cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/18882293
Just another reason to not buy a Harley, beyond the lackluster build quality and mediocre performance.
Hey guys I’m just about saved up for a motorcycle course so I can get my license and just ran across this thread while browsing Everything, and thought this might be a good time to ask what a good bike would be to get as someone new to riding?
How tall/big are you? It makes a difference.
What style bike do you like?
I’m 6’2" 170 lbs. Tall and skinny. I think crotch rockets look cool, but so do (pardon my ignorance) those Harley type of bikes that go badoombadoombadoom.
The former looks fun while the latter looks more comfortible for going down the highway to another city, and getting stuck in traffic along the way.
I’m embarassingly ill informed but have always wanted to get on a bike, and thought it was funny that a community named Motorcycles doesn’t seem to like Harley Davidson. (Most people I know who ride own Harleys, so I just kinda thought that’s the kind you get)
So please, change my mind, inform me on what ever the hell you want me to know
If you want both fun and comfort, try a naked bike! You get fairly upright ergonomics, but sporty street performance. Good beginner bikes would include the Yamaha MT-03 and Kawasaki Z400.
If you like crotch rockets, a beginner sport bike is a great choice. They’re even sportier but still not very uncomfortable like the 600s. The Yamaha R3 and Kawasaki Ninja 400, or one of the older Ninja EX500’s are my beginner recommendations.
If you like the big cruiser V-twins (that’s Harley’s thing) instead, something like a Honda Shadow 750 or Suzuki Boulevard C50 gets you that experience without paying Harley prices.
Speaking of prices, I highly suggest you buy a used bike as your first, because you may drop it while getting the hang of things and you avoid most of the depreciation of a new bike. Then, you can see what kind of riding you really want to do and upgrade from there!
Harley-Davidson motorcycles are more of a brand than a bike, so they’re not known for being reliable or comfortable to ride compared to a lot of other bikes. That being said, they’re perfectly fine if that’s what you want, and you understand that you’ll have a higher likelihood of something like a persistent oil leak, or annoying electrical issue.
The local motorcycle school by us uses Yamaha dual sport bikes for taller riders, they’re pretty inexpensive compared to other bikes, they can take a beating, and they’re pretty easy to buy and sell used.
I have a tall buddy that got a Honda NC700X as his first bike and he’s been riding it for years on pretty long road trips. It has an automatic transmission and ABS brakes, so compared to a lot of bikes, it has a surprising amount of safety features.
Of course, get what you like. The old saying is it’s better to buy a bike you’ll grow out of, then to buy a bike you’ll grow into.
Make a new post. But I always suggest a 400 if your going to sell it after a season or a 600 if you want to keep it for a while.
I wouldn’t recommend anyone starting on a 600 supersport of they haven’t ever ridden a motorcycle before. Too much power, too aggressive ergonomics. 400s are still plenty fast to 60mph. My recommendation is 300cc-500cc for a sport or naked bike, or up to 800cc for cruisers (where you really gotta watch out more for high weight than high power)
They’re referring to engine displacement. 400cc and 600cc. You’ll find manufacturers tend to make roughly the same engine sizes for different bike types. Like 150cc, 250-300cc, 500cc, 600-700cc, then 1000-1300cc. Since you’re starting out, a good idea is to start small like somewhere between a 300-500cc bike. Typically, the larger the displacement, the more power the engine can produce. Practice your skills and get a good foundation for actually controlling the bike at slow and high speeds. A Honda Rebell 500 (cruiser) can go 90mph no problem and is light, nimble, relatively easy to work on, and easy to control at slow speeds since it has a low center of gravity, so it’s a bike you can start with and keep for a long time. Honda uses the same 500cc engine in different styles of bikes but with different tuning, like the cbr500 (sport), CB500 (standard), NX500 (dual sport). Eventually if you decide you actually like motorcycles and want to “upgrade,” you can get a bigger displacement bike somewhere between 600-1000cc, depending on your needs/interest. What kind of style do you like? Cruiser, sport, standard, etc. You can’t go wrong with Honda, Kawasaki, or Yamaha to start off with. They tend to have decent maintenance intervals and are easy to work on.
I assume their target demographic is aging dudes going through a midlife crisis, so this is unsurprising to me.
fuck robby starbuck, the self-hating minority. Someone should tell him pick-me’s don’t generally do well in conservative circles
I actually had to look him up. Do you think this is all pressure from him?
The article specifically calls him out, so I assume it was spearheaded by him, yes.
Harley joins Tractor Supply Co., Deere & Co., and competitor Polaris Inc. in scaling back or changing DEI policies following an ongoing campaign by activist Robby Starbuck on social media against what he calls woke corporations.
Harley, David Son of Harley, Quinn?
