| Author | Message | ||
     Cro13 |
Sorry this isn't Buell related. Does an automatic sporty loking motorcycle exist? My wife has been struggling with riding a bike for over a year. She has done the MSF which taught her the basic skills. After that we purchased a used Kawasaki EX250. She has been practicing In our local school parking lot and on the side streets around our home. She just dosn't seam to get it. She has her good days and then out of the blue it's like she's never been on a bike before. I also should note that she burned out two clutches in my jeep trying to learn to use a manuel transmition. I am aware of the Ridley, but have found no others. There is a ton of bike knowledge here I hope someone can help. Carter 03 XB | ||
| Buelliedan |
Carter, None currently that I know of. Honda made one back in ther late 70's. A CB400A Hawk. In fact I have one in my shed! Its a standard so its not too sporty but it will hit 90mph. If you are truly interested I would be willing to sell it for a reasonable price. | ||
| Peter |
Honda also made a 740/4 auto. Husqvarna made a 360(?) enduro bike as well, but I don't know of any others. PPiA | ||
| Mikej |
New or used? The old 1983 Honda 450e I had also came in an automatic version. The little old Honda Trail 90's and Trail 110's also were automatic clutch. These are not true "automatics" as you still have to shift them, you just don't have to use the clutch. The new Mini-Cooper resurrected by BMW has a one-speed trans option, which I think is really a continuously-variable-drive trans of some sort. You may look into that BMW commuter motorcycle that looks like a big doughnut ring, but according to one of the European guys here who rode one seems to handle well (might be fun to get one on a BattleTrax course just for grins). Asking for a "sporty looking" bike with a true automatic trans is rough. If Honda or BMW don't have what you're looking for, then the best option is simply lots of practice by an impartial third-party instructor. See if you can find any old small Enduro-type street legal dirt bikes, 250cc or 125cc size, get a pair, go find some dirt trails, and get some weekend practice in for her. Low gears, low power, and a soft landing surface, all on a vehicle that won't matter if it gets dropped, all leads to more beginner comfort while trying to learn. Hope this helps, or at least hope it made some sense. | ||
| Mikej |
Uh, there is this one, but I somehow don't think it's what you had in mind.  ======= Or this Ridley maybe. Never heard of them until I did this web search. Or this Honda Silverwing. Sort of sporty looking for a big scooter. | ||
| Cro13 |
Wow, Talk about instant feedback. Ok I'll try to do some searches based on this info. Thanks Carter 03 XB | ||
| Hootowl |
Wasn't the 66 Honda Dream an automatic? | ||
| S3dave |
not mine | ||
| Hootowl |
OK. I've been wrong before...Don't tell anybody though. | ||
| Anonymous |
i don't want to hurt anyone's feelings but if she can't get comfy riding a bike where the workload is one of only managing the bike, it is in her best interests to stay out of riding altogether. workload only increases with traffic, other bikes, animals, surface anomalies, etc. she will pose a risk mostly to herself and also to others if the entire act of riding isn't fluid and natural. managing the driveline shouldn't even have to be a concernt. yes, she should try to develop the fluidity but if it doesn't come, you should do her a favor and suggest it might not be for her. please don't be offended. i just want people to not learn a painful lesson the wrong way. | ||
| Cro13 |
Anon, Thank you for the comment. I have made the same point to my wife many times. You would have to know her to understand, she is a bright, loving but, God help me, stoubborn woman. Every time things don't go so well and I mention riding two up isn't that bad she reminds me that I havn't ridden on back since I was a child and that she has the rest of her life to learn. She never is in traffic. When I say she practices on the back roads I mean back unused roads. I would never let her be put into extreme harms way. The thought process behind using the automatic bike is that she would be able to master all of the skills necessary to ride then after she and I are confident of her ability the she goes back to the little 250 and adds the one aspect of pulling and relesaing the clutch. Call me crazy but it kind of makes sense to me. Please believe me when I say the last thing we need on the road is another person who can't handle the vehicle they are operating. Carter 03 XB | ||
| Hans |
Carter: I remember very well my first riding lesson, about 11 years old, given by my nephew sitting behind my back. He had told me before a number of instructions how to shift up and said: Shifting down is easy then: Just in reverse order. Off we went. Approaching the first corner he screamed in my ears: Slow down and shift down. Turning the throttle did slow us down. I was happy and even more when I found out that the thing was equiped with a brake: He had not told me. But when he yelled: Shift down, shift down, I became totally blank. I had no good idea what the function of the clutch was: The engine did speed up when you used it. My point is that I recognise the situation of being glad that there is only one thing you are sure about: That you know how to brake, forgetting all, what is told you more. The best thing would be a gifted instructor (and that is surely never the husband) and a very light bike (3 cubic inch, 2 stroke) with an engine which simply stalls if you don`t coordinate the clutch and throttle very well. Anybody without neurological disorders can learn to ride well. Hans. | ||
| Cro13 |
Quick update: Thanks to the information I was given here my wife is the proud owner of a 1982 CM450a  It's a little old and rusty but fixing it up is half the fun. Thank you, Everyone who helped. Carter | ||
| Sarodude |
Ridley -Saro |
