Hey guys.. and gals... hopefully there is gals... please let there be gals..
Anyways! I'm a new rider, I live in Collingwood area.. I know this forum is GTA but seems like a good forum for anyone based in Ontario.
I'm in the 25-30 age bracket, just started riding less then a month ago.
Been wanting to start riding for a long time, for the longest time having a motorcycle was a cool idea but not really something you really think is something you could do... about 3-4 years ago I suddenly came to the realization.. I can do whatever I want, why not get a motorcycle and start riding? The good news was upon doing some research I found out that the prices of motorcycles were actually very reasonable, especially used ones.
And I can start riding by just writing a written test? what is this madness? Still for the last 3-4 years between procrastinating and always finding funds short when I would go through my phase of wanting to get started, I just never was able to pull the trigger each summer. But I would do a bunch of research each year, so I think its good when your atleast learning and getting an idea of what kind of community there is.. which can be pretty important for any new hobby I find.
Finally this year the stars aligned, and I needed some different things to fill my time... I started looking around... I already knew last years research that for a beginner bike I would likely want something between 250-500cc... like most new riders I considered some 600cc's... because I didnt want to have to upgrade a couple years later blah blah all the typical stuff, I was thinking the same sorta things.. its the sort of things you think about when you've never actually ridden a motorcycle and don't know any better. But after researching I came to my senses that its best to start on a smaller bike, certainly its not impossible to start on a bigger bike, I"m sure plenty of people have and have done just fine.. especially people who have dirtbike experience, anyways that topic has been talked about enough.
I was pretty certain I was going to get a ninja 500, I had heard or read somewhere that for insurance, 600cc and up is in another bracket and that under 600cc was abunch cheaper on insurance, I"m not so sure about it now, or atleast I don't know if that "bracket" is really that big of a difference, but that was part of the reason for getting a smaller bike, and I figured a 500cc ninja would make a good first bike... it was at the upper limit of what I considered a beginner bike... and honestly when you look at performance numbers the 500cc's tend to alot less powerful then a 600cc.... alot of the 600cc's are really tweaked to get tons of power, whereas the ninja 500 was basically just double what the 250 was.
The ninja's were also very cheap, especially used, they looked sharp, and for the most part anyone who had ridden them thought they were good. I looked around on kijiji mostly, I emailed some people, the bikes either sold before I could get them, or people never emailed me back... as I continued to research I came across the KTM Duke 390, and KTM RC 390... which are both fairly new, and actually 375cc.. They both look really sharp, and the reviews were very good... alot of people who ride much bigger bikes tried them and loved them... I went to kijiji and relised that basically only ones for sale were brand new ones... I hadn't been planning on buying brand new but the prices weren't to bad.
They were more powerful then say a Ninja or CBR 300, but less then the 500's... I think the looks of them is what closed the gap in my mind from the difference in performance. Also they are kinda rare, I don't know how rare but they didn't sell that many in canada or even North america in general. I was kinda lucky in that I just came into finding them right at a time where they are availible when some people have been waiting a long time for them to finally come to canada or north america... I was able to buy the last one a local dealer had.
I basically called the dealer, went in and looked at it that day... put a deposit on it and did the paperwork.. went and wrote my M1 test a couple days later, went and picked up/rode my new bike home the next week.
But yeah I had never ridden a motorcycle before, not even a dirtbike... atleast not myself I had ridden on the back of a dirtbike a couple times over 10 years before this.. but basically I had no experience, I do mountain biking but thats obviously very different. Anyways I show up at the dealership to ride home my motorcycle, I had made an appointment for that day, and was having difficulties with getting insurance on the bike, not 100% sure why but could be either because its just a very new bike/insurance has never heard of it, or maby because the RC in the name "rc 390" stands for Race Competition, and they thought it was a Race Bike, which its not really... point i'm trying to make is I only had insurance for that one day to get it home while they sorted it out. So I show up and its raining.. really badly.. like a rainstorm basically, and there's fog to.
