Hey everyone,

Post #1 for me. I've been wanting a street bike for about 15 years now so I decided an early life crisis was
better than a mid life one. Based on "rider friendly" descriptions I picked up an 08 650R. (Yes, a used bike
would have made more sense, but anywho).

The funny thing is that I can operate this bike much better than the poor things at the MSF course. To be
honest, the best thing I got out of the MSF course was a huge slice of humble pie. Riding those beaters
around, trying to avoid cones and keep your eyes on the instructor (and the exit cones!) was a challenge.
Really showed me that I better get a few hundred miles under my belt on the local roads before getting
in to traffic.

So far the 650R has turned out to be a great beginning bike. It's got enough power down low to make low
speed exercises just a matter of clutch control. I also find this bike to be very tame and ride easily between
2000 and 4000 rpm. At the same time I can feel that a huge amount of power is available if you get generous
with the throttle.

I added the R&G frame sliders (which don't quite fit the '08 100% without some bench grinding) but don't
plan on any other mods. I prefer to keep my vehicles stock, or close to it.

One question I do have is about maintenance. What are people paying/doing for maintenance? When should
the bike be brought in to a pro and what can be done at home (i.e. oil changes)?

Thanks, look forward to more riding!

-Stooxie

 

Hi stooxie welcome to the forums and congratulations on the buy. It's nice to see you already have the MSF course under your belt so thats a great start. as far as maintainence, be sure to follow the break in process since you have a new bike,but should be relatively easy. As far as maintainence, you usually treat it like you would a car. Your bike should have came with a log so you can log your oil changes, air filter changes, spark plugs ect. this is very useful when you sell it because it can give you proof that the bike was well taken care of (assuming you will). Your manual should tell you which specific type of oil to use in your bike, so stick to that. www.color-rite.com carrys a good selection of products that will keep your body work looking excellent like polishes and such. Good luck!

 

Welcome to the KFamily. Congrats on the new ride. Good choice on getting the MSF course out of the way.

 

Welcome Stooxie,

Good luck with riding and just take your time. Sounds like you have all the right ideas about staying out of town because that's where most of the wrecks happen for sure.You will learn to hate cages really soon when you start riding in town. On the backroads just watch for small hidden driveways and deer.

 

Welcome to KF