[tzortn]

My kat was my first bike and I love it. I'm a big guy so the weight wasn't too much of a big deal. U turns did take some practiced. Everyone told me not to buy new but I found a great deal on ebay. This is my first session and it took me 9,000 miles before I laid it down, in a parking lot. (15mph) The damage was only cosmedic but it cost 500 bucks to fix. I think the kat is a great bike ,but it's not be the best starter for everyone.

ok im not sure i get it. being a 'big guy' shouldnt make the weight easier to handle. im 5'10 240 right now i can bench my body weight and squat more plates than i have around. But that means no thing when both feet are up on the pegs.

having more weight on the seat just adds to the problem, someone thats 140 pounds sitting in the seat has a 100 pounds less pulling them to the ground when leaned over. the seat is pretty high putting your weight high up, the higher the weight the harder things are to balance. a cruiser that seriously outweighs the kat seems like it weighs less because the center of gravity is drastically lower.

You bring up some good points. The Kat has a high CG that makes it more difficult to handle. The Kats high CG and overall weight makes it a lot less responsive. That is a good to a point beause it means that it is a more stable platformwhen moving, but it means that low speed stuff is a lot more difficult.

[bobs]

Re: How is the Katana as a first bike?

Other question is, how is the insurance on this bike?

I'm preparing to buy my neighbor's 96 Kat 750. Geico gives very convenient online quotes, makes it easy to play with the parameters of coverage. They're also giving me the lowest quote of anyplace I've checked.

Progressive, Foremost, State Farm, were all quite a bit higher.

Bikeline was even cheaper than Geico but I've heard they have poor service.

[md86]

Man , I LOVE hearing about the people who think Kats are heavy and hard to handle . My first 2 bikes were heavier and harder to handle , so I couldn't get over how light the Kat was when I first rode it , and how EASY I thought it was to maneuver .