I know I"m nuts to ride it home considering but I feel like I need to just man up and get it done, the distance from the dealer to my house is... I forget but it's basically an hours drive/ride... plenty of time to learn! lol
The people at the dealer think I'm nuts but like my attitude and really just leave it up to me to make the call.. the guy goes over all the functions of the bike with me, wheels its outside for me to the parking lot next door.. which has abit more room but not much.. I get on and start to drive around the parking lot... I'm not gonna lie once I got on and started riding it kinda scared the **** out of me... the bike felt alot more powerful then I thought it would, and this bike is really jerky/sensitive at low speeds in first gear and abit in second to... so I'm going back and forth and I'm doing ok, learning as I go... the guy goes back inside.. I come to a stop and stall it and drop the bike. I'm fine, luckily there is no scratches at all on the fairings, but it broke the clutch pedal and the tip of the clutch handle/lever... so basically can't ride it.
So that really sucks I park it and go inside and tell them, they check the parts in stock online and order another one, and pull a clutch pedal off another bike they have thats been sold but isn't getting delivered right away... they wheel the bike back inside and change it out, also I ask if there is anyways to lower the seat abit.... and he messed with the rear shock which causes it sink down abit when I sit on it... probably an inch... inch and a half... which helps abit... he wheels it back to the parking lot again.. I start going back and forth again... he goes inside again lol... anyways yeah, like I said I was finding it kinda scarey because as most of anyone who rides motorcycles knows.. as for general stuff, its the low speed riding that is the hardest.
Anyways, finaly after 5-10 minutes I just say **** it, I"m going... I drive off down a backroad... first stop sign I stop and kinda can't get my balance right, and have to basically just wait for some cars behind me to go past me... next stop sign I stall it lol... the key was trying to not let myself panic or feel rushed by the people behind me, no point feeling rushed and then dropping the bike. I get onto a regular 80kmph road going home... and I'm starting to feel more comfortable. I'm starting to realize that once you get going its ALOT easier and less scarey, oddly enough. Still though its a rainstorm, and my helmet is starting to fog up... I didn't really know what to do, and honestly for like 30-40 minutes I was like trying to see out little 1" spots in my visor going like 90-100kmph... I finally realized once I was 2/3 of the way home, after stopping at an intersection and lifting my visor up for some air.. that if I left the visor open a crack it would prevent the fog from building up... by that time I was feeling alot more comfortable on my bike and this helped even more.
I was starting to get the hang of it and feel comfortable, I had brought a rainsuit to go over my gear that I bought from the dealer, but my feet and hands still got soaked, so by the time I got home I was pretty wet and cold and sore from being all tensed up on the bike.. but I was elated that I had done it and got it home.. Its funny I'm very comfortable on the bike now and when you think about riding on the motorcycle alot of people who have done it for a long time probably think "how hard can it be" or whatever, forgetting what its like when its completely foreign to you... its very easy to think that something you've been doing a long time is very easy to pick up without and learn, after you already have the muscle memory for doing it... but it can be quite intimidating when you start... its really quite dangerous unless you have good training, good habits, experience.. etc... then it can be quite safe.
Anyways, so I had gone and booked my safety course after I had gotten the bike and luckily was able to get it for the very next weekend... I did that and aced the test... now I"m just waiting for 60 days to be up so I can go claim my M2, hopefully get a decent discount on my insurance. I'v been riding now for about 2 weeks after getting insurance sorted out... I feel pretty comfortable as I'v been riding everyday almost, and my new bike has like 1700km's on it.
I should probably stop this thread now as its already so HUGE, I'm really sorry for such a big post. Probably most people hit backspace once they saw all this LOL. But meh, this is who I am and how I got started.
http://i.imgur.com/QZzN4Tg.jpg <--- Pic of bike.
