A goodbye to my friend Jessi Combs— educator, welder and fabricator, land speed record holder, motorcycle builder, TV show host, off-road racer, Queen of the Hammers, beautiful, bad ass, intelligent woman.
Goodbye Jessi Combs- Legend, Leader, Lady
you’re suggesting i4 sportsbikes for people new to motorcycles? regardless of sex that, IN MY OPINION is not the wisest move, why not suggest some parralel twins? v-twins? gsxr’s, cbr-rr’s, zxr’s and yzf-r’s aren’t ment for new people. they are not positioned that way, they are not geared that way, their power curve is not friendly, nothing is friendly about them. why not suggest the sports bike learner models, most companies offer them. closest you got there was the monster.
Yes, I am suggesting them. Firstly, she said starter sportbike not starter motorcycle, so I didn’t want to asssume. But regardless, as someone who has ridden all of the bikes I mentioned, I actually have my own opinion on what is easier to ride. A Monster for instance has a very torquey in lower RPM’s and it can be really uncomfortable at slow speeds. They are kind of top heavy and don’t have the best turning radius, so they can be daunting for a new rider when parked. A CBR is extremely light, and for me the weight felt much lower to the ground, making it much more stable feeling. It was easy to move around, comfortable, and the gearing is really easy to go slow with. It’s also really easy to go fast, sure. But to give you an idea of my personal experience, the Honda CBR600RR I rode was more friendly than a Monster 750, a Monster 620, a Suzuki GSXR750, and a Ducati 999. In a lot of ways I feel like it was friendlier than my 1980 Yamaha XJ Maxim 650 because the brakes were awesome and it was much smoother to ride. Better suspension, brakes, everything that gives you a leg-up on safety.
Point being… just because she is a girl doesn’t mean she can’t control her throttle hand and keep her acceleration smooth, slow, and safe. People can grow into bikes in my opinion, I don’t believe that everyone just hops on a bike and cranks the throttle. Why not? Because I watch a lot of relatively new riders, or brand new riders, buy Ducatis at MotoCorsa where I work… and most of them have common sense and take it easy when they hop on a bike. That’s why I asked what she was looking for in a sport bike. I personally don’t really understand getting a Ninja 250 if you want to end up being able to keep up with your friends who may have bigger sport bikes. You’re going to want something bigger pretty quick. Now if it’s not the speed or the power, but the look of the sportbike… a Ninja 250 is a fabulous idea.
[Read the original post this is regarding] Also, if you guys have responses… please post them in the comments don’t send me a private message (I want everyone to see your thoughts too.)
Posted on June 8, 2012 in Motorcycles by Alicia Mariah Elfving