Need some motorcycle advice

[TN al]

When I bought my new bike I offered to sell my old bike to my 19-year-old in the army son for the trade in price. He accepted. It is a 2000 Suzuki gs500e with just under 15,000 miles on it. My son took the motorcycle safety course two weekends ago and came home last week to claim his bike. He missed a turn about a mile away from the house and ran the bike into a cow pasture, damage estimate will be found out later today. I am concerned about his ability to ride the bike, he really can't drive a car any better, and I have thought that perhaps a smaller bike would be safer for him. I have located a 2007 Kawasaki Eliminator 125 which he would have to pay between $600 and $700 more for but it has just under 2,500 miles on it. What do ya'll think?

[billyoc]

1. Keep the Suzuki, they go 300 trillion miles before they die.

Smaller ain't safer, and everybody crashes.

[av8rdave]

2. If you;re concerned about his ability to ride, changing bikes will make no difference

Get him off of it. Make him take the beginner course again, and then the advanced course. Have him ride dirt bikes off the roads for a while.

[snooper2]

3. He needs a smaller bike...

It sounds like you are out of the city limits if he is running into cow pastures...maybe he should get a used dirt bike first and get good at that before taking to the street...

Dirt hurts a lot less than concrete...Trust me, and my knee :)

Also, if you decide to let him keep the Suzuki don't fix any cosmetic damage...you'll just be wasting money and the damage will be a reminder to him that his bike will look like shit unless he keeps the shiny side up :hi:

[TN al]

4. He really doesn't have the option to learn on a dirt bike

although I like the idea. He is in the army stationed about three hours away. The motorcycle will be his ONLY means of transportation.

[guitar man]

5. well, he got that out of the way

It happens, there are only two types of riders, those who have been down and those who are gonna go down ;)

I'd ask him if he learned anything from the experence. If the answer is no, then it's time to worry. Chances are, it was a learning experience for him, a lot of new riders get a lesson in humility and learn to ride within their limitations afte they dump it the first time. :hi:

[Eurobabe]

6. It happens to the best of us.

I also took the MSF course in 2001, bought a small bike (Honda CB250), did well on that for about 3 months, got cocky -- upgraded to a Honda 600RR, rode it once, took it back to the dealer, couldn't tolerate the seat angle on a racing bike. Swapped for a Suzuki 650 naked street bike.

Within a month of buying the Suzuki, I stopped at an intersection and the bike fell over, broke off the hand brake and damaged the pedal. Was pissed because the damn thing was so heavy I could barely lift it upright again. Then about 6 weeks later, I was out on a ride after a period of rain, was coming around a curve at no more than 25 MPH and the back slid out, I went onto the shoulder of the road and flipped over the handlebars. Can still remember my head in a FULL HELMET hitting the pavement and thinking "oh wow, those helmets really work!" I had on thick jeans and a leather jacket. My knee was injured, but nothing serious. If I had not been wearing my helmet I would have sustained serious head and facial damage. I walked away from the scene, but my bike was trashed.

It took me another year to get the courage up to even want to be on a bike again, we traded in the Suzuki in a pre-arranged deal for my husband, and I got a new 2003 Honda CB250 again. Looking back, I should have stuck with the small bike for a couple of years and not been so anxious to get onto a machine that I obviously could not handle. I never felt comfortable on it anyhow, the center of gravity was weird for me.

They told us in the MSF course that beginners are the ones who have the most accidents (serious = fatalities) within the first year because they over or undercompensate for things. I'd believe it, I haven't ridden for over 4 years now. My husband has since sold his bike too.

Oh well, sorry to ramble, that was just my experience in a nutshell.

[pokerfan]

7. I started with a 125

which was more bike than I probably should have had. All my friends were riding Honda 70s and 90s. But our neighbor's son had gone off to college and his Yamaha 125 Enduro was available.

It takes lots of practice, more practice than you can get in a safety course. I was fortunate in that we had acres of timber and farmland where I could practice off road. Far better to crash riding off road than in traffic.

Ah, found a picture of my old bike on the internet:

[old mark]

8. I took the safety course many years ago, and rode

a little Yamaha similar to that. It was a great little bike, and felt very solid to me. I felt confident on it.

Hmmmm.....

mark