Enfield, but since I am told that they are
rather time consuming regarding maintenance, I have passed it.

And of course I mix cruisers and Ducatis! I am a newbie, with no
preferences. I have actually only driven one kind of motorcycle, and that is
my driver school's.

-Peter


sellers or

people!

 

wrote:


First of all, congratulatons!  

The Shadow and the Ducati are completely different kinds of bikes.  If
you wanted one you would not be happy with the other.   The Ducati is
a serious sport bike, meaning that it sacrifices everything for
handling--comfort, economy, reliability etc.  The Shadow is a cruiser,
meant for more leisurely, comfortable travel.  The Ducati will have
higher maintenance costs and you might even find yourself waiting
several days (or weeks) for parts.  The Shadow will give you much less
trouble, all other things being equal.

You can usually find reviews of bikes on the net by Googling "Honda
Shadow 600 review" or something like that.

Now I will give you probably the most common piece of advice offered
to newbies.  Don't buy the bike you want as a first bike.  Buy a
cheap, beat-up old bike because you're going to mistreat it.  You're
going to drop it, maybe more than once.

You're going to be going around a curve, with the bike heeled over,
and you'll hit a patch of oil or some loose stuff on the road, and the
bike will slide right out from under you and deposit you gently on the
road.  Hopefully you'll be wearing a decent jacket, gloves and a
helmet, and you'll get right up again, nothing injured but your
pride--but the bike will be scraped up a little.  This has happened to
every rider I know at least once, usually in  his first few weeks or
months of riding. (It happened to me twice, but I learn slowly.)
After that you learn to scan the surface ahead of you for gravel, dead
leaves, etc.  

This is one reason mitigating against the Ducati for a newbie, since
on a serious sport bike it's more likely to happen at a much higher
speed.  Here in the US the most common category of fatal motorcycle
accident is a newbie on a hot sportbike.

 

I was just in a bike accident ant it damn sure didnt set me down gentle and
I was only doing 30 going around a curve .. Have a titanium plate and 12
screws in my lower leg,god forbib he go downbut dont tell him he will be set
down gently,dont sugarcoat something that is real
"blazing laser" <none> wrote in message

people!