Yesterday was a good day...

[RxZ]

I finally picked up my first bike!!!!1!1!one!!! I found a Kawasaki Green 2006 Ninja 500R with only 2100 miles for a great price, probably about 500-800 less than it should have sold for, and I took the bait. My wife is not happy, but I think with time she will not feel so bad about the whole deal.

Unfortunately, it has been raining since I bought the bike, and other than riding it around the guy's neighborhood to make sure it was ok, I have not been able to ride yet. I did fire it up when I got home from work a little while ago, and it started right up with very little choke. Tomorrow I have off and it is supposed to be clear, so I will get it cleaned up and post some picks. (It will have to wait until after the Honey-Do list though, which grew exponentially last night .)

I do want to thank everyone that has answered my questions in the past few months. I really appreciate the input as far as your experiences on bikes, and the recommendations for me starting out. I really appreciate it all!

Happy Riding!

[Kirk Lazarus]

Just don't get hurt man.

[bassholic]

what was the price

[RxZ]

Originally Posted by Silverstone-Z

Just don't get hurt man.

Not planning on it. I took the MSF course about 2 months ago, and luckily my neighborhood is three circles, so I am just going to ride those circles for a week or so, then expand out onto busier, faster roads. Also, chicken strips WILL be present on this ride. if I ever go to a track I will wear them down there.

Originally Posted by bassholic

what was the price

3K. Around the Dallas area that was the lowest price I had seen for a bike in this condition. Apparently, the bike was owned by a guy at SMU, and his parents were selling it for him. Said he never rode like he wanted to. I believe that after 2 years and only 2K miles.

[nbdyfcnsqnc]

That sounds like a good starter bike for a good price. I tried to buy one but it was already sold.

It rained the first weekend I got mine, too, and it never rains here!

[nbdyfcnsqnc]

I'd recommend a good brightly-colored jacket, such as high-visibility yellow, scotchlite trim, and a white helmet. There are a lot of Cordura (sp? I don't want to look it up!) jackets that are visible, and that will reduce your chances of getting hit, but they will just disintegrate in a high speed crash since plastic melts (especially mesh). But you're probably not going to die from road rash anyway.

Your bike's bright color is good but it won't do much in a left-turn-in-front-of-you accident, which is the most common kind, since the headlight blocks the front color.

[bassholic]

I'd guesstimate that 3k was an excellent price, but i'd have to do a little more research. But yes the Dallas market has to have higher prices b/c of year round riding.

Side note - I bought my girl a 05 250 for $1300 in April and sold it for $2050 last weekend, b/c she didn't ride it as much since we moved states unplanned.
When it time for you to upgrade you will recoup if not "lose" less than 500 and i feel 500 to run up some mile or even have the bike for 5 years (bikes stop depreciating eventually) is an excellent investment. YES i am calling a vehicle an investment, if you do your research, as it seems you have, you can make money or start without losing a dime.

Take care

[terrasmak]

Great bike it should treat you well.

[Low J.]

Originally Posted by terrasmak

Great bike it should treat you well.

+1...good on you for going the smart route.....

[nicoG35]

Excellent choice of bike. Glad to know you started out on a good beginner bike. You will certainly learn a lot from that bike. I wanted to buy one of those bikes back when i got my license in 2001. So i just stuck with the 250 instead. Definitely take it slow, and when you get comfortable slowly make your progression on the regular streets. I would advise if you are wanting to make the progression on busy streets is to ride when there really isn't a lot of traffic. I find riding out on later evenings and early weekend mornings to be the best. You may also want to find an experienced rider(who doesn't ride like an ass and who won't jet off in front of you) to follow you to watch how your ride to see if you are carrying any bad habits that he/she may be able to correct.

btw welcome to the addiction, you will probably try to find any reason to hop on the bike and leave the cage at home

[NY 350Z]

just wakin up in the mornin gotta thank god, i dont know but today seems kinda odd, no barking from the dog, no smog.

[cart213]

Congrats man! You got a good deal on the bike. I looked at a green '06 500 myself, but the guy wanted $4000 and wouldn't budge off it, so I passed.

[RxZ]

Originally Posted by nbdyfcnsqnc

I'd recommend a good brightly-colored jacket, such as high-visibility yellow, scotchlite trim, and a white helmet. There are a lot of Cordura (sp? I don't want to look it up!) jackets that are visible, and that will reduce your chances of getting hit, but they will just disintegrate in a high speed crash since plastic melts (especially mesh). But you're probably not going to die from road rash anyway.

Your bike's bright color is good but it won't do much in a left-turn-in-front-of-you accident, which is the most common kind, since the headlight blocks the front color.

Thanks man! I am definately looking for a bright jacket. So far I haven't found any, so I may just get a jacket, and then wear one of those bright orange construction worker vest. If I look goofy, then at least people see me looking goofy.

Originally Posted by bassholic

I'd guesstimate that 3k was an excellent price, but i'd have to do a little more research. But yes the Dallas market has to have higher prices b/c of year round riding.

Side note - I bought my girl a 05 250 for $1300 in April and sold it for $2050 last weekend, b/c she didn't ride it as much since we moved states unplanned.
When it time for you to upgrade you will recoup if not "lose" less than 500 and i feel 500 to run up some mile or even have the bike for 5 years (bikes stop depreciating eventually) is an excellent investment. YES i am calling a vehicle an investment, if you do your research, as it seems you have, you can make money or start without losing a dime.

