Motors Time for a trade in...

So the time has come to trade in my beautiful Kawasaki ZZ-R250

After the accident I haven't been able to ride it properly, I panic and stall in the middle of the road and I very nearly arse ended a parked car

I was thinking a scooter, and at the moment my motorcycle permit allows me to ride anything up to a 260cc. Does anyone here ride a scooter? Or have any ideas about what to look for when buying one? I know want something around 250, so that I can at least ride on the freeway (100kms/h) and be able to keep up with traffic.

Help! I'm so stuck...

 

Don't get a moped for the love of god. I assume a 260cc bike license will allow you to drive a quad on the road? (I think it does in the UK) if so, get one of these: http://middlesbrough.gumtree.com/middlesbrough/93/18582093.html

 

You've probably heard all this many times, bad luck, it's the truth.
Bikes are excellent fun, but riding one on the roads is like walking around an office while carrying a raw egg on a spoon - both are fun, but both can easily go splat!
Racing on phillip island is heavenly compared to the roads - beautifull - still a good chance of going down but there's no trees or cars or almost anything to hit!
If i had a dollar for everytime i was cut off from either no headcheck or very poorly giving way, i'd be fricken rich.
If no-one hits you or even merely bumps you, you can still go splat easily from little things such as water or oil spils on the road, and not just at traffic lights - they are the easy ones to avoid.
Riding in the rain sucks, and the grip is pathetic - it's fun for a few corners but then it's like "wtf am i doing!?!"
Throw in pot-holes, branches, rubbish, dead & live animals like birds, cats, dogs - it really is hell out there, as i'm sure you know.
Well don't ignore the very obvious warnings, it is fricken dangerous - in a car, even if it's just a hyundai excel, you have a cage around ya - even a weak barrier is better than no barrier - throw in a seat belt, head rest & a couple of air bags, and you are miles safer than a bike.
If there's no parking at work, then there's the train, tram or bus.

I don't think a quad can be parked anywhere like a bike, so not much point in getting one - i wouldn't want to do 100km/h on one

 

It's up to you but..... a scooter takes away the one of the major advantages of a bike, enough acceleration to get away from the maniac car drivers intent on smacking you off the road...
Another thing I found is that 'sitting' on a bike you can still move your weight around to help pin down the rubber and grip, 'sitting' on a scooter you fell great in a straight line (nice and comfy) but it's scary as hell going round corners, plus when you drop it (and I did/you might!) I kinda just tumbled onto the tarmac like a sack of bricks, I've dropped a bike admittedly only a puny 125cc but it was easier to get away from it and make some sort of effort to tuck up and bounce.
But I don't have alot of experience after about 18 months I chickened out and bought a car and a MTB,

 

sorry 2 hear about ur accident m8, if ur looking for a scooter then the suzuki burgman 250 is pretty good, its twist and go, nice big comfy seat and will 70mph on a good day

 

Sorry to hear about the accident.

Personally I'd avoid step-through scooters and look at something more like a 250 cruiser. Cruisers are a more relaxed way of biking over a racer style and in my experience a little less twitchy in corners. I've ridden a Honda rebel, before moving onto a CX, and it's a really comfortable bike.

The Honda Rebel comes in a 250 flavour:
2005 Honda Rebel 250

As does the Suzuki Marauder:
Suzuki Marauder GZ250X

 

The reason I thought scooter was so that I could still have some of the freedom that a motorcycle brings, without gears. Which seems to be where I'm going wrong. Because I don't drive, either.. I sort of thought a scooter would be like re-learning on an automatic instead of a manual.

The girls (there's 5 of us with a motorcycle licence, it's kinda cool!) suggested perhaps a glorified postie bike.

Thanks for your suggestions - I'm going down to the bike shop later and see what they say. *sighs*

 

i bought an '83 Honda V65 Magna 1100CC for $300. cant wait to drive it! your license only goes up to 260cc? hmm thats strange. our motorcycle licenses arent like that here. i dont have mine yet. ill wait till no more snow then get my license and by then my cycle should be fixed up. w00t!

too bad bout the accident. my dad had an accident on his motorcycle when he was 17. raining and someone infront on him slammed on the brakes and brake lights didnt work. ankle was totally crushed. his cowboy boots were the only thing that saved his foot from being amputated.

motorcycle accidents are often cause by people in cars doing stupid things.

 

It's a sad truth.

 

A personal question, but how long have you been riding?

I remember being scared about shifting and going too fast when I first started riding. A few years on and I don't think I'd trust an automatic over a manual. Overtaking for one, being able to shift down for the extra power when overtaking is a life saver.

 

Wow coyboy boots being good for something! Does your father still ride? I'm still on a learners permit, so I'm not allowed anything more powerful than a 260.

I was only riding for maybe two months before the accident.

Because I don't drive either, I'm not really used to having to concentrate on so many things at once. "Clutch in, throttle off, kick up, clutch out, throttle on.." and that's just to change gears. Really.. I don't know how the hell I managed to get my permit in the first place.

 

You can hang off a scooter as much as you can hang off a bike - hanging off is great fun and means being able to take corners faster simply because you are putting more weight on one side, but doing so on the roads means that any sort of unexpected hazard, be it an animal or car or person or rubbish or pothole or whatever can easily mean a spectacular crash. Hanging off a bike anywhere but a racetrack is stupid - i may have done stupid things many times, so maybe i was stupid...
The best control on a bike is had with both hands on the handles, both feet on the pegs & both legs holding on the fuel tank - which is one reason why a scooter offers you less control than a bike, not to mention the small diameter tyres with the resulting small contact patch
+ the rear weight bias which means alot less braking & turning grip available
+ less available lean angle which means less emergency swerve angle available...
Scooters are the easiest things to ride tho.

