Big Enduro as first bike?

[agent006]

I'm in the middle of my DAS course, and i'll be passing my test on the 29th. Hence i'll be after a bike shortly afterwards.

I've got my eye on a Honda Africa Twin (XRV750). I'm wondering whether it'll be a bit big for a first bike, as they look tall and quite tricky to handle. Bearing in mind i'm 6'2", and i find the DAS CB500 quite small.

SO good plan, or recipe to drop it at every available opportunity?

[fredd1e]

I'm 5ft11 and used to own a 1150GSAdv and a KTM950Adv (before they lowered em) . Used to have great fun on them. Yes it is possible to drop em but thats poss pn any bike in the right (read wrong) situation.
If your confident in your balance then go for it. being tall helps but isnt essential to riding a big trailie its more a confidence thing. But I have been riding for 20+years (obviously not non-stop otherwise I'd have wet myself by now).
Nice bike, quite a pussycat by modern standards from what I've seen.

[fish]

I've just done DAS and I've got an Aprilia Pegaso 650 Trial probebly slightly smaller than the Africa twin with 820mm seat height but it's very good.

[RizzoTheRat]

Do it. Big trailies make a good first bike if you can reach the ground. Enough power, decent handling, comfy seat... Only thing to watch out for tends to be the brakes, Never ridden an AT but the Yam equivilent, the Super Tenere, has some of the worst brakes I've ever come across. If you're worried about dropping it they look great with big chunky crash bars one. Mate of mine thre his Super Ten down the road at about 40mph a while back and hardly even scratched the paint on his Ricky cross bars. There's quite an active community of XRV riders here http://www.xrv.org.uk/

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Saturday 9th August 08:45

[ssray]

I`m 5ft8 and i had a early africa twin, as long as your confident and can get one foot down at a time-no probs-at 6ft2 you should have no problems, i used to get a toe to the ground and shuffle to get the other one down when putting it into gear
Ray