Girlfriend wants a bike

[awptickes]

check on post, I know that they offer one here.

You have no idea how stupid the course here is. It's insane. And you have to have a motorcycle license before they'll let you enroll in the "European Motorcycle Safety Course".

Basicly, several years ago, General Bell decided that too many soldiers were dying in motorcycle accidents, so he made the requirements tougher. If you fail once, you can never get it. It's a 5-day long course, 3 days of theory, and 2 days of physically on the bike. BUT YOU HAVE TO HAVE A STATESIDE MOTORCYCLE LICENSE TO EVEN SIGN UP FOR THE COURSE! It's stupid, so I'm going to bypass it entirely by getting a German motorcycle license, then when I go back to maryland to renew my license, I'll show them my german license, and they'll be like "Oh, ok. Here you go."

The really funny thing about the motorcycle course, is that it's not the young sub-25 year olds who die on motorcycles, it's the senior enlisted (mostly over 35 years old) who have been riding for like 15 years, and have been in europe for years. Stupid stupid stupid. Oh well.

</rant>

 

[Celerity]

Europe is a tough place to ride. As is New Zealand from what I understand.

Of course, I've never been there - but when they say "Europe" they could mean "Europe is fine, but Italy is guaranteed death, so it throws the bell curve"

 

[E_SolSi]

^^

 

[awptickes]

In germany it's not too bad. Most people respect the bikes, and actually watch for them. Italy is so bad because they drive cars like they drive bikes. I'd never seen someone filter through traffic in a car until I was in Italy.

 

[Celerity]

Aprilia makes a 250 two stroke. Get it. GET IT

MV Agusta, Benelli, KTM, Aprilia full line, Ducati Full Line, Cagiva.

Shut the fuck up. I hate you like E hates you now. You prolly have SECMAs on the fucking road too.

 

[awptickes]

Aprilia makes a 250 two stroke. Get it. GET IT

MV Agusta, Benelli, KTM, Aprilia full line, Ducati Full Line, Cagiva.

Shut the fuck up. I hate you like E hates you now. You prolly have SECMAs on the fucking road too.

Eh? I've only been in one secma, and it was at an autoshow with a road-course. I think the Jimny felt better, more control, better rid3e, etc. SECMAs are just dune-buggys. Everyone in germany wants a landrover, or a jeep, not a go-kart without a top french car.

The only problem with buying an old bike is emissions. Imagine California emissions, ok. Now imagine that, with a socialist government. OK, now you get close to the idea. If you change out the headlights in a car with non-E-code bulbs, you will fail inspection. Let's say you buy some foglights on eBay and put them on? No E-Code? Fail.

2-stroke engines are pretty much out of the question, unless they're brand new,* and meet the EURO3 or EURO4 standards, and if they're carbed, they won't. Carbed engines are a rarity here, because they're so damned expensive to register.

My self-imposed limit is that I have to be able to pay off the bike with two months' income minus expenses (gas, gear, insurance, food). That's about 8k I can spend on the bike. 8k USD = 5100 EUR as of this morning. Ideally, I'd like to buy my first bike, then have it payed off within 3 months.

I looked at Aprilla and Ducati pretty early-on, but they're raritys here, because italian and spanish bikes always hold a price premium. For the first bike, I don't want to go all-out right now, I want to get something small that will last me two years. After that, I can get a larger engine'd bike.


E: Don't hate me because I can get these incredibly awesome bikes for reasonable prices, make friends with me and maybe someday I'll be the intermediary purchaser for you.

Cel: Same goes for you. But seriously, SECMAs aren't that comfortable.

edit: *OK, I was wrong about 2-stroke's. But they do have to meet EURO3 or above. Carbed engines will meet EURO3, but they have to have an o2 sensor monitoring the emissions, and an electronic carb.

 

[awptickes]

What do you guys think about getting a 750 that's limited to 34kW? Sound like a bad idea?

 

[Celerity]

Imagine California emissions, ok. Now imagine that, with a socialist government.

Redundant.



Secmas arent comfortable, and I LIKE THEM because they are dune buggies. I'm a dune buggy afficionado. the Fun is what I'm looking for, not the wierd trike thing.

 

[Celerity]

What do you guys think about getting a 750 that's limited to 34kW? Sound like a bad idea?

Sounds to me that the government there pretty much picks a bike for you.

 

[awptickes]

Well, now I'm debating going back to the USA and getting a license in Maryland. My mom lives there, and I could always convert my auto license to maryland, then do the song and dance for the motorcycle bit. I just have to find out what the course requires..... And the DMV is so unhelpful. I've heard from some people that you can take the class, or the road test, then the written test. Dunno for sure. What's it like in the NE?

EDIT: Shit. I've gotta do the signs, written, AND the road test.

 

[Celerity]

You have any handlebar time at all ?

