[Tfug] [OT] WTB: motorcycle

[Matt Jacob]

Jim, Chuck, et al.:

How do you feel about the Kawasaki Ninja 250? I can get a brand-new 2008 
model for about $4000, and then I can be the first person to dent the 
gas tank or put some scratches in the fairings. :-) I've heard it's a 
good little beginner bike, and does particularly well around town. The 
only downside is that there's a waiting list to get one because it's 
proven to be very popular as of late.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Matt

Jim March wrote:
> Ohhh boy.
> 
> If you "suppose you're getting a sportbike", and you don't know much 
> about them, alarm bells go off.  Of the "oh God he's gonna die" type.
> 
> OK.  Pay attention here, because this part's important.
> 
> The insurance rates on bikes vary a lot by type.   The "type" with THE 
> MOST expensive insurance, esp. for younger pilots, is for the higher-end 
> 600cc sportbikes.
> 
> It can run as high as $2k a year for full coverage - for somebody with a 
> clean record but new to bikes.
> 
> This is the insurance company's way of saying "oh shit, he's toast".
> 
> What's going on is, a high-end 600cc four cylinder bike will make 100hp 
> or more.  It will redline somewhere around 13,000rpm or more.  MOST of 
> the power will be up past 9,000 or more.
> 
> In other words, hammer it and the initial feel will be fairly mellow.  
> Down around 3,000-4,000rpm it'll be a pussycat - as little as 35hp.  As 
> the revs climb, horsepower will NOT rise smoothly.  It'll come on in 
> peaks.  Hitting one of those peaks in mid-corner means death.  I'm 
> serious: when HP jumps from 70 to 90 in the space of as little as 200rpm 
> as some of these crazy things do, the rear wheel is going to break 
> traction.  Somebody really good will feel it coming and hover it on the 
> edge, or recover from a minor break.
> 
> A newbie will "high side".
> 
> A high-side is where the rear end steps out maybe a foot, hooks up 
> traction again and flings you up to 60 feet worth of hangtime.  Face 
> first.  Watch that landing, it's a doozy.
> 
> Ghaaa.
> 
> The solution if you want to learn to ride fast is to get something with 
> TWO cylinders first.  Or even one.  The fewer the cylinders, the less 
> "peaky" the powerband.  It also means less peak horsepower for the 
> displacement but...that's OK if means surviving the learning curve.
> 
> I should finally have my bike fixed and registered within the next 
> month.  My ride is the same size and power as a 600cc sportbike.  And I 
> can hang right with 'em - I've got 20 years piloting under my belt 
> including a couple years streetracing in the Santa Cruz mountains 
> (California) damn near every weekend.  Never wiped out.  My ride now: a 
> Buell S3 Thunderbolt with mods.  This is a two-cylinder, 1,250cc low-RPM 
> "grunt motor" (heavily modified Harley Sportster engine) with a broad, 
> controllable powerband rather than a high-RPM "screamer-motor".  You 
> could survive the learning curve on THAT better than you could a Jap 600.
> 
> Come to the meet tonight, we'll talk more, OK?  To really advise you I'd 
> need to know your height, weight and experience level.
> 
> Look...I had a good friend die on a bike I sold him.  That still tears 
> me up.  He was a total wildman, it was his fault, but...still hurts.
> 
> I am NOT saying "don't ride".  There are bikes out there that can teach 
> a newbie to ride to the edge, that are fun as hell, handle great but 
> don't have the bad habits the top rides have.  The Suzuki SV650 is a 
> great choice for most rider sizes:
> 
> http://phoenix.craigslist.org/mcy/694719071.html
> 
> Jim March
> 
> 
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