Believe it or not, i'm not anti-bike - if everyone rode a bike to work then traffic problems would be solved... for a while anyway. The only problem with bikes is the ultra extreme chance that a little accident can happen, and when on a bike, an extrememly small incident can easily equal death or major injuries for the rider.

So does public transport interest you mystchic? You'll wish your were on the bike when it's hot, but most of the time you'll be glad to be safe & out of the cold, and you'll hug the tram when it's raining There are other benefits - besides the cash savings, you can read or study or talk to people or just zone-out.
No, i don't work for metlink or whatever they call themselves these days

 

It becomes second nature, you don't even think about it. Decent boots help, kevlar or steel toecaps make it easier to use the gear shift.

 

Well public transport doesn't bother me, since I can't ride the bike anyway it's what I've been using. It's just a pain trying to get from Ringwood to Glen Waverley on a Saturday for work. Given that the company I work for don't do the whole rotating roster thing and I work EVERY saturday.. I need to try and find some solution. In the short term, a scooter sounded ideal. We're actually pretty lucky here, we can ride all year round. Sure it's uncomfortable when it's pouring with rain but unlike our friends across the pond we don't have snow and ice to contend with.

 

Biking in the rain is dangerous. It's at least as dangerous as driving a car on ice (although if you're not a driver and in warmer areas the comparison may not mean much to you). My dad's a very experienced rider who commutes on his bike most days, he'll ride in the rain or in the dark, but not both at once. And it took several months of experience on his new bike (despite years on the old one) before he'd even do that much. Plus good luck trying to look presentable when you arrive at your job.

Not to scare you off or anything. Bikes are awesome fun once you get accustomed to them. Getting the hang of shifting requires a lot of practice, though - you NEED lots of time on roads with little or no traffic to learn to handle the bike. By 'lots', I mean 20-40 hours. Then try dealing with traffic. Learning to drive a car in traffic takes months, don't expect a bike or scooter to be faster. It'll be slower, if anything, because it requires so much more alertness and anticipation. You have to consider yourself invisible to every other vehicle on the road (because you probably are), and act accordingly. Anticipating what the cars are going to do next is critical.

<rant> And don't even get me started on the way you crazy brit-types ride - apparently motorcycles obey stop lights and nothing else? In the US they're treated exactly like full size cars - anyone who rode on a lane line between cars would get their licence revoked on the spot. How you people survive longer than .5 seconds playing in traffic like that boggles the mind. (Although some very, very small part of me is a jealous.) </rant>

I learned to ride on a Rebel 250, they're nice little bikes. Emphasis on the little, they'll do 100kms/hr, but not happily. They make excellent inexpensive-but-reliable beginner bikes, though you may find you want something a little more powerful once you know what you're doing. Good luck on your vehicle searching! Bikes are so much fun, but it's a real skill that requires quite a bit of time and effort to learn.

 

Eh?

A bike on wet roads is much safer than a car on ice. My Buell will spin the tire on a wet road and will only slide if your trying to, my VW has a mind of its own on ice.

And if your still a bit paranoid about riding then spend a weekend practicing on your bike. Panic stops and perfecting your starts and learning how to ride the bike without even noticing. I barely think about shifting anymore and I am comfortable on my bike, I know its limits and don't have to worry about that kind of stuff leaving me with more attention devoted to dodging traffic.

If you really don't think that you can continue riding then don't hurt yourself, otherwise spend some time on the bike away from traffic and get more comfortable with it. Dont get a scooter, those things ride like pigs and have much to be desired it terms of control.

 

he hasnt owned bike since then (17 years old and now hes 49) though he has driven others once in a while. but because his ankle was crushed he cant pivot it to shift. he has to lift his leg. this will be both of ours but mainly mine. as soon as snow is gone i'll get my learners.

too bad about 260cc limit. i wouldn't like that.

 

You learn to ride differently in the rain. Don't be so quick on the power out of corners and allow for an increased breaking distance. The ride to dad's is about 240 miles and to be honest, I don't mind when it's dark and raining. It makes things more interesting.

Decent wet weather gear, a good jacket with armour pads and a spine protector as well as some good gloves and you're set.

It's called filtering through traffic. I do it because, unlike a car, the bike would overheat if stopped for a long time. A car has an electric fan to suck air through a radiator, but the fan on my bike is driven directly off the crankshaft which means it needs to be moving to stay cool. Not all bikes have a radiator, relying solely on air travelling over the engine case to cool them.

Fully agree.

 

So an industrial estate on a Sunday afternoon is probably the way to go? Perhaps I need a bike that runs a little smoother? My ZZ-R is beautiful but she's a little rough around the edges. 1993 model, has a few kinks in it

*coughs* not all us Aussies are brit-types, you know It's only illegal here if you lane split when traffic is moving. I don't think I ever would, just because I'm kinda worried someone would open a car door on me.

I want to ride, that's the most frustrating part! I want to, I'm just terrified that I'm going to cause an accident with someone else. Because I'm scared, I panic, but I can't get confidence if I just look at my poor bike
Ideally, I probably need an instructor who can help me learn how to ride properly and safely.

 

It's kind of an oxymoron/contradiction. You can learn to ride safely but you aren't safe when you're on a bike