Possibility of getting a New bike

[Phil1747]

I am/have been looking for a "new" used bike because everyone says i will drop it being a rook. For the price of a used bike i found a real offer of 5499 with another 500 matched down payment bringing it to 4999 which is a little more than the used bikes but all the ones i've found are still like 4200 for an 01 with "Some" dammage and how everyone says runs great, even tho i say the same thing and i have a tahoe impression in my front end in my car. Wondering what everyone thinks and if anyone is looking for a bigger bike i also found a busa for 7000 which i think is a good deal.

[WildKat]

Most times we suggest pre owned bikes to learn on not just becuase you're liable to drop it while you learn, but also its not so big of an investment to get started riding in and you won't lose as much if you do drop it or lay it down. Also you dont go thru the depreciation of a brand new bike right off the bat.

There are plenty of Kats out there and in our own bikes forums for 4000 or less that are in near new condition with very minor if any damage at all.

Most definately wouldnt recommend a busa for a beginner though for obvious reasons..but if someone is looking for one, for 7,000.00 , it could be a steal depending on the shape of it.

[Phil1747]

No way in Hell am i gona get a Busa for at least 10 years if i ever got one but i am haveing a hard time finding a used kat in the chicago area for a deacent price : 2000 "Great first Bike" 3995$ for the 5 hundo plus tax i get a bike i know how it was kept and what is wrong with it. Working at a Car dealership i know when they sell it and the sales guy says the Clutch was just replaced so it should be fine for a whil while we all know that the trannie is bad, that is part of the problem i am haveing, after working with these scum suckers is i don't truct them farther than i can throw these people. But now after typeing that and looking at a few threads for a few HOURS i am looking to see how far i may travel to look for a 600. and what all will the jet kit do for the bike? I am a car person right now, is it like NOS?

[The CyberPoet]

My advice: be willing to go out into the burbs/country a couple hours to find the deals. Scour MotorcycleTrader online (and realize they publish their ads Thursday mornings around 2am, so you get first crack at everything).
Look for a 500cc starter bike that runs well (far more important than looks).
Pay $2k (max) for it and buy it in cash so you don't owe anything on it.
Ride it for the year.

If you wreck it, and it's mangled, you can walk away without debt or worry (and probably without crying your eyes out at the debt-load; it's hard to look at $5+k of virtually new bike mangled on the road and be a man's man).

NOTE: STANDARD REPOST

Standard advice:

As a newbie, my advice is to look at cheap used bikes in the 400 to 500cc range. Find a bike that fits your build well, where you can put both feet on the ground and lean the bike between your thighs left and right a bit. The bike should be cheap -- $1k - $2k price range (preferably something you can afford in cash), physically light and nimble, and not all that powerful. If you wreck it during your learning curve, you won't cry at the financial penalty of it, and if you don't wreck it, you'll be able to get out of it whatever it cost you in the first place... It'll also teach you better riding habits.

To quote myself:

the Ninja 250 & 500's, Bandit 400's, Suzuki GS500 are an ideal starter bikes... [Newbie "riders"] would learn far better habits on the smaller bike than on a typical Katana (for reasons I'm about to explain):

There are certain great advantages to starting out on a small, nimble, high-rev'ving bike with a low total cost. Among others, you will learn to use the handling and power with far more finess and far more skill than you would on a larger, more powerful bike like the Kat. To put that into terms that make sense to someone coming from the car world:

