are you a fan of crotch rocket/full faired looking bikes? or does it not matter?

because if it doesn't matter there are quite a bit of very nice cruisers that would be awesome for just "going for a ride". way more comfy than crotch rockets too, even a 250.

I liked full fairing bikes. Won't have it any other way. So I'm limited in selection

I like the looks of the exposed metal frames on the Ducati Sport Classic and the Ducati Monsters. I am not into cruisers at all, not really into sports bikes either, but would not mind a ninja 250 for a while to learn and to get my handle on things.

Oh, is it running? :laugh:

j/k....figure on dropping your first bike at least once. Most likely low-speed. It's better to do it on a starter bike that you can flip rather than something that's a bit more expensive for cosmetics.

Nope.

I might be picking this up in the next week:
http://image.usednanaimo.com/photos/...998519_640.jpg

2004 V-star 650 for $3000.

Nope.

Wow that's a project :) It was owned by a lady who has some medical condition where she can't ride now. Her friend owns a motorcycle repair shop and so he's selling it for her. It has 32,000km on it so about 19,000 miles.

Just picked up my new bike!
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_T4-XMt0y3Z0/TU...01826small.jpg
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_T4-XMt0y3Z0/TU...01827small.jpg
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_T4-XMt0y3Z0/TU...01828small.jpg

That looks clean and nice.

A neighbor has one, though I think his has more displacement (not sure).
Rode that ho. Comfy as hell, could probably do 2 hours comfy riding easy without much fuss or needing to stop.
HE has taken 3,000 mile road trips on it many times. definitely something meant for nice long comfy cruising.

His was heavier than titanic though. Holy hell, it was an absolute tank.

It's amazing how much time they spend on 50/50 weight distrubution on the larger bikes like the goldwing. That does look like a comfy bike. How big?

Its a 650cc, but looks like a much bigger bike.

I just saw this. You guys are probably already familiar with this project but I thought the video was interesting. For those that aren't, here you go:

I'm considering starting a tire-mounting business. There's a weekly bike night about 5 miles away with thousands of bikes every week, I see that as my advertising route, even if it's just a sign on my own bike. I wouldn't initially be able to stock very many sizes/types of tires based on capital investment, but instead, would have prospective customers order them online at low cost and have them ship them to my residence, or else buy tires from local motorcycle stores and mount/balance tires for lower prices. Is there any merit to the idea?

There is merit there, but I don't think I would stock any inventory. I would just advertise as being a place that will mount tires from anywhere. Many people around me won't buy motorcycle tires online because shops here refuse to mount them. In that case it's a perfect market. People can buy what they want, and you put them on.

As far as stocking tires, I don't think you're going to get prices as cheap as they can get online.

That was my thinking, I originally had no intention to stock them, but:

For some people who want tires "today", it makes it difficult, and for people who don't want to ship to someone else's residence, it can be challenging to get two motorcycle tires and a motorcycle to a shop. Maybe our company slogan can be "hula-hoop it here, ride it home!"

My intention is still to maintain zero stock, but i was considering the possibility of having a couple 120's as well as 1ea. 160, 180, 190 sporty street tires available. It may only come with demand/market identification though.

And yes, my business idea is born out of the necessity of finding a place to mount my tires if I don't buy tires from them (because I've bought tires online). Most places refuse, or want to charge damn near as much as the cost of the tire itself. My initial considerations were $20/tire on loose wheels, quickly expanding to servicing customers who bring in the bike at an approximate rate of $40/tire, but I have to figure out how to keep those bikes off the ground, especially when I remove the rear wheels.

I can do it like a pro on an SV650 with rear spools mounted, but not all motorcycles are created equal

My current challenge is finding a good used motorcycle tire mounting machine

Pit Bull front and rear stands and a No-Mar tire changer, and you can mount and balance pretty much any sportbike in style.

I'm worried about the cruisers. They make up at least 50% of my market, and at least 70% of my free-advertisement population.

And then there's belt drives and shaft drives, and friction drives, and single-sided swingarms, and.....

And then you realize the reason why shops charge as much as they do. With professional tools, guarantees, and a reputable shop, it's fairly straight forward. Each shop has book that says a tire change on X bike will take Y hours. They have a Z hourly shop rate. Y*Z+parts=cost of tire change. It's just a matter of finding the closest shop with the cheapest hourly rate that you can also trust.

I like my local shop since they're not only ~5 minutes away, but for no extra charge and without me asking they painted my wheel weights black to match my wheels after balancing.

That's another thing, how are you planning on affording the mounting and balancing machines? Personally, there's no way I'd give you my wheels and tires if you said you couldn't balance them. Only time I did that is when I did it myself for free. Never again.

I've got $10k saved up right now. I expect to layout 2000-2500 for a used mounter, and another 800 or so for a balancer. An unbalanced tire/wheel is unsafe.