Getting into biking.

[carver]

IF YOU WANT TO KICK PEOPLES ARESES, BUY MY VTR 250!

2007

40,000km

red

[Rosie]

I've heard bikes without the small windowscreen (I 'THINK' thats what it is.) give greater wind pressure on the chest so slightly more strain on the arms/lower chest?

At road legal-ish speeds there isn't too much difference between fully-faired and naked bikes. On any bike you'll notice the wind resistance a lot when you first start riding, but, over time you get used to it.

[Qkchk:Me]

Just like on all the other 'which bike for a learner' threads, for your first bike I recommend buying something like a Scorpio or GN. Why? Not only because of the power factor (remember we are all 6-foot tall and bullet proof - or so we think we are) but because there is a bloody good chance you will drop the bike within the first 6 months. If you go ahead and buy something like a FZR/CBR/ZXR/GSXR/GT250R or new shape Ninja 250R you better have good insurance or deep pockets to replace those stuffed fairings.

[nodrog:Me]

Hello..

Well, situation is this, I am getting close to being seventeen and I want to buy a motorcycle (obviously) I have ridden a few before, slightly smaller, but I am really looking foward to buying my first bike.

I've heard bikes without the small windowscreen (I 'THINK' thats what it is.) give greater wind pressure on the chest so slightly more strain on the arms/lower chest?

I'm currently looking at a few bikes, just trying to find out as much as I can about them, main options at the moment are as follows;

Hyosung GT250R 2008
Kawasaki Ninja 250 2008
Aprillia RS250 1997
Honda CBR125 Road 2008

Thanks for any info if available.

get whatever turns you on, contrary to popular belief one does not have to own a GN250 as their first bike.

[kermit63]

Hi,

I'm 45 and returned to riding after a 25 year absence 2 years ago. Because I had my license, I could buy what i wanted and because my ego demanded a sports bike, i ended up with the daytona 675 (not the Ducati 1000 my wife said I should buy).

My observations of sports bikes after 2 years:
1. Sports bikes look cool and they are fun
2. The sports bike riding position is a bit less comfortable, you tend to put weight on your wrists, but the right use of core muscles and your legs around the tank gets rid of most of that. The leaned forward riding position will give you less visibility because your head isn't as high and also, I find it harder to turn my head too far to see what traffic is in the lane beside me (that might be to do with my age and inflexibility).
3. Some sports bike mirrors give less visibility, so check them out to make sure you can see past your elbows to the cars behind you. You'll feel vulnerable when you start so it's important that you can see what's going on behind you, to the side of you as well as in front of you.
4. Sports bikes have less of a steering lock and this combined with the riding position make them also less manouverable at low speeds.
5. Having a "safety first" attitude and taking a bit more time to manouver into parks makes anything achievable.

Ultimately, anything is achievable (others are doing it, why can't you). It's just whether it gives you the "experience" you want - and only you will be able to answer that after you've tried.

As an aside, my wife, who has just got her license, bought an Aprillia SportCity 250cc scooter a couple of weeks ago. NOW THAT IS FUN. She went out for her first serious training in some suburban streets on Sunday afternoon. When I caught up with her, she had the biggest grin I've ever seen - totally hooked.

If I'm just going to and from work, i take the sports bike. If I'm running errands around town, I take the scooter - it's that much fun and I even park it on the footpath outside shops, whereas I'd expect a ticket if i did that on the sports bike.

Good luck with whatever you chose and enjoy riding - you'll love it.

[sinfull]

I see no one has bothered to mention that the pressure on your arms and wrists wont come from the wind, in fact the opposite ! If your body weight is on your wrists on a sports style bike when it is stationary, a fairing will only keep the wind from holding your body upright !
Sounds to me like your intention is to look like a racer and at 17 who wouldn't ?
Be carefull you don't become a road statistic like so many wanna be racers ! Anybody can ride like a racer on the road but whats cool is staying on it !
Get on to a track with which ever bike you decide on, as soon as ya can and you may well realise that there are cooler things than carving up traffic !

Prolly get burned for it but hey burn me lol i like it hot !

