Girl getting started needs help....

[Jayfive]

Contrary to what you may be thinking, I am not the girl that needs the help  :)

I have a friend who is eager to purchase her first street bike but wants something used, smaller, managable, and unitimidating on which to learn,

I thought I'd poll the crowd to see what your opinions were on a good starter bike...

I'm thinking Buell Blast, Suzuki GZ250 or Honda Rebel type bikes...What are your thoughts??....

[Xian_13]

personally,
I would avoid the Blast and the rebel.
Once she has out grown these bikes, they will be hard to sell.

Honestly, I would go with a SV650 or that new Kawi 650.
A monster 750/900 might not be that bad either, but cost is going to be alot more.

As long as she has respect for what ever she does buy, she should be fine.

XIII

[EX#996]

First sign her up for the MSF course.  It was a wonderful way for many of the fairer sex to get a feel for it.

Next, buy something used and cheap and 600cc's or less with the understanding that when a person is first learning, the bike will hit the ground.  Nothing as tramatic as a crash or anything, but I have seen many drop it in the parking lot (myself included sorry to say).  Broken body work is a lot easier to deal with when you know you've only spent a few hundred bucks on the thing.

Once her confidence is built and she's riding well... Then it's time to go shopping for the permanent bike.

My $.02

Dawn   ;)

[tzracer]

Depending upon her size, the Ninja 250 is a good choice. My wife has one. We bought it new in 1999, $3000 out the door. It goes plenty fast, I have ridden it on my 70 mile round trip commute (city, highway and freeway - 80+ mph) and it works fine. Gets in the neighborhood of 70mpg. If we get my wife a new bike I may keep the Ninja to use as a summer commuting bike. The insurance costs $75 per year.

[jer271]

RC51 :o

[Team-G]

I have a friend who is eager to purchase her first street bike but wants something used, smaller, managable, and unitimidating on which to learn,

So this is how you hit on the girls, hey Johnny?  Dude, you're smooth  8)

[K3 Chris Onwiler]

I think an SV650 would be the current best bike for a beginner.  Light weight, torquey, so it's easy to get moving, comfortable, forgiving, but with plenty of potential to spare as she improves.
Once she's got the bike and has gained a bit of confidence riding it, the next logical step is Sportbike Track Time.  STT has a branch called Femmoto that is all about women helping other women learn how to ride better in a trackday environment.  Femmoto riders even get a discount!  (Damn girls!)
http://www.sportbiketracktime.com/

[oldguy]

K1200LTE  ;D

[Jayfive]

Thanks for your input all.  I had thought of the SV almost immediately due to my personal love for that machine.  However, I think the 31+" seat hieght would be too much.  This girl is small.  She is 5'0" and maybe a buck.  She is strong but her feet need to be on the ground.  I need to get her on an SV and the 29" Ninja 250 to see but I think they will be too tall...hmmm...

She sat on a Honda Shadow Spirit with a 26.6" seat and that fits her well, but that tank is 500lbs dry.... a bit too much she thinks...

[dylanfan53]

You may have already thought of this, but I took a stock seat into an auto upholstery place and for $40 they cut a couple inches off it and recovered it to look brand new.
I should add that I tried doing this myself the first time.  Not knowing that the right tool to use is an electric knife (like everybody knows that, right?) the end result with scissors and a staple gun was a seat that looked like the surface of the moon.  ::)

[Mark Bernard]

Ok, here is my .02

I would consider (being a Harley guy) a Sporster. On a 05 standard Sportie the seat height is 28.3" I am not sure about the 883's and the 883 Huggers.

The bike is very nice. And reasonably priced also. The Sporsters do depreciate a little. Which is about the only model that does. So she won't take a huge hit when she sells it. (if she does!) lol

My girlfriend Becky, took the Motorcycle Safty Course here in Rockford and recieved her license. We found her an 03 883 Hugger. Becdky is also rather small. 5'1"ish. The bike fits her great, it has plenty of power, she loves it.

On a side note...

When she first got it and started riding, she did ok but didn't really feel comfortable. She then took the "Lady's Clinic" with Learning Curves and that made a HUGE differance in her riding.

Ok... that's my .02

Mark

[H-man]

Not in any particular order:

SV 650; Monster 750ie; Ninja 250