Advice for a new rider

Angie,

Being a new rider myself, I consider this my first full season of riding, I've picked many a brain on here. Ultimately, you have to pick and choose what works for you. Everyone has been very helpful. When I was adding farkles to my bike I would always ask if anyone had experience with this or that. The feedback was always worth noting and made all the difference in what I chose. There were even occasions where someone would have exactly what I was looking for and a deal was struck.

Couldn't ask for a better group of folks to be involved.

Angie, over many rallies I have on occasion encountered "newbies". Engaging in conversation, I have taken them around and introduced them to various people I know. I have also taken some of them through the vendors at the rallies and showed them what there was that may be useful to them. The caveat at the time was that they were not going to buy anything yet, but go through and see everything, and then we'll discuss it. Then later that person would make up their own mind and hopefully make wiser purchases, not that I'm an expert because I'm not. All I offer is years of experience and observation. All I offer is help. You'll find that is common among many of the folks here. The best thing you can do for yourself is to ask questions, listen to the various answers, then make your best decision based on what you've heard.

Again, welcome to the family!

Lots of good advice thus far!

Sue was right in that she said ride for a while and then figure out the farkles that you want based on your riding demands.

Try not to fall into the "I got to have this " syndrome early on as your check book will be rapidly be depleted.

However, I would like to add one point. Before you invest big $ in hard luggage, look into soft luggage (saddle bags, pillion bag, tank bag) that can be used on other bikes as well. You may just get the itch sooner than you think to get a different (meaning: BIGGER) bike and why not transfer the soft luggage and keep the overhead down? The soft stuff does not weigh as much either. Besides, the more space you have to fill, you will fill (re-read Sudani about carrying alot of stuff) -filled up spaces equals more weight.

Welcome to the club and post a pic of your ride.
Keep the rubber side down.

Congratulations! What a great first bike. Wish I still had mine as it was a great companion to my 1150RT. Take a MC course, buy a top case for shopping and you may never drive your car again!

Hey - thanks to everyone for all the amazing input. I'm learning a ton from all of you. Thought I'd introduce my new bike. Not a very glamorous photo, but it'll have to do for now. We are still figuring out her name. Husband thinks it's Annabelle. Daughter thinks it's Rosie. I think it's damn heavy - had to lift her up yesterday by myself. Uff-da! Wasn't anything serious - just a little mishap getting her off the center stand... I had to lay her down or ruin my back forever.

Paging Skert to the white courtesy phone!

AKBeemer said:

The 650 thumpers are amazingly difficult to get on the center stand, especially on the lowered bikes. My wife's is lowered and when I put it on the center stand I ask for help.

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Good to know. Asking for help is the only way I can get it on the stand. Since it's an aftermarket centerstand, I thought maybe it was too tall. My bike isn't lowered but it still won't just pop-up for me. I've struggled without help and have yet to get it up on the stand.

Thanks!

I have no experience with the newer 650's but I've found that I have trouble with the centerstand on my '05 only if the bags are on. If the bags (or at least the left one) is off the bike, I can ge the proper leverage. It also helps to use the heel of my boot rather than the ball of my foot.

As for taking it down, I do that from a seated position and rock it forward.

On my 1200 GS, I recently learned to walk it off by holding the handle bars and grabbing the bar on the frame. Then I simply walk it forward and it drops straight and easy. Is this an option on the newer 650's?

What I have found is that, like lifting a bike, getting it onto the center stand requires a specific technique. If you don't have the right body posture and motion it will not work. It was incredible how much time I spent trying to lift my bike and then I modified my stance according to something I read online and it worked like a charm. The same thing for getting it onto the stand. If I stick my butt out, I'm not going to get leverage and it isn't going to pop up onto the stand. I still need to work on this, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that there's an easy way and a hard way to accomplish lifting the bike and getting it on the center stand.

BTW, the reason I keep it on the center stand is that I have little kids in the neighborhood (plus my own kids) and I feel that the bike is more stable on the center stand than on the kick stand. If a child should get an inkling to climb on the bike (which they know they shouldn't do... but kids will be kids) I feel that it's less likely to fall over.

Also, the reason I need to know how to lift my bike is that I will be riding alone quite a lot. I feel I need to be as self sufficient as possible.

Getting it off the center stand: sitting on the bike and rocking it forward is definitely easier, but my dealer told me not to do this. I can't remember the reason, but she said it wasn't a good idea. With that said, I will probably be using this technique since i really don't want to lay down my bike again.

Tracy, I just re-read your question about grabbing the handlebars and the frame and walking it off the stand. I think that is what Gina (my dealer) told me to do. I will ask her again and post her explanation.

