Motorcycle Advice

[EddieWalker]

I just typed in "motorcycle safety class in tyler texas" and got this result.

Motorsports Training Center Tyler, Longview, and Texarkana Texas

For less then $200, they will spend 16 hours in two days teaching me how to ride, and they provide the bike. I need a few things, but nothing that I wouldn't buy anyway. I'm going to check it out sometime this week. Supposed to be a big thunder storm tomorrow, so I'l work around that.

Eddie

 

[irvingj]

Hey, Eddie. My three cents....

For your size and weight, you probably don't want anything smaller than 400-750 or so ccs; my feeling is anything over that is overkill, though nice.... I can do fine with 250, but then I'm not very large. My 360 will keep up with anything on the road, my 750 has GOBS of torque and perhaps more power than I need-- but I'm only about 135 soakin' wet.

Scrambler/dual-purpose bikes would be a good suggestion, I think. They, especially older ones, tend to be simpler and cheaper to purchase & maintain. They're fun to ride, easy to handle, and genrally are on the smaller side of the cc range- and get better mileage. They also don't mind dirt roads at all, and, should the need arise, can go off-road --and I'm not talking dirt-bike competition here, just a cruise out in the fields-- easily.

I'd also suggest looking around for old fixer-uppers, if you're at all handy. Old bikes can often be had for a song, and even well-maintained older ones go for $1000-$4000.

Yes, tires are expensive, but... My 750 gets around 48mpg, the 360 gets consistently over 50, and my XL 250 will get over 80mpg in warmer weather. I consider them to be very cheap commuters and a blast to ride. The 750 in particular is amazingly smooth & comfortable; I'll second the vote for shaft drive-it's nice!

Although I've put a fair amount of $$ into the 360 at least, all 3 of these bikes were given to me. Free. (I was lucky, I know...)

 

[hr3]

Yes more pictures.. I hadn't ridden in years and after my wife died I decided to get a bike again.. "mid life thing" I wanted something that if I didn't like it or like riding again I could sell it and not lose much money.. Paid 13k in 07 and can still get 11k to 12k for it all day..

 

[Dmace]

I was looking at those bikes from the link provided and saw one with 22,000 miles on it. Is that allot for a bike? How many miles is allot?

Thanks,
Eddie

22K miles is nothing on a bike these days, that's like 44K on a car.
A well maintained bike will last 50-60k or more before any major work is needed. My Harley has 38k miles and the only non-maintenance item I replaced was the starter but I blame that on a faulty wire that would engage the starter whenever it got wet while the engine was already running. Starter was $250, wire and switch was $10. I replaced both in about 3 hours. Tires go about 10-15k miles and are about $300 for the set installed.
My 98 CBR900RR sportsbike has 55k miles and only needed a new alternator ($125) besides tires and brakes.

 

[Thomas]

22K for todays bikes barely broken in...always good to chat w/owner tho.

 

[arrow]

I was looking at those bikes from the link provided and saw one with 22,000 miles on it. Is that allot for a bike? How many miles is allot?

Thanks,
Eddie

I'd agree with Dmace and say bikes in the 60-70 range is a lot. Very rarely do you find those kind of miles on a bike anyway as the owner has usually gotten something else long before. I have a friend who does not get off his Vstar once April arrives. He has been cross country 11 times with this bike. He has a 101000 miles (odometer stops at 99999 then goes round again) w/o engine work. Miles showing on a motorcycle is a non issue most of the time.

 

[RobertN]

To give you a rough idea...

One of our Scout leaders just sold his '93 HD FXRS. He had almost 175,000 miles on it! Bone stock, except for exhaust tips. He commuted from here to San Francisco for ages on it. Ran great, no leaks ect. 50+mpg. My wife has same bike, but only 30,000 miles.

I've known of Goldwings frequently getting 100,000 miles on the frequently.

Fortunately, things have improved across the board. For the Rep older Harley's have, my Suzuki was the worst! '81 GS550E. While it ran great, and was very well taken care of, at 30,000 miles parts were falling off, it leaked oil, and for all the waxing, the paint was pealing.

I was looking at those bikes from the link provided and saw one with 22,000 miles on it. Is that allot for a bike? How many miles is allot?

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[20 20]

Is the Victory any different for % of US parts, besides assembly.

Curious what the figures are now; the info I saw was some years ago.

If I'm not mistaken it is 100% American. I may be wrong it is getting real hard to find anything made 100% american anymore.

 

[20 20]

I just typed in "motorcycle safety class in tyler texas" and got this result.

Motorsports Training Center Tyler, Longview, and Texarkana Texas

For less then $200, they will spend 16 hours in two days teaching me how to ride, and they provide the bike. I need a few things, but nothing that I wouldn't buy anyway. I'm going to check it out sometime this week. Supposed to be a big thunder storm tomorrow, so I'l work around that.

Eddie

:thumbsup: I believe you are on the right track. I take my son out now {he has a permit} and go ridding but I still want him to take the course. A big plus also when done with the course, you pass you get a lic. No waiting and scheduling for a test. My son has a yamaha enduro 250 and loves it. I have driven it some and have to say it is a comfortable nice running "little" machine.

 

[SkyPup]

I've ridden my bike everyday for the last 40 something odd years, here is what happened to me today:

This morning I was on my way to work in the dark at about 6:45 AM.

I was approaching the intersection of SW 85 Street (large wide county graded lime-rock road) coming up to the intersection of State Road 121 (Williston Road).

There was a pickup truck with a large trailer that it was towing at the Stop Sign with his blinker on attempting to turn left and waiting for traffic to clear so he could pull out.

I pulled up behind the stopped pickup truck and trailer with all my lights on and stopped to wait for him to proceed with his left turn out onto Williston Road.

Next think I know the trailer is backing up on me.

I tried to pedal the motorcycle and myself backward but the trailer was moving too fast and it hit my front tire and knocked me over with the motorcycle on top of me and the trailer crushing me and the motorcycle as it continued to move backwards up on top of me and my bike.

My face was crushed into the lime-rock road surface and I was gagging from all the lime-rock dust entering my helmet.

I was looking forward as the large trailer was backing up over me and I could see the left tire and axle of the trailer coming right directly to my face.

Right before the tire was going to go over my head the trailer stopped and two young men got out of it.

I was able to extract myself from underneath the trailer and the motorcycle and pull my body out of the mess.

The motorcycle was stuck under the trailer and I asked the driver to slowly pull forward as I tried to pull it out without messing it up too much more.

Unbelievable, my only injury is my right shin which has two good sized lacerations on it, one is on the bone and hurts pretty good and is all swelled up but I think it will be okay. My crash jacket and helmet were both in good shape although covered with dirt. The main damage to the motorcycle is the front fender is destroyed, but the forks, wheel, tire, steering head bearing, etc. looked okay. I drove the bike into work real carefully to be sure that the front end was not bent or damaged and the motorcycle felt steady on the road.

The owner of the truck and trailer is the Lawn Enforcement Agency and the owner immediately came out to meet me and his two drivers as the sun was slowly coming up. I told him if he paid for the damage to my bike I would not call the Sheriff and report the accident since both the driver and passenger both admitted it was 100% their fault as they were waiting to make a left hand turn when the boss called them on their cell phone and asked them to return to his office, they simply put the truck in reverse and proceeded to back up over me and run me down.

I call the owner when I got to work and told him I had ordered the repair parts from KTM and it would cost $105, so he told me to stop by on the way home from work and he would pay me this afternoon.

Of course, my adrenaline level was sky high and took a while to calm down after crawling out from under the trailer in the dark, but I am doing okay now.

What a weird start to my day!!!