[wysper]

get whatever turns you on, contrary to popular belief one does not have to own a GN250 as their first bike.

WHAT!! You are shitting me? Surely it is a right of motorcycle passage. To ride or own a GN. GN's have been the staple diets of learners since for ever.
Even when I started 20 years ago (oh god - that looks bad written down).

And my first bike was actually an A100.

But seriously. The GN taught me alot, was quite forgiving and didnt have much to break when dropped. Thankfully I didn't drop it to find out.

Seems like there are some nicer choices out there now though. I would probably go with the VTR mentioned earlier. Although I am slightly biased. I like naked v-twins

[OutForADuck]

Lots of good advice your getting here. The general gist of which is:

Buy a bike with some quality of build and resale - because you will want to resell later and better quality = easier to ride.

Buy a flexible and not overly peaky motor - because it will make learning alot easier and those things like getting into corners in the wrong gear less "impactful".

Buy a more upright riding postion - because they are simply easier to control and balance and therefore learn on.

Buy a naked bike - because you ARE going to drop it!!! fairings are expensive.

Buy second hand - because you are going to drop it and also you are going to want to sell it later and not take such a big hit.

Have fun and get that you'll be going way faster than you are comfortable with on any decent quality 250 to start with.. you don't need a race replica to enjoy and learn and the learning curve could be steeper and more painful on one.


Look forward to see you on the road

[vifferman]

I see no one has bothered to mention that the pressure on your arms and wrists wont come from the wind, in fact the opposite ! If your body weight is on your wrists on a sports style bike when it is stationary, a fairing will only keep the wind from holding your body upright !

Hmmmmm... this is not actually true.
Firstly, as kermit63 said, if you adopt the correct riding technique - regardless of what type of bike you ride - you don't lean or hang on the bars at all, but just hold them firmly enough to control the steering inputs. For a sprotsbike, as he said, you use your thighs, abs and back muscles to hold yourself in the right position.
As for the "a fairing will only keep the wind from holding your body upright", that is incorrect, if the fairing has been designed with wind-tunnel testing. The only bikes where this would be true are full-dress tourers (which have higher bars anyway), or bikes that have had the standard fairing blade replaced with a higher "touring" one. On other bikes, the wind over the windscreen hits your upper chest, and at 100km/h and above, the pressure balances the forward lean.

I agree with what other posters have said: although it's your choice what bike you buy, it's WISE to have a nekkid bike as your first one, as the fairings are very expensive to replace. The cost of repairing cosmetic damage to a faired bike can easily result in an insurance write-off. If nothing else, the scratches and craks resulting from even a minor tip-over and standstill are very unsightly, whereas an unfaired bike will other escape significant damage from most around-town incidents.

[Rosie]

... The cost of repairing cosmetic damage to a faired bike can easily result in an insurance write-off...

Or result in your still-rideable bike sitting in the shop for a few months waiting for the insurance company to sort out new fairings for it

[nodrog:Me]

...., it's WISE to have a nekkid bike as your first one, as the fairings are very expensive to replace. The cost of repairing cosmetic damage to a faired bike can easily result in an insurance write-off. If nothing else, the scratches and craks resulting from even a minor tip-over and standstill are very unsightly, whereas an unfaired bike will other escape significant damage from most around-town incidents.

people seem to forget that scratched engine cases and frames cost alot more to replace than a couple of plastic farings. i have seen naked bikes written off from slow speed damage to frames and engines which would have been protected had they had fairings.

also i dont buy into the whole "you WILL drop your first bike" thing, it took me until my 4th bike until i dropped one.

and there is now a multitude of various crash bungs out there which will protect fairings against most damage.

[sinfull]

I've heard bikes without the small windowscreen (I 'THINK' thats what it is.) give greater wind pressure on the chest so slightly more strain on the arms/lower chest?

:

I see no one has bothered to mention that the pressure on your arms and wrists wont come from the wind

Prolly get burned for it but hey burn me lol i like it hot !

