Question:

How do I know what body style of motorcycle to buy?

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There are so many different body styles. Theres ones that the person's weight is centerred over the back tire and ones with the weight centerred in between the tires. There's wide ones and skinny ones. There are some with a plastic frame covering the suspension and some without. Some have wheels where the front and back have a different radius, some have a different width. I guess what Im asking is if albert einstein wanted to buy a motorcycle, what would he understand about the different body styles that could help him decide what motorcycle to buy based on speed, turning, and breaking?

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  1. Einstein liked bicycles


  2. i 'd have to say a good starter bike like

    the GS500F 487cc.

    great for begginers sport bike style great gas mileage

    mostly all u want in a bike

    so yea

  3. It is simple? Which one do you like? How do you see yourself? What do your closest circle of friends ride and do you wish to copy them?  It's all good. Remember - different is not better or worse.

  4. How are you planning on riding a bike? commuting, pleasure, sport, touring?

    Are you planning on riding a passenger?

    or: All of the above?

    If all of the above is your answer I recommend a 'do anything bike"

    Suzuki SV650, SV650S with wind fairing, or a V Strom 650, with or without ABS

    Kawasaki 650 Ninja, or Verseys

    Yamaha FZ6

    ( the 600-650cc size of bikes are fast enough for anybody, plus they offer easy handling and excellent fuel economy)

    IF, you want to spend more money and want more power, there is the Suzuki V Strom 1000, the Yamaha FZ1, and FJR1300, the Honda ST300.

    the sport bikes offer the best in speed, turning and braking

  5. You buy what the h**l looks and feels good to you. They are all designed to be ridden but not necessarily the same way. If it appeals to you and feels good when you sit on it......buy that sucker! Ride it safely and ride it proudly. Don't worry, nobody has a bike that EVERYONE here likes!

  6. Einstein would ride a BMW while Jesus would ride a Harley Sportster...what are ya gonna do?

    First, your comfort should play a big role unless you want to emulate Peter Fonda in Easy Rider, or a Ninja on the Japanese crotch rockets.

    Cruisers are just that, they are built to have a laid back seating arrangement...

    BMW's are generally meant to give you a more straight up and down riding as are Moto Guzzi's and Enfield Bullets.

    Crotch rockets are meant to give you a close to the asphalt in your racing face posture...but don't try cross country like this...you may never get back up again!

    Hardtail choppers are just that...hard. Don't expect a long distance journey with that...when you stop your entire spine will be asleep.

    The Highway Patrol here switched from Harley Davidson to BMW's and I asked them why. I was told the bikes are faster off the line and in high speed chases, but Harley's do retain their value better...in this economy...who really knows?

    A Harley Davidson Road King is a great choice, with air adjusted rear shocks, wide saddle, detachable windshield and bags, low seat heighth (feet flat on the ground at an intersection) and more.

    The Honda Goldwing is a full on entertainment system and sofa on wheels...for about $5,000.00 more!

    The BMW is a little more than the Harley with a little less with better geometry for upright riding.

    Two wheels front and back the same size is best for cornering...all three offer that. A Beamer would be easier to stuff in the garage with the Harley next...but the Honda may need a hanger of it's own!

    Harleys come in different suspension variety...my back can't take their soft tails, as it's suspension is a small shock in the swingarm, and in a dip, the Harley kind of folds in the center...so I have to use the Road King that the whole bike responds to dips...same with BMW and Goldwing.

  7. If Uncle Al was looking at a motorcycle, he'd look FIRST at functionality.  If, in a class of four bikes, one has dual disk brakes and one has dual drums and the other two have a disk front and drum rear, which one do you think he'd buy?) And that comes before Body work, or style or anything.  (It's all decoration on smaller bikes, anyway).

    And you may be limited by your height, so that you can't buy some dual street/dirt bikes, and cruisers are generally the leader in that field.

    So go with your own strong points after that.

    On more expensive bikes you get some real advantages to certain bikes.  (Air adjustable front forks, for example or shocks with adjustable rebound damping, that sort of thing.)

    After you get all that worked out, then allow you prejudices free reign.  If you want a small sport bike, there is only one, so a lot of thinking can be shortcircuited right there. But if you want a 250cc cruiser, I won't ask why, then you have a bit more thinking. Rebel or Night Hawk?  (the Rebel hast disk front and drum rear, and no other cruisers can beat that, so put it at the top of the list.  

    Most cruisers have a tiny tank capacity, and that figures in a lot more than you imagine it will. Who cares if you get a bike that gets 70 mpg, but you can't ride it all the way to work, without a gas stop?

    And then there is handling, and feel, that are difficult to quantify. But they DO play a part, at least in someone's dreams.  (you may never reach the skill to take a 250 down the Pacific Coast highway, faster than a 750, but I suppose Mike Hailwood might, and we can all dream that if we had a better handling bike, we'd show them).

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