Next bike for my daughter? Got one?

[Sheepdog]

At her size, a not-too-old Honda CBR250R could be had in your price range. Lightweight and surprisingly competent in the hands of a diminuative rider, these bikes are superb all-around street machines.

[Dharma Bum]

Ask the guys that attended the Ouray Not a Rally whether a CBR 250 can keep up with the Geese.  My daughter is in no hurry to up size hers.

[stubbie]

I'd go a Breva.  I have one for around town and I think It's great. Light, nimble and should have enough get up and go for a 17 year old.

[twowheeladdict]

It's a bit more than your number, don't know if it's still available...but.. looks nice. I thought about it, but I don't need a 700cc class right now.

https://offerup.com/item/detail/451761358/

Maybe you should give her your 1400 and buy yourself a new one

Tom

Saw a TV add for this site last night.  Didn't know anyone was actually using it.  Now I have another site I must search instead of searchtempest and cycletrader. 


To the OP, how about a street fighter bike.  Many of the sport bikes get their fairings rashed up and they turn them into street fighters.  That has led to production bikes following suit with the naked versions of sport bikes.

Do a google search for Ninja 250 turned into a street fighter.

[Vagrant]

just thinking out loud here but the 2015 V7 at 3500 is about right and you should be able to find one closer for $4000. put 2k down and finance the rest for 2 years in her name with you as the co-signer. it will help her establish credit and the interest rate should be low with you involved.

[huub]

as a first serious bike for a girl, what about a aprilia 6,5? ( the starck designed one)
 i'm buying one for my daughter 

I like the looks, and more important,  they are supposed to be pretty bullet proof.
pretty important, as i am going to be the one to work on the bikes.
and i've got enough other bikes to work on....

ps , not even sure they ever reached you guys...

[Kiwi_Roy]

What she really, really wants is a Guzzi V7.  I'm obviously not going to find one for 2k.  Every Monza I see is a project.  Neither she nor I want to spend the summer wrenching.   
     

I know it's over budget but that's what she wants
A fairly new , reliable bike.

A lightly used EV perhaps

[Roebling3]

I strongly agree with others here who like the V65 w/fairing. (which can be taken off, if the bike is too top heavy).
I cannot imagine a 115# youngster, experienced or not, taking on any bike weighing well over 300#. There will be many chances in her future to ride other, larger, bikes she may choose.

Is enthusiasm taking over? Some considerations here scare the daylights out of me. Any V7, wet and ready to ride weighs more than 400#! My V7 III is 4 times your daughters weight. Isn't motorcycling risky enough? Just sayin'.  R3~ 

[LBC Tenni]

How about a CSC SG250? New bike, cool look, and very close to your budget.
https://www.cscmotorcycles.com/2018-San-Gabriel-250-Cafe-Racer-p/zsg250-2018.htm





Another good option is a used Sym Wolf Classic 150.

I think 250cc would be a wise limit at this point.

[Dharma Bum]

If she's interested in classic styling, that San Gabriel would be a good bet. Redhawk 47 is up to speed on the CSC company. I'd still strongly consider a CBR 250, light weight, adequate power and low seat.  Plenty in your price range.

[LBC Tenni]

The CSC bikes are the first Chinese made ones I have seen with acceptable quality. My wife liked the SG250 so much when she sat on it at the IMS last year, she was inspired to take a basic riding class. Unfortunately the class helped her conclude that she'll never overcome her fear enough to ride her own bike.

[giusto]

Stick with an Italian Bike

Maybe a Moto Guzzi

[LBC Tenni]

There is no Italian bike that is a wise choice for a 17 year old girl new to riding.

[Perazzimx14]

There is no Italian bike that is a wise choice for a 17 year old girl new to riding.

 Things about to get interesting

[giusto]

There is no Italian bike that is a wise choice for a 17 year old girl new to riding.

Huh? 5'6" 115 lbs,Two State Championships, and she's been riding for a few years...dad was thinking maybe a Monster.

I respectfully disagree. Too many to list...V35, V35 Imola, V35C, V50 lll, V50 Monza, V50C, V65, V65C,V65SP
etc..and so on

[malik]

For the vertically challenged, the 750 Breva is better than the V7, and the older small blocks seem to be better still. Is the new BMW 310 available over there in the U.S.? Could be some secondhand ones around, straightforward riding position, surprisingly decent performance, and weighs less than 150kg.

[Tom H]

Saw a TV add for this site last night.  Didn't know anyone was actually using it.  Now I have another site I must search instead of searchtempest and cycletrader. 

I have not bought from this classified add type site yet.  A guy at my work likes it, so I checked it out. It's great for a local search, but not so great for a country wide search. I need to work with it more I think.

That bike I linked the add for looks interesting, the price I thought was good for the miles. Thought seriously about it, but I can't easily park 6 running bikes

Tom

[LBC Tenni]

Huh? 5'6" 115 lbs,Two State Championships, and she's been riding for a few years...dad was thinking maybe a Monster.

