Hmmm, to motorcycle or not?

[zhawk]

Didn't want to steal GMPartsGirl's thread so I figured I would start a new thread to discuss this.

My better half wants me to get a motorcycle to drive back and forth to work on decent days. Now, understand that I have never ridden a motorcycle in my life and am now 40.

Tammy's reasoning is that it will save on gas money. This is true but it would take a while to save enough to pay off the bike in the first place. I would be looking at a used motorcycle, one without too much power, since I am a novice. My brother (who does ride) suggests that I limit it to about 500cc and buy something that I wouldn't be too upset if I laid it down.

I have seen a couple that would possibly work for me, although one is a 800cc, still probably not too much to start with.

BTW, no suggestions of sport bikes, I have some real problems with my back, neck, arms and hands, so sitting one a sport bike would be an absolute killer.

Just as a note, I have a couple of bulging disks in my neck that are pinching the nerve bundles going down to my arms. It causes a lot of sharp shooting pains in my arms and hands and is the probable cause of my migraines. As for the back, I haven't worked up the nerve to tell my doctor about everything with my back. (yeah, I know that's pretty stupid)

Anyway, I wanted to hear opinions and options from you all here.

[FAPTurbo]

Any Victory would be good choice too.

[zhawk]

If you're really in that much pain, I would suggest and old Fatboy or Goldwing. They're smooth as butter, but don't adhere to the "nothing over 500cc" rule and aren't that great on gas. Any Victory would be good choice too.

Yeah, well the price on them kind of makes me hesitate as well. I am not sure how this experiment would work out and don't want to shell out too much.

I have sat a few bikes so far and the position of most standard and cruisers seems pretty comfortable. The 07 Shadow Aero I checked out felt good and so did the 86 Rebel 450. There's a 90 Suzuki VX800 that has faded paint that Tammy wants me to check out.

Oh, I get between 27 and 30 MPG in my 00 Vette, which is my daily driver. So, unless I can get much better, it really isn't worth it for me.

No matter what I think I will take the beginning rider's course. It costs $250 but Washignton state picks up half the cost for those with a Washington driver's license and anyone in the military. The course will allow me to get a motorcycle cert on my license without any other tests so that could be worthwhile.

[gmpartsgirl]

This is just a suggestion, but a bigger bike like they said won't get great mileage, nor will any of the sportbikes. We get about 25-30 on the GSXR. But, we did have an '07 Yamaha FZ6. It's a 600, kind of a starter bike. That's what Mike started with because he had only ever ridden dirt bikes and was a little scared of the street. It is fast but it's more of a touring bike. It sits you up more and we were getting upwards of 60 mpg on it. I would seriously look into it. It was a beautiful bike, and didn't ride or sit at all like a sportbike. The insurance was cheap too because of what it was, how ,much it cost and the CC's. Here's a link. Don't let the looks fool you, it's worth going at sitting on one, I think you may be surprised.

FZ6

[XP715]

Definitely go for it; you will regret it later. I still regret not picking up a coworker's old BMW motorcycle before he sold it. It was an awesome deal but I just didn't have the cash at the time, unfortunately.

[rambaran]

go for it. without a doubt. drive carefully like everyone is out to kill you (they secretly are) and you'll be fine. my suggestion is you go pick up a used GS500 suzuki or something like that till you get used to it. if you choose to move up to something else you can probably sell it back for almost the same price you bought it (market for entry level bikes is always hot).

gmpartsgirl's fz6 suggestion is a good one. the problem with bigger and sportier bikes and mileage is: i can get about 40 -45 mpg if i drive the speed limit, don't slam the throttle open to do some quick passing, and baby the thing (ie drive it like a family car)....but no one ever does that--it's just too hard to resist.