Hmmmmm... this is not actually true.
Firstly, as kermit63 said, if you adopt the correct riding technique - regardless of what type of bike you ride - you don't lean or hang on the bars at all, but just hold them firmly enough to control the steering inputs. For a sprotsbike, as he said, you use your thighs, abs and back muscles to hold yourself in the right position.
.

Don't really see what wasn't true about ma post !! The young fella was under some strange impression that the wind of a naked was gonna put strain on his arms and wrists !
The only thing i will say is that a faired bike will stop alot of buffering if its gusty
Agree that the body should be held in position by using Abbs, thigh and back muscles, But during a 4 hr ride naddda, that shit only happens for me during a arse pucker moment or when i'm going hard out ! A beer gutted slob and proud of it lol !

[firefighter]

get whatever turns you on, contrary to popular belief one does not have to own a GN250 as their first bike.

Fucken exactly, I didn't drop my 250 sports bike (if you can call it that) buy whatever the fuck you want, but probably not a 2 stroke, (too much maintenance) a GN will feel like piece of shit and slow after a month of riding, get a 250cc bike, shit as a comparison you can ride any size bike you like right from the start in the U.S (depending on the state), and their statistics are no worse than ours, so don't fuck around with anything under 250cc. Just my 8c

[vifferman]

Don't really see what wasn't true about ma post !!

Well. you said, "a fairing will only keep the wind from holding your body upright". What's wrong about that is the air going around and over the fairing is actually traveling in a smooth(ish) deflected path, with it actually being stronger where it travels over the windscreen and into your chest. So the fairing acts to hold your body upright.
I know what you meant, but what you said made it sound like the fairing gave you a completely calm and wind-free space behind it. It *does* protect you somewhat from the weather, and reduces the wind strain on your arms compared to a non-faired bike, so it can be more comfortable to ride on the open road, or on windy days. It can also mean that the wind noise in your helmet is louder, as the velocity and turbulence of the airflow at neck height can be increased relative to an unfaired bike.

Yeah, I'm a pedantrist.
'Sbetter'n working...

[sinfull]

Well. you said, "a fairing will only keep the wind from holding your body upright". What's wrong about that is the air going around and over the fairing is actually traveling in a smooth(ish) deflected path, with it actually being stronger where it travels over the windscreen and into your chest. So the fairing acts to hold your body upright.

Most bikes these days (apart from cruisers) have you sitting behind the tank (or have things changed ?) so the wind is hitting yr chest anyway ! On my naked, i dont feel totally comfortable (weightless on the arms) untill i get up to 130 km ! Be interesting to see a faired bike make that happen at 100 (same position, fat gut etc) i'd have way less tickets i recon

It *does* protect you somewhat from the weather, and reduces the wind strain on your arms compared to a non-faired bike, so it can be more comfortable to ride on the open road,


Wind strain on the arms ? See now im as confused as the thread starter ! I feel my wieght on the arms till i get to 130 ! 180 i'm hangin on lol (its that time for the abbs thighs and back to come in to play) at 230 ya might see some strain in my face, but it aint my arms that're causing it

or on windy days. It can also mean that the wind noise in your helmet is louder, as the velocity and turbulence of the airflow at neck height can be increased relative to an unfaired bike.

Nodds violently in agreement, no, now it's shaking ... No wait its nodding again !
Yeah, I'm a pedantrist.
'Sbetter'n working...

Sorry vifferman i do still dissagree, Here's a picture for ya ! Me and the Mrs are criusing up the line 50km in a 50, 100 km in a hundred ! Aint ridden for 3 months, tatto of me dick on my gut (so i can still say i can see it when i piss), so therefore i aint riding using my abb, thigh, back muscles ! 4 hours down the track i'm feeling it in my wrists, and shoulders (downward weight) ! They aint even clip ons' i'm handling, if they were it'd be a daytona lol !
Are you seriously saying that if i had (even a well designed) fairing on my bike it would prop me up earlier/better ?

The faired bikes i have ridden (not many i will admit) haven't come close to doing this ! Great for ducking in behind (assume the position) and i think the triple would go quite a bit faster with one to tuck in behind, but that aint why i ride a bike ~