So, You Think You Want a Motorcycle?
Before you flop down those green-backs, you’d better consider a few things.
Are you a brand new rider who’s foreign to street bikes or have you got some saddle time?
Wether you grew up riding dirt bikes or a mountain bike, there’s no shame in feeling fear when considering the two-wheeled world. Heck, I still feel it, every time I’m confronted with a distracted motorist at an intersection.
The question is, why do you want a bike? Is it a phase or are you serious? Anyone having trouble settling these questions needs to put off riding on a saddle over moving steel. Life’s short, but not so brief as to justify rushing into a mistake.
The Don’ts
Don’t get a bike because you just divorced someone who hates motorcycles. Don’t swing a leg over some brutal bomber because you just watched the latest Fast movie, thereafter landing in motorcycle showroom. Unless, of course, you’re into learning life-lessons the hard way…say…at 70MPH with belt-sander tarmac begging you to take a corner faster than you know how. Frame of mind matters. Know thy self.
My Stable of Old
These are the two bikes I’ve owned in the past fifteen years (Triumph now sold). Prior to these, I rode dirt bikes and enduros, with the occasional jaunt on one of my brother’s sport bikes.
Prior to committing to full-on street riding, I’d logged thousands of miles on the road and in the dirt, even to the extreme of commuting forty miles one way to my Army post on a Suzuki SP 200, in Greek traffic. That third world country taught me many lessons about how invisible a motorcyclist is to drivers.
The Triumph was a 2001 Speed Triple and the BMW is a 2009 K1300s. As for the Triumph, you might recognize her from the Mission Impossible series where Tom Cruze was riding this very model in black.
The BMW came some years later, when I realized how much fun riding my bike to work every day was. The added bonus was how much money she saved me, getting over forty miles to the gallon. Couple that with how comparatively cheap tires, brakes and oil changes are on a bike and I was shopping for a more capable, comfortable machine yet again. But that’s a story for another time.
Window Shop for Miles
With three kids at home, being a single dad (at the time. They’re now all beyond the nest in college, working and in the Marines), I shopped bikes for about a year before dropping five thousand for the Triple. She had 40 thousand miles on her and was in great shape. What a quest that was, clicking and scrolling and reading about hundreds of bikes, thereby updating my understanding of today’s machines.
Since I was plenty experienced to deal with the 109 HP at the back tire, and considering I planned to ride her mostly on day trips and weekend getaways, the Triple checked all of the boxes. She was pretty, stopped hard, hooked into corners like a cheetah and didn’t bust the bank. Sold. Basically, Speed Triples are sport bikes with an upright riding position.
“Why not a dual sport or a cruiser?” Let’s get into that.
Bikes of all Types
Above are the three main categories of bikes;
- The sport bike.
- The cruiser.
- The duel sport.
From these three types of beasts, several sub-categories can also be enumerated, like naked sport bikes or retro-mods. Since the aim here is to decide what bike and why, I’ll be sticking to the big three.
Balance is Key
No matter why you want in a bike, you’re going to have to balance on the tightrope of this reality.
Loud, cool, powerful and fun, bikes promise the rider a string of adventures replete with thrills and occasional spills. Avoiding the collisions, spinouts and low-speed dumps is the key to years of steel-pony enjoyment. That said, here’s how to stay shiny-side-up, both wheels on the rope.
Buy an Advantage
In all my miles of riding (the BMW has over 85 thousand on her now), one advantage has saved me over and over. Brakes. Great brakes.
The BMW has Brembo stoppers, the best in the business. Brembo’s are the same brand fitted to Ferraris and most of the best race bikes out there.
Good braking is more than the name on your calipers. To stop like a Moto GP machine, the bike has to have the proper suspension, riding position and general balance. This undeniable reality ticks a box in favor of sport bikes and against cruisers.
Granted, there are many cruisers out there with good brakes and a non-raked riding position, allowing 70% or more of the braking force to be applied where it should be; to the front wheel. Unlike a chopper, the below machine will distribute most of the brake force to the front shocks in harmony with the physics of pinching momentum.
