Ride With Tank

Buying a motorcycle and choosing the correct motorcycle is not an easy task.  Often, we are motivated more by what we think we want, instead of choosing the bike we need.

The first step in choosing a motorcycle is that you have to be honest with yourself.  This is probably the hardest step of all.  You need to honestly look at yourself and determine exactly how you are going to ride the bike.  I know you have dreams of riding coast to coast, but are you actually going to do that?  Maybe you have visions of dragging a knee around the corners – but again, is this something you will actually be doing?  Is that something you SHOULD be doing?

You also need to consider your physical size and strength.  If you are 4 foot 10 and weigh 70 pounds, that DRG2700 with a 32 inch seat height that weighs 1242 pounds probably is not going to be a lot of fun.  If you are 6 foot 9 and weigh 400 pounds that 250 Ninja is just not going to fit you too well.

Try not to look at a motorcycle as a motorcycle, try to see it as a tool.  Decide what the job is that you want to get done, and then choose the tool that fits the job.

Most important is how much are you going to ride the motorcycle.

Many people ride less than 4,000 miles a year.  The choice of motorcycle is less critical for these people.  The primary quality for these people is probably appearance.  These people should start by choosing what they consider to be the nicest looking motorcycles.  Once they have found a few that they like the next step is to see if they fit the bike.  A great way to check this out is to try to back the motorcycle into a parking space.  Trust me, if you are not comfortable and cannot backup the motorcycle you choose, you are not going to enjoy that motorcycle.  You will be so nervous every time you show up at bike night you will not be able to have fun, so make sure you buy a bike that you can maneuver and handle in a bike night situation.  Once you have found a motorcycle that you like and that fits you you have found what is going to make you happy.

Some people want to go fast.  For some this means stoplight to stoplight, for others this means curvy mountain roads.  In general, the better handling and faster the motorcycle, the less riding comfort.  Todays sport bikes are amazing machines with spectacular performance.  Are you able to take advantage of the performance of these machines?  Are you willing or able to explore the lean limits of a CBR600?  Maybe a naked bike like a FZ1 would offer performance that exceeds your ability without the discomfort of a sport bike.  Once again, be honest with yourself and choose the bike that fits your needs the best, not the one that turned the fastest lap times in the latest magazine article.  Trust me, the guys in the magazine will smoke you on whatever bike you choose.  You are just not that good.  You will go much faster buy improving your skills than you will by buying a faster motorcycle.  The people who are looking to go fast also need to make sure the bike fits them.

The guys who want to be fast and the people who ride less than 4,000 miles have a pretty easy time choosing a motorcycle.  Their requirements are not too difficult to meet.  If you are planning on doing some serious riding the choice gets much more difficult.

Being honest with yourself is once again the most important thing.  Often what we visualize doing and what we actually do turn out to be completely different things.  Here are some questions you need to ask yourself:

• What type of riding will you be doing?  Freeway, two lane, single lane, dirt.
• Will you be mostly riding in the mountains or in the flatlands?
• How long will you be away from home?  One day?  Weekend?  Weeks?  Months?
• How many miles will you actually ride each year?
• How often will you have a passenger?
• On overnight rides will you be camping or staying in a motel?
• Will you ride often in very rural areas?

All the above things need to be considered when choosing a motorcycle, and I stress again that you need to be honest with yourself about these considerations.

A motorcycle that suits you well on the freeway is unlikely to be much fun on a dirt road.  If you are going to be spending 80% of your time on a freeway the obvious choice is a luxury touring bike like a Gold Wing or Electra Glide.  If 80% of your riding will be on dirt a true dual sport like a KLR650 would be the best choice.  Don’t buy into the marketing of the adventure touring bikes for dirt.  Bikes like the BMW GS and Suzuki Vstrom are really not your friend off road.  They are great for folks who might spend less than 10% of their time on dirt, but any more than that and the KLR is just going to be much more manageable.

Everybody loves riding in the mountains.  Not every bike is well suited to riding in the mountains.  While you can take any bike you choose on a mountain road, some are going to work with you and some are going to work against you.  If you are planning on trailering your bike to the mountains you can get as sporty as your back and knees can stand.  If you are planning on riding the bike to the mountiains you need to choose something that is going to have enough comfort so the trip to the mountains is not pure misery.

The amount of time you will be away from home will dictate how much storage space you need on the motorcycle.  Anybody who plans on riding their motorcycle on a regular basis needs some storage space.  As the day goes on temperatures go up and down and you need a place to keep the clothing required to keep you comfortable as the temperature changes.  The longer a trip becomes, the more space is necessary.  If you add camping to the mix your needs get much bigger.  If you are planning on doing week long trips with camping involved you need the most luggage space possible.  It is impossible to have too much space.

If you are going to ride really big miles every year maintenenace is a very important issue.  A motorcycle that requires a $750 valve adjustment every 10,000 miles is probably a bad choice for someone who will ride more than 20,000 miles a year.  Tires are also a very big issue.  The more sporty you go with a motorcycle choice the more you will be replacing tires.  Sport bikes can wear out a set of tires in 2,000 miles while some people manage to get 20,000 miles out of a set on a Gold Wing or a Harley.  Once you have narrowed down your choices figure out how much money you will spend on maintenance over a year.  This can make a more expensive motorcycle less money over the long haul.

Reliability is another very important thing for someone who puts a lot of miles on.  Check the internet forums to find out what kind of problems other owners are having and find out how the manufacturer is handling them.  Downtime is the worst thing that can happen to someone who really loves to ride, so don’t even consider a machine that is know to have some serious issues.  You will regret your choice if you choose to ignore this.  Try also to make sure you buy from a manufacturer that has plenty of dealers.  No matter how reliable your machine is, eventually something is going to happen.  When that time comes you don’t want to be 250 miles away from the nearest dealer.

Another thing many people do not consider is what type of gasoline does the motorcycle reqire.  If you are going to be doing a lot of rural riding, finding 93 octane might not always be possible.  Life can be much simpler if your bike can run fine on the cheap stuff.

There is a lot to think about when choosing a motorcycle. Hopefully this will help you choose a motorcycle that you can enjoy for many years. There is nothing worse than spending your hard earned money on a motorcycle just to find out that it really does not meet your needs, but if you look at your needs honestly you will find one that is perfect for you!