First thing: I strongly recommend you separate out the deals for the car and bike. The car should go fairly quickly as a lot of used wheels were recently taken off the market. As to a bike, I'd look at the Suzuki Intruder 800 first. They made the same bike for over a decade, the oldest ones will be 750s and if in good shape, nothing wrong with that. Better handling and engine than the Yamaha VX series equivalents. DO NOT go for a high-performance 4-cylinder sportbike as your first ride. Price the insurance on that - absolutely huge for a new middle-age rider. That's the insurance company's way of saying "dude, I hope your will is up to date!". BIG issue: do you know how to ride yet? Do you know what "counter-steering" is? If you don't, and you get out on that road, there's a real good chance you're going to die no matter what the bike. That would be about as dumb as strapping on an Indy car and going wheel to wheel at full speed without knowing what you're doing - and no, I am *not* exaggerating. The learning curve will be easier if you already know how to drive a stick-shift car. Learning what a clutch is at the same time you're learning bikes is a bad thing. My sole wheels are a motorcycle ('97 Buell S3 Thunderbolt, heavily modded) as has been the case for just about 20 years now. Haven't owned a single car in all that time. Used to street race when I was young and dumb :). I *know* what I'm talkin' about. I also taught one of the TFUGers to ride :). Jim --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss