personally, taking a loan out with this economy is never a good thing, guess im just always worried about losing my job and such. As for the weekend toy, youll have a brand new one soon, the baby.. No but really good luck with everything, i would go for a 750 if you do decide to go with the bike tho.

crotchrockateers are ### in my opinion. they may be fast, but i can drive my dsm in more places, and more throughout the year. dnt waste money on a bike.

I also vote for DSM. More than anything, project car over project bike. You have a wife, and soon a kid. In todays economy, you need to make sure you keep yourself healthy and able to work. Losing a job due to injury sucks, and while not exactly legal, who has the money to fight it once it's happened? Solid work is hard to find these days. While I too agree there is nothing like a bike, and it is probably a hell of a lot more fun, the possibility of getting hurt on a bike and not being able to support your family or worse not be there for them should far out weigh the temptation of the bike.

And as far as things to look out for on an 1g AWD...likely beat at some point in its life, some are right around 20 years old...expect EVERYTHING to fail.

reardrv said:

Ok since no one here is asking it I will, will this be your first bike? If so instead of spending $5k on a sport bike you'll either dump in a week, get scared of it, and sell it/never be any good at riding cause your scared like everyone who buys a sport bike for a starter bike (ninja 250's excluded). How bout you buy the DSM and pick up a cheap bike under 500cc's to learn on, crash it, destroy it, get good at riding on, then sell for just as much as you paid for it after a season or two and then get a sport bike. Starting on any four cylinder bike is like getting a Ferrari Enzo for a first car, a bad idea. I started on a Honda CB100SS that I got for free while all my other friends started on sport bikes, the ones that didn't get scared of there bikes and sell 'em can't even come close to keeping up with me on any road no matter if I'm riding my GSXR 750, my 74 CB750, or even that old 100 if the roads twisty enough. And most of then ride 750's and 1000's, my only buddy that can keep up learned on an old GS500. Whats really funny is when they can't keep pace with my girlfriend on her motor scooter down sixth street in Dover .

Buy the DSM, learn on a slow POS bike. Your buddys may tease you at first, but once you get a sport bike you'll be the one making fun of them for riding like girls.

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A cheap bike to crash is a good idea for a new rider but i have seen tons of people start on 600cc or bigger. My first biek was a 600cc, it was also the first biek for my 4 closest friends. And a couple guys i ride with started on 1000s, you cna do it, just be carful and dont go past 7krpms for a month . Like i said earlier the smart thing for you right now would be to save the money. But the fun thing would be a toy for sure

I would go for the Dsm, you have a wife and kid that you need to be alive for, and you are much more safe in the DSM. Also, you always have the option of having a beast that has the potential of smoking the bike with the right setup. Bikes are sexy, and if I didn't know of so many people that died on them, I would probably have one. That being said, everyone expects bikes to be fast, but when you have a car that takes out bikes, people definitely recognize that. Of course there's a lot of work and $ involved in all of that... all depends on your goals.

So bikes are dangerous. We all know it. If you know what you are doing and you don't make bad decisions, bikes are relatively safe. I do realize that there are bozo's out there that don't see you at all but if you ride your bike as if 100% of the drivers on the road are bozo's...you should be fine. Just like they say with cars...open it up at the track and not on the street.

DSM's are fun builds but since they are older cars, they all need constant attention to stay in top working condition. If you don't mind that, as I read you are a car builder, then I say DSM. Safe, sexy, and fun. Best wishes whatever you decide

misterskeetz said:

So bikes are dangerous. We all know it. If you know what you are doing and you don't make bad decisions, bikes are relatively safe. I do realize that there are bozo's out there that don't see you at all but if you ride your bike as if 100% of the drivers on the road are bozo's...you should be fine. Just like they say with cars...open it up at the track and not on the street.

DSM's are fun builds but since they are older cars, they all need constant attention to stay in top working condition. If you don't mind that, as I read you are a car builder, then I say DSM. Safe, sexy, and fun. Best wishes whatever you decide

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This is the point i was trying to make, DSMs require constent work and attention. He is having a baby that needs the same thing. With the new baby and working on the DSM constently when does he have time to enjoy the DSM?

My daughter is old enough to play in the garage with me whiel i work on my cars now. Which is why i waited until now to get another project car and i just rode my bike when i had time.

