cq90stang
Registered
I'm going to give a little background about myself. I'm 32, I drive an 18 wheeler and I'm in pretty good shape (not fat, not skinny). Been kicking around the idea of a motorcycle for quite a few years now...just been making excuses not to do it...lol. Anyways I fell in love with the 2008+ Hayabusa.
Anyways, back in December a friend and I (hey I got to have another person to ride with...lol) signed up for a beginner rider course thru the MSF as it is required in Florida. We bought our coats/gloves and helmets, and walked around looking like retards without bikes getting used of them (seriously think how dumb I must have looked with a motorcycle helmet on in a mustang convertible with the top up...lol)I had a lot of experience riding 3 wheelers (just not 2 wheeled cycle, and my friend had driven a couple scooters...and yea I drove his beast of 89cc scooter...no seriously that thing was pathetic).
this past weekend We did the MSF beginner course. I have to say their is a lot of knowledge that you get about the driving dynamics of a motorcycle thru the course and the experience is so valuable to new riders. I found out that a honda rebel is a midget bike and doesn't work for people that are close to 6 feet tall. Other than the bikes that we had at the MSF course being broke in really well...ya know no turn signals, dented tanks, most without mirrors, and shifters that were so worn you couldn't even find neutral...needless to say if it got dropped it was just another battle scar for them. Took the written test the first day and both my friend and I passed both missing only 1 question each. Day 2 of the MSF circus act (I call it this only because most of us looked like we were on pocket bikes and had to sit on the humped part of the seat where the passenger/driver seat meet on the raised part...lol. We took the driving test. Each only messing one thing up, My friend went outside the box doing the double u turn, and they said I could have been going faster thru the curve, but we passed. Since it was Martin Luther King day on monday I decided to go "look at motorcycles" but we didn't have endorsements because DMV was closed on MLK day.
So we went straight to the suzuki dealer. I'm going to be honest here, I really like the hayabusa...so much I even found a couple I could have thrown cash down and walked right out the door with it. However I had been to this site previously and while I never posted anything about wanting to get a hayabusa as a beginner, I did find other posts not recommending it. However we were still at suzuki and we were still "looking at bikes at this time, and yes I even sat on the Hayabusa and it is very comfortable. However, upon listening to the posts on this forum, other riders, and friends I decided to just go with the flow and see what smaller bike I liked. We looked at these:
New 2009 GS500F
Used 2005 Katana 600
new 2008 hayabusa
new Honda CBR1000
a couple of 250cc
GSX600R
(countless other bikes on craigslist for 5000 or so dollars)
We were upfront and honest with the salesman and he recommended us not to get a liter bike as our first bike, in his words he felt it would be a sin for him if he did sell us one that big that he might go to hell (I just mention this cause I've seen a lot of posts about how dealers don't care what they sell you, well atleast in Ocala, FL the suzuki dealer will not try to sell you a bike just because you can afford it, but rather let you know what you should be getting instead of what you want to get.
Well while the idea of having a hayabusa for a little while has went ....pfffft and gone away for a little while. See and everyone probably thought nobody takes the members advice here. I did get a good deal on my first motorcycle.
I ended up paying cash and got a pretty good deal on the 2009 GS500F. So since I left my gear at the house (helmet/jacket/gloves) we did the responsible thing and loaded it in the back of the pickup truck and took it home. We unloaded it and took it for a couple laps thru the yard (we live on 3 acres so we were just getting a little feel for the bike before we do hit the road with it. I had to go back to work that monday night so I don't get to ride the bike till I get back in about 2 weeks, but I did have a chance to take it out on the road (the bike is tagged and legal, I just don't have the endorsement on my license yet) and I took it for a ride down the road on a backroad I live on. I have to say that even though it is just a twin it is a lot more powerful than the 250, it's a heck of a lot more comfortable than that stupid rebel 250, and it rides really nice (not all bouncy and doesn't nose dive when you hit the front brakes). I'm still on the break in period on the GS500F so I didn't get to really wind it up because they don't recommend going over 5500 rpms for the first 600 miles, but so far I'm happy with it, yea it's not a hayabusa <sigh> but I will take the skills I learn on this GS500f and apply them to the hayabusa when I do decide to get it.
