Just wondering, how long did it take to find your bike?

[ynot slow]

Good luck with Anza,I finally got service one Sunday whilst looking at an 07 Sprint,got told they don't trade(want)jap bikes and offered a suitable rediculous trade price lol.Any way my time frame was 17yrs,$100grand and marriage,then after selling home found a beaut bike on trade me,think it was karma.Next house sold and had mind set on a couple of new Suzuki from summer fest promo,she who must be obeyed saw my current bike and after hearing it start as I test rode and was trying to decide said "buy the fucking thing"enough said.Took me 4weeks of looking probably.Enjoy the fun of looking,usually you know after sitting and a ride.

[bittertwistedcute]

maybe i shouldnt have used the term 'drop' and just stuck to ding?

Don't get too stressed PR I was *never* going to drop my bike, didn't suffer for over confidence and guess what - I dropped it LOL
No harm, no foul (no fairings helped)

I don't think you will drop your bike, but if you do and you get up again you learn from it.

I now have fairings, so hopefully I have done enough learning!!

Test ride, test ride, test ride Everyone else has said it but really it is the only way to go, sit on everything until you swoon, then, that's your next bike (unfortunately I may be touched with a polyamoric gene and have been known to swoon simultaneously LOL)

Good luck

[Sentox]

Making mistakes is one thing, putting your bike on the ground is another.

Because there's just no way it should happen, right.

Bikes are not cars. They don't naturally stay upright. The OP is not talking about her inevitable meeting with an oncoming 18-wheeler at 160 kph. She's talking about the very real possibility than in the learning process of controlling a motorbike (a process that actually requires quite a bit of skill at walking pace), it may end up on its side. This is something a sensible person factors into the purchasing decision. Her choice of words may have been a little blase, but your reaction is hardly well measured either.

[CherryB]

Main thing is what feels good to you, to sit on and ride. Everyone is different. My first was a Suzuki Bandit 250 - test rode several bikes and it just 'fit' - I liked the seating position, and the balance. Had it 2 years and never dropped it because she wasn't top heavy, we did loads of kms (including a trip from Welly to Invercargill - down the west coast and up the east of the south island). Test rode quite a few bikes in the months after getting my full license before I finally found one I'd trade my baby bandit in on. Good luck :-)

[CherryB]

Making mistakes is one thing, putting your bike on the ground is another.

Jeez mom, that's not like you.

What she is saying is almost everyone when learning manages to put their bike down - often in a carpark, gravel drive, or some other place (muddy field at the Cold Duck perhaps, and not just learners there) and usually where they are going between 0 and 5kph... brand new and shiny isn't always the best idea for your first bike - tho keeping them clean and learning how to do your own basic maintenance is really satisfying.

Agree we don't want to be fatalistic, main thing is to look where we want to go, plan for the best, watch out for the rest, keep our head up and enjoy the ride.

Smile, plot, and keep the shiny side up, rubber side down (just the latter for potato riders, given how much chrome you got underneath) and enjoy the friends and adventures riding can bring.

Also advise for newer riders and those who have been riding a while trying out some of the "riding better" courses out there. RoadSafe, StreetWise in Welly, ProRider does a training thing in south island and occasionally Manfield. Read books about how to ride better, listen to people - esp the ones who stay upright and know we share the road and don't need to prove how fast we can go. And keep learning, make it a long lifelong loving journey.

[Mom]

Jeez mom, that's not like you.

This internets is so pathetic at conveying the meaning of words sometimes. I agree with you, it is easy peasy to drop your bike, I have done it myself.

What I was trying to convey in my hamfisted way is that learners should not automatically assume they ARE going to ground their bike. They dont HAVE to, and neither WILL they.

[hellokitty]

Do what I did - buy a nearly new bike that has already been scratched and therefore 3 grand cheaper!

[charlymelon]

Took me a about two weeks to find my sweet little Honda CB 250F. I'm gonna sell it in about 2 months though, it's gonna be sooooo sad. But I always knew that I wanted to get a Honda for my first bike, and since it had to be a 250 it wasn't too hard to decide...

PS: I too managed to put it to the ground.... Parked on grass and it turned to mud during the night. Argh.