Engine Size for First Bike

I'm 5'9" 180lbs male wondering how big of an engine i should go on my first bike. The concensous i seem to find is at least 750, but my wife might ride occasionally and i dont want to get a 750 and find its too small.

What do you guys think?  

I am 5'8" 170lbs bought my first bike last year and got a Honda 750.  Love the bike, easy to handle and a joy to ride.  It handles most of the riding I do without a problem, even when my wife is on the back.  I am glad I started with a 750 because it is a very forgiving bike.  The only problem is if you are planning to spend a lot of time on the freeway you may want to look at an 1100 or 1300.  The 750 is great for every day riding, but at 70+ mph you are pushing its limit.  

Hi; I,m 5'10" at 185lbs. I have a C50T Suzuki.It is 805cc and a great bike. It is easy to get in and out of traffic. The bike handles passengers very well. I have had guys up to 250+ and have  had no trouble maintaining speed. Very stable when stopping.
The engine gets a little busy at above 75 mph.
My riding friend has a Honda shadow 750 he is 375 ++.   The only time he had any performance related trouble was when we were heading up Cabage(mtn pass) 3000"-3200" in elevation. I had to wait for him. The poor bike just could not pull him up the grade. Very steep grade. He maintained about 45-50 mph untill he got to the top.After that he kept up just fine. The Honda ran very well didn't miss a beat. The C50 had a little more get up and go. good luck...scruffy  

Thanks for all the responses. I'm not sure how much 70+ driving im going to be doing but im sure it will be some. Im guessing that if the wife wants to ride im gonna have to go 1000cc+.


Just to confirm I ill i be ok @70mph with just myself riding on a 750 right?  

At 70+mph the 750 is at what I feel is it's outer limit of performance.  It just feels like it needs another gear. Allthough it  handles fine at this speed even when my wife rides with me.  It just feels stressed.  I'm about 170lbs and she weighs in at about 125lbs.  If most of your riding will be done at lower speeds, I would highly recomend the 750 as your first bike.  

The pastor of my church rides a Suzuki Intruder 805cc. Seems to be enough for interstate riding (75 mph in Nebraska). He and his wife have been on several trips. I think one thing to think about is learning to ride on a smaller cc bike if you have never had a bike before. I started on on 81' yamaha 650cc. Great starting bike. After two years I moved up to a Vulcan 1500 classic. Great bike almost twice as heavy and twice the power. I am glad I learned to ride on a smaller bike. Remember, 20 yrs. ago 1100cc was a monster bike. People did great with 500-750's. I believe for a first bike you would do fine with 750-1100cc.  

I'm 200 lbs at 5'7" and ride a Intruder 800. Absolutly a perfsct size for me and any passengers that I take aboard.  

I have an 08 Suzuki C50, wonderful bike, plenty of power and great response. If I ever lay it over I won't need a crane to pick it up. The C50 is an 805cc with EFI and a 32bit ECM. I have a Honda V45 magna, it was a nice bike and it had me almost ready to go after a VTX 1300 of no less than the 750 Shadow but after comparing the bikes including the V-Star and the Vulcan I didn't think I could miss with the C50, I was right. But, thats just my opinion. Hope it helps.  

Part of it is perception. I had a '82 Mustang GT that did about 2k at 60. To me that was normal. I now have a Subaru that does close to 3k at 60.  It's normal for the engine.

The smaller displacement engines usually have a fairly high redline, and if you go there, you get a lot more performance than you think.
I rode an 800 Vulcan thru the heart of the Adirondacs and I could keep 60+, I just had to drop a gear or 2 and let the engine I actually had out (as opposed to trying to ride the engine I wanted... low RPM grunt).
jstasyszen, you rode a Magna so, you should agree about riding the engine you got. Those 4 cyls were quick if you let them out.  

I am a new rider, so my opinion may not be valid, but I had the EXACT same questions you did before i purchased my VTX-1300S honda. I was about to purchase the 750, but they had a few 07' left of the VTX-1300, so for $1,500 more, I got twice the bike. I have only gone up to 60 mph, but when my wife starts riding with me (130 lbs) ; I am 175 lbs, I think the 1300 is the bike which I will never have to "upgrade" in the future. I would caution you about the weight! At 650+ lbs, it's pretty heavy when it tips over, so don't kill yourself trying to lift it up afterwards!  Let me know what you think when you make decision.  

I realize that this thread is ancient, and you likely aren't looking for advice anymore, but I wanted to point out something important for anyone else reading this:

Engine displacement is nearly irrelevant. It doesn't tell you how much power the engine actually puts out, nor how that amount of power relates to performance on that bike.

New 600-750 cruisers are almost all slow. Virtually all Harleys are slow. (They aren't built for speed. Or longevity. Or value. What are they built for?)

Mind you most any motorcycle will beat most any car off of the line. But relative to each other there are much bigger issues than engine displacement.

I ride an '85 Shadow VT700C. It is tremendously faster than the new 750s. There are two issues that explain that fact scientifically, rather than objectively as was suggested above:

* The 80s engines are more efficient, putting out significantly more torque for the same displacement.

* The 80s bikes had far less chrome, smaller body panels, smaller seats, etc. They weighed a lot less than the new ones.

Put it together. More power and less weight means faster. It's not about displacement.

If it were about size alone then why can a 500cc Shadow beat a Harley with more than double the displacement at a tiny fraction of the cost and a life expectancy several times longer?

And we haven't even discussed gearing design or airflow. IT'S NOT ABOUT DISPLACEMENT.


- Jon

(Don't get me wrong. Of the new bikes I prefer the VTXs, but because of the styling not the engines.)  

My friend, If I were in your shoes, I would go to your local suzuki dealership and look at their 50 cid vtwin cruisers (800cc) or Yamaha's 900cc cruisers (Star is Yamaha's cruiser lineup) They are VERY easy to pull upright off the kickstand because of thier great balance and low center of gravity, not to mention their low prices will blow you away!!!  

It probably doesn't need another gear unless the vibration is getting annoying, or the gas mileage is dropping like the Dow at the end of last year.
I upshifted my Kawi 800 (with stock gearing) out of 1st at 30-40mph. The engine was making a whine, and a lot of noise, but, it actually redlines at close to 50 in 1st, and close to 80 in 2nd.  Usually, I'm pulling into 3rd at about 60 when I'm accelerating hard.


Do I want my engine running that high all the time, no. Would it actually do it all day, every day, probably.

I did swap from 17/40 to 17/38 to get the rpms down, and the max highway speed before the gas mileage plunge up to about 75+(on the speedo).  

GO WITH A SUZUKI C90T YOU WILL LOVE IT, BIG BANG FOR YOUR ***
i have a "09 c50 wish i had gotten the c90,still happy with the c50
i guess never happy...