New Rider Bike Help - BMW Roadster | GTAMotorcycle.com

New Rider Bike Help - BMW Roadster

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gtwcs14

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Hi Everyone, Been scanning the forum but I know everyone is different. I'm a new rider and looking to purchase my first bike. I have some experiences with dirt bikes but completely new to riding on the street. I'm 6"1 190 lbs and 37...and need some of your help.

I don't want a race bike as I do want something that is comfortable but sporty. I like the BWM F900R and similar models but looking for feedback based on my size. I know you can't always look at displacement but think I may be a bit too big for the 300. The 1000 I think would be too much but as electronics improves with drive modes, assuming responsibility I guess it may not be out of the range.


I'm not sold on just BMW, just using it as a benchmark. My budget is 16-18k. Obviously if I can save some money, I would value this but wanted to set the top end of my affordability.
 
Your biggest restriction as a new rider with zero experience and presumably an M1/M2 will be insurability.

Don't buy anything until you've got insurance quotes. Lots of people buy their first motorcycle only to find out they can't afford to insure it.
 
16 to 18 for the bike or 16 to 18 for the bike including the first few years of insurance?

In Onterrible, starting on something over 500 cc's is strongly discouraged by insurance prices. My guess is $4000+ (and maybe ++) on those bikes and probably <$2000 for ~300 cc.

What type of riding do you expect to do (around town, long day trips, long distance, exploring back roads etc)? You can get lower cc bikes that fit big riders but obviously a big bike with a big rider and low cc's sacrifices sportiness. Power is fine on the 300's, I don't know about cockpit feel at 6'1".
 
Thanks guys for your response...Hopefully this helps :)

Budget: 16-18K for the bike (Excluding gear/Insurance)
Preferred Riding: Street, weekend rides up to the cottage (80km from Toronto)

I will definitely check with insurance but 4K is acceptable as it's part of being a new rider.
 
I put 70k on the previous generation F800r.
It was a great bike and the 900 looks to be be even better with the addition of the newer motor and the TFT and electronic suite of safety and performance. And with your height, you can order the highest seat (4 or 5 available)

For a first bike, However I would suggest a Vstrom or F700/800 GS and you should be able to recover a good amount of your money after 2 years.

Enjoy and let me know if you have any questions about the F800r
 
gtwcs14 said:
Thanks guys for your response...Hopefully this helps :)

Budget: 16-18K for the bike (Excluding gear/Insurance)
Preferred Riding: Street, weekend rides up to the cottage (80km from Toronto)

I will definitely check with insurance but 4K is acceptable as it's part of being a new rider.
Click to expand...
Since you sound like you are working with a healthy budget, I would look at Vitpilen/svartpilen. You're not going to see a lot of them and insurance probably doesn't hate them as they aren't typical starter bikes.
 
STARSHIP said:
I put 70k on the previous generation F800r.
It was a great bike and the 900 looks to be be even better with the addition of the newer motor and the TFT and electronic suite of safety and performance. And with your height, you can order the highest seat (4 or 5 available)

For a first bike, However I would suggest a Vstrom or F700/800 GS and you should be able to recover a good amount of your money after 2 years.

Enjoy and let me know if you have any questions about the F800r
Click to expand...
Awesome and appreciate it. Will definitely reach out!
 
GreyGhost said:
Since you sound like you are working with a healthy budget, I would look at Vitpilen/svartpilen. You're not going to see a lot of them and insurance probably doesn't hate them as they aren't typical starter bikes.
Click to expand...
Appreciate it. I will look into it!
 
Your learner license restrictions will make you not be too big for the 300, imho you should test ride one.
 
gtwcs14 said:
Hi Everyone, Been scanning the forum but I know everyone is different. I'm a new rider and looking to purchase my first bike. I have some experiences with dirt bikes but completely new to riding on the street. I'm 6"1 190 lbs and 37...and need some of your help.

I don't want a race bike as I do want something that is comfortable but sporty. I like the BWM F900R and similar models but looking for feedback based on my size. I know you can't always look at displacement but think I may be a bit too big for the 300. The 1000 I think would be too much but as electronics improves with drive modes, assuming responsibility I guess it may not be out of the range.


