The R1200R as a first bike.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Have no fear my son I am 51 and the R1200R is my first bike also! I can't imagine a bike being easier to handle!!!!! I am 6' 185lbs and find that this bike is easy to manuver in tight quarters and unless you abuse the power (and it's there for the abusing) you will be fine.

I didn't want to go through the usuall progression you hear about of small to larger bike (Though it's not bad advise) so almost 6,000 miles and 10 months later I know I made the right choice.

Everybodys skill levels are different on 2 wheels and I do/did alot (and I do mean alot) of bicycle riding (road bicycle riding) which helped me understand dealing with traffic while being the smallest thing on the road from a safety perspective. Having that knowledge and then riding to work almost every day in moderate not too crazy traffic helped me tremendously.

Good luck!

Dave

very similar to my experience, but my first real motorcycle (if you don't count the Vespa) was an r1150r. Got it after the MSF and I too had very much/decades of riding a bicycle road trip/ commute city country and that experience was priceless.

I never regretted getting the RR as the first bike and had the same comcerns. I am shorter and the R1150R is much heavier.

Go for it and be safe.

John

[redwing]

Hi Kekoa ... you wrote you had made up your mind to get something smaller. Good luck. May I be the first to mention David Hough's book, Profcient Motorcycling. Get it ...read it. You won't regret it. And every post has great advice and or information. Nothing I read can I argue against. So it looks like it's all up to you. There is different types of crash gear you can get for any bike you buy, just a thought.
I can't compair one bike to another; but the R is a very stable, powerful, functional bike. The R handels. It handels at speed and at slightly faster than a fast walk. It handels. Five hundred pounds (wet) is light for any bike except perhaps when one goes with less motor. And 500 lb.s is the poundage recomended by many. At 39 you probably don't have a great need for speed. But if you do....
My line of reasoning was buy a bike I wanted and could grow into. In two years I'll have a great bike with lots of riding experience and have paid on a bike I want to put 100,000 miles on or .....maybe trade up.
One could ride the bike at 100 mph all day long or until you got caught. I am a rational rider unless I'm on a straight, smooth road. Or a road with curves I know.
And even though I have a ways to go, riding the R is a great pleasure. Did I mention the R handels?

Robert

[ka5ysy]

Good advise all around. The RR is an outstanding machine, except the seat, which simply sucks for most of us.

Something you might look at is to find a Harley dealership that teaches the Riders Edge classes. From time to time they retire some of the Buell Blast fleet bikes used in the training at outstanding prices. The Blast is a great little bike for learning the basics, and has enough power to be useful as an on-road machine. Most importantly for new riders is that when (not "if") you drop it, stuff is cheap to repair, and they are amazingly tough little machines, which is why we use them as teaching machines. The plastic bits on the bike are the same stuff bowling balls are made of, and the color is built in, so scratches are not a big deal. No, the Blast is not being discontinued. The squashed one in the advertising is a gimmick by the advertising agency to re-badge the Buell image, so parts will still be available.

The little bike is good for vertically challenged riders, and they have either a low or standard height seat. Seating position is upright standard configuration.

The beauty of this kind of starter bike, as noted above, is that you can always recover your purchase price on a trade-up or get-out without a huge loss on the deal!

[Kekoa]

Hi everybody! The past few days I've looked at a few used bikes that were for sale; still no luck. I figure as the weather turns to winter, I'll see a lot more bikes for sale. Having the motorcycle license and nothing to ride is very frustrating.

Something you might look at is to find a Harley dealership that teaches the Riders Edge classes. From time to time they retire some of the Buell Blast fleet bikes used in the training at outstanding prices.

This is a great idea, I'll look into it tomorrow. There was a student with a Buell Blast at the MSF course that I took, the owner dropped it three times, all I can say is the Buell Blast is one tough bike.

May I be the first to mention David Hough's book, Profcient Motorcycling. Get it ...read it. You won't regret it.

I'll find this book and read it, since I can't find anything to ride at the moment. Haha

a smaller, comfortable bike, whose paint job you're not concerned with, is one less thing to divert your consciousness.

Bill; this is another reason why I have put the R12R on hold for now. I don't want to worry about damaging a $13K+ motorcycle while I am learning to improve my skills.

[larsn]

Congratulations - In the old days we started smaller and "grew into" a machine like the R12R.
That seems to be "old thinking," and judging from the number of successful first owners, maybe thats ok.
Let me suggest something to think about: I believe the most dangerous phase of riding the R1200R is at very slow speeds. I had a nasty accident when cut off by a bicycle rider (search kill switch for the sorry details) - in short, your right hand holds the seeds of your destruction, and you may not be fully aware of it. Think about it. At very slow speeds, especially if you are about to make a turn, the machine is unstable. It wants to lay down. Your guard may be down, since you are in no danger of running into anything. It does weigh ~450 lbs, and once it leans past a certain point, it will surprise you how heavy it is. It is hard to keep up. Now here is the real problem: If you try to keep it up with your right hand on the throttle, in first gear with the engine running and the clutch engaged you will almost certainly open the throttle and the machine will leap away violently. I did that, and this is my sixth motorcycle.
So, my "trick" is to always have my clutch lever engaged (pulled) when I am below a slow walking speed.
I do like the idea of getting a beater bike for the first season or so - even a machine has been put down a few times. That would be much more relaxing to learn on.
I learned that the hard way.
Happy riding.

[jfbarron]

The Rocket from Britain was asking about insurance prices in Canada being so steep.

It has always been a pain in the butt with bike insurance in Ontario. Many companies that insure cars will not touch bikes. In the 70s there were only a few that would do bikes. They wanted their money up front then also.

When I bought my new BMW in 2006 I phoned my then current insurance (ING) company to put the bike on. Because it was over 1000 cc they made a "special exception"for me and covered me for $2,200.00 per year. 50 years old, no tickets licensed since 17....

We both knew that I was getting screwed, so I shopped around and got in with TD Meloche Monex who have a pay as you ride plan. You pay more monthly in the summer and less in the winter so that you still get fire and theft etc. I ended up switching my car and condo over to get a decent rate. Even they had no idea of what a BMW R1150R was and asked me to send a picture of it!

Now I am paying about 1,200.00 per year.

Apparently, riders in the province of Quebec are now blocking roads and protesting because their rates are going up to the amounts that we have been paying in Ontario....