 

[Celerity]

Note: If you do the straight to DMV test, you need your own bike. If you do at the course, you use their bikes. Also, I could not pass the course right now with my bike. No fuckin way. I'd be 20 feet up in a tree.

 

[awptickes]

A buddy of mine said that he was really glad the DMV had a bike for him to take the test on, because there would have been no way he could have gone through the cones on his hayabusa.

I used to ride dirtbikes for a couple years back when I lived in the states. That was almost 6 years ago though. The last time I was on a bike was almost as long ago. I've got plenty of time behind the bars, just never on the road.

Here's the plan: I'm going to go to maryland, take the basic riders' course, convert my nebraska license to a maryland license, get the endorsement, come back over to germany, get the military temp-license, take the military course, and get the full license. Somewhere in there I'll buy a bike, or maybe I'll buy the bike now; there's someone in the AF here who's selling their 08 zzr600 to pay off some debt.

 

[Celerity]

Who the hell gets a Hayabusa as a first bike ? And how much debt can someone rack up that their two thousand and eight purchase is on the list of things to go ?

 

[awptickes]

To the friend's defense, it wasn't his first bike, more like his 6th, but it was what he rode to the DMV.

What do you think about a brand new (2.5k miles) bike like that to start on?

 

[Celerity]

No way. No no no no no no no no way. After a year of riding (about 10,000 miles) I didn't have what it took to ride the ZX12. I still am barely getting the hang of it.

Any of these bikes can be "ridden". You can get a Goldwing and "ride it". But if you get onto a bike that you're not ready for, then mistakes are a matter of "when" and not "if". I dropped my zx12 twice at stops, because while I could "ride" it, I didn't "master stopping a large bike". I had a good idea, but my stops weren't so perfect that they were second nature to me. Now I'm much better - every stop is perfect, the bars are straight, the bike's suspension isn't loaded. I should have gotten to that point BEFORE going to a superlative bike like the 12.

Also, the Hayabusa is stretchy (in it's reaches) and low (Making for tricky cornering. So even if you do master it, you'll be pining to downgrade bikes just as soon as you would be pining to upgrade from a trainer. A downgrade will grant you more controllable throttle, predictable (And tractible) cornering and a better "miles per smile" ratio than a fucking bullet that is the Hayabusa, ZX12R, ZX14R, Blackbird, etc. I don't smile on my ZX12 for the same reasons I do on smaller bikes. (I do, however, smile because I make telephone poles look like a picket fence without hesitation)

I would NOT start on a superlative bike. I'm too junior in my talents to ride the machine that I have right now. But if you do go for something like this, Judgement, calm decision making and a hyperspeed reaction time is crucial. Think "500 cuid muscle car with teeny tiny drum brakes flying into a turn". Without the experience necessary from YEARS of riding, you can easily get into a situation like that at less than 10% throttle with these bikes.

 

[awptickes]

I just reread my post, I intended 'a bike like that' as in a zzr600.

I just got back from a bike store, and they let me run around the track on a 250. This 250 had 34kW, and it felt gutless. It'd get up to speed, but it felt like a civic with a cucumber in the tail pipe. It felt more like a scooter than anything else. I tried out the honda cbr600 on the same track, and the guy was worried at first, but he let me go anyways. That was fun. I didn't have the "god damn, will this go any faster" thought plastered all over my head, it just felt natural: crack the throttle to go, and be done with it. It had ample power, even though I'm pretty sure I don't think I'd ever use all of it. After the 600, I got on a 125, just to see. After the 600, it felt like I was on a pedal bike. I made one lap, as opposed to the 5 I made with the other bikes, then got off, and talked with the owner for a while.

He thought that the new (they're like 8 years old or so) bike laws are rediculous. He thinks that training is all you need, then you get experience on a bike, then you move up. He said two years on a tiny little scooter is insane, when most people who have the ability to ride well will be good at the get-go. He said that I shouldn't go any bigger than an 750 for the first couple months. I'm not sure if he was just trying to sell me a bigger bike, or if he was sincere. What do you guys think?

 

[Celerity]

If you can get a 600, than do. You rode, so now you know.

The 250 4 stroke for me wasn't too bad, and I got the full use out of it. I used to blow away friends on twisty roads with my 250.

but, if you're on an open track, then yeah, it would be dull. I went through this when I looking at a 50cc (yeah, a 50cc... Derbi GPR nude) and realised that while it was GREAT on corners, I wouldn't be able to do an appreciable THROUGH those corners - the bike would spend it's whole life upright.

 

[awptickes]

Well, I still have to get the girlie a bike. I'm thinking a 125 to start with. I'm gonna go make her ride a 50 next weekend, and see how she takes it. Maybe that'll be all she wants. (If I'm lucky)

 

[Celerity]

GPR Nude. It's an awesome machine.

Also, check out the Monster 500. I think it's below the 34kw that you're looking at. And it's a really high quality build.