re wanted advice for new cylist in article c r ey mq srgenprp sr hp com blaisec sr hp com blaise cirelli writes so the question i have is how dangerous is riding tough question more dangerous than driving a car and far more dangerous if you don t apply a modicum of intelligence to the activity basically stupidity will get you hurt killed a lot faster on a motorcycle than in a car but with care it is not unreasonably dangerous also buying good protective clothing is helpful that way if something does go wrong you are likely to be less severely injured first thing if possible take a msf driver training course this will get you started on the right foot they teach control of the vehicle and safe riding practices second buy protective gear at minimum a good helmet and a pair of leather gloves are a must a good sturdy piece of footgear is also very helpful though leather hiking boots a pair of old army boots or something similar works fine for this purpose as long as you make sure the laces stay tied after those a leather jacket and leather pants or chaps are nice as well but these are also expensive items for the pants many people consider a good pair of jeans to be reasonable preferably recent and of a fairly heavy weight similarly for a jacket a good jean jacket is a reasonable compromise though more people tend to have leather jackets around than pants another thing to do is drop in on garage sales looking for a second hand leather jacket look for a fairly thick leather in these items third don t do anything stupid don t ride after drinking even one drink can noticeably affect you judgement and balance don t ride in the snow or when conditions are such that black ice is likely be very careful riding in the rain slow way down take corners gingerly brake early and gently try not to ride if you are sick tired taking any medication with drowsiness warnings or otherwise not in average shape with care you should be ok the next question i have is what bike would you recommend for a first time rider i don t want to race nor do i want to ride cross country nor do i want to ride on dirt trails i ll probably drive it on back roads with occasional rides on city streets and freeways the maximum i can spend is about so i ll be looking at a used bike i would suggest mid to late s japanese mid sized standard something in cc range would probably be reasonable if you are shorter lighter than average you might want to go as low as a cc bike possible models the suzuki gs series eg gs gs etc these are generally inline bikes generally dependable except for a tendency to weakness in the charging system stator and or regulator rectifier problems my first bike was a about gs it server me well the honda nighthawk series this may also be known as the cb series i think eg honda cb cb etc this is another series of standard motorcycles also fairly dependable kawasaki and yamaha probably have similar bikes but i don t know them as well for mid to late s models of the above you should be able to buy the bike for under leaving you money for protective clothing and insurance and licensing costs hope this helps david dagibbs qnx com