I respectfully disagree. Too many to list...V35, V35 Imola, V35C, V50 lll, V50 Monza, V50C, V65, V65C,V65SP
etc..and so on

I agree to disagree. A lightweight 250cc is a �safe� limit for a 17 year old girl new to road riding. It�s common sense safety. You start small and work your way up. I have two teenage daughters myself. They won�t be riding anything north of 300 lbs and 250 cc while they are under my roof. Because I love them and care about their safety.

[Kev m]

. A lightweight 250cc is a �safe� limit for a 17 year old girl new to road riding. It�s common sense safety. You start small and work your way up.

Oh for gawd's sake John said she's be riding for a couple of years. How can any of us arbitrarily decide what cc and # number is the magic limit.

I mean no one is suggesting a 100 hp or an 800# behemoth.

There are a lot of factors to safety, but none of us are going to bench press most bikes so why should she?

What makes a 300# bike SO MUCH safer than a 400# bike?

I mean it's not like the actual physical difference in the strength necessary to ride the two is 100# of force whether we're talking taking it off the side stand, steering it, moving it around a garage or parking lot, or even picking it up if it's dropped.

And the bikes that have been suggested all have mild powertrains with relatively low hp and forgiving throttles.

Honestly depending on where one lives and is going to ride I'm not entirely sure some 250cc bikes are "safer" than many of the mentioned alternatives just from a perspective of keeping the random psycho at bay by not holding up traffic.

Of course the flip side of all of this is experience in the road. Personally I would want one of my kids to learn the ROAD better before I let them ride on the street. For ME I'd want to see a few years of experience driving a nice safe cage with zero accidents or infractions that demonstrated to me they've already got the skills of watching other motorists and predicting their sometimes unpredictable habits. I'd want them to demonstrate through time/miles that they have built their own proper habits to be out there in traffic. But that's me and I'm not suggesting John's wrong here.

[Lannis]

There is no Italian bike that is a wise choice for a 17 year old girl new to riding.

Well, as others have mentioned, most of us have a very different opinion about that.

I taught my 16-year-old son to ride using my Guzzi Centauro.    If your learner isn't mature enough yet to process the information that "If you don't whack the throttle open, this will act the same way a 250 Honda acts", then they don't belong on ANY kind of bike until they grow up.

And a girl, lacking the testosterone that would make them try to "show off", and therefore a bit more circumspect and thoughtful than the typical boy (although this varies a lot between individuals) should be even MORE capable if anything about thinking about what they're doing, and being careful with it.

No reason in the world that a daughter can't learn on any weight and height of bike that she's capable of physically handling.   If your fear is that they will suddenly turn irresponsible and stupid the minute they get out of your sight, then a 100cc tiddler is too much bike for them ....

Lannis

[giusto]

 :1:

Oh for gawd's sake John said she's be riding for a couple of years. How can any of us arbitrarily decide what cc and # number is the magic limit.

I mean no one is suggesting a 100 hp or an 800# behemoth.

There are a lot of factors to safety, but none of us are going to bench press most bikes so why should she?

What makes a 300# bike SO MUCH safer than a 400# bike?

I mean it's not like the actual physical difference in the strength necessary to ride the two is 100# of force whether we're talking taking it off the side stand, steering it, moving it around a garage or parking lot, or even picking it up if it's dropped.

And the bikes that have been suggested all have mild powertrains with relatively low hp and forgiving throttles.

Honestly depending on where one lives and is going to ride I'm not entirely sure some 250cc bikes are "safer" than many of the mentioned alternatives just from a perspective of keeping the random psycho at bay by not holding up traffic.

Of course the flip side of all of this is experience in the road. Personally I would want one of my kids to learn the ROAD better before I let them ride on the street. For ME I'd want to see a few years of experience driving a nice safe cage with zero accidents or infractions that demonstrated to me they've already got the skills of watching other motorists and predicting their sometimes unpredictable habits. I'd want them to demonstrate through time/miles that they have built their own proper habits to be out there in traffic. But that's me and I'm not suggesting John's wrong here.

[giusto]

  :1:

Well, as others have mentioned, most of us have a very different opinion about that.

I taught my 16-year-old son to ride using my Guzzi Centauro.    If your learner isn't mature enough yet to process the information that "If you don't whack the throttle open, this will act the same way a 250 Honda acts", then they don't belong on ANY kind of bike until they grow up.

And a girl, lacking the testosterone that would make them try to "show off", and therefore a bit more circumspect and thoughtful than the typical boy (although this varies a lot between individuals) should be even MORE capable if anything about thinking about what they're doing, and being careful with it.

No reason in the world that a daughter can't learn on any weight and height of bike that she's capable of physically handling.   If your fear is that they will suddenly turn irresponsible and stupid the minute they get out of your sight, then a 100cc tiddler is too much bike for them ....

