Just this weekend I got my first bike - a Honda XL750 Transalp. Winter is coming where I live, so when I saw a blue sky, dry roads and temperatures just over 0, I thought I could have a little ride. But that wasn’t the stupid, even though I forgot the keys after being completely suited up with thin jogging gloves and winter gloves.
There wasn’t any stupid during the ride, although I forgot the keys again after putting on the two pairs of gloves after a little break. Or that I kept hitting the hazard lights by accident, or the high beams.
The stupid was when I got back and rolled into the driveway. I wanted to slowly roll in and park in front of the wall of the garage. Had the clutch pulled and apparently twisted my wrist to get my thumb on the kill switch. The motor revved up so loud it scared the whole family out the house and onto the porch, where they witnessed me rolling towards the wall, bumping into it because I was so startled I didn’t remember to apply the brake and me falling very, very slowly and gently (almost with a certain grace, I hope) to the side.
As far as I could see, there’s only a few scratches on the bar end and the peg. Whew! But, I was told I bumped hard enough that the rear wheel lifted into the air! Hope that the fork and frame are ok!
Was a real downer after the nice ride, but I guess it’s true what I heard, that all riders fall at least once!
Nothing wrong with a 750 for your first bike.
Depends on the 750.
This bike I think is definitely too much for a first bike. Tons of power and lots of potential for whiskey throttle.
But some of the cruiser 750s would make a good first motorcycle as they don’t make lots of power. Something like a Honda Shadow 750 would be a great starter bike with a comfortable ride and enough power to keep up and have some fun but not overwhelming.
The question I ask when talking about that is “Could accidently releasing the clutch while giving it gas to move from a stop lead to whisky throttle”, in this case it’s a bike that does 0-60mph under 4 seconds so… Yeah…
My friend didn’t believe me when I told her starting on a Honda Cbr500 was better than a Ninja 650 until she had that exact scenario happen that could have lead her to falling from an overpass had she been on a more powerful bike…
Not all 750s can do 0-60 in under 4 sec. I’ve known guys that start out on low powered bikes and lose interest.
They must not have been that interested in the first place then, I started with a 200 before moving to a 650 then 700 then 1000 and my 200 is still one of my favorites!
If the only reason you want to ride is to go fast then you should own a track bike and then go for whatever size you want, you’re not sharing the road with kids.