When Colin McRae, the world-champion WRC (world rally cup) driver first started to drive (age 12 - 14), he did so swiping his dad's 1972 Ford Fiesta/Escort with a miniscule 1.2 or 1.4 liter engine. It had power nothing -- manual steering, manual brakes, and high-rev'ing engine with little torque. This taught him everything from precise handling to carrying speed through corners, finess and control, matching shift-speeds and proper gear selection. If his father had owned a Cadillac Eldorado with a 501 cubic inch engine and automatic-power-everything, he would have never had the opportunity (or the need) to learn proper gear selection, finess in handling, traction and handling loss of traction, etc. -- the huge engine and huge car just never require it of the driver. In the same sense, a larger, heavier and more torque-rich bike never require you to learn certain fine nuances of riding... you can just punch out in whatever gear for a passing maneuver, you don't need to carry speed through corners, etc. And there's the crux -- if you learn these skills as habits with your first bike, they go with you for the rest of your life. On the other hand, if you don't learn them at the beginning, unlearning mediocre and poor habits and learning the better/advanced habits later is very difficult and something many never master...
Thus, for all the same reasons that McRae went on to be the winningest rally champ in history, I say to you, get the Ninja 250 or 500, or a bandit 400, a nighthawk 450, etc., and start there. By the time you move up in a year or three, you'll be riding circles around at least half the guys who started on a Katana, and doing so with great confidence.

Just my two cents worth.
Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[Anonymous]

i agree with cyber i had a 500cc when i first started loved it and wouldnt you know 12 years later of riding i got another and would you beleive i still love it as much at i did when i first got it .

[goduke]

Look on Craigs List in the nearby major citys, not just Chicago.

[WildKat]

i agree with cyber i had a 500cc when i first started loved it and wouldnt you know 12 years later of riding i got another and would you beleive i still love it as much at i did when i first got it .

nothing wrong with 500cc bikes at all. Its all in what you make of it, you can have just as much fun on 500 as you can on a 1000.

[Phil1747]

The Bandit turned into the GS500F didn't it

[The CyberPoet]

The Bandit turned into the GS500F didn't it

Nope. The bandit still exists in some markets, now with a 650 engine in the European version. The old GS500 turned into the GS500F with the addition of a full fairing.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[Phil1747]

Cyber- I have been looking at the gs500f and thx for the insight it looks great and after reading about 4 hrs of posts and specs and other misc forums. I am wondering where i can find some used ones in the illinois/wi/Ind/Ohio area? i have looked at creigs and cycle trader and e-bay E-bay pic Everyone says that they loose 1/2 the value so that is why i am looking for one used and then i can prob get most of my money back as long as nothing goes wrong. Thanks for the help. -Phil

[The CyberPoet]

That one on eBay looks like a great deal on a GS500F starter bike... at least at the current price. My guess is that if you show up on his door step with $3k in pocket tomorrow, he'd sell it out from under the auction before it closed.

The GS500F only started being offered last year; search for GS500 instead if you're looking for one a few years older to get more hits. Also search for the Ninja 500 (GP500Z, aka EX500) as well, which has somewhat better performance values and which many more of were sold (far better chance of getting a positive hit in a search). When I sent looking for a bike for the GF, I searched for the GS500, the Bandit 400 (rare these days, older), and the Ninja 500, and ended up taking a ninja 500 for her at $1600... It'll do 120 in stock form new, and 130 with my hefty butt on it the way it was configured from the last guy (DynoJet jetkit, jardin headers, D&D muffler).

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[Choco]

Hey Phil,

I went trough the same scenario tryed to get a used one but wasnt to much savings so I got a brand new 750 with warranty on it hopefully this helps

[Yellow2002Kat]

Have you tried looking on www.cycletrader.com ? That's where I found the Kat I bought a few years back. Might find something for yourself there...

[JohnE1000]

Have you considered the Ninja 250?
It is great fun bike. I never had one myself, however I know few people who have them. They have other bikes like VFR and CBR, but they still ride the 250 to the Gap. They say it is very light, and easy to menuver.

It is under 3K brand new. You can find a used one for under 2K. The insurance in dirt cheap on this bike, plus you get 55 MPG.

[JamesS]

The great thing about the 250 Ninja is the resale value. Since they're increadibly popular as starter bikes, you can almost always get back what you paid for it. 2000-2300 seems to be a good holding price for the 250 even as you start approaching 6-8 years.
They're also very reliable bikes and still have the ability to get to 90+ on the highway.
This gives you the option to keep the bike a week, season, or several years while not losing anything if you decide you don't like the sport, want something bigger, etc. Not losing money is always a good thing!