Too much CC or too much thinking?

2114 Views 28 Replies 15 Participants Last post by Mr G, 3 d ago

ChicoMcToker

Discussion Starter · 17 d ago

Hey guys...

Need some perspectives on this conflict I'm having. I'm currently a 7 year rider of a 250cc joymax scooter. Had this glorious idea of upgrading to a bigger bike when I turn 40. Well, I'm 42 now and have my proper license ready.. I'm 178cm high and weight about 65kg. Recently ive put my eyes on this beauty 2007 Super Glide Custom but even more recently I've been having some thoughts about the large gap between 250cc and 1500cc Harley.

Am I about to take a too-big of a risk, or am I really just overthinking things too much?

All responses are welcome

Dave

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Kainam

· #2 · 17 d ago

We don't know what km or kg are, but with the right mindset, you can ride any bike you like. Respect the motorcycle and you'll do fine. Disrespect the bike, and a powerful bike will teach you some respect.

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Fuzzman71

· #3 · 17 d ago

I think you would do fine with a bigger bike. It will take a little time to adapt to the difference in power but, with the years you already have riding you'll be fine. Good luck with your decision.

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1/2 Ton

· #4 · 17 d ago

They all weigh the same when ya get rolling... The engine displacement just means the ability to go faster quicker and the ability to hold that speed with ease.

As stated; Respect the weight, respect the twist of the wrist and understand the weight shift on both braking and accelerating especially in curves. It takes all of a week to get comfy with a larger bike.

You can't even imagine the comfort difference on longer rides. Bigger is better! Short around town rides are easier on the smaller nimble bikes. The longer the ride, the more important size matters.

Have fun and ride safe!

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beboppinandscattin

· #5 · 16 d ago

1/2 Ton said:
They all weigh the same when ya get rolling... The engine displacement just means the ability to go faster quicker and the ability to hold that speed with ease.

As stated; Respect the weight, respect the twist of the wrist and understand the weight shift on both braking and accelerating especially in curves. It takes all of a week to get comfy with a larger bike.

You can't even imagine the comfort difference on longer rides. Bigger is better! Short around town rides are easier on the smaller nimble bikes. The longer the ride, the more important size matters.

Have fun and ride safe!

I think you will be fine. I would venture a guess that the scooter is not much slower than the harley.

chasarms

· #6 · 16 d ago

In my opinion, handling the bigger bikes is one of the easier aspects of motorcycling. It typically only takes most folks a few hundred miles of putting around before it seems very "normal," assuming, of course, that you continue to respect what it is you are motoring yourself around on.

The bigger issue for most, again, in my opinion, is just getting used to being on a two-wheeled, open air machine that is whipping you around town at automobile speeds. The sounds, the smells! Acclimating to the emotional rollercoaster of having a soccer mom in a giant SUV nearly kill you every few days, etc. You acclimate to those things whether riding a scooter or a liter bike. So, you're mostly home already.

I suggest trying it. If it feels okay, you should be fine once you get a little practice. Ride it to the nearest big parking lot on a quiet, early morning and PRACTICE! You'll figure it out soon enough.

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Cyclelane

· #7 · 16 d ago

Up until 2012 I'd had several years away from owning and riding bikes and I mean quite a few years, although I'd had my bike licence since I was 17 years old. Then in 2012 I went out and bought a new Fat Boy, this was by far the heaviest bike I'd ever ridden and I'm not s big guy
5' 7" and 147lb and within a few days I was riding two up with the wife. You'll be fine.

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Kainam

· #8 · 16 d ago

chasarms said:
In my opinion, handling the bigger bikes is one of the easier aspects of motorcycling. It typically only takes most folks a few hundred miles of putting around before it seems very "normal," assuming, of course, that you continue to respect what it is you are motoring yourself around on.

The bigger issue for most, again, in my opinion, is just getting used to being on a two-wheeled, open air machine that is whipping you around town at automobile speeds. The sounds, the smells! Acclimating to the emotional rollercoaster of having a soccer mom in a giant SUV nearly kill you every few days, etc. You acclimate to those things whether riding a scooter or a liter bike. So, you're mostly home already.

I suggest trying it. If it feels okay, you should be fine once you get a little practice. Ride it to the nearest big parking lot on a quiet, early morning and PRACTICE! You'll figure it out soon enough.

One of the most difficult skills to acquire on a motorcycle where I live is being able to ride past all the BBQ restaurants that you're forced to smell when on a motorcycle!

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sardonicus87

· #9 · 16 d ago (Edited)

Overthinking it.

Takes a lot more CCs to move a 750 lb (340 kg) motorcycle than one that weighs 300 lbs (136 kg). That said, a Harley isn't the slouch many make it out to be. Still, pretty much any 1000 CC sport bike will loose any stock 1920 CC Harley. A Harley is a lot lower revving and torque-y, different purposes. The same CC size engine can be designed for different things. Not saying you can just dump the throttle on a Harley, but you're not likely to endo it doing so.

Regardless, the weight of the big cruisers is more what you need to worry about getting used to rather than the power (and they definitely will have better power and a better power-to-weight ratio than a typical low CC learner bike). Even still, they all operate on the same basic principles regardless of how heavy or powerful they are.

I'm smaller than you at 58 kg and 172 cm tall and I have no problems handling my 1920 cc Low Rider ST. There's women smaller than me that can handle an Ultra Classic that weighs 90-100 kg more than my bike better than I can handle my own.

Never mind that a 600 cc sport bike can still spank a liter bike on the track, depending on rider skill of course (though that liter bike would probably beat the 600 cc in a drag race).

It's all in your head.

