Hi guys,

 

Im 29, with very little riding experience ( used to ride dirt bikes around our country town when i was much younger) and this week finally decided i couldn't resist any longer, and that it was time to follow up on the dream to hit the open road on a HD!

Riding class is booked and my L plates soon to be had, i headed to Peter Stevens in adelaide to choose which wild stallion i would conquer!!! ... lucky for me i had a very in depth conversation with a lady named Vicki who worked there and had 20+ years riding experience, so now with much greater perspective i leave to decide on which path to take!!

 

Basically my dream started after watching one of the IRON883 adds on tv a few years back and dreamed of owning one, but after researching the last few weeks im thinking a softtail may be more what i would be looking for in end product. I want to be able to take road trips, possibly with a passenger, and the bigger long range bike seems a no brainer for that kind of thing, whereas the sportster seems more like a "town" bike for lack of a better term. Is this reasonably accurate?

 

With that being said vicki recommended two options for bike progression.. if taking the heavier bike (softtail) to start on a real lightweight like a cb125, to really get my legs and then move up to a heavier bike like the hyosung gv250 and then eventually on to the heavy softtail.. where if i decide to go for the 883 i can probably start on a heavier LAMS as the jump to the 883 wouldnt be that much of a difference. Do these sound like good options? Im not a teenager, and i want to be safe (as possible) and enjoy my time riding, i have a son and family, so im not looking to impress anyone but myself at the end of the line. I want to fulfill that drea, the smart way!!

 

Any feedback would be appreciated!

 

Cheers

Welcome,enjoy your adventure!

Welcome Cheers , heght may play part in choosing first road bike . Ryno coulda ridden a Softail in primary school . 

Welcome Mate.

PS. Yeah a softail or dyna way better than an 883 for what you're looking for

Yeah its all helpful ryno!!

So you didnt ride a road bike before the street bob? im pretty sure none of the HDs are LAMS approved in SA, so id have to grab something for the first year anyway..

I do want to get some experience riding.. having said that my first ever car was an r33 skyline with 450kw at the wheels.. so i jumped n the deep end there and i think it forced me to be a better driver..

like i said, im not a hot shot teenager, so im fairly confident in my abilities and judgement.. i just have the usual crowd singing the song of "temporary australian" etc etc.

Also im not the tallest guy around haha.. maybe scrape in at average height so that will factor in to what i can get

Welcome mate,

If you're not confident, go with the smaller bike.  You will know when you sit on it. Someone else can't really tell you what's best for you man.  

Best bet is to find a LAM, sit on it, if you like it, ride it.   The softtail sounds  like the bike for you.  Get a smaller version and get out there haha!

 

Ride safe mate,

 

Rasta

 

 

Welcome

i basically hadnt riden a bike for 15 years and only previously ridden dirt bikes, bought my heritage softail and its the easiest bike ive ever ridden. low centre of gravity, if you were bought up on a diet of dirt bikes you wont have any problems , cheers trev

to the forums

Welcolme Hbomb. If you are looking for a good LAMS bike, check out a Yamaha XVS 650. Enough power to learn on & easy to ride.

Hi there, welcome to the forum.

When I went for my motorcycle licence over 15 years ago, there were restrictions on the cc of the bike in which you were legally able to ride on your l's and p's which was a maximum of 250cc.  I started out on a Honda XR250 as I lived in a rural area, and would often ride on dirt roads as well as off road.  Not sure if the laws have changed over the years, but if they haven't you might be better off considering a "cruiser style of bike" for a while, especially if you are wanting a Harley down the track. There is more variety of cruiser bikes now days, but a mate of mine started out on a Yamaha Virago when he was around 16 years old after he had his learners.

Welcome Hbomb, whatever you feel comfortable with, do.....like GT wrote the Yammy 650's are good, but the HD's are better....