MoBlack

I've been reading a lot on this forum about new riders and good bikes for a new rider. It seems like mostly everyone here rides sport bikes...

Anyway, I'm really interested in a Shadow A.C.E. 750, but a lot of my friends who ride (VTX 1800, and a big Yamaha) say I should get something bigger, and that they aren't much harder to ride than the smaller bikes. They say I'll get tired of the smaller bike very quickly and it will be a waste of money... My friends have been riding for a long time, but this still seems like a bunch of crap to me.

The heaveist bike I've ridden on the street is a XR650R, it felt cumbersome for street riding... big time. Maybe that was because of the seat height...

Anyway, I'm going for my first MSF in July and I've been looking around at different bikes. Like I said, I really like the ACE, and I was curious what you guys thought about it for a new rider. I'm 5'11" and 180, and I have about 10 hours of street riding under my belt.

Also, any other suggestions in this style of bike (small-midsize cruiser)?

Thanks HT!

Thasty

My friend just bought a honda spirit shadow 750 as his first bike. Hes doing fine on it... i dont know much about cruisers but I really like that bike. The spirit shadow is a 750. Its not that fast but its still got *****, i definatly wouldnt start on anything higher than a 750. Good luck.

MoBlack

OnlyNod: Thanks for the input...

Anyone else?

Z

That would be a good first bike, the cruisers do have power and move pretty good, but it's much more mellow than the sport bikes. I say go for it.

falcongsr

i think you'll be fine with that bike after the MSF.

dont try to ride as fast as your buddies though. i can hear the peer pressure coming through in your post.

HMan

I had a 750 ACE and it has a large following. I liked the bike a lot and put a lot of miles on it in a short amount of time before trading it in on a sport-touring bike.

One concern of mine for you getting it as a first bike is that it is indeed heavy, it is akward at slow speeds, and due to the steering geometry it handles strangely.

Power-wise its fine for a cruiser and sounds great.

Any other questions?

Thasty

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HMan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I had a 750 ACE and it has a large following. I liked the bike a lot and put a lot of miles on it in a short amount of time before trading it in on a sport-touring bike.

One concern of mine for you getting it as a first bike is that it is indeed heavy, it is akward at slow speeds, and due to the steering geometry it handles strangely.

Power-wise its fine for a cruiser and sounds great.

For real, i rode my friends shadow, and i swear i felt completely uncordinated on it. I thought it would be easy to maneuver in tight spaces but i guess i was wrong.
Either way i still liked the relaxed posture of the bike.
Any other questions?</TD></TR></TABLE>

MoBlack

I think it's probably the bike I'm going to get. Of course I'm going to test drive it, and if it feels at all like it's going to be a problem, I won't get one. I just wanted to see what you guys thought about it, before I wasted my time pricing and test driving them.

Thanks a lot guys.

falcongsr

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HMan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">One concern of mine for you getting it as a first bike is that it is indeed heavy, it is akward at slow speeds, and due to the steering geometry it handles strangely.</TD></TR></TABLE>

i also considered that but he said he was 5 11 and 180 so i think he can handle it. but it is good to be aware that its not going to feel like a car with power steering all smooth in the tight spots.

HMan

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i also considered that but he said he was 5 11 and 180 so i think he can handle it. but it is good to be aware that its not going to feel like a car with power steering all smooth in the tight spots.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm 5'9" and 185 but that has no bearing on the handling in a parking lot or at speed as you should know from your riding experiance.

I'm not saying its HARD to steer as in physical resistance. I'm saying the thing wants to fall over more than just about any bike I personally have ever ridden and this coming from someone that has a high center of gravity sport-touring bike with a 7.5 gallon gas tank and weighing in at 800 pounds wet.

falcongsr

its nice to have mass and height to stabilize a bike that isnt inherently stable at low speed.

its nice to have legs long enough to catch it if its going to tilt over on you while stopping.

i didnt mean to imply it would affect handling. it affects control. especially when you're going to use your body to keep it from going over by putting a foot down.

HMan

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">its nice to have mass and height to stabilize a bike that isnt inherently stable at low speed.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Bikes with low CG are those most stable at low speeds. Thus the reason I love my SV more than my old F4.

The Connie is very top heavy and akward in parking lots but the 750 ACE is even worse due to the horrible steering geometry.

falcongsr

connie = concours? is it really that buzzy?

HMan

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">connie = concours? is it really that buzzy?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Guess I have to answer that with a yes and a no. Its buzzy. But nothing like some of the stuff I've read about it. Its buzzy for me because when I go on long interstate runs like taking my weekend trips up to Dayton I tend to run a dead 90mph on the interstate. There is a bit of buzz there. LoL

I'm going to sell it soon but not really a problem with the bike as I really do love the Connie/Concours. Just have another bike selected that I want more. Two actually, now I just have to make up my mind.

hondafrk

I have an 01 750 ACE and I think that they are great bikes to start out with, My wife, who had never ridden before in her life started riding it the day I bought it and she can handle it without a problem. They are hard to handle at low speeds though, on the 4th I rode in a parade in front of my fire dept. with few of my fellow firefighters and it sucked. I basically walked my bike the whole way. I couldn't even put my feet on the pegs once, because it always felt like it would fall over.

Besides the fact of very low speed unstability, they cruise great on the highway and have plenty of grunt to keep up with the big boys.

Great bikes!!!

Good luck and be careful