so I really just wanted to thank the members that advise about getting a smaller bike first and then go up to a larger one. Sorry if it's been a long post I just wanted to share the adventure thus far
Anyways, back in December a friend and I (hey I got to have another person to ride with...lol) signed up for a beginner rider course thru the MSF as it is required in Florida. We bought our coats/gloves and helmets, and walked around looking like retards without bikes getting used of them (seriously think how dumb I must have looked with a motorcycle helmet on in a mustang convertible with the top up...lol)I had a lot of experience riding 3 wheelers (just not 2 wheeled cycle, and my friend had driven a couple scooters...and yea I drove his beast of 89cc scooter...no seriously that thing was pathetic).
this past weekend We did the MSF beginner course. I have to say their is a lot of knowledge that you get about the driving dynamics of a motorcycle thru the course and the experience is so valuable to new riders. I found out that a honda rebel is a midget bike and doesn't work for people that are close to 6 feet tall. Other than the bikes that we had at the MSF course being broke in really well...ya know no turn signals, dented tanks, most without mirrors, and shifters that were so worn you couldn't even find neutral...needless to say if it got dropped it was just another battle scar for them. Took the written test the first day and both my friend and I passed both missing only 1 question each. Day 2 of the MSF circus act (I call it this only because most of us looked like we were on pocket bikes and had to sit on the humped part of the seat where the passenger/driver seat meet on the raised part...lol. We took the driving test. Each only messing one thing up, My friend went outside the box doing the double u turn, and they said I could have been going faster thru the curve, but we passed. Since it was Martin Luther King day on monday I decided to go "look at motorcycles" but we didn't have endorsements because DMV was closed on MLK day.
So we went straight to the suzuki dealer. I'm going to be honest here, I really like the hayabusa...so much I even found a couple I could have thrown cash down and walked right out the door with it. However I had been to this site previously and while I never posted anything about wanting to get a hayabusa as a beginner, I did find other posts not recommending it. However we were still at suzuki and we were still "looking at bikes at this time, and yes I even sat on the Hayabusa and it is very comfortable. However, upon listening to the posts on this forum, other riders, and friends I decided to just go with the flow and see what smaller bike I liked. We looked at these:
New 2009 GS500F
Used 2005 Katana 600
new 2008 hayabusa
new Honda CBR1000
a couple of 250cc
GSX600R
(countless other bikes on craigslist for 5000 or so dollars)
We were upfront and honest with the salesman and he recommended us not to get a liter bike as our first bike, in his words he felt it would be a sin for him if he did sell us one that big that he might go to hell (I just mention this cause I've seen a lot of posts about how dealers don't care what they sell you, well atleast in Ocala, FL the suzuki dealer will not try to sell you a bike just because you can afford it, but rather let you know what you should be getting instead of what you want to get.
Well while the idea of having a hayabusa for a little while has went ....pfffft and gone away for a little while. See and everyone probably thought nobody takes the members advice here. I did get a good deal on my first motorcycle.
I ended up paying cash and got a pretty good deal on the 2009 GS500F. So since I left my gear at the house (helmet/jacket/gloves) we did the responsible thing and loaded it in the back of the pickup truck and took it home. We unloaded it and took it for a couple laps thru the yard (we live on 3 acres so we were just getting a little feel for the bike before we do hit the road with it. I had to go back to work that monday night so I don't get to ride the bike till I get back in about 2 weeks, but I did have a chance to take it out on the road (the bike is tagged and legal, I just don't have the endorsement on my license yet) and I took it for a ride down the road on a backroad I live on. I have to say that even though it is just a twin it is a lot more powerful than the 250, it's a heck of a lot more comfortable than that stupid rebel 250, and it rides really nice (not all bouncy and doesn't nose dive when you hit the front brakes). I'm still on the break in period on the GS500F so I didn't get to really wind it up because they don't recommend going over 5500 rpms for the first 600 miles, but so far I'm happy with it, yea it's not a hayabusa <sigh> but I will take the skills I learn on this GS500f and apply them to the hayabusa when I do decide to get it.
so I really just wanted to thank the members that advise about getting a smaller bike first and then go up to a larger one. Sorry if it's been a long post I just wanted to share the adventure thus far
