You're the one who's being silly: I maintain that in your suggested scenario the driver of a car will still say,"I didn't see him". I didn't just make that up. I have witnessed it happen. The MSF will point out that driver awareness on the part of the driver of a car is a primary goal in the effort to reduce motorcycle accidents. The problem is you, the rider on a motorcycle, cannot do anything to ensure you are seen. Go ahead, wear your orange riding suit. The driver of the car will still say,"I didn't see him!" When it happens to you, maybe you'll get it. As if wearing an orange riding suit gives you immunity or something. What are you going to do, jump up and down and stamp your feet like a two year old having a temper tantrum? Whereas if you are aware of the situation you can avoid contact in the first place. The most common vehicular accident involving a car and a motorcycle is a car turning left in front of a motorcycle. Bike T-bones car. Rider flies through air. Rider slides down road like an icecube across the kitchen floor. If you as a cyclist ride with two fingers resting lightly on the brake (that's the right lever Cash) and your right foot hovers over the pedal you reduce your reaction time in the event you need to make a panic stop. That and scanning for potential scenarios, like cars turning left in front of you, can help you avoid plowing into them. Even the lane you choose is important. Don't hang out on the left side of the left lane. Don't hang out anywhere. I constantly change lane position. Some kid listening to "Fitty" in his '91 Civic with a $5k sound system ain't gonna "hear" you a commin' when he turns left in front of you even if you don't have a muffler. He's listenin' to "Fitty", not your lame ass chopper. He's got to get some smokes at the 7-11 'cuz he's out, man. But if you was watchin' the turn lane and saw his punk ass 'cuz he drives like a bitch, then you might maybe slow down or flash your lights or change lanes. Do something you can control. Don't sit back and say,"I have an orange riding suit on! I am impervious!" That shit might work with the wife, but not a punk. Peace
How about this for a big guy needing some power but not a sport bike riding position. KTM SuperDuke. http://www.ktmusa.com/990-Super-Duke.46.20.html
He's 5'6". I doubt his inseam will accomodate a bike with a seat height of more than 33". Anything is possible, depends on how bad he wants to ride that bike. A proficient rider would have no problem with only one foot touching the ground. Many riders don't even put a foot down at a stoplight, they can trackstand for a minute or longer. Cash is a beginner and I am assuming he would like both feet on the ground to start. KTM makes a nice bike though.
Good point, those bikes are up in the air. Would the suzuki sv1000 be too much for him? The 650 looks kind of small.
how can a bike such as a zx10 or cbr600 - cbr1000 which has the same engin size as my car, have a hard time pulling me, when it can more than pull a 2000lb car ?
He said anything smaller than maybe 600cc would be marginal for a 240 pound man. Certainly a CBR600 has enough power to scare the piss out of you. The bikes he said might not have enough power were smaller ones, like twin cylinder 500cc models designed for beginners or returning riders. What i would look into if I were a beginning rider is to go to a local dealer and work a deal with him that you would buy a used dual purpose, ie street/dirt, bike to learn on and he would give you a guaranteed trade-in on a bigger bike in a couple of months.
Cash, I never said that as AAA points out. The ZX10, and the CBR600 and the CBR1000 have more than enough power to do more than just pull you around. The ZX10 is an awesome wheelie bike. This is an interesting endeavor. The reality may be somewhat sketchy, but if you have a good dealer in your area it is certainly worth a try. I'll help you out a bit here. Margin on most Japanese bikes is 17% of retail. There is also a 3% holdback, but the dealer doesn't see that until the end of the year, so I wouldn't take that into consideration because he can't. Think of it like a tax return. As you see there's not a lot of margin in the motorcycle business. If you allow him to make a reasonable profit on you then he will be open to working with you on a trade in situation. For example: if you buy a Ninja 500R at retail under the aspects that AAA lays out, the dealer will take your bike back on trade, but don't expect to get what you paid for out of it. So a Ninja 500R retails at $5,049...dealer cost is $4,190. Here's a clue: dealer won't take the bike back at retail or at his cost. Why should he? He can buy all he wants at $4,190. Why would he buy your used one at the same price? So expect a 20% hit off of his cost. You're looking at a trade in of $3,350. Is it worth it to ride a bike that you're learning to ride for $1,700? For a couple months? That's why most people just sell their used bikes privately. That's also why most dealerships have a small selection of used bikes. Realistically you could expect to sell that same 500R for at least $4,000 if you kept it looking like new. Any damage will knock down the value, even small scratches (helpful hint: on parking lots paved with blacktop, don't use the sidestand, use the centerstand. I can't count the number of bikes I've seen topple over all by themselves because the sidestand went through the pavement). Good luck.
Interesting insights. I've always wondered about the economics of running a bike dealership. Where do you make your money, on service, finance paper, etc? Just to be clear, my suggestion was to try to swing a buy and return on a used bike, not a new one. Obviously too much depreciation on a new bike, even if you only own it a short time. The problem with buying a used bike is that service can be very expensive. Performance bikes use high end parts and manufacturers really kill you on parts prices. The last thing you wnat to do is buy a used bike, then have to get a brake job, valve job, new tires, etc. A decent used bike from a dealer should go a couple of months with no service, then let him have it back and get the GSXR1000. Be sure to leave enough money to get a set of leathers and some proper gloves and boots. No fun getting pieces of the highway picked out of your hands in an ER.
you can't look cool on a crotch rocket .. no way you can, however, without much effort look like a DWEEB get a cruiser, fonzie