exercise bikes rebel sport image
mypfsman
I need the best balance between price, ease of riding, and reliability for a new rider.
What is the difference between a sportbike and a cruiser?
Wat is the MSF course?
Answer
I'll answer your questions in reverse order.
The MSF course is a basic training class for motorcycles. You spend a weekend with an instructor explaining how to control the bike and practicing various exercises in controls. They provide the bike - you just have to show up with pants, boots, gloves, and a long sleeve shirt (although it helps to bring your own helmet too). And they'll give you tips about how to stay safe on the street. At the end there will be a test (both written and on the bike).
Cruisers tend to have old fashioned styling, lots of chrome, and a riding position that will put your feet directly below or in front of your knees. Sport bikes have plastic bodywork and are tuned for power and performance. The sport bikes I would recommend for a beginner tend to have a rather upright seating position with your feet below your hips and your upper body upright or only slightly leaned forward. Some of the more advanced sport bikes have you leaned forward and your feet almost feeling like they're behind you - I would not recommend one of those as a first bike, as most bikes with that riding posture are designed for experienced riders.
These aren't the only two types of motorcycles out there - you'll also find standards (similar riding position to what I described for a beginner sport bike, without the plastic bodywork), dual sports (basically, street legal dirt bikes), and scooters as large and as powerful as small motorcycles. Visit a few dealers, sit on a few bikes, and see which style suits you best. You will definitely want a bike that you feel comfortable on and where you can plant both feet flat on the ground while sitting on it.
Here are some good bikes for a new rider on a budget:
Honda Rebel: A cruiser that's very light and small, so it's easy for smaller riders to control. Has enough power for in-town riding, but will have a little trouble keeping up on the freeway. Reliability? Not only is it a Honda, but they've been building these for over 20 years and have the bugs worked out.
Yamaha Virago 250: Similar to the Rebel but with classic V-twin styling.
Kawasaki Ninja 250: A great entry level sport bike that's tame enough for new riders but will keep up with freeway traffic even if local drivers are total maniacs.
Buell Blast: A standard bike with enough get up and go for highway use. More expensive than the other bikes, but it's designed especially for low maintenance. Hardly anything you need to do to it besides change the oil and keep the tires properly inflated - the other bikes require such things as chain adjustments and valve work periodically.
I'll answer your questions in reverse order.
The MSF course is a basic training class for motorcycles. You spend a weekend with an instructor explaining how to control the bike and practicing various exercises in controls. They provide the bike - you just have to show up with pants, boots, gloves, and a long sleeve shirt (although it helps to bring your own helmet too). And they'll give you tips about how to stay safe on the street. At the end there will be a test (both written and on the bike).
Cruisers tend to have old fashioned styling, lots of chrome, and a riding position that will put your feet directly below or in front of your knees. Sport bikes have plastic bodywork and are tuned for power and performance. The sport bikes I would recommend for a beginner tend to have a rather upright seating position with your feet below your hips and your upper body upright or only slightly leaned forward. Some of the more advanced sport bikes have you leaned forward and your feet almost feeling like they're behind you - I would not recommend one of those as a first bike, as most bikes with that riding posture are designed for experienced riders.
These aren't the only two types of motorcycles out there - you'll also find standards (similar riding position to what I described for a beginner sport bike, without the plastic bodywork), dual sports (basically, street legal dirt bikes), and scooters as large and as powerful as small motorcycles. Visit a few dealers, sit on a few bikes, and see which style suits you best. You will definitely want a bike that you feel comfortable on and where you can plant both feet flat on the ground while sitting on it.
Here are some good bikes for a new rider on a budget:
Honda Rebel: A cruiser that's very light and small, so it's easy for smaller riders to control. Has enough power for in-town riding, but will have a little trouble keeping up on the freeway. Reliability? Not only is it a Honda, but they've been building these for over 20 years and have the bugs worked out.
Yamaha Virago 250: Similar to the Rebel but with classic V-twin styling.
Kawasaki Ninja 250: A great entry level sport bike that's tame enough for new riders but will keep up with freeway traffic even if local drivers are total maniacs.
Buell Blast: A standard bike with enough get up and go for highway use. More expensive than the other bikes, but it's designed especially for low maintenance. Hardly anything you need to do to it besides change the oil and keep the tires properly inflated - the other bikes require such things as chain adjustments and valve work periodically.
Is the MSF Motorcycle course hard?
t1234
So I'm planning to take the MSF beginners motorcycle course and on the website they say it's "physically demanding" and they make it seem like you have to do an iron man to pass the course. Are they doing this to scare people or what?. Heres a link to the FAQ page for the North Carolina website-
http://www.ncmotorcyclesafety.org/FAQ.htm
Thanks
Answer
The days can be long, especially if the weather is hot. Since a lot of people haven't ridden before, they're usually tense which makes the whole thing a little bit more physically challenging. And last but not least, we tend to get a lot of people who aren't very physically active and they don't understand that there is some physical skill and effort involved.
As far as the bikes go, they're usually dual sports or really small displacement cruisers (we use Suzuki dual sports, some Honda Nighthawk 250's, Honda Rebels, and for some reason a couple Suzuki TU 250s). All the bikes are around 300 pounds or even less, which is fairly light for a motorcycle, but if you're rather small, even that can be a lot for some people.
As far as dropping the bike and failing, that's only during the test (even if you take it at the DMV, if you drop it, you'll fail, in fact, some will actually fail you if you stall it so many times). You can drop the bike every other exercise, and while I might get annoyed with you, that won't necessarily cause you to fail the class. However, if you don't meet the objectives of the exercises, then that can lead to me counseling people out of the class.
Overall, the class is aimed at beginners, and if you're in decent health and don't have any physical/mental restrictions, the class shouldn't be overly difficult. I don't think the website is trying to scare people off, but some people think that it's going to be an automatic pass. Unfortunately, though we have a high pass rate, I probably fail 2-4 people a month, sometimes more (each of my classes is up to 12 people, each weekend).
The days can be long, especially if the weather is hot. Since a lot of people haven't ridden before, they're usually tense which makes the whole thing a little bit more physically challenging. And last but not least, we tend to get a lot of people who aren't very physically active and they don't understand that there is some physical skill and effort involved.
As far as the bikes go, they're usually dual sports or really small displacement cruisers (we use Suzuki dual sports, some Honda Nighthawk 250's, Honda Rebels, and for some reason a couple Suzuki TU 250s). All the bikes are around 300 pounds or even less, which is fairly light for a motorcycle, but if you're rather small, even that can be a lot for some people.
As far as dropping the bike and failing, that's only during the test (even if you take it at the DMV, if you drop it, you'll fail, in fact, some will actually fail you if you stall it so many times). You can drop the bike every other exercise, and while I might get annoyed with you, that won't necessarily cause you to fail the class. However, if you don't meet the objectives of the exercises, then that can lead to me counseling people out of the class.
Overall, the class is aimed at beginners, and if you're in decent health and don't have any physical/mental restrictions, the class shouldn't be overly difficult. I don't think the website is trying to scare people off, but some people think that it's going to be an automatic pass. Unfortunately, though we have a high pass rate, I probably fail 2-4 people a month, sometimes more (each of my classes is up to 12 people, each weekend).
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