Anyways! I'm a new rider, I live in Collingwood area.. I know this forum is GTA but seems like a good forum for anyone based in Ontario.
I'm in the 25-30 age bracket, just started riding less then a month ago.
Been wanting to start riding for a long time, for the longest time having a motorcycle was a cool idea but not really something you really think is something you could do... about 3-4 years ago I suddenly came to the realization.. I can do whatever I want, why not get a motorcycle and start riding? The good news was upon doing some research I found out that the prices of motorcycles were actually very reasonable, especially used ones.
And I can start riding by just writing a written test? what is this madness? Still for the last 3-4 years between procrastinating and always finding funds short when I would go through my phase of wanting to get started, I just never was able to pull the trigger each summer. But I would do a bunch of research each year, so I think its good when your atleast learning and getting an idea of what kind of community there is.. which can be pretty important for any new hobby I find.
Finally this year the stars aligned, and I needed some different things to fill my time... I started looking around... I already knew last years research that for a beginner bike I would likely want something between 250-500cc... like most new riders I considered some 600cc's... because I didnt want to have to upgrade a couple years later blah blah all the typical stuff, I was thinking the same sorta things.. its the sort of things you think about when you've never actually ridden a motorcycle and don't know any better. But after researching I came to my senses that its best to start on a smaller bike, certainly its not impossible to start on a bigger bike, I"m sure plenty of people have and have done just fine.. especially people who have dirtbike experience, anyways that topic has been talked about enough.
I was pretty certain I was going to get a ninja 500, I had heard or read somewhere that for insurance, 600cc and up is in another bracket and that under 600cc was abunch cheaper on insurance, I"m not so sure about it now, or atleast I don't know if that "bracket" is really that big of a difference, but that was part of the reason for getting a smaller bike, and I figured a 500cc ninja would make a good first bike... it was at the upper limit of what I considered a beginner bike... and honestly when you look at performance numbers the 500cc's tend to alot less powerful then a 600cc.... alot of the 600cc's are really tweaked to get tons of power, whereas the ninja 500 was basically just double what the 250 was.
The ninja's were also very cheap, especially used, they looked sharp, and for the most part anyone who had ridden them thought they were good. I looked around on kijiji mostly, I emailed some people, the bikes either sold before I could get them, or people never emailed me back... as I continued to research I came across the KTM Duke 390, and KTM RC 390... which are both fairly new, and actually 375cc.. They both look really sharp, and the reviews were very good... alot of people who ride much bigger bikes tried them and loved them... I went to kijiji and relised that basically only ones for sale were brand new ones... I hadn't been planning on buying brand new but the prices weren't to bad.
They were more powerful then say a Ninja or CBR 300, but less then the 500's... I think the looks of them is what closed the gap in my mind from the difference in performance. Also they are kinda rare, I don't know how rare but they didn't sell that many in canada or even North america in general. I was kinda lucky in that I just came into finding them right at a time where they are availible when some people have been waiting a long time for them to finally come to canada or north america... I was able to buy the last one a local dealer had.
I basically called the dealer, went in and looked at it that day... put a deposit on it and did the paperwork.. went and wrote my M1 test a couple days later, went and picked up/rode my new bike home the next week.
But yeah I had never ridden a motorcycle before, not even a dirtbike... atleast not myself I had ridden on the back of a dirtbike a couple times over 10 years before this.. but basically I had no experience, I do mountain biking but thats obviously very different. Anyways I show up at the dealership to ride home my motorcycle, I had made an appointment for that day, and was having difficulties with getting insurance on the bike, not 100% sure why but could be either because its just a very new bike/insurance has never heard of it, or maby because the RC in the name "rc 390" stands for Race Competition, and they thought it was a Race Bike, which its not really... point i'm trying to make is I only had insurance for that one day to get it home while they sorted it out. So I show up and its raining.. really badly.. like a rainstorm basically, and there's fog to.
