Should I buy this bike? (New rider)

[Mac]

Ben,

First and foremost, welcome to Pashnit! As you can see, there are plenty of people here to help and we are a passionate group where safety is concerned.

I must agree that the MSF BRC is the best place to start and I see you're on board with that. Good.

The bike you're looking at, the Volusia, is by all means a fair sized bike and an 800 cc bike isn't typically the first bike a person would recommend to the new rider (I'm sure you saw that). People normally recommend the smaller bikes simply because they tend to be nimble and are easily maneuvered in those times of peril.

It has been my experience (MSF instructor since 1990) that a new rider best serves him/herself in buying a motorcycle after the class is completed and they have a better idea of their own limits and have learned to ride within them. I have seen student riders come in with absolute zero experience and come out of the course with a great understanding of what they can and cannot do and purchased accordingly and it has worked well. Some did as many here have already suggested and started small.

I remember one guy left the class and went and bought a Buell Firebolt the very next day and rode that thing like he'd been doing for years. I have also seen riders who left the course and bought smaller bikes and were no better with them than they were in the class setting where it is controlled. They got out in live traffic and it scared them.

When I teach I make sure the rider gets a good idea of how I think his skill has or haven't progressed. I have flat out told people that they really don't need to be on a motorcycle and if I saw them in a cage (car) I'd go the other way! For the most part I have been a pretty decent judge of character.

Here is a caveat to consider however...some classes will pass all riders regardless of how they have actually performed in class! I sat in on a class in another state (no names) and there was this one rider who consistently shot off the course because he was too scared to lean into the turn at range speeds (no more than 20 mph). Twice I saw him leave the course and one other time I watched him drop the bike. In the classes I have taught a safety violation means the rider leaves the course and gets a refund. Not them! No refunds mean everyone passes! Needless to say, I didn't teach for them.

In the end, the best advice I can offer a new rider is to hold off on buying a bike until after you have taken the class and see if this is really for you. I have known for many, many years that motorcyclists are born and with only a few exceptions, not created. Let's see who you are first and then we move forward. I'm not saying don't buy the Volusia so, please don't take that from all of what I am saying. That bike is as good as any other when it comes to first bikes simply because not too many of us can afford the smaller to larger bike progression.

The Volusia itself is a pretty good bike and, that one being a 2004 with 22k miles on it means the owner put all of 3,100 miles on it each year since it was new meaning it is barely broken in. How much are they asking for it?