Welp, having to put your foot down when you stop, twisting a throttle, and having to keep your own balance at slow speeds are about the same on a dirtbike and streetbike. I know on a sportbike turning, highspeed and lowspeed handling, and braking and accelerating are completey different. You can lay one of those baby's down for a tight turn faster then you can say WTF!?! A dirt bike would kick out from under you at one of the angles a sportbike uses for a shallow curve, let alone a peg-scraping corner. It's kinda un-nerving at first, to say the least.

I know in Maine you hafta take your Motorcycle safety course to get a bike permit, but I'm not sure about Mass, but if you can take one I would do it. And I don't feel safe driving through Massachusetts in a 80,000 pound big-rig, let alone on a motorcycle. If you can find someone to let you try out an old street bike in an empty parking lot, I would do it. You'd be able to make up your mind about a bike or truck in less then a minute.

And read the post above!!

 

Good advise fasternu....

I'm sure from experience you have encounter some of these...

High speed wobbles at 140+

Tucked into a corner, peg scrapping, only to see sand or gravel in the road ahead

Misjudging distance and finding yourself locked up and sliding through a corner or into the back of another vehicle

Splitting traffic and finding yourself sandwiched between two cars and watching the gap close

Ridding the dirt shoulder at 100+ because you misjudging a turn in the canyons

And on and on..... These things happen and if you're lucky you can live to tell some tales.

 

fasternu, i see what ur saying. but i do ride them. My friends have GSXR's and i have ridden them. Chad has a GSXR 1100, now, its way to powerful for me but i rode it pretty well.

 

if you get a bike it would be best to stay out of any heavy traffic for a while until you get the feel of it. street bike handle completely different than dirt bikes. on a dirt bike you scoot up close to the tank and lay on the throttle on the turns. a street bike you tose it in the turns with your body wieght and have to be gentle with the throttle unless you want to slide out. i've seen a lot of my friends lay their new street bikes down when they got a little to aggresive with the rear brake. if you ride wear a helmet because sooner or later you will go down. i've been riding on the street since i was 15 y/o and i am now 40. i have four pins in my body a damaged hip and cronic back trouble from different acceidents. some where road racing, some were drag racing and one from a m/x accident. like someone said above, don't go out and buy a large street bike for your first one. a buddy of mine liked my busa and decided to buy one for his first street bike two years ago. we buried him six months later. in my honest opinion the best starter street bike would be a buell blast. it handles great, has excellent brakes. it's balanced almost perfect and has plenty of power to learn on. a blast isn't going be out running a cbr600 but it will hange with them in the corners. and by all means watch out for the others on the road. older srivers seem to be the worst, they will pull out in front of you in a heart beat so learn how to work your front brake very well because thats where most of your stopping power is on a sport bike.