Take care

I thought it was a pretty good price. There is one crack in the fairing where the right turn signal goes in, parents said the kid kept it in the frat house he lived in and a drunk buddy knocked it over (or up ). There was no rash anywhere else, and the frame looks straight, and there was a clear title, so over all it is a very well kept bike, at a great price as far as I can tell. Hopefully, even if I keep this for 2 years, so long as I take care of it I bet I can sell it for 2500, give or take.

Originally Posted by terrasmak

Great bike it should treat you well.

Thanks! I hope so. I have heard nothing but good things about this bikes reliability, so long as maintenance is kept up.

Originally Posted by Low J

good on you for going the smart route.....

Thanks. You, doug, and Jeffie were instrumental in me going with a "relatively" weaker bike to start on. I say relative because this thing will still outrun 98% of cars.

Originally Posted by nicoG35

Excellent choice of bike. Glad to know you started out on a good beginner bike. You will certainly learn a lot from that bike. I wanted to buy one of those bikes back when i got my license in 2001. So i just stuck with the 250 instead. Definitely take it slow, and when you get comfortable slowly make your progression on the regular streets. I would advise if you are wanting to make the progression on busy streets is to ride when there really isn't a lot of traffic. I find riding out on later evenings and early weekend mornings to be the best. You may also want to find an experienced rider(who doesn't ride like an ass and who won't jet off in front of you) to follow you to watch how your ride to see if you are carrying any bad habits that he/she may be able to correct.

btw welcome to the addiction, you will probably try to find any reason to hop on the bike and leave the cage at home

I will try, unfortunately, the only person I know (and trust with a motorcycle) just sold his to save up some money for a house. So, I plan on riding for a few months, and then taking the advanced class through MSF sometime this fall to find and stop any kinks my riding style may have developed. Always practice comes to mind from my baseball days.

Originally Posted by cart213

Congrats man! You got a good deal on the bike. I looked at a green '06 500 myself, but the guy wanted $4000 and wouldn't budge off it, so I passed.

Yeah, that is about what most people were asking. I found this one a didn't even try to talk them down.

[ZSpectrum]

Originally Posted by nbdyfcnsqnc

I'd recommend a good brightly-colored jacket, such as high-visibility yellow, scotchlite trim, and a white helmet. There are a lot of Cordura (sp? I don't want to look it up!) jackets that are visible, and that will reduce your chances of getting hit, but they will just disintegrate in a high speed crash since plastic melts (especially mesh). But you're probably not going to die from road rash anyway.

Your bike's bright color is good but it won't do much in a left-turn-in-front-of-you accident, which is the most common kind, since the headlight blocks the front color.

deffinitly fcked in that department. All my gears black flat black arai black dainese jacket and black alpine star gloves. I take that back the back side of my dainese jacket has two eyes on it that are reflective.

[nbdyfcnsqnc]

Originally Posted by ZSpectrum

deffinitly fcked in that department. All my gears black flat black arai black dainese jacket and black alpine star gloves. I take that back the back side of my dainese jacket has two eyes on it that are reflective.

You can get an orange vest. It might not be cool, but I'd flat out guess that there's a 1% chance someone will run into you per 5k miles and this will reduce it to .5%. It could reduce your chances of getting laid though, so balance it out.

RxZ has kids I think, so he's already not cool anyway.

I got one of these for visiblity, but I don't believe that any of these are very good in a spill because they're essentially plastic which melts away:

http://www.olympiamotosports.com/gt_air/gt_air.htm

(Mine's yellow.) It very comfy and I got A LOT of waves in it.

Soon I'll get something leather or Kevlar if I can find a decent looking one. Motoport makes some but they're so ugly.

[nbdyfcnsqnc]

That company makes good looking vests, I think:

http://www.olympiamotosports.com/nova/nova.htm

I'd definitely recommend the yellow over the red for sheer visibility night and day. Lots of things are red... but everything that's bright yellow (or orange) tends to be something drivers interpret as high-priority obstacles!

[RxZ]

Originally Posted by nbdyfcnsqnc

RxZ has kids I think, so he's already not cool anyway.

Now wait just a minute...


Ok, I am not that cool, I'll admit it But my daughter has every one of us beat in the cool department!

But like you, I would rather be uncool and visible, than cool and dead; and my daughter thinks this as well.

[blastoff99]

Congrats on the bike. Very good choice. I rode mine 2200 miles in three days once. (Actually I did it twice; it was a round trip venture.)

Here's hoping your family will come around.

[RxZ]

^^^ Well, now that I have had it a few days, and have put about 20 miles on it (rain every day this week), the only people that are still upset are my wife, and her mom. Wifey is getting more into it though, and it was more the fact that I bought it when she did not want me to, than the actual motorcycle that she is mad at. She did not want me to because she associates motorcycle=death. However, I have been trying to involve her with the entire process, so I think she will eventually come around. Who knows, maybe I will get one of those Can-Am tri-wheels later on for us to cruise the country in. Gotta learn to crawl before I run like that though.

As an update on the bike, seems as if it has a dead battery. I rode for about 30 minutes around my neighborhood yesterday, and when I was done I pulled into the garage and the bike stopped without me telling it to. I thought that was weird, so I tried to start it back up. The starter would turn, but the engine would not turn over, and all the indicator lights got pretty dim while the started was running. Hooked it up to my jumper box, and the bike fired right up. Same symptoms that I have had in cars, so I guess a new battery will be bought at some point this week. It is a blast to drive though! One of these days I will venture farther from the house, at speeds greater than 30, but not just yet!

[Alberto]

Congrats! Nice to see you took the plunge and did so with a great bike. Be safe and post pics when you get a chance!