Not to mention in florida the bike will pratically pay for itself in a few years since you can ride all year. I filled my bike last night, 8.76 cents and i can go 200miles on a tank if im somewhat nice on the throttle

I knew of a guy who was sitting at a stop light on his bike, and some idiot nailed him at a stop light! There comes a point when you can only watch out for other drivers so much, and it's just that much safer to be in a car than on a bike. Obviously a situation like this is very rare but bikers get hit all the time by people who don't see them. I personally wouldn't purchase a bike with a wife and a kid on the way, but that's just me.

Its true, people do get hit on motorcycles, people also get hit when walking or running or riding a pedal bike because drivers dont see them. Guess we should stop buying running shoes and bikes aswell. I understand the motorcycles obviously have more of a chance of being hit because they ride on street with cars, but if your gonna let rare cases that happen rarely to people make your choices for you then your going to have a very limited life.

I have to say, I also own both. I own a 2008 Ninja 250, a smaller bike of course, and my eagle talon.

I bought my bike new with cash outright and let me tell you, there is no feeling like driving a bike. Second, bikes are not dangerous. If you drive normaly in traffic and fun and fast when your not in traffic you would be fine. Its other drivers on the road not seeing you and driving like maniacs that can cause the accidents.

I miss my car! I have been in Arizona since July of 2008 and my car is under about 4 feet of snow right now back home. Even though the bike is fun, to have both is the best of both worlds. I can upgrade my 250 quite a bit to increase horsepower so I'm not worried about getting something bigger as I don't need it. The car was always fun though. You learn a lot but you won't have to spend a lot of time on it if you do things slowly overtime if you can get things back to stock and running good. then working in small increments, can have yourself a weekend warrior worthy car.

Also, I agree about the ideas behind not getting a loan in this time of economy. Just feels unsafe. But not our choice to make. BUT IN THE END... either way is going to be fun and an adventure for sure. My opinion is to get both. Its one thing to sit on a bike and go fast for the money... but its totally another to drive the war machine you built with your time, blood, sweat, tears, and ingenuity. DSM's are deffinetely a higher maintenace car but thats the fun of them. The bike is mostly just something that sits around and just looks good and there isn't a lot of everyday little works that you can do like the DSM.

Good Luck and let us know what you end up doing.

You're really not gonna upgrade from the 250r? The question i ask doesnt have to do with power but with ridability. I heard you have to be at like 8-9krpms to do 70mph on the freeway. That would get pretty annoying to me.

05gt Guru said:

Its true, people do get hit on motorcycles, people also get hit when walking or running or riding a pedal bike because drivers dont see them. Guess we should stop buying running shoes and bikes aswell. I understand the motorcycles obviously have more of a chance of being hit because they ride on street with cars, but if your gonna let rare cases that happen rarely to people make your choices for you then your going to have a very limited life.

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You really need to check up on the stats bud I see you yourself own a bike cbr600 great bike. I would think you would know from riding a motorcycle they are not well seen by cars. Most people that have owned a bike know how hard they are to see so when they drive a car they are aware of them and look for them. Bikes being hit by cars are not that rare it happens everyday. My brother was hit on his at 75 mph on the freeway in AZ all because a car was not paying attenion. Thankfully he was wearing his full gear. I dont care who you are you will crash on a bike its not a matter of "if" its a matter of "when". Its pretty simple you yourself can only do so much to be safe you can not control other people on the road. Its all up to him if he wants his weekend toy as something he can just jump on and enjoy or if he wants to put his blood and sweat into it.

either way he cant go wrong both are fun and fast. Best of luck on which ever you pick just let us know.

I know people get hit, like i said a couple posts back i was hit last august and my other 600 was totaled. I was wearing full gear aswell so i just had some minor damage. It goes both ways, my uncles are all harley guys and out the 7 of them only 1 has been hit and they have all been riding since the 70s

Some of you act like having a sportbike is like having pancreatic cancer, yes they are more dangerous than a car, but its not instant death. If you choose to get a bike, get a good starter bike IMO no bigger than a 600, take a MSF class and don't ride like an idiot.

95GSXCO said:

My brother was hit on his at 75 mph on the freeway in AZ all because a car was not paying attenion.

