Need Help Buying a Bike

Ok so I know a few of you have owned/own a motorcycle. I need help buying one. To keep it short, all I know about bikes is that they have 2 wheels and use alot less gas then my Heep. Price does matter but at this time I have no clue how much I can spend. Any and all info will help

have you ever ridden a bike ? if not try to borrow one for a week just to see if you belong on it i know many guys who went out and bought bikes and found out later that they didnt really like it as much as they thought they would
if you have or do like it and still want one a choice must be made sport bike or harley which ever way you go dont let the sales man tell you its a good starter bike
for a sport bike most guys i know started out on a 600 and got bored with it real soon so i would recomend a 750 great allaround bike
for a harley they start with the sportster 883 or 1200 and if you ask me the 883 is for girls who weigh less than 100#s the 1200 now we are talking cc 's is a 1200 but unlike a sport bike its not built for speed harleys are built for torque but it is capable of lots of speed with a screaming eagle kit (stage 3)

First- sign up for a learning course- Google "motorcycle safety foundation"- they have courses all over the U.S. It is IMPERATIVE you take the course before you do anything else. They furnish the bike, so there is no risk of wrecking your own bike. And you learn so much! When Shannon took the course, she had never ridden and had never even driven a manual transmission car so she didn't even know how to use a clutch. By the end of the first day she was riding. By the end of the 2nd day she was really good.

Another benefit of taking the course is that once you finish the course (its only 2 days), you don't have to take the riding portion of the license test. All you have to do is go in and take the written portion of the test and walk out with your license.

So basically- you could have your license in hand, and the confidence to ride any bike, before you even start searching for a bike. So then you would be able to test ride bikes to see if you like one over another.

As far as buying advice- there's way too many bikes out there, some good, some not so good. It would be far easier for you to post up any that you are considering so that those of us with knowledge can fill you in on the good or bad of it.

yes Steve is so right there, that should be your first step. No, when it comes to buying a bike if it were me I'd buy a street bike but they are not for everyone. I would only buy a Ninja or a Buell. But I'm picky. My buddy John started out with a Honda Shadow he loved that bike. It all depends on what style you like and what you want the bike for. Speed, Looks, or just to get around town. But do go take the classes first. It make learning so much easier.

I plan on doing classes, but I wanted to find a bike so I can start to save up

I don't want a crotch rocket or a full blown chopper, just some kinda all round, I would before torque before top speed

Torque before speed... Not a crotch rocket... First thing that comes to my mind would be Suzuki Boulevard - before they changed the name to Boulevard 4 or 5 years ago, they were called Intruders. Great bikes, damn near bulletproof, driveshaft driven. They have 2 version- the 1400 and the 800. The 800 is lighter and quicker off the line but tends to get blown around a bit at highway speeds. The 1400 is heavier and has more torque- very strong pull thru the entire rpm band. If you look for an Intruder (instead of Boulevard) you can find them pretty inexpensive because the "Intruder" is an older model. But like I said, they are bulletproof so even though they are older (and cheaper) it would still be rock solid. That's what I used to build my chopper from. There's a really big aftermarket for them, so you can mod them all you want. Suzuki started building them in 1987 and still builds them today- which is a hell of a long time for any bike model to be around which is testimony to how good they are, and is why there is so many aftermarket parts available.

Here's mine when I bought it (yes- that's the infamous mini van in the garage LOL)



Here's Shannon's



And here's what mine looks like when I finished mod'ing it

OMG is that Heather?

also the harley sportster is a decent bike you can find used for a good price. it has a pretty good engine in it. I dont ride, but my wifes cousin has a shop and uses them to build choppers from.

last time i talked to him, he had 2 for sale. 1 modded and 1 stock.

Cats Custom Cycles.

Damn Steve nice van...I mean bike yeah bike. Na but really it's amazing what it started as and turned in too