250 to RS...too much too soon?

[redonblack]

It's up to each person to decide for themselves. I went from a 250 Honda Hornet to my 07 Sprint and had no problems. A lot of people told me to build it up slowly, get a 500, then a 750 etc. and so on, but nahh, I wanted the Sprint. The bike will only go as fast as you twist that throttle, so it comes down to your self control. If you don't have enough SC, then you shouldn't be on a bike on the road at all IMHO. I have 2 kids and I don't want them to be fatherless, so I ride accordingly.

[steventhechef]

Not meaning to sound patronising the option of excesses and temptation to push the envelope is be there on the higher powered bikes. I know sometimes when pushing a bit you can enter a corner a bit faster than you really would have wanted to. Especially if you knew just how sharp the corner was 15 seconds earlier.

The experience has taught me to push through and hang on. I for one wouldn't like to be in the same situations that I was at 18-20 on anything bigger than my RD350. I am surprised that I didn't kill myself back then. On a 100hp bike I would have for sure.

Even now the temptation and thrill of cutting some quick corners or hitting 200 plus kph is just too tempting.

Self control is often something you don't have until you develop common sense as well. That's why they have special names.

The most common thing about common sense is how uncommon it is. My $0.02 AUD.

[DaveM]

I would completely agree with my learned chef friend Steven, my thoughts exactly except I was on an RD 250 when I was 16 before moving to a 500 Four then a 650 Four and so on.

Well said Steven.

DaveM

[Curt955i]

I have to say that both sides of the arguement make great points! All my life (30 years) I've been addicted to anything that has 2 wheels. My first motorcycle was an 1975 yamaha yz 80 (I was about 6 years old) I rode a lot in the dirt as a kid and had zero restraint on motorcycles. As far as I was concerned they should have had push buttons for a throttle mechanism. when I was about 18 I had a hard crash on my RT 180 and hurt my back, no broken bones but I still have a spot in my back that gets sore pretty easily. I fixed the bike and sold it, and put motorcycles aside for quite awhile. I bought a downhill mountain bike and rode it like a madman for a few years, crashing and learning and getting faster (it's pretty amazing how fast you can go on a bicycle down a steep mountain) Finally one day the inevetible happened, I got a chance to ride a big bore two stroke dirt bike. Tons of power at hand! I found that I had developed the ability to practice self control riding a motorcycle again (and this thing demanded that you did) I bought a 1995 Honda XR650L and spent a summer re-familiarizing myself with the mechanics of riding a motorcycle. Then I got a chance to try out street riding on a suzuki 500 GS (with a learners permit) It was slow, didn't corner well and I still loved it. I only logged about 1000KM on it and decided I needed to get a bike of my own.

I did a ton of research and decided that I didn't want to fork out a ton of money going through the progression of little bike, intermediate bikes and then the liter bike.

My FIRST street bike is my 2002 Sprint RS 955i, I've ridden it about 11000KM to date and respect every ounce of power it has. I started out riding fairly conservatively on it and spent a LOT of time practicing slow speed manuevers in parking lots on it. It is very well behaved when it comes to power delivery. I think the only way that I could get the front tire off the ground would be to give her lots of throttle input and let the clutch out hard. I've found that the power has actually been a huge benefit to my learning curve. I've been in a couple of situations overtaking traffic where the gap in traffic I intended on occupying closes after I pull out to pass, I simply downshift and roll the thottle on hard and pass a few more cars (of course watching very carfully for the idiot that pulls out unexpectadly in front of me) The brakes are equally helpful, if there isn't enough room I can shut it down and merge back in quickly too.

The key is to practice self restraint, learn the machine in a safe environment, and use common sense. If there is advance training available in your area take advantage of it and sign up. There are a lot of great techniques to learn and I know that I have a lot more to learn. I plan on taking some advanced courses as soon as I find some available near by. I'm learning by riding with responsible seasoned riders who know my limits and have good advice.

If you feel that you can do those things and have enough skill to ride a heavier bike then go for it! but be carefull and don't push your limits, in fact stay well within them. If you buy an RS and it has the Bridgestone BT020's on it get rid of them ASAP (Mine had them and I rode them for a season, but really didn't trust them) I replaced the factory tires with Michellin Pilot road CT2S tires and it has made a world of difference. I just recently dragged a Peg for the first time and the bike was totally hooked up! Very confidence inspiring tires indeed

[jellero]

i don't mean to sound like a kawi rep or anything but really, the ninja 250 has about twice the power of the rebel, a higher power to weight ratio and faster 0-60 than a harley road king. i'm sold on the idea of a light, small high revving engine powered bike for anything but long distance riding, two up etc. this is after 30+ years of riding harleys and even longer on triumphs. 90% of my riding is on the 250 locally and if i need to go further than 10 miles i'll take the sprint or bmw.
i'd rather ride a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow... j

[8616v]

I've only been riding about a year now and the sprint is/was my first bike...that being said...if you use your noggin and exorcise a little restraint until your comfortable on the bike you'll be fine...i haven't hurt my self yet...though i did drop it the first time i was out on it(luckily sans fairings), the weight caught me out as i was walking it through a 3 point turn around. I'm about your size too, alittle fatter but the same height...5' 6" and 170 and some times i'd like the seat to be about 1/2" lower but its comfortable enough and i can get my feet flat on level ground...I can actually see why some taller people find it a little cramped riding...

[KitNYC]

Steven said a good bit of what I wanted to say, but there was one other thought that popped into my head as I was wandering along some lonely, curvy desert roads today:

One of the reasons I think it's important to start small is that in the beginning, it's very hard to tell where what you're doing ends and what the bike is doing begins and how the one affects the other. It's much easier to figure that out without dying on a small (meaning less powerful) bike.

A theory I'm working on: The chance of a new rider having the common sense and/or self-control to handle a big bike is directly proportional to the chance of that rider getting a smaller bike instead.

Cheers,
-Kit

[Shovelstrokeed]

Perfectly put, Kit. That is what I was talking about when I mentioned nuance and developing as a rider.

Even the 6 month layoff to heal and come to terms with some of the physical limitations resulting from my crash on Labor Day last year detuned my riding to a great extent.

4 months later and nearly 14K miles on the bike and most of it is back. My traffic MOJO is in pretty good shape and I am starting to come to terms with what the bike is telling me under hard cornering, braking and acceleration.