Looking to buy first bike

[eil]

I'm with the others on a pass. $1400 should get you a decent running well-maintained bike even if it's a little on the vintage side. If you want a project bike, get one that's priced like a project bike. (i.e. Under $500.) They are absolutely out there, especially around spring cleaning time it's not even out of the question to find them for free. Our old (erm, vintage) Suzuki GSes are great bikes with lots of OEM-available parts and are relatively cheap to buy and maintain compared to the Hondas and Kawis of the same generation.

[dantodd]

What do you want out of the bike? (sport bike? Learner to trade out of quickly? Commuter? Project to work on all the time?)
How much work do you want to do on the bike to get it up and running? (jump on it and ride it away from the sale only doing regular maintenance? frame off restoration as a bonding project with dad?)

Definitely take the MSF before you buy any bike. You'll learn a lot at the class and if you try you can find out a bit more about the different types or bikes and what size fits you etc.

[GS1150Pilot]

The GS500E is rock simple and easy to work on. I had one for a year as a stopgap between more interesting (read, "fast") bikes.

[Joe Garfield]

that bike is easy to fix and if you can get it going you can handle almost any bike on the market. basically yes you have to invest time effort and parts - and yes it is easier to pay more and get something "turn key" - but it is better to get something you can make mistakes with and no loss to value.

I think this advice would be good for a relatively experienced rider, or someone who already has a working bike. I've made the mistake of getting 'fixer-uppers' with no other ponies in the stable, and no matter how much you like working on bikes it can be frustrating.

[Joe Garfield]

Thank you for the responses so far, just wanted to say that I'll have free time to spend on the bike and really want to learn how to fix it myself. I'm not interested in just taking it to the shop unless it's something I can't fix. I would like to learn the in's and out's of how it works so in the future I can afford myself a nicer bike. My only experience is with my dad and his 74' BMW r90 and him leading the way but I know how to read and follow instructions and know I would love the bike so much more if I got it back on the road myself. Mainly what it comes down to is do these problems really sound like multiple thousand dollar repairs? Like I said I'm ready to devote time into the bike but don't want to screw myself.

Thanks again!!

I can definitely appreciate where you are coming from. I bought a bike that 'just needed the carbs cleaned' and found a mess of other problems when I took it home. I really love working on that bike, but in the meantime I have nothing to ride and it's taking a lot longer than anticipated.

My recommendation to newer riders, or anyone without a running bike, is to buy something that you can ride. There are plenty of things you can do to improve or restore a fully operating bike, so you don't need something that doesn't run to learn how to fix a bike.

I appreciate the fine line that exists between a bike being too expensive to make mistakes on, and a bike that 'needs work'. If you take your time, do your research, and PREP for your repairs, you likely won't make a 'mistake' that can't be fixed. The biggest disappointments, in my opinion, are scratches/gouges/chips in parts due to lack of proper preparation. If you pay attention and are not in a rush, it's not that likely you'll make a major mistake that can't be repaired by yourself.

Steve showed me how to clean carbs, and when he 'cleans' he has a habit of repetitively stumbling into the polishing wheel in his shop. The point being that you can take a used bike that runs, and still clean and adjust the carbs and make it beautiful. I would think you'd learn more from making upgrades because you can appreciate the 'before' and 'after', as opposed to something not working before you touched it, not working right after, and wondering if it was something you did wrong or something else wrong with the bike that you didn't catch before.

This forum is amazing, and so are the bikes. There are plenty of them out there, so try not to rush and you'll find the right bike and/or project. But if you do rush into something, we are here to help