I'm confused, was it a gift or a good price? An '08 Sporty would go for around $6k around here, they are nice bikes! I bet your brother is in hog heaven (pun intended).

 

Yep, just one of my other interests. It's hard to make progress on the truck when I'm on a trip.

Riding in Custer State Park.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVFA8RTkSzo

 

Finally got it home tonight. Since it was late and the PO took it to the bar to meet (and we didn't want it staying in the back of a bar on Main Street) I walked it home the couple blocks. Man that thing is heavy! Didn't want to drive it as the first ride should be his and I've never driven one before, twilight doesn't seem like the best time to learn, lol.

It's an '08 Harley-Davidson, 1200cc, black with orange. He got it for what was still due on the bike, not what the PO was going to sell it for. It's a whole lot more bike that what he had the money for, the best I could find him was like a '78 Honda with a lot of miles for that price, plus a touring bike doesn't drive the same. It won't be long till I need to get my own. Just sitting on it tonight brought back a great deal of amazing memories with my dad when I was a kid before we had to stop ridding. I'll be glad to take it up as it's sorta a family tradition, heck my grandfather was chief of police and the motorcycle squad. My other grandfather was passionate about them too. And I have a riding jacket that's been passed down since him, it's tiny bit too short if I'm not wearing gloves, but you can't beat the nostalgia.



There is so much right with that shot...

 

wow very nice ..congrat's !!

 

Not to dig up this old thread but with a few updates to go with it I thought it was a good time to say thanks to everyone with their help and thought it would also be a good idea in case this is stumbled upon by someone later on as I think my experience with it all would help.

The training course I think is a must. Just got back from one this weekend, about 20 hours, 13 miles on a bike, classroom and parking lot stuff, nothing all that advanced yet. However I found there was a tremendous amount of things that I don't think you would pick up on your own in the first year of riding. Ways of turning and feeling a counter steer for example. It also helped out tremendously to learn how to find a bikes friction zone and throttle response.

My very first experience on my brothers bike was not really a good one. Eager to try it out I jumped on with only a vague idea of what I was doing. The controls seemed easy enough but I had zero experience actually using them. I'm a 'dive right in' kind of guy, so I gave it a shot. I think part of the problem is I had too many years on a bicycle and as such my muscle memory for the clutch was that of a brake. The first couple times I killed it. Being use a car where if it dies with a slow clutch just add a little gas, that's what I did. Or so I thought.

His bike hits 30mph in first gear in about 2 car lengths at an 1/8th throttle. He'll hit it in one car length at 1/4 throttle. We figure I did at least half throttle and popped the clutch. Did a burn out all the way from the start to the end where the tire marks stopped and the carves in the pavement began. Minor damage to the bike, minor damage to me all things considered. I discovered how much more damage you get without even just a shirt's material, my forearm scared decently, my shoulder was hit the same but had no road rash, just bruises.

After that we sorta realized the safety course was a must. It's embarrassing to admit eating pavement like that and being in over my head, but I figured if it kept someone else from doing the same, I'll deal with it.


(not the bikes oil btw, though it does seem to leak a tiny bit now)

The training helped put some real skills down to build upon. I got back on the bike today, probably spent a good 20 minutes just in the friction zone, another hour going around the parking lot with just the clutch out and no throttle, another hour after that till I used any throttle at all. I plan on a couple more hours at least before I go on the road at all, but I'm growing more comfortable with the bike quickly. Just had to get over that experience of 0-30 in under a second, I had never experienced something so quick and was not prepared at all for it.

The season is almost up but I'm going to try to be as comfortable with the bike as I can before the roads get snow/ice/gravel on them and we have to wait till spring. Maybe take a couple more advanced courses later on. It's a great deal of fun once I'm comfortable with what I'm doing and it's muscle memory that doesn't require any thinking, just reacting. Nothing else quite like it, I'll have to get my own bike one of these days I think.

Thanks again for all the help. I just wanted to share that experience because I really do think you need to take a course to learn how to ride. There is just so much more to it than meets the eye and it's easy to get bad habits from the start. Learning how to do it right and not just assuming you can because you're good with a car makes the whole thing a hell of a lot easier and more fun to say the least. It's a night and day difference. It's extremely different than driving a car, it's critical to understand turning (seeing as you push the handle bars right to go right, which turns the wheel left, that's a hard thing to wrap your head around without actually feeling the motorcycle show you why) and brakes, and how not to lock it up, or to make a corner, or to swerve, or what you can run over (I never thought I could run a 4x4 over at 20mph so easily), but everything has a trick to it that's critical to not eat pavement.

