New Member in SC

[barbl0868]

Hi my name is Barb. My husband finally talked me in to a bike and bought me a 2007 GZ250 last Saturday. It had .9 miles on it when we drove it off of the lot. I LOVE IT! I knew the basics of riding, started out on our backs roads and have put over 200 miles on the bike in a little over a week.

[davidc83]

welcome, and nice color on that bike.

[Whynot?]

It is addictive, enjoy and keep the shiny side up ...

[Water Warrior 2]

Hi Barb, congrats on the new ride. Sure is pretty. If I may make a suggestion for your riding pleasure and safety, take a proper riding course from a qualified instructor. I showed Happy Hobo all the basics to ride but she wanted to get trained at a riding school. Mighty fine idea as I was also teaching her my bad habits. I also took the training after wheeling around on my own bikes for 30+ years and did learn a lot. Not trying to shoot your hubby down but an instructor has the training experience to correct a potential unsafe habit while riding. They have so many helpful hints that make riding even more of a pleasure than I thought possible. Do the course, get all the safety gear you can(if you don't have it now)and try to ride the wheels off that bike. Betcha can't.

[tsbardella]

I agree with the rider course. They teach the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course in the community colleges in SC, check out http://www.scridered.org/ It is totally worth the $225 consider it part of the price of the bike. You will also be training on bikes the same size and weight, also you will know exactly what to practice when you get home. New riders are like hatchling turtles The first three months of a riders career are the most dangerous and anything that helps gives you an edge.

[badfun]

nice bike and welcome to the GZ boards. I just mine less than a month ago, I have put many miles on mine already as well.

[rayzuki]

When I took my MSF course I rode on a gz250. It was one of the deciding factors on why I bought mine.

[CANDY]

welcome barb. nice to see more women joining the forum. i have a 2007 gz250,the same color.i've had mine 10 months and already have 6200+ miles on it. the longest ride was 380 miles in one day.it is a fun little bike.i have added saddlebags,a windshield,and now a serius radio with speakers and a 150 w. amplifier.i love it.the possibilities are limited but fun to try. good luck.

[Easy Rider]

and now a serius radio with speakers and a 150 w. amplifier.

Harley........we don't need no freakin' Harley !!! :lol:

What a rush! :tup:

Watch that power useage if you run the Sat. radio when just puttering around town.
There isn't much spare capacity in the charging sytem!

[LilNinja77]

+1 on getting proper rider training, whether as a brand new rider or as someone who just wants to brush up on some useful skills. A pair of my closest riding buddies are both ex-MSF instructors of 10+ years and even they go back every year or two and retake the advance MSF course just for the sake of doing so......ironically enough they've had instructors that THEY taught back in the 70's and 80's...that's got to be funny. And regardless of how people look at you, for your own sake wear some quality riding gear (and I'm not talking about a half-helmet and a floppy leather vest). I ride with friends on all sorts of bikes, and couldn't care less whether or not my "image" fits in with any particular group....especially since the only people I regularly ride with are smart enough to wear protection AND ride within their limits. Sure things get a little warm in the summer, but I'm ATGATT on every ride, even if it's just 10 minutes up the road to get some groceries. As I've heard it said : "I'm perfectly happy wearing $2,000 worth of gear on an $800 fixer-bike."

Have I ever went down on the road, nope...unless you count the one time I dropped it while at a near standstill (which was simply a matter of not paying attention to what I was doing :blush: ), but I know that WHEN it happens I'd rather be covered in leather than roadrash. I say WHEN because it isn't a matter of IF you'll have an accident on the street, everyone at some point or another will go down if they are out there riding.

You couldn't pay me to ride without my gear: full face Scorpion EX-400 helmet, Joe Rocket Speedmaster leather jacket and pants, Sidi Vertigo boots, Alpinestars GP-Pro gloves, Radians Gummi-earplugs, TalentSport reflective vest.......and that's just the primary gear, I've got two spare jackets (Tour Master Transition and PowerTripp DTP), a pair of spare pants (Tour Master jean), and a pair of spare boots and gloves (SetUp Vision and Alpinestars drystar vega). I had a spare helmet until I gave it to a rider who had lost his face-shield while riding a few weeks ago.

Nice looking bike BTW
Ride safe