The problem with the average cruiser is, the manufactures are far more concerned with how they look and sound than how nimble they are, often makeing them tip the scale at 650 plus. Just look at the above bike, with its comfy seat, long pipes and fat tires. If that baby isn’t 800 pounds, my name is Wonka with a factory to sell you. When it comes time to turn or stop, you’d be better off in a Miata.
Advantages Over Cars
To a typical driver, the above road (see the two bikes?) might seem narrow and trecherous. On a bike, however, one has far more real estate to manuver in, should danger rear its head. More road to dodge hazards is the second most important thing that’s helped this rider over the years. That goes out the window if you’re poised on a cow who drags her pipes at a meager lean angle.
Unobstructed View
I like Shoei helmets for their comfort, styling, great safety ratings and field of view. Unlike in a car, the rider (wearing a good helmet) can see over vehicles with a wide, door-post free vantage. This bird’s eye picture affords riders time to react, if one pays attention down the road.
Of course, slapping a wide wind-buster on your bike will limit one’s field of view to a car-ish degree. If I can’t see the road ten feet in front of my wheel, its time to cut stuff off until I can. Isn't’ seeing the world with panoramic bliss half the reason to be on a bike? I don’t get affixing a faring big enough to replace the blade on snow-removal equipment. Just saying.
Don’t Forget the Dual Sport!
See this guy? Where’s he riding? Oh yeah, on the road. Blacktop. Street. Unless you live in Africa or Peru, you’ll likely ride on blacktop 90 percent of the time. Knowing that, why wouldn’t one purchase a bike built for asphalt?
That said, there are tons of good-stopping, powerful and relatively agile dual sport bikes out there. If choosing between a cruiser and a dual sport, I’d pick the dual every time. They are lighter, more comfortable than most sport bikes, having upright riding positions and cushy seats, and one can find them used all over the place.
Used, usually because the rider bought it, realized how rarely off-road rides happen, then opting for a street machine. Again, the sport bike category ticks the right boxes of stopping power, comfort, riding position, agility and general coolness.
Assuming You’re Getting a Sport Bike
Now that I’ve sold you on obtaining all the advantages, it’s time to tackle the “Which one?” question.
All three of the bikes above are very smart choices, but only for the experienced rider. If you’re new, the wise choice is a more forgiving beast, unable to time-travel when you twist the throttle.
Why? Because too much power is the number one reason new riders wreck, get spooked and never ride again.
At 100 MPH, everything happens far too fast to be learning a bike’s quirks with virgin fingers. When the “What If” happens, you’ll need muscle memory to take over in a split second, pulling in the clutch while applying the perfect brake-pressure in the middle of maneuvering to the best possible section of road. For the new rider, this kind of thing is best dealt with on a Ninja 300, or some such light-weight, while motoring somewhere in the vicinity of 50 MPH.
On a BMW 300, you won’t look or sound as cool as you dreamed, but, trust me, you’ll thank me the first time you lean too far pulling a U-turn, planting a boot to keep from dumping it. Another consideration is how a BMW 1000rr will eat you alive, if you panic and stab the throttle, flinging you into the intersection like drunken horseshoe. Learn light, learn right.
You Still Think You Want a Bike?
I hope the answer is yes, for all the right reasons. There’s nothing quite like tooling the streets on a motor-pony, seeing the elemental expanse of earth as God intended. Just know that bikers are a different breed.
Those who are on two wheels are “Out There” in more ways than one. To the point, motorcyclists are exposed to views, sounds, wind, rain, sun and far more risk, should anything go wrong. This is why the word “Crazy” pops up, when the subject of motorcyclists leans into conversations. Certain unescapable realities explain this truth.
Fly into a corner too fast, driving a car, and you might spin out. On a bike? Depending on which corner and where, one could kiss the tarmac, a guardrail or kiss one’s A goodbye, sailing off a 1000 foot cliff. So why ride at all?
Immersive momentum on a bike is exhilarating, no question about it, gifting riders with stimulation of all five senses. That’s why we decide to ride, intending to gain the skills to avoid the spills.