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DRVMN

· #10 · 16 d ago

You'd be surprised at how well the bigger bikes balance - especially when you get rolling. Slow speed maneuvering is what makes the bigger bikes intimidating. I jumped from a 750 to my Ultra Limited and have never looked back!

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1/2 Ton

· #11 · 16 d ago

beboppinandscattin said:
I think you will be fine. I would venture a guess that the scooter is not much slower than the harley.

I haven't seen a 100 mph scooter yet. Even if i did, I wouldn't want to try for top end speed on one.
Imagine a high speed tank slapper on 14" tires... Whoa Chit!

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lesblank

· #12 · 16 d ago

I think you are over thinking it. I'm also smaller than you at 163kg and 60cm. Never had an issue on my EG for over 65k miles, except backing it up a hill.

Wheel Vehicle Fuel tank Sky Automotive tire

I resenty went to a trike due to knee issues, but I'm 26 years older than you. Reach a point I didn't feel save with my wife was on the back in parking lot situations.

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Fuzzman71

· #13 · 16 d ago

Les good lord, you're 360lbs. and 2ft tall?!! Just kidding.. Where is OP? I think we all agree on you overthinking it. Let us know what you decide and, we will need pics of the new bike. And said scooter as well, why not..

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Cyclelane

· #14 · 15 d ago

lesblank said:
I think you are over thinking it. I'm also smaller than you at 163kg and 60cm. Never had an issue on my EG for over 65k miles, except backing it up a hill.

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I resenty went to a trike due to knee issues, but I'm 26 years older than you. Reach a point I didn't feel save with my wife was on the back in parking lot situations.

I agree, when your a small guy weighing as much as a wet lettuce trying to back your bike up a small incline does cause a bit of an issue!

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lesblank

· #15 · 15 d ago

Fuzzman71 said:
Les good lord, you're 360lbs. and 2ft tall?!! Just kidding.. Where is OP? I think we all agree on you overthinking it. Let us know what you decide and, we will need pics of the new bike. And said scooter as well, why not..

Heck, I did the conversion and still got it wrong, 5'4" and 130lbs, give or take.

Cyclelane said:
I agree, when your a small guy weighing as much as a wet lettuce trying to back your bike up a small incline does cause a bit of an issue!

You just have to think about how you are going to park, only really caught in a bad spot after times.

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ChicoMcToker

Discussion Starter · #16 · 13 d ago

I would like to thank each and every one who answered. My confidence is definitely back and you guys made me laugh some, too

@lesblank thank you for your excellent pointer. Speaking of which, I currently live on an inclining two-way street and park on the far side of the street. I live right across from my parking spot which is nothing more than a street light pole. So, because it's not leveled, and because it's a 2 way street, I park face down, facing the traffic direction on that side of the street. The other side of the street offers a similar spot, on the inclining side, however it is also very close to the spot where we pile up trash to be collected by the city cleaners. Which means it would be in close proximity to the piles of trash and the trash truck's "jaws" (that arm thing that picks up the trash into the container). Not entirely sure about either one of the arrangements, to be honest.

Any ideas?

Again - thank you all for your cool and reassuring comments.

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sardonicus87

· #17 · 12 d ago

I don't know the laws there, but if it's a parallel parking spot, you're supposed to park a motorcycle perpendicular to the direction of travel with the rear tire butted up against the curb. I'll include a picture.

Of course, it depends on how steeply inclined the street is, but you want the kickstand to be on the down-hill side. If it's a fairly steep hill, you're not going to want to park perpendicular to the hill even with the kick stand facing the downhill side (tip-over risk).

Otherwise, parking with the front facing downhill is fine, just make sure you leave the bike in first gear when you park it like that. Often, after I shut it off, I let out on the clutch and let the bike gently roll forward until it stops before setting it down on the kickstand. When I get ready to leave, I lift it up, gently roll it back just a hair to get the weight off of the transmission and pop it into neutral before starting.

Parallel parking:

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ChicoMcToker

Discussion Starter · #18 · 12 d ago

I see what you're saying. Here's a picture of where and how I park my scooter today. I live in a village like area, not really much like a city. As you can see, not ideal. Also I suspect vandalism because a few days ago I came to see my reg number plate FOLDED IN HALF... a thing which doesn't happen on its own.. as for the degree of inclination, seems like it could work, what do you think?

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sardonicus87

· #19 · 12 d ago

I mean, it works, it just depends on your local laws.

Here in most places in America, it would technically be illegal to park like that, but at the same time, as long as you aren't blocking foot traffic on the sidewalk, most of the time nobody's going to call the police or have your vehicle towed, at least not here (what is or is not tolerated varys wildly across America). Most places, despite being illegal, is rarely enforced unless it's egregiously bad.

But having said that, parking there even with enough room for people to easily go around might make someone mad and cause them to have vandalized your plate just because they think you shouldn't park there at all even if you're not blocking the path or they have room to go around. Then again, people vandalize stuff all the time for no reason at all, just to vandalize it even if you're in the right and not doing anything wrong. Like they aren't doing it for vengeance, just doing it to do it.

I mean, there's a few states here where lane splitting and/or filtering is legal, and other people in those states have used their cars as weapons to try and stop motorcyclists from doing it just because they think they shouldn't (even though it's legal). Sometimes they don't know it's legal, sometimes they do know and don't agree with it and still try to stop people anyway.

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ChicoMcToker

Discussion Starter · #20 · 12 d ago

Totally get what you're saying, mate. As far as legality, there's no issue here. I've been parking my scooter there for the past 3 years with zero complaints from anyone at all. I do believe the vandalism to be kids, rather than someone who just didn't like the way I parked. Problem is, with a heavy bike, on an inclining street, I fear that some a55hole might touch and drop it

just the thought of it...

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