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People drive nuts here!!! Its insane riding the freeways!

Plus why upgrade from the 250r? Its badass and gets amazing gas mileage! Plus there are a bunch of upgrades and modifications you can do with it.

All the points have been made so arguing is useless. To the OP, I hope whatever choice you make works out for you. I will say that with that HX35 and the right supporting mods, (fuel, exhaust, link, cams, E85) that car can be just as fast as that 600.

AlaskanDsm said:

People drive nuts here!!! Its insane riding the freeways!

Plus why upgrade from the 250r? Its badass and gets amazing gas mileage! Plus there are a bunch of upgrades and modifications you can do with it.

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Thats the smartest thing I've heard in this whole thread, a 250r is an excellent beginner bike that's still plenty fast and wicked fun to ride. As for driving on the freeway a Ninja 250 is plenty of bike, shit they run 13's stock. Besides a machine like that is meant to rev 8-9k all day long, to do 75MPH on my CB100 I'm at 11,500rpm (red line) and I used to do that every day going to work and back. Sixty miles a day!!! What can I say I didn't have a car till I was 18, but I had that since 16.
And I don't care what anyone says about being easy on it, most the crash's I've seen involving new riders riding bikes to big for them involved them riding along in traffic and dumping it due to in experience. REPLI-RACERS AREN'T GOOD STARTER BIKES. More than two fingers on the brakes will throw you, the bars are to low and narrow for the in-experienced to have good control and balance, and the touchy throttles and tons of power on some of them means that just hitting a pot hole in a low gear you can go from 30 to 50 almost instantly if your not used to it.
As I said get the car, and get a small, cheap twin or single to start on and actually learn how to ride so when you do get something that big you can actually do more than ride it to 5% of its potential. Besides you don't want people to make fun of you for how big your chicken strips are do ya .

One vote for the bike here too

reardrv said:

Thats the smartest thing I've heard in this whole thread, a 250r is an excellent beginner bike that's still plenty fast and wicked fun to ride. As for driving on the freeway a Ninja 250 is plenty of bike, shit they run 13's stock. Besides a machine like that is meant to rev 8-9k all day long, to do 75MPH on my CB100 I'm at 11,500rpm (red line) and I used to do that every day going to work and back. Sixty miles a day!!! What can I say I didn't have a car till I was 18, but I had that since 16.
And I don't care what anyone says about being easy on it, most the crash's I've seen involving new riders riding bikes to big for them involved them riding along in traffic and dumping it due to in experience. REPLI-RACERS AREN'T GOOD STARTER BIKES. More than two fingers on the brakes will throw you, the bars are to low and narrow for the in-experienced to have good control and balance, and the touchy throttles and tons of power on some of them means that just hitting a pot hole in a low gear you can go from 30 to 50 almost instantly if your not used to it.
As I said get the car, and get a small, cheap twin or single to start on and actually learn how to ride so when you do get something that big you can actually do more than ride it to 5% of its potential. Besides you don't want people to make fun of you for how big your chicken strips are do ya .

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Lol yes they are meant to be reved to 8-9k but its soo fricking annoying to have to be that high in the rpms just to have passing power and even just cruising it gets plain annoying. The sound the vibration that is, a 250r is a great beginners bike but i have never met a person until now that doesnt want anything more. Hell most bike dealers have a program setup that if you buy a 250r and return it within two years they will give you more than its worth on the trade in because they know people arent gonna wanna ride a 250r forever.

I'd love to have a 600, but my parents wont let me. So Ill just make my car as fast or faster than one, .

Go for the DSM.

ILLiCliPSE said:

So Ill just make my car as fast or faster than one, .

Go for the DSM.

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riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight..........





+1 for buying the bike

for get it - get a BOAT~!

gorf said:

for get it - get a BOAT~!

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Hells Yeah!!! Get a boat and you can sing this song!!

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GhostSpooLrTK said:

riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight..........





+1 for buying the bike

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It's not that hard to do, 600's aren't that fast. A properly built Dsm can hold it's own against even 1000's. Outlaw's Talon here in Colorado has taken out many bikes including a Hayabusa and a ZX10R.

DSMs are the s**t. but if its fun that you're looking for get a bike.