Hey Time2Ride,
Here is my take. Any bike you get has the potential to get you hurt or even worse killed. It all comes down to a few smiple things. One and very important, take a good riding course to learn the basics. But remember just learning the basics will not make you a rider, it is to get you started and to help you get some what comforable with all the controls and what to do is some simple situations.
Second, make sure to get all the proper gear and wear it when you ride.
Third and most important, respect the right hand. It does not matter what bike you buy to ride, as long as you respect the right hand. Also stay with in your riding limits. For example, if you buy the Bandit 1200, you know it makes a lot of power so you also know that a hard twist of the throttle will put you into warp drive. But to easily twist the throttle will usually help give you the control you need.
What I have read in this post as to advice to you is correct for most riders, but I disagree as long as a person will use their self control.
I have a friend that never rode before and bought a brand new R1 as his first bike, this is much more of a bike than the Bandit you are thinking of getting. I could not talk him out of it, but I begged him to take the MSF course and to buy the proper gear. Well he did get most of the gear and did take the MSF course. Then he also did the one thing that I begged most of all, rode only with in his limits and took it slow. Well he has been riding now for four years with only two accidents. The first one was he forgot to put his feet down at a stop sign (any newby rider can do this), he had only been riding about three days and the second accident was he was hit from behind in a round about. This could have even happened to and experienced rider.
So it really does not matter what bike you buy to ride as your first bike as long as you use your self control, take the safety courses, ride with friends who are willing to help you learn and most of all respect the right hand and ride with in your limits. Then practice, practice and practice.
Good luck with your decision
|