As for me, I don’t believe in luck or chance, knowingGod has already set my checkout-time in His big book. If one doesn’t believe in chance, then why not ride, saying a quick prayer along the way? It works for me.
Is it Worth the Risks?
Risk is part of life, so, choosing to ride for the right reasons is a wonderful decision, filled with the kind of adventures others salivate over, never finding the courage to dig teeth into meat. Having spent some time on the operating table, I thank God that none of my surgeries came from motorcycle crashes.
If you want to be a poser, dropping serious green on a powerful first bike (like the 20 grand BMW above), people will certainly look at you like you’re a pro, extending all of the Street-Cred you can handle.
With that big engine rumbling, you might twist a ton of revs at every stoplight, letting the pistons scream about how confident you are. This you’ll do, praying you don’t stall it because you’ve almost mastered the multifaceted motor-functions of smooth forward movement. Better to gain the credit before you spend it, bouncing checks your posterior can’t cash.
You Are Going to Dump it.
“I won’t. I know my limits.”
Said the last rider to turn one shiny-side down, not realizing the back tire was on sand at a stoplight.
Unlike a car, bikes have two contact-patches of rubber on the road. Two. If the back tire goes, most experienced riders can save it about 50% of the time. If the front patch slides, only Mark Marquez will salvage his bike, 20% of the time.
You are eventually going to wreck. If you’re new to iron-horses, you are far, far, far more likely to lay one down, like a sixteen-year-old is far more likely to rear-end someone. It’s a law of the universe.
When you drop it, the probability of you jumping back in the saddle will be strong, if you were covered in leather, good boots and a top-notch helmet. We’ll get into gear in a bit. For now, hear this if you’ve heard nothing else, new rider.
Yes You Do Need to Endure a Riding Safety Course
Don’t you need to get your class 4 license anyway? Enroll in a riding safety course, preferably one run by local law enforcement. Why? Because they will teach you the law, are liable if they teach you wrong and they have better funding; resulting in good bikes to learn on.
At the end of the course, you’ll get your motorcycle license. That’s right. What a great feeling it will be to pull away on your pony after learning how to look through corners (like the picture), tackle stacles, clutch operation and shifting with the added benefit of familiarization with traffic laws specific to bikes. Not only that, but you’ll avoid having to “Unlearn” bad habits created by trying to tame your beast solo.
Long Story Short
Know yourself, what you’re getting into and have a good plan. Most of this stuff is logical, isn’t it? A new cowboy, with a brain, doesn’t jump on the most badass bull at the rodeo, right? NO. So, buy a small, good bike, take the safety course and go thy way in peace.
Gear Up to Soak Your Fear Up
Every time I see some dude blazing on his sport bike in shorts it makes my skin crawl. All I see is road-rash, an evil better administered to terrorists who have knowledge of where the bombs are.
Since you will wreck, dress like you know it. Spend 1500 large on your gear, for its the only thing between you and 90 MPH tarmac!
I wear a Shoei helmet (GT Air), leather with armor, riding boots and racing gauntlet gloves, as seen in the picture .
The only exception to to wearing gear other than leather is summer heat, forcing me to dawn a heavy textile Joe Rocket armored setup with Fly Racing summer pants. 100 degrees is no place for leather, for this kid. Even so, I still feel like a weenie when I see Moto GP racers sporting full skins in the summer. Oh well. Bet they’ll be in textile when they’re 52.
Let the Hunt Begin!
With all of this information at you fingertips, you are now ready to embark upon your noble quest. The internet beckons you to scroll over thousands of prospective ponies, judging them with surgical scrutiny.
Along the way, no matter how a bike might call your name, make sure to build a list like a billionaire horse racer fills stables. Not one horsy will be considered unless its a winner, with stellar brakes, great balance, being ten times more agile than a car. Take your time, because shopping bikes is one of the funnest things in the world.
Until we meet again, never forget to keep your eyes down the road, assume drivers are blind and ride like you mean it. I am the Falcon. Peace in. That is all.
