My Wife is thinking about learning to ride.

I know my Heritage is ridden by a lot of female riders but I don't think it's a good bike to learn on.
Also, I've got to much $$ in it to have her drop it during the learning process.

I think the best learning bike is probably something like a $1000 Honda Nighthawk and they are out there.
My first street bike was a 1984 Nighthawk 550 and it was easy to ride.

However I'm not looking to get something that 3 months after she's riding I'll have to replace with something more permanent.
So I've been looking around and there seems to a lot of 2007+ Sportster 1200s out there for $3500-4500.

I figure if she doesn't take to being the driver that I could probably get most of my money back or perhaps even hand the bike over to my 23 year old Son who's been wanting a bike for some time now.
I think an 883 would be fine for my Wife (she's only 135 lbs.) but my Son is 225 lbs. so an 883 might be a bit small for him.

What do you guys/gals think?
Would a Sportster 1200 be a good bike for someone to learn on?

 

If you are looking at keeping the cost down to around $1000 that kind of leaves out the Sportster. Maybe a Honda Shadow.

 

Here's my 2 cents... First, get her riding. Contact your nearest Harley dealership and see if they have a new rider class. She will either Love riding, or hate it. If she hates it and you already bought a bike your probably going to argue about it every time you walk past it sitting in the garage so same yourself the drama. If she loves it, let her make the decision about the new ride (with your input of course!).

 

I bought a nice Sportster 1200 for my wife and 16 yo son to learn on. My wife hated it (too tall and too top heavy for her liking). My son loved it for about a year and then he was ready for something more his speed (a softail Night Train).

We ended up trading the sporty on the Night Train for my son and getting a Honda Shadow for her. The Shadow is way lighter, less top heavy and easier to handle for her.

Best advice is to get her in to some rider safety courses and see how dedicated she is going to be to riding before you drop a lot of money.

 

Rider safety course and then rent a bike for a day. If she does well, and by that I mean she's not really nervous about being on a bike, then maybe consider an 883. Forget about a 1200. That' t much power, in my opinion.

 

Thanks for the inputs.

I guess I should have stated that a Rider Course is differently in her future if she decides to pursue riding.
However she doesn't need to take a Rider Course to be able to learn to operate a bike in a controlled environment such as a parking lot or such.

I've been riding for over 40 years and I'm a trained driving instructor.
I'm sure I can teach her what she needs to know in order to operate a bike safely.
That being said if she decides to pursue riding she will only do so after she completes a Rider Course.

Also I live in Nebraska, so what I'm trying to do is just buy a bike cheaply.
Most people don't ride in the Winter so they have bikes just sitting around taking up garage space.

Being the off-season it's the best time to buy.
My Wife will likely not even be on the bike until Spring.



This is exactly the type of opinion I was looking for.
The one thing I don't want to do is to discourage her by putting her on something that makes it difficult or uncomfortable for her to learn to ride.

I think I'll start looking for a $1000 "cruiser" bike like an older Shadow that unless she trashes it, I'll likely be able to recover my investment if she decides not to ride or wants to move to something nicer.

Thanks,

 

How tall is she and about how much does she weigh?

If she's shorter, the sportsters can be very intimidating. The Honda Shadows, even a Rebel for a season and a Suzuki Savage - also called the Suzuki S40 are great starter bikes. I loved my Suzuki - about 340 lbs; 650cc engine; lots of torque - I followed my friend with a Fat Boy for a season and had no problem keeping up. It was light, fast and my feet were flat footed on the ground at stops - very important for a new rider. After that - then I was ready for the sporty.

Let her take the class and then let her choose. I see guys do this all the time. Pick out a bike for the wife and its the wrong bike for her. My brother bought my sister-in-law a brand new sporty Nightster after she finished her class. It scared her - to a newb it seemed heavy, big - just intimidating. I was able to get her on a Honda Rebel and she did great, but hubby wouldn't get her one to learn on, so she gave up riding. Very sad. Hubby should never have made such an important decision for her.

 

I teach the MSF basic course and strongly believe a new rider should both take the course and start on a lighter, lower powered bike. I think the new rider will develop better skills with a smaller bike they can handle without constantly being afraid of turning over. Its also very likely that a new rider will turn over their first bike at some point in the first few months. Would you prefer this first turn over be on a used small bike or a shiny new Harley?


I learned on a 250 Vstar my neighbor had and not using, which was fun but too small for anything but urban commuting. Something a bit larger that can easily do 60 mph and still not be so intimidating would be better. The lower powered 400-800's would be perfect. Make sure seat height allows the rider to flat foot both sides of bike. I've had many students tell me during class they either have a new full size Harley or are going to get one and just know they are headed to a significant damage turnover if not injury.

 

This is why created this thread; I'm not one of those guys.

I'll likely get a nice Shadow or such and let her work into something a little bigger and a little more powerful, if that's what she wishes.

As typical; I pretty much knew what direction I was going to go in, others just confirmed it.

Thanks again for all the inputs.

 

Buy her a Honda Shadow. They ae a great starter bike. My girlfriend stated on one. She's only 5'2". SHe rode it for 2 seasons and put 22 000 kms (12000 mile) on it before moving up. She still talks abour what a great bike it was.