cant afford to drive a car any more ,Motorcycle ?

I have a Kawasaki KLR 650. It is a dualsport motorcycle. It is very comfortable to ride longer distances and gets great mileage. It is also perfect for back country two track and one track dirt roads, logging trails and things such as that.

I am not a big fan of riding on busy streets on a motorcycle. Too many people drive with their head up their rear and are totally inattentive. That being said for a rural commute I would not hesitate.

I Love my KLR and should have bought sooner.

Check out the KLR650 forum for all you will ever need to know about them.

I have a 95' DR 650 Suzuki Dual-Sport that gets about 65 MPG. It's a great bike that can go anywhere (lets see those Harley riders say that!) it can cruise at 70 MPH on the highway and can take on most any trails that I choose to ride on.

I would recommend any street/trail bikes by Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki in the 650cc range. The KLR is a great bike as well.

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Warning: Television contains psycho-political programming and subliminal thought alteration.

If you are commuting long distance, would definitely NOT recommend a trail bike.

There are certainly preferences on bikes. I prefer my street bikes - no need for riding on a trail, but if I had to - my little Buell would do it and it is a Harley product (oh, and easily cruises at 75 MPH)

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You shall judge a man by his foes as well as his friends
~J. Conrad

I personally think that anyone wanting a driver’s license should take a motorcycle safety course. The majority of accident descriptions start with, “a car turned in front of the bike.” Yes they are dangerous, but if you ride knowing that everyone in the world is out to run you over, and you dress/plan accordingly, you should survive all your crashes.

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"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities
in our air and water that are doing it."
--Al Gore, Former Vice President

I ride a quad to work in the summer, I live less than 5 miles from the shop, I do not have insurance or a tag, an I wear a helmet..

I so enjoy the ride in the mornings, and in the evening it can be hot.

You increase your odds, true. But if a Suburban turns in front of you on the highway, it's pretty much guaranteed the ending is not going to be pretty for the bike. No matter how careful the rider was.
Like I said, you need some luck on your side, too. The question isn't if you'll wreck, it's always "how bad will it be?"
And new riders need to keep that in mind.

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~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

Good call on skipping the Rebel. You will most definitely want a bigger bike for your commute.

We sold my wife's Shadow 600 last year. It was her "beginner" bike and it became "to small" for her after one season. The smaller Shadow's like the 600 are 4-speed transmissions and are just plain terrible on the highway.

I commute on my Harley Softail Custom whenever possible. I get around 45-50 mpg.

Remember, you are invisible out there. Ride like you know that and you wil be fine.

Good luck.

Greg, who's Harley is perpetually dirty. ;-)

Yup, you ARE invisible. However, if they could see you, they would be out to get you. A properly paranoid motorcycle rider is surviving motor cycle rider.

My first bike was a Suzuki GS450 and it was a perfect motorcycle for me. My feet could reach the ground, it was well balanced and a very forgiving bike. Got decent gas mileage but almost all my driving was in town so highway characteristics weren't important to me. If you are going to be driving on a fast highway, then something a bit bigger would be better. A small bike would be good if there were secondary highways to go on. The fast highways aren't as scenic anyway and driving slowly saves gas.

We sold a 350 Honda this spring for a lot more money than we thought we would get. It was a 1972 CB350 and I rode it to work as much as possible the last couple of years. But I didn't ride it in the winter, and found a 1989 Honda Civic for $400 that gets almost as good of gas mileage as the motorcycle did, and then I don't have insurance and maintenance on the cycle to deal with. We still have a Honda 125 and 100 that are nice for summer errands around town, and my son got a new moped, too, but the smaller bikes and moped get 80 to 0ver 100 mpg, so there is a substantial difference. BUT the 125 and 100 only go 50+ mph, and the moped about 30mph top speed.

Safety on motorcycles? Logically they are dangerous, but so is everything else we do, and the real danger on a bike is the other guys out there, and some of them don't see a semi or a stop sign, either.

I still have another CB350 Honda in the shed, waiting for a few parts, and then the question is keep it or sell it??