Angie

manicmechanic said:

Paging Skert to the white courtesy phone!

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Yep! That's exactly where I learned how to lift my bike.
http://www.ibmwr.org/otech/pickup.html

not sure if this has already been said but join the chain gang (F650.com) there is a ton of info there and the inmates are very helpful.

Beautiful bike, Angie! Enjoy!

I sometimes have the center stand blues, too. I usually park the bike in gear on the side stand, unless I have a "need" to put it up.

I don't know how the center stand is on your bike. My F650 has a curved bottom that slides when you try to rock the bike off of the stand on smooth concrete. I've learned to put the toe of my boot in front of the stand to keep it from sliding.

Centerstands

Don't put it on the centerstand. Yea I know....technique. I can put my bikes on their centerstands but really, why bother? The centerstands are great for changing a tire or doing maintanence, but otherwise is there really a good reason to have the bike on the centerstand? SUre, I've heard the arguments about fluids being unevenly distributed.....but I figure if it's good enough for Kawa, Suzuki and Yamaha it's good enough for my bikes too.

Gotta make sure your sidestand is down before you take it off the centerstand. I learned that after my first service. Dang dealer always parks the bikes on the centerstand with the sidestand up. Hate that.

I'm on my 3rd F650 (and about 140,000 miles), and starting with the '07, it became very difficult to get the bike on the centerstand. Of course with an F650, this is necessary in order to maintain your chain.

When on a trip, I ask for help. When at home I back the bike onto a 1/4" piece of plywood. With a near empty tank, I can just barely get the bike on the centerstand. The odd thing was, when I first got the bike (before the bags were installed), it was easy! The dealer offered to find someone to cut the centerstand a bit, but I'm just afraid the weld would let go.

I carry a small travel purse around my neck; besides the zipped "dollar area", it has two other zippered pockets and two other "slide-in" pockets. I keep my license, credit card, and a couple other items in the netted zipper pocket - this makes it easy to extract the credit card for gasoline purchases. My registration and insurance are tucked into the "dollar area". I do have separate "wallets" for membership cards, medical cards and the like. As someone else said, forget the other "girlie things". I do have a lipstick and a chapstick in a jacket pocket. A comb or brush? Fingers do pretty well!

Don't let anyone talk you into looking for another bike before you're ready. The F650 is economical, gets the best gas mileage, runs on regular, and you can pick it up! I've had mine up to 90 uphill passing a truck, and I wasn't out of throttle. It goes as fast as you need to go. And it's a near bullet proof as you're going to find. As more than one mechanic has said - "nothing" goes wrong with them. Well, as near "nothing" as you'll get

Best,
Muriel

Awesome looking ride! Don't feel bad about your "center stand transgression", it happens to ALL of us. My advice to my wife is to "be ready" when coming off. ALWAYS have the side stand down. Once you've done it a number of times, you'll become more comfortable with it. You're fortunate if you can rock your bike off the center stand while on it. Both my wife and I aren't much but about 5'6" so that's out for both of us. Coming off the cs just takes practice.

Our 1100 is harder to get on the center stand than the K which is fortunate because the K shouldn't be stored on the side stand for any length of time in the first place (thanks for THAT BMW!! )

If there is ANYTHING true about our bikes it's that they tend to the top heavy.

The center stand thing for me is necessary for two practical reasons: 1) I have kids all over the neighborhood, plus my own kids, who may get the idea to crawl onto the bike even though they know they are not supposed to. I feel it's much more stable on the center stand - if the kids do get ornery and climb on it I feel more confident that the bike wouldn't tip over on them. 2) I have limited space in my garage. We are squeezing in two cars and the bike into a small 2 car garage. Having it on the center stand takes up less space.

I have figured out how to get it up on the stand and back down without injury or incident so I'm making progress!

Regarding carrying stuff, I really like Muriel's idea of using a small over the shoulder wallet purse. That's a perfect idea but I wonder how bulkier things would fit into it. I have to carry an inhaler and medication with me - maybe it would fit? I did order a small tank bag which will fit more stuff. I wish it would just GET HERE so I could try it out!

Also, wanted to update you - I ventured out beyond my neighborhood for the first time on Sunday. Some friends invited me to ride with them - we toured the countryside for about an hour or so. I now have almost 80 miles logged. HAHA! That probably makes a lot of you laugh hysterically! But ya gotta start somewhere!

I'm loving the bike - it's absolutely PERFECT for me. I can't imagine starting out on anything else. She'll be in my stable for a long time... on the center stand. :