My first bike...

[Dallas4u]

If you like the CanAm Spyder (and I do) then you have GOT to check out the Trirod.

http://www.trirodmotorcycles.com/

Talk about unique and nasty....this thing is SWEEEEET!! It's a bit pricey at $50k, but it is basically a custom chopper.

Whoa... I think I just shat my pants!

[ISCE]

Something else to consider for a first bike is the 250R Ninja. It's a great starter bike and they hold their value great when you are ready to sell it in a year or two and upgrade.

http://www.kawasaki.com/products/Detail.aspx?id=200

I rode dirt bikes growing up and consider myself a good rider. When in college I had a serious street bike accident and ended up with two screws in my left knee. Didn't ride again on the street until 2 years ago. Ended up just picking up one of these 250R Ninja's for the gas mileage and to ease me back into riding. The plan was to sell it and upgrade to a bigger bike. The thing is though I love the bike, and now just planning on keeping it. It handles great and I am close to some great twisty roads where this little bike keeps up with my friends' much larger bikes no problem.

For your commute distance though it may be too small as it's not all that comfortable on longer trips. I work out of the house now, but when I go downtown for meetings it's typically less than 20 miles and the bike is perfect for that.

Like the others said, take the riding courses and become completely comfortable on the bike. There are a LOT of idiots out there who have no problems trying to run over you. You want to be able to do anything you need to on the bike to get out of the way. This bike is low cost and I just filled up and got 62mpg.

[nfpgasmask]

This bike is low cost and I just filled up and got 62mpg.

That's just it. The cost savings is starting to get sway me even with the safety issue....true, your life isn't worth any dollar amount, but its getting damn close!!!

Bart

[Knigh7s]

This is what i've been looking at Buell 1125r. I'm already signed up for some classes out here, but not till sept when it gets cooler. But as a starter bike, I most definetly will be getting a ninja or something and work my way up to the 1125r. No point on getting myself killed in return to never being able to ride it again!

My dad has a Honda ?CB750? late 70's or 80's model that he bought back in Japan. He is almost finished restoring it. Looks pretty clean, I'll have to take some pix of it later and post...