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Hello all
This is a thread to cronical, or at least recap how I got my first bike, and managed to pay for it all. If nothing else it should serve as a good way for everyone to get to make fun of me. At best I should hope this might help other young riders who want to ride, but may not understand how to go about it, or might be unsure of what they are getting into. Feel free your own lessons from when you began, I'm sure you will all eventually understand the scope and gist of this thread.
I am a university student, attending McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario, Canada. My Major is Mechanical Engineering, with a minor in Business Management. My Focus is Design and Manufacturing. I have never had a particularly well paying job, and I pay for everything concerning my motorcycle on my own. I rent a room in a student house, and I owe a lot of thanks to the members of this community.
Step one, Want One REALLY Badly.
Motorcycling started, for me, with a huge thirst to have what every teenage boy dreams of. While this point seems redundant, I state it now because if you are going to try to get a bike on a budget, you had better be motivated. It is easy to put a lot of money into getting a bike and learning to ride, but it is hard to recover it.
I guess where i will start is when i first found they GS(x) I would later buy. The bike was obviously barn fresh, (12 years in a cow barn) and looked TERRIBLE. I think this would be about standard for a first bike. A fixerupper that you can save some dough on by doing the work your self. A friend drove me down to farm where it was for sale and we had a look. I really didn't have much of a clue as to what I should look for, but I had done some research on the web, and with my engineering back ground, sort of figured out how to inspect the bike. I should state that most of what I looked for was dependant on what I believed I could either fix on my own, or have repaired/replaced for cheap. The important things I looked for:
Engine - Had to run, at least some what. I had no idea how to rebuild an engine, nore the space even if I did.
Parts: All the parts needed to make the bike certifiable, and ridable had to be there. missing a brake, or part of the charging system was not an option, because finding parts CAN be a real pain. Parts such as brake pads, tires, battery, and light bulbs are exempt from this, they are easy to replace.
Frame condition: I basicly eyeballed this one, but try to make sure the bike isn't tweeked.
More will follow, when i have time to write.. exams ya know.
This is a thread to cronical, or at least recap how I got my first bike, and managed to pay for it all. If nothing else it should serve as a good way for everyone to get to make fun of me. At best I should hope this might help other young riders who want to ride, but may not understand how to go about it, or might be unsure of what they are getting into. Feel free your own lessons from when you began, I'm sure you will all eventually understand the scope and gist of this thread.
I am a university student, attending McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario, Canada. My Major is Mechanical Engineering, with a minor in Business Management. My Focus is Design and Manufacturing. I have never had a particularly well paying job, and I pay for everything concerning my motorcycle on my own. I rent a room in a student house, and I owe a lot of thanks to the members of this community.
Step one, Want One REALLY Badly.
Motorcycling started, for me, with a huge thirst to have what every teenage boy dreams of. While this point seems redundant, I state it now because if you are going to try to get a bike on a budget, you had better be motivated. It is easy to put a lot of money into getting a bike and learning to ride, but it is hard to recover it.
I guess where i will start is when i first found they GS(x) I would later buy. The bike was obviously barn fresh, (12 years in a cow barn) and looked TERRIBLE. I think this would be about standard for a first bike. A fixerupper that you can save some dough on by doing the work your self. A friend drove me down to farm where it was for sale and we had a look. I really didn't have much of a clue as to what I should look for, but I had done some research on the web, and with my engineering back ground, sort of figured out how to inspect the bike. I should state that most of what I looked for was dependant on what I believed I could either fix on my own, or have repaired/replaced for cheap. The important things I looked for:
Engine - Had to run, at least some what. I had no idea how to rebuild an engine, nore the space even if I did.
Parts: All the parts needed to make the bike certifiable, and ridable had to be there. missing a brake, or part of the charging system was not an option, because finding parts CAN be a real pain. Parts such as brake pads, tires, battery, and light bulbs are exempt from this, they are easy to replace.
Frame condition: I basicly eyeballed this one, but try to make sure the bike isn't tweeked.
More will follow, when i have time to write.. exams ya know.
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