Motorcycle Beginner: Buying Your First Motorcycle

[Administrator]

Original Article:
Motorcycle Beginner: Buying Your First Motorcycle

Please discuss the Motorcycle.com article Motorcycle Beginner: Buying Your First Motorcycle in our Motorcycle Forums below. Use the reply button to let others know your comments or feedback on the article. Constructive criticism is always appreciated, along with your thoughts and personal opinions on the bikes and products we have tested.

[Sir_Angus]

Neat, I'm first to comment ...

Great article! With any luck your fellow newbie's will heed the wisdom offered.

Being a bigger man, I started out on a Virago 500 (it was a free hand-me-down) and found it was great for around town with just enough topend to manage highway speeds. Given your size you may find that 250 too small "at speed" meaning you'll have to run more throttle possibly to the detriment of fuel economy. Although my experience with sportbikes is limited to the '06 GSXR-1000 I used to own; so I could be totally wrong. Best of luck!

[The_AirHawk]

I'm appalled - APPALLED I SAY! You go so far as to include the obscure Kawasaki W-650, and laud the nigh-defunct Suzuki SV-650 yet nary a peep about the ORIGINAL SV/Duc Monster: The Honda HawkGT.

Still winning WERA Races, still thousands of them out there, still one of the best "beginner" twins; over-suspended and underpowered, single-sided-swingarm before it was "Cool", and not to mention (but I will anyway) one of the largest Cult Followings of any moto ever made. Everyone wants to be part of the Brotherhood of the Hawk!

Meh.

[Sir_Angus]

The Kawa W-650 reminds of my mothers old '67 Honda Scrambler. A note-worthy bike if it was still in production, but since Kawasaki discontinued in 2001 I'd have to agree with Airhawk about including it in this article.

[Kevin_Duke]

Originally Posted by The_AirHawk

I'm appalled - APPALLED I SAY! You go so far as to include the obscure Kawasaki W-650, and laud the nigh-defunct Suzuki SV-650 yet nary a peep about the ORIGINAL SV/Duc Monster: The Honda HawkGT.

Still winning WERA Races, still thousands of them out there, still one of the best "beginner" twins; over-suspended and underpowered, single-sided-swingarm before it was "Cool", and not to mention (but I will anyway) one of the largest Cult Followings of any moto ever made. Everyone wants to be part of the Brotherhood of the Hawk!

Meh.

The Hawk definitely made my short list, but it got dropped after I did some checking and found out that lowish-miles and/or clean Hawks are very hard to come by. They were so cool in the mid-to-late '90s that they were snapped up by hard-riding (and racing) enthusiasts, leaving few nice ones still around. The Hawk's heyday came to an end in '99 when the SV debuted. Anyway, for the record, anyone who can find a clean, low-mile Hawk GT at a fair price probably should buy it!

[Kevin_Duke]

Originally Posted by Sir_Angus

The Kawa W-650 reminds of my mothers old '67 Honda Scrambler. A note-worthy bike if it was still in production, but since Kawasaki discontinued in 2001 I'd have to agree with Airhawk about including it in this article.

A little fairness, please. The sidebar was about buying USED beginner bikes. Still being in production wasn't a criterion for this exercise.

[Sir_Angus]

Originally Posted by Kevin_Duke

A little fairness, please. The sidebar was about buying USED beginner bikes. Still being in production wasn't a criterion for this exercise.

I get that and I really like the retro duosport look, but since it was discontinued and a limited production run it seems counter-intuitive to include it as a "used beginner bike" suggestion. Mass-produced, road tested & bullet-proof bikes are what I'd expect from the wealth of motorcycle knowledge @ MC.com ... I think that was AirHawk's point and certain was mine.

One day I hope to restore her old Scrambler for her; if parts are still available by then.

[Kevin_Duke]

Originally Posted by Sir_Angus

I think that was AirHawk's point and certain was mine.

In a search for clean, low-miles bikes, you'll find a lot more W650s than Hawk GTs.

[The_AirHawk]

Originally Posted by Kevin_Duke

The Hawk definitely made my short list, but it got dropped after I did some checking and found out that lowish-miles and/or clean Hawks are very hard to come by. They were so cool in the mid-to-late '90s that they were snapped up by hard-riding (and racing) enthusiasts, leaving few nice ones still around. The Hawk's heyday came to an end in '99 when the SV debuted. Anyway, for the record, anyone who can find a clean, low-mile Hawk GT at a fair price probably should buy it!

Still, I daresay there are several-times more HawkGTs for sale than W650s (also a cool bike, BTW - love to have one) at any given time. And "clean, low-miles" is relative - a HawkGT with 30,000 miles on it is barely broken-in. I know of more examples than I have fingers on one hand that have over 100,000miles.

Honda is STILL producing versions of the engine/transmission that motorvates the Hawk - the DN-01 (well, different trans), the Dullsville, the Shadow 750 (that one may or may not be still in production - mem'ry here). An acquaintance of mine raced one @ Daytona two-years ago and won Lightweight-Twins on it; beating SVs, Duc 800SSs, and EX500 & 650s.

It has an Impressive Legacy, for a bike that was last produced 30-years ago.

I know, I know - there's ALWAYS gonna be somebody's favourite left out of any List.

I'm just sayin', that's all.

[Morbo the Destroyer]

Originally Posted by Kevin_Duke

In a search for clean, low-miles bikes, you'll find a lot more W650s than Hawk GTs.

Those are scarce as hen's teeth around here. Which makes sense, they scored 9.2 on the Klazy Ken Kollektables list for the past two years.