I know I"m nuts to ride it home considering but I feel like I need to just man up and get it done, the distance from the dealer to my house is... I forget but it's basically an hours drive/ride... plenty of time to learn! lol
The people at the dealer think I'm nuts but like my attitude and really just leave it up to me to make the call.. the guy goes over all the functions of the bike with me, wheels its outside for me to the parking lot next door.. which has abit more room but not much.. I get on and start to drive around the parking lot... I'm not gonna lie once I got on and started riding it kinda scared the **** out of me... the bike felt alot more powerful then I thought it would, and this bike is really jerky/sensitive at low speeds in first gear and abit in second to... so I'm going back and forth and I'm doing ok, learning as I go... the guy goes back inside.. I come to a stop and stall it and drop the bike. I'm fine, luckily there is no scratches at all on the fairings, but it broke the clutch pedal and the tip of the clutch handle/lever... so basically can't ride it.
So that really sucks I park it and go inside and tell them, they check the parts in stock online and order another one, and pull a clutch pedal off another bike they have thats been sold but isn't getting delivered right away... they wheel the bike back inside and change it out, also I ask if there is anyways to lower the seat abit.... and he messed with the rear shock which causes it sink down abit when I sit on it... probably an inch... inch and a half... which helps abit... he wheels it back to the parking lot again.. I start going back and forth again... he goes inside again lol... anyways yeah, like I said I was finding it kinda scarey because as most of anyone who rides motorcycles knows.. as for general stuff, its the low speed riding that is the hardest.
Anyways, finaly after 5-10 minutes I just say **** it, I"m going... I drive off down a backroad... first stop sign I stop and kinda can't get my balance right, and have to basically just wait for some cars behind me to go past me... next stop sign I stall it lol... the key was trying to not let myself panic or feel rushed by the people behind me, no point feeling rushed and then dropping the bike. I get onto a regular 80kmph road going home... and I'm starting to feel more comfortable. I'm starting to realize that once you get going its ALOT easier and less scarey, oddly enough. Still though its a rainstorm, and my helmet is starting to fog up... I didn't really know what to do, and honestly for like 30-40 minutes I was like trying to see out little 1" spots in my visor going like 90-100kmph... I finally realized once I was 2/3 of the way home, after stopping at an intersection and lifting my visor up for some air.. that if I left the visor open a crack it would prevent the fog from building up... by that time I was feeling alot more comfortable on my bike and this helped even more.
I was starting to get the hang of it and feel comfortable, I had brought a rainsuit to go over my gear that I bought from the dealer, but my feet and hands still got soaked, so by the time I got home I was pretty wet and cold and sore from being all tensed up on the bike.. but I was elated that I had done it and got it home.. Its funny I'm very comfortable on the bike now and when you think about riding on the motorcycle alot of people who have done it for a long time probably think "how hard can it be" or whatever, forgetting what its like when its completely foreign to you... its very easy to think that something you've been doing a long time is very easy to pick up without and learn, after you already have the muscle memory for doing it... but it can be quite intimidating when you start... its really quite dangerous unless you have good training, good habits, experience.. etc... then it can be quite safe.
Anyways, so I had gone and booked my safety course after I had gotten the bike and luckily was able to get it for the very next weekend... I did that and aced the test... now I"m just waiting for 60 days to be up so I can go claim my M2, hopefully get a decent discount on my insurance. I'v been riding now for about 2 weeks after getting insurance sorted out... I feel pretty comfortable as I'v been riding everyday almost, and my new bike has like 1700km's on it.
I should probably stop this thread now as its already so HUGE, I'm really sorry for such a big post. Probably most people hit backspace once they saw all this LOL. But meh, this is who I am and how I got started.
http://i.imgur.com/QZzN4Tg.jpg <--- Pic of bike.
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I live in Angus, not too far at all and I suspect where you bought your bike (Mission Cycle). My wife rides as well, pm me if you ever want to meet up and explore, there some great rides in our area.
