[105Thud]

Just wanted to to say hello. Getting ready to purchase a 17' Z650 ABS( white).

A little background. I'm a newb to the motorcycling world and a little long in the tooth at 55 years old. I have never owned a mc and have only ridden one a hand full of times.

That being said I have been a drag racer, car, for many years. Back in my younger days I raced road bicycles (USCF Cat 3 racer) and have done my fair share of bombing down the mountains of N/GA on a 19 pound road bike at 50+ mph on a 23mm wide tire.

I plan on taking the motorcycle safety course and will have the appropriate gear. Firm believer in safety as in drag racing I wore fire pants/jacket /shoes/gloves, neck collar and full faced helmet.

Enough rambling. I look forward to talking with other Z650 riders and I'm sure I'll have plenty questions.

Take care,

David

 

[Cowasaki]

Welcome to the forum! Those safety courses are a necessity IMO, because that's how I learned and better to drop their bikes than yours.

 

[105Thud]

Thanks for the welcome Cowasaki.

Yep you are correct on using their bikes for the course. Just don't want to make a [email protected]# out of myself but hey I'm a newb. I'm hoping that with all my years of cycling I can apply some of my skills to mc riding such as counter steering, braking, weight transfer and leaning and knowing I'll be invisible to the cagers and looking for outs to avoid being smacked.

Out of all the thousands of miles I trained on my road bicycle I was hit twice by cars. One was a DUI driver the other was a little old lady.

David

 

[Lowball]

Welcome 105THUD. I just purchased the z650 in late October. You won't be disappointed with the bike. I absolutely love it! I am to close to your age (almost 50). I had a Kawasaki Vulcan 800 seven years ago and wanted to get back into riding. I appreciate the z650 because it is so easy to ride, nimble has **** and is very comfortable to ride even on longer trips (without killing your ass). I feel it is just an all around fantastic bike.

 

[roadhawk]

Welcome 105THUD. I just purchased the z650 in late October. You won't be disappointed with the bike. I absolutely love it! I am to close to your age (almost 50). I had a Kawasaki Vulcan 800 seven years ago and wanted to get back into riding. I appreciate the z650 because it is so easy to ride, nimble has **** and is very comfortable to ride even on longer trips (without killing your ass). I feel it is just an all around fantastic bike.

Seen similar things mentioned in reviews and when you see that sort of correlation in feedback, that's pretty much the green light that anyone needs to finally make a decision.
Maybe we should get a poll up here rating how easy it was to decide to buy this bike.