So, anyone interested in riding, take a course. Just too much to do at the same time (both feet, both hands, both arms, your body position, knees, your head, where you look, ect) to just go out there and expect to do it.

Oh, and btw, three of the "worst" riders there had been riding for several years and had a great deal of bad habits they spent all weekend trying to break. Ones who never had ridden actually did better with less effort because they didn't have to relearn it. It's also quite nice to learn on a bike that's not yours or a friends, so if you damage it you don't have to fix it. Not to mention they start you out on a 200-250cc bike, so if you mess up and give it too much throttle you don't fly off the back of the bike as it crashes going 40mph. Helps out a lot starting without a huge bike.

So to sum up: Take a course, it's not that you can't figure it out on your own, it's that it will save you a good year or so and truly make you a much better rider. And no one can promise you you'll survive a situation and learn what to do in it if you have no training at all before. In an emergency you only do what you've been trained to do, if you haven't been trained, you panic. There is no room to learn during it. And I'd much rather learn how to swerve a bike under 6' on a course with nothing to hit than to try it when it's a garbage truck I'll run into if I fail. It takes practice. A lot of practice.

And I'm just starting out, but the skills are there to learn on. Looking forward to becoming a great rider

Thanks again for the help everyone!

 

everyone dumps sooner or later ..after 40..5..years riding I have made nearly all the mistreeks riding ..glad you are getting lessons ,,take your time enjoy !!

 

Yeah both my grandfather's laid it down the first time out. I figure I got it out of the way, lol. It's still amazing to me how quick they are, only like a new Lamborghini could launch that way in a car. I'm so use to a car "spooling up" verse just being shot like a bullet. Doesn't take too long to realize why all the riders I see lean over the tank when they go fast, otherwise you snap back and give it more throttle and can't reach the brakes lol!

 

this is a Harley ,,right ?? good bike .. but if you want to learn fear and respect for power ..you gotta try one of the jap power monsters ..Hybusa or one of the 150 plus hp in a 500 lb rocket WILL require a change of underwear !!my Mom rode harley when she was pregnant with me ..so I understand the history ..

 

We had a lady rider that just bought an 02 Fatboy. We advised her to take the safety course and she did. Her husband rode with her on his bike and said she was doing great. After about a week of riding she made a curve, hit gravel, pelvis broke in three places, broke back, four broken ribs on one side, five on the other. The safety course is great but give yourself some saddle time before you get out over your head!!!

 

I've owned pretty much every type and style of motorcycle over the years but i've never owned a sportbike. I bought this one about a month ago from some kid who got a ticket on it and was told (by his father) that he had to sell it. I paid a $1000. for it (and stuck another $250. in parts into it) but she looks and runs pretty nice now. I was going to flip it for some quick cash but I might keep her around for a spin or two next summer. I sold my '73 Triumph Tiger to buy Lucille, then I sold my Harley Heritage Softail to upgrade the suspension, wheels, steering, etc. on Lucille. Then I sold my last bike (Honda Sabre) on concrete for the new garage... again, for Lucille (I think I see why my wife is jealous!) so this may be all I can afford to ride.

Wally

1951 F1 - "Lucille"

 

Sorry to hear of that, but the Darwin Principle is very evident in the biker world. You can be a crappy car driver for years and not have any trouble, but on a bike there is no margin for error.

Wally, I'd love to own one of those sportbikes but when I had a Triumph Daytona, after a couple blocks my wrists were numb. How do you find the bars on that?

 

Well I've only ridden it around the block a few times but considering I'm fifty now and not the slimmest I've been, I'll most likely end up selling it in the Springtime. I'm more of cruiser kind of guy (but the price is worth giving her a try!)

Wally

1951 F1 - "Lucille"

 

I started on sportbikes, but have moved on to a much more upright position now ( BMW R1100GS) and am much more comfortable.

A friend wanted me to take his son's CBR1100RR out just to keep the fluids moving occasionally while his son was deployed. My wrists and neck were sore within 5 minutes.

While some of the sportbikes look like sex on wheels (Ducati for example), they make me sore just looking at them.

 

The saddist wreck I have seen was on national TV. The host of the show Pinks was inpatient about a car returning from a run down the track and jumped on somebody's sport bike to go find out what the hold up was. You can hear someone in the background tell him to be careful, but, because he's mad, he nails the throttle anyway and it dumps him right there on the pavement within 30 feet! The next scene shows him in the first aid tent getting bandaged up. He then told everybody out in TV land to be very careful when riding somebody else's motorcycle because this could happen to you.

Be careful and drive very defensively. Jag