Lannis

[LBC Tenni]

John will decide what’s safe and right for his daughter. I’m happy to have offered my opinion about that.   

[brider]

What about this one, just showed up for sale under 15 mi from me, V50 with only 5,400 mi? How can anyone ride ANY motorcycle that little??!!

https://newhaven.craigslist.org/mcy/d/1979-moto-guzzi-v50-ii/6614196677.html

I'll go check it out if you want me too.

[Lannis]

John will decide what�s safe and right for his daughter. I�m happy to have offered my opinion about that.   

Me too!   That's what this board is for .... 

[JohninVT]

Thank you all for the suggestions and I'm certainly not offended by anyone's opinion that differs from my own.  I began on mopeds as a kid and my first four motorcycles were 500cc's or under; Kawasaki KZ200, Yamaha XS360, Yamaha XS500 and then a Honda VF500 Interceptor.  I happen to favor that path rather than buying a kid an 80hp "beginner" bike.

The kid is exceptionally coordinated(FOUR championships, not two ;-) ).  She has the judgement of a 17 year old girl.  Which is to say, about 400,000% more judgement than a typical 17 year old boy.  She had a dirt bike when she was 7.  I have pictures somewhere of her doing wheelies.  She used to ride my Honda Passport's around the neighborhood when she was 13-14 and she's put about a thousand miles on her CT90 already this summer.  She learned to drive when she was 12 in my heavily modified, turbocharged Yaris.  By 14 she had pretty much mastered the Swedish Flick.  That was confirmed by the two State Troopers that caught us in her high school parking lot, during a snowstorm, while she practiced.  At 16(last summer) she worked on a large farm picking vegetables in the sun with migrant laborers and Jamaican contract workers.  She drove everyone around in the school bus and drove the farm dump truck with a split shift transmission.  Everyone made fun of her because she had to use a pillow behind her back to reach the pedals.  The seat didn't go forward enough to reach otherwise...but my point is she's perfectly capable of operating 2, 4 or even 6 wheeled vehicles.         

With the exception of a small Monster, none of the bikes I'm considering have more than 40hp.  They're not fire breathing machines.  Except for a V7 they're all under 400lbs.

She's level headed.  She has the physical skills.  She just needs a bike with a little more power so she can spend hours in the saddle learning instead of trying not to become a rolling speed bump on her CT90.  Again, thank you for all your suggestions.  Several folks have PM'd with nice bikes.  We'll probably look at a couple and also track what's local on CL.   

         

[Kev m]

With the exception of a small Monster, none of the bikes I'm considering have more than 40hp.  They're not fire breathing machines.  Except for a V7 they're all under 400lbs.     

And that baby monsters are still REALLY reasonable bikes. Ok, they might be pushing it a little in the hp department, but really you have to rev them to make the peak numbers and they're not gonna loop someone for a little ham-fisted clutch.

And I have to say, as much as I love (and prefer) my V7, I have to admit that the Duc is such a superbly predictable and excellent handling bike that I could see it. Not to mention Jenn literally loves it, way more than the V7, because the fit/feel/riding position etc. So I get it. I really do.

[flip]

My opinion here is just as worthless as most everyone else's so I will throw out my thoughts. It sounds like this young lady is probably stronger than some of the guys on here and probably more coordinated than all of us.

When I started riding street bikes, a few decades back, It occurred to me that every time I moved up in engine size and therefore bike weight, they got easier to ride.

I think the most important characteristics of a bike for a new rider is that it fits them, has good low end torque and has a moderate to wide engagement point for the clutch and is fairly low effort. It can be difficult for a new rider to let out the clutch just right as they are trying to give it the just right amount of throttle. That generally is easier on a moderate to large size engine than a small one and v-twins are usually very good here.

[Devildog]

As others say, the V50 and V65 fit the criteria, and are reliable when sorted out. The 'C' has the benefit of a low seat height.

[boatdetective]

This seems to be a really great problem to have. First of all, enjoy the research and hunt. Second, don't "settle" for something half right. Last, I would try to figure how long she's going to have it. Is it an interim bike- or will she be using it through college?  It seems to me that she will be the latter- so you might consider something that is versatile and can be accessorized.  Along with other advantages, the V7 kits out pretty easily with Hepco Beckers for her (no doubt) adventurous lifestyle. I don't see that happening very easily with a 696. The V7 powerplant is pretty well proven and should be reliable. The behavior of the machine is perfectly tractable without any vices. Most importantly, it is absolutely dripping with style.

Looks like we may have a candidate for the youngest Guzzista on Wildguzzi, gentlemen.

I might add a note here that John's two awesome kids didn't just drop out of the sky. I have a sneaking suspicion that Dad's attention, involvement, and support have a little something to do with it.

JKK