I'm not sold on just BMW, just using it as a benchmark. My budget is 16-18k. Obviously if I can save some money, I would value this but wanted to set the top end of my affordability.
Click to expand...

Hey buddy,

I will strongly recommend checking out the BMW S1000R. I started with having almost similar purchase criteria, although my budget wasn't this high nor am i as tall as you. I was really set on getting either the Triumph Street Triple or Speed Triple. After testing the Street Triple, i didn't even feel the need to try the Speed Triple. Then i tested the S1000R and man what a machine that is. Looked into their finance offers at the time, combined with similar insurance quotes as the Triumph and the case was just too strong not to go for the BMW. Talking about long distance comfort, i am still new to the bike but having spent over 6 hours this past weekend i can certainly say the bike has got tons of potential to be a distance cruiser. And yes, my bike is full stock currently although a wind screen is highly recommended. Let me know if you have any questions on the BMW S1000R. Cheers!
 
TK4 said:
Used DR650 or KLR650 - cheap to own, cheap to insure, go anywhere.
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I'm not sure I would consider either one sporty. If I was going around the world unsupported, they would be at the top of the list but for a 100 km at a time toy, they are close to the bottom for me.
 
If you've ever seen people riding overseas, you'll know that no one is TOO BIG for a 300.

The big money question is how much trouble are you capable of getting yourself into on a bigger bike?

The smaller bikes are easier to learn on, as you need to shift them constantly to keep in the proper power band.
Bigger bikes, you can afford to be lazy, and won't learn as quickly.

The other question is, how stupid are you going to be on the bike? A smaller/slower bike tends to lessen the damage that you can do to yourself.
You can still kill yourself, but it should take a little more effort.

You also may not have figured out yet what type of riding you enjoy.
Smaller bikes are less expensive, and tend to keep more of their value, especially when dropped.

Others can let you know, which bikes they like, but it's going to be good for the type of riding they like doing, and not necessarily, for the type of riding you will like doing.

You get to decide.
 
this is few years old , OP
but a decent place to start reading up on alternatives to the BMW F900R

MT09, Street Triple, Z900

all ~ 900 cc ~ >100HP naked sport standards

your BMW a twin, 2 of these are triples, and one is an I4
but they all are in the same class
Ducati I'm sure has something in this segment as well

Yamaha took the lead in sales with FZ09- renamed MT09
and the others have designed bikes to follow that trend

www.cycleworld.com

Kawasaki Z900 vs. Triumph Street Triple R vs. Yamaha FZ-09 Comparison Review

We tackle some of California's best roads with a middleweight naked bike showdown comparison test between the Kawasaki Z900, Triumph Street Triple R, and Yamaha FZ-09.
www.cycleworld.com www.cycleworld.com
 
Light cYcLe said:
Hey buddy,

I will strongly recommend checking out the BMW S1000R. I started with having almost similar purchase criteria, although my budget wasn't this high nor am i as tall as you. I was really set on getting either the Triumph Street Triple or Speed Triple. After testing the Street Triple, i didn't even feel the need to try the Speed Triple. Then i tested the S1000R and man what a machine that is. Looked into their finance offers at the time, combined with similar insurance quotes as the Triumph and the case was just too strong not to go for the BMW. Talking about long distance comfort, i am still new to the bike but having spent over 6 hours this past weekend i can certainly say the bike has got tons of potential to be a distance cruiser. And yes, my bike is full stock currently although a wind screen is highly recommended. Let me know if you have any questions on the BMW S1000R. Cheers!
Click to expand...
You figure "I have some experiences with dirt bikes" and he's good to insure and Learn to ride street motorcycles for the very first time out with 165 horsepower motorcycle? :cautious: are you nuts?
 
Trials said:
You figure "I have some experiences with dirt bikes" and he's good to insure and Learn to ride street motorcycles for the very first time out with 165 horsepower motorcycle? :cautious: are you nuts?
Click to expand...
That's what power modes are for. Have you learned nothing from Yut Ugh?

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