i would like to address the safety issue:

1- by ALL means, take a MSF course

one thing you will learn is safety stats. there are 3 factors that are usually present at a vast majority of MC accidents. those 3 factors are 1- inexperience, 2- excessive speed, and lastly DUI. quite often 2 if not 3 factors are involved in deadly accidents. an 18 year old under the influence doing 100+ MPH is a fatality waiting to happen, and does frequently. this holds true for cars as well.

there will always be the much less frequent (but more tragic) rider taken out by 4+ wheel vehicle. sadly usually unavoidable.

the new triumphs are GREAT bikes, and are frequently DEEPLY discounted, but...

START ON SOMETHING LIKE A SUZUKI GS-500e for a year or two.
no reason you cant get a fine used one for under $3k, maybe $2k
see how you like riding, then get a bigger bike if you want.

ive riden a VFR for over 10 years, and am currently drooling over the kawi ZRX-1200 that paulc attached below.

I'm 33 years old and still drool over them, but, if you parents want to hook you up above and beyond higher education, let them contributre toyour savings account or whatever. If you're entering the working world, let them help you buy a house or something. You'll thank yourself later.

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Michael

1988 300 SL (5 Speed)
1994 E320 Wagon
1997 C230

I'm 33 years old and still drool over them, but, if you parents want to hook you up above and beyond higher education, let them contributre toyour savings account or whatever. If you're entering the working world, let them help you buy a house or something. You'll thank yourself later.

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Michael

1988 300 SL (5 Speed)
1994 E320 Wagon
1997 C230

Great idea for a man your age.

Fill-out your organ donor card, first.

Men in my age bracket will be grateful.

Botnst

I have about 10,000 miles road experience on a motorcycle. Many years dirt bike experience before that. I made all the really stupid learning mistakes on dirt with no other vehicles around. Good thing. I have lots of great memories from the road bike experience and a few choice memories of some mistakes. Not all that many people have run over their own foot with a motorcycle on the road and not dropped the bike.

What I have learned from that experience is that, for me, I would not be riding a motorcycle anywhere in Rhode Island.

Since that time, from many years ago, I think people are ingesting more lead from paint chips or water pipes. They are driving more retarded than ever.

I hope your parents will talk you into a less dangerous activity. Maybe a rattlesnake farm.



Ken300D

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1982 300D at 351K miles
1984 300SD at 217K miles
1987 300D at 370K miles

Thats a very nice looking bike and 97 horsepower is alot of power for a motorcycle.
I'll spare you my stories of the guys I know who got killed jumping on powerfull bikes and dying. There are plenty of them to go around. I've riden bikes since about 12 years old staring with a honda minitrail. I guess that dates me.
A 97 hp machine would be alot of machine for me. And I've riden Fj1200's and zx10's, R100rs's. I assure you that thing will be very very fast. Even with the skill required a bike like that can be very demanding especially when you mix in the other traffic. If you really have your heart set on riding motorcycles start with a less demanding machine. If you do get it exersice alot of dicipline as to how fast you go. Like I said a bike like that will be very very fast. good luck, you will also need that

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Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
Calvin Coolidge (1872 - 1933)

Oh yea if you wanted to know, for that kind of money I would buy and nice older BMW. You cant go wrong with those you will learn alot and associate with some real afficionados' of the cycling world. That triumph will make you look like a young dipstick with more money than sense.

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Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
Calvin Coolidge (1872 - 1933)

I'll chime in on this subject. I'm 29, have been riding for 6 years and have logged ~65,000 miles in that time on a succession of Honda sportbikes: '92 CBR600F2, '00 CBR929RR and '02 RC51.

My tips are as follow:

1) Take the MSF course, and pay attention.

2) Spend your money on the best safety gear you can afford: full-face helmet, jacket, gloves, boots and pants. I personally wear a ballastic nylon/kevlar suit on the street and leathers on the track.

3) Buy a used bike to learn on. I dropped that old F2 more times in the garage and parking lots that I have all of the bikes since...even dirtbikes! It's a lot less painful emotionally when you scratch up a beater than a baby....

4) Perfect practice makes perfect. Ride everywhere you can, and always wear all of your gear. 99% of motorcycling, as with anything, is experience. Work on the principles they teach you in class.

5) Ride within your comfort level, and stay away from large (>4 people) riding groups. Large groups create a "pack" mentality and take over the thought process from the individual. Find a couple of good riding buddies who are skilled and sane.

6) Be sure to remove the disk lock before pulling away from your parking spot.... It's really embarassing to take off and suddenly have a 450 lb motorcycle laying on top of you....

7) Have fun!

Everything in life is dangerous; everything has potentially fatal risk involved, if the stars line up against you. If you take all reasonable precautions, ride in a sane manner and learn that you are invisible to cars, you should make it through okay.... The world is much mre amazing when viewed from a motorcycle!

Charlie

During senior skip (and lubrication) day one of the guys went for a spin on his motorcycle. He came back a bit later all banged up but he wouldn't say why. Further lubrication eventually loosened up his story. He really didn't have a riding accident, when he came to a stop sign he forgot to put his feet down

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5 speed '91 190E 2.6 320,000 mi. (new car, fast, smooth as silk six, couldn't find any more Peugeots)
5 speed '85 Peugeot 505 2.5l Turbo Diesel 266,000 mi. (old car, fast for a diesel, had 2 others)
5 speed '01 Jetta V6 (new wifes car, pretty quick)
5 speed '85 Peugeot 505 2.2l Turbo Gas 197,000 mi. (wifes car, faster, sadly gone just short of 200k )
5 speed '83 Yamaha 750 Maxim 14,000 mi. (fastest)
0 speed 4' x 8' 1800 lb Harbor Freight utility trailer (only as fast as what's pulling it)

Then buy good quality protective gear (jacket, gloves, pants, boots), the best helmet you can afford (Arai is the BE$T, but they are expen$ive) and then consider buying a used, 250-350cc Dual purpose bike. Say $2 grand max for the bike.

ADVANTAGES:

You can ride it off the paved streets: it is considerable softer to fall over on dirt than pavement.

You can still ride on paved streets/highway LEGALLY.

They are tougher and much less expensive to repair & maintain than street bikes.

You can take the time to learn to ride safely.

You can always buy a more powerful motorcycle later...



Any modern 600cc sport bike is too much motorcycle to learn on, unless one is an accomplished BMX rider, go-kart racer, etc. WAY, way, WAAAAAYYYYY too much of an opportunity to kill yourself (or worse!)

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'91 420 SEL @ 199K, '92 SVX @ 181K, '93 SC400 @ 86K, '93 Kaw ZX-11 @ 30K, '87 F250 @ 181K , 2001 Valkyrie Interstate @ 6K, Y2K Honda NightHawk 250 with 1.5K, '88 420SEL I.@ 179K & the 2nd latest, an '88 420SEL II.@ 210K runnin' parts car, '85 F150 300/NP435

Buy an Arai in a plain colour scheme and peel the decals off so that no one wants to steal it.

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

Go to a cycle shop and test some Arais and some Shoeis. They're constructed differently, but are equally good. Some people have Shoei heads and some have Arai heads. I'm on my 5th or 6th Shoei. I try Arais every couple of years, but they don't fit well.