Newbie Bike recommendations

[steventh]

Folks,

The better half is looking for a newbie sports bike - say around 400 -
500cc for some general riding.

Im not familiar with most of the bikes on the market so any suggestions would be welcome.

If it helps the rider is 5'4 and quite lightly built (oops very lightly built). She has sat on the Honda CB400 in the showroom (and the twin cylinder Suzuki 500 - cant remember the model) and is comfortable with their size and posture.

Thanks for any recommendations.

Regards

Steven

[Dan85]

GS500 from suzuki. either the fully faired or naked version. very nice little bike. around the 9k mark new on road for the fully faired version bit less for the naked one. nice and easy to lower if she cant touch the ground and great reliable little bike to learn on and wont be to boring once she gets a bit more confident. got a mate who tours around the country on one and absolutely loves it. has just ticked over 50,000kms since 2007 and not a problem.

[BUSGO]

The Suzuki GS500F is a great buy for what you get and learners love em.
The Kawasaki ER6 is also a great bike although naked I think but there might be a full fairing version.

[Ward P]

Have to totally agree with the suzuki GS500.

Have a mate with one(no fairing), beautiful little bike, he actually went from an old BMW K100 down to it, and simply loves it. Reckons it reminds him of his old BSA. Got some aftermarket mufflers and the twin sounds nice. It's learner legal, but if you push it it'll get up and go.

[Heidi1]

I'm a huge fan of the GS500 too. It can hustle when you need it too and has great brakes. Some people think it is a little soft in the front, but this can be fixed cheaply with better oil.

I think it is a belter of a bike for women or learners, low(ish) seat hight, not too heavy, and the black ones (08s?) are WAY COOL!

[Missy_Moo]

GS500 for sure.

[Heidi1]

Anything else you'd like us to fix for you Steventh?

World peace....
Global financial crisis....
Third world debt.....

We're n a roll here!

[Mutha]

Don't buy her a brand new GS500, she'll get over it and want something faster in no time.

[steventh]

Heidi,

Now that you have asked.... I was thinking very un-pc thoughts so i guess not at this time.

Hey I almost read all your ride report - you've got a lot of spare time at the library eh;)

[Heidi1]

Not as much as I would like.

[1hotbusa]

I'm a huge fan of the GS500 too. It can hustle when you need it too and has great brakes. Some people think it is a little soft in the front, but this can be fixed cheaply with better oil.

I think it is a belter of a bike for women or learners, low(ish) seat hight, not too heavy, and the black ones (08s?) are WAY COOL!

+1

Kathy had a GS500F to learn on, a 2005 model with no km's on the clock when we got it. Thing was as reliable as hell, and used bugger all fuel.

It was black with the red lightning bolt on it.

[DAD]

The Gs is a top bike my son had one when he was learning to ride.
Its a very basic bike It reminded me of the old Honda 450 I wish he still had it.

[2wheelfreak]

The GS is ok. They hyosung 650's are a good option as well. They LAMS approved & all you need to do to deresitrict them when she is ready is pull the baffles & fit the carby slides from the SV650 (identical motors etc as hyosung build alot of suzuki's motors)

[bigfoot]

yep i am getting a hyosung gt250 as they are a tall sports bike and look cool i am getting a busa frame and plastics as well in a few months and am going to build my own busa, non turbo to start with!

[busakid08]

Heres a thought (yep get one or two occasionally) why not take her/him (hey whatever you into is ok) to a bike shop or many bike shops and sit on a few bikes, discuss what they like the look of, take a few for a ride and decide from experiance instead of opinions??!?!? wow