soooo I want a bike..

That's a really cool bike... mmmmhhhh wish I could have one here in Spain....
But again look at the Honda as an alternative, much cheaper and easy to handle ... perfect beginners bike...

 

Yeah I still haven't ruled out the honda shadow. I really like those too.

 

Lots of great suggestions and info here so I'll chime in again with some of my experience:

started riding back in 2000 - got a 78 Honda CB750 for $900 - ran good and was the perfect starter bike - could easily keep up with most and was comfortable, reliable, and if I dropped it i didn't care. I basically learned the ropes (took MSF classes also)with this bike and had it for 2 years because I couldn't part with it UNTIL I rode a buddies 2003 Softail Nightrain and then it was all over for the CB. Went out and got an 04 Dyna and the rest is history. I did ride a bunch of others in that time frame before the HD (a few crotch rockets, bimmers, and misc. cruisers) but nothing seemed to feel as right to me (just my opinion not trying to start anything).

Anyway, my suggestion to you is if your starting out, get something disposable, larger that 650cc, and ride the thing! Learn the basics, take a few classes and get used to traffic and get some road experience before you invest in something like a HD. You will thank yourself later and will probably skip right over the sportster and get a dyna or softail.8)

 

fwiw, sport bikes are not to be called "crotch rockets". It's the same as using a racist term to people.

 

ha ha ha. how you figure that?

 

Because it is a term that is old, outdated, and puts a negative slant to the object that is being described as that.

As an avid sport biker, I take offense to that term and its negative connotation. How would HD and cruiser riders take it if I labeled all the riders of those bikes as "hell's angels"?

I wouldn't do that, fwiw, but I am simply making my point.

 

Sorry dude... not to offend... a starfish will always be a starfish to me (not a seastar) and a crotch rocket will always be that to me.

It's an inanimate object... I'm not calling *you* a crotch rocket (laughing on inside after typing that... funny thought). The bike is not offended by what I call it... why do you care?

Calling a bikeR a hell angel and calling a bike a crotch rocket ... not the same thing... you can call my bike 'organ donor', HOG, poser, what ever you want... I assure you, my bike doesn't care... So... I don't see any reason to defend my bikes honor...

Just don't call *me* names... ;D

Honestly, I find "cruiser" kind of dumb... you can cruise on anything that moves...

I don't have negative connotations with crotch rocket... so none are intended. But I can't even begin to promise I'll take a word I use out of my vocab... It'll pop out before I realize it until someone points the post out... (other than this post, I'm aware I typed it here :-X)

No offense dude. Personally think you're reading too much into it... But I will *try* to use a different word like "unnecessarily fast two wheeled device" or something
j/k

 

haha thats funny ;D
well as to the term, i dont mind ive been called worse and since i ride both rockets and crusiers i hear it all from all sides

 

Sorry I offended - that wasn't my intention but like Peredhil stated wasn't directed at anyone just referencing a nickname commonly used. BTW I'll never understand how "crotch rocket" gets a bad rap to begin with - it's not like I said "organ donor" or "rice burner" - to me calling a sport bike a crotch rocket is like calling a HD a hog but maybe im wrong

 

I realize you were not meaning anything bad out of it, but the term still has a negative connotation to it. I am merely trying to educate people that the term has a bad connotation to many people.

When catalogs and magazines have the term "crotch rocket" on them instead of sport bike, I will concede. I mean, if you were to have an interview with a high ranking official, or president of a fortune 500 company, would you use the term "crotch rocket" to them if the subject of motorcycling came up? I doubt it.