GrandMaster said:
thanks PBR
its not like i work up yesterday and was like " hey im going to go get a bike"
i've been informing myself and learning about bikes...etc for about 4years now, so when the time comes that i can afford one, i wont be all that " rookie" if u catch my drift other then the actual riding phase.
you will be a rookie until you learn to ride. doesn't matter how much you've read, it's how well you apply it to the road.
not trying to rain on your parade, just telling you the truth.
look for an MSF course. they have beginner's courses that might even be free where you are. take the course the weekend before you get your bike. you can go to the beginner's course and use one of their little Nighthawk 250s to learn the basics and what not. this is the BEST route to go, as you can form good habits before you have a chance to form bad habits and then have to break them. it could mean the difference between life and death.
a friend of mine spent 3 years stationed in Japan. he took the beginner's MSF course over there and then bought a used NSR250 a week later. he had about a 20 mile ride home from where he got the bike, and he said by the time he got back to his barracks, he was 100% comfortable with the clutch, throttle, and brakes simply because he took the time to do all the stuff that they taught him in the MSF course before he even pulled out of the parking lot.
there's a lot of things you will not grasp until you actually get experience riding. i was out 2 summers ago on my 600 chasing down 3 liter class bikes on a real nice twisty road. they all smoked me coming out of every turn, but i was up their asses in every turn wishing they'd go faster or get out of the way (i'm not claiming to be a top notch rider, but these guys were squids beyond belief when it came to turns). as i came out of a 90 degree uphill left hander, i cranked on the throttle some more while still leaned over. my back tire spun and slid out 6-8". my experience, not what i had read, was what kept me from losing control. i simply rode it out, whereas 2 years earlier i would have tried to correct for it and ended up sliding off the road.
the last 2 years i was riding (bike needs bodywork and has been parked for a while), i slowed down a lot. i adopted a different philosophy on carving canyons. i stopped taking every straight at 100+ and instead settled on more sane speeds, but i'd push it harder in the turns. was much more fun for me to ride that way. i wasn't pushing the brakes to their limits to scrub off speed for a turn, then ripping loose coming out of each turn. it's easier to back off a little bit for a turn and hold the throttle steady than to practically send the bike into a tank-slapper trying to slow down, then regain your wits and stay on the throttle through a turn. plus one of the killer roads out here has a great view. it's nice to lumber along up and down the hills at 70mph and glance out to the side and take in the valleys.
i really do hope you're looking for a used bike. you'll save a lot of money, you'll learn to ride on something you can use and abuse, and you'll have plenty of money left over for good riding gear. it's the best way, trust me (and many many others) on that advice. if you pick up an older used bike in good condition, you won't lose much on the resale.