Wife is looking at a Riddley, anybody have any experience with them?

[jet mechanic]

My wife has had enough of being a back seater, she wants her own ride. She has always wanted to have her own bike and is willing to learn how to drive one. She just sucks at manual transmissions!!

I've been trying to teach her to use a shift (on a ATV) so she could move up to her own bike. After 3 years I finally got her to shift into 3rd gear.

Once she learned that a mfg (Riddley) had come out with an automatic transmission on a street cruiser, she has been pretty adamant on a test ride and possible purchase.

Does anybody have any personal experience with these? Good or bad??

 

[CODan]

I'd never heard of them but Googled "riddley motorcycles" as was very surprised. Certainly a functional machine and worth look at if you've got the $ as they are apparently pretty spendy.

 

[Niehart]

They also had a booth & cycles at the cycle show. Might be one in your area.

 

[S76]

Just a thought,

I taught my kids to drive stick in very little time. Less than 15 minutes.

In a parking lot I had them put the car in 1st gear and let out the clutch without stalling the car. The trick was they could not use the gas pedal. So they had to modulate the clutch to get the car rolling on an idle.

They immediately learned to use the friction zone and no problems after that.

FWIW

 

[angus]

A few of my friends wives ride Burgman scooters and Silverwing scooters those things run good and are real quick.

 

[05fjrman]

Saw them on an episode of american thunder. they seemed to like them. definately expands the market for bikes, especially to women (no offense, i know there are tons of women out there who are capable riders). kind of pricy, but not too bad for an american made cruiser.

 

[hardluk1]

My wife has had enough of being a back seater, she wants her own ride. She has always wanted to have her own bike and is willing to learn how to drive one. She just sucks at manual transmissions!!
I've been trying to teach her to use a shift (on a ATV) so she could move up to her own bike. After 3 years I finally got her to shift into 3rd gear.

Once she learned that a mfg (Riddley) had come out with an automatic transmission on a street cruiser, she has been pretty adamant on a test ride and possible purchase.

Does anybody have any personal experience with these? Good or bad??

 

[madmike2]

A few of my friends wives ride Burgman scooters and Silverwing scooters those things run good and are real quick.

I was thinking the same thing...why not a Burgman? Besides, it looks like an FJR-lite! Plenty of storage and Givi topcases are available....

 

[freebirdforever]

My wife has had enough of being a back seater, she wants her own ride. She has always wanted to have her own bike and is willing to learn how to drive one. She just sucks at manual transmissions!!

Over priced and extremely under powered with a very crude belt-type CVT. She would be better off with a Piaggio Beverly 500 scooter or Yamaha Majesty 400; either scooter would keep up with you at highway speeds or when going up hills. The Ridley won't keep up at highways speeds or when climbing a hill and she will find the bike really frustrating. It's also doubtful you will find any mechanic to work on the bike when it starts to fall apart. If she wants a proper motorcycle rather than a scooter - the Aprilia 850 Mana has a high-tech automatic transmission and will be available in the USA spring of 2008. Color choices for the USA are red and lead gray.

Aprilia 850 Mana Website

The only other proper motorcycle with an automatic transmission is the Honda DN-01 which is currently a 2008 model for JP, EU, UK, and AU. Unknown when or if it will be a USA model.

E-brochure for the DN-01

 

[jet mechanic]

Thanks everybody,

She has an older Italian Gerbi scooter that takes her to about 45 - 50 MPH. She's not interested in another scooter.

We live in NC but all the family is in RI. She wants a bike she can ride that will come close to keeping up with the FJR at 70 - 80 MPH highway speeds. She so wants to go home riding a bike and casually drive into her parents yard.

The Honda DN-01 looks pretty promising. Will have to watch for it to arrive and let her try it out. The Aprilla that Freebird mentioned looks too dirt bike for her. Definitely not Pinky Tuscadero'ish.

She will just have to wait a little bit longer...

 

[ceddec]

A few of my friends wives ride Burgman scooters and Silverwing scooters those things run good and are real quick.

I was thinking the same thing...why not a Burgman? Besides, it looks like an FJR-lite! Plenty of storage and Givi topcases are available....

We get along just fine with our two. My wife, who just started riding for the first time about a year ago, has really gotten into it. We do alot of weekend riding. During the week she throws groceries under the seat. She can take me off the line with the CTV and the "P" button pushed. Just for a little bit anyway.

 

[madmike2]

Is this her on the Gerbi?

The new "maxi" scooters aren't like the older iterations, they'll travel right along at freeway speeds plus. But if they're not her cup-of-tea, find the right bike.

 

[OhioFJR1300]

How about a FJR AE? No clutch to worry about and it can be shifted via the hand controls. Likely not that much more than the Ridldley.

 

[krashdragon]

How about a FJR AE? No clutch to worry about and it can be shifted via the hand controls. Likely not that much more than the Ridldley.

theres a BIG weight and size difference between a Ridley and an FJR...

Harleys are smaller than FJR's... If his wife is not experienced, and FJR would pbly be way too much for her to start with.

Mary

 

[krashdragon]

Thanks everybody,
She has an older Italian Gerbi scooter that takes her to about 45 - 50 MPH. She's not interested in another scooter.

We live in NC but all the family is in RI. She wants a bike she can ride that will come close to keeping up with the FJR at 70 - 80 MPH highway speeds. She so wants to go home riding a bike and casually drive into her parents yard.

The Honda DN-01 looks pretty promising. Will have to watch for it to arrive and let her try it out. The Aprilla that Freebird mentioned looks too dirt bike for her. Definitely not Pinky Tuscadero'ish.

She will just have to wait a little bit longer...

Has she taken the MSF course yet?

If not, she needs to do that FIRST.

At least a Harley class if the MSF is not around your area.

Women do not think like guys do, they take things one step at a time and tend to overanalyze.

The one thing almost all ladies do at first is try and use exactly as much gas as clutch. Don't work.

That's why the MSF course puts so much time into clutch control.

When I taught driver's ed (we had a VW bus!) I would have the kids push in the clutch and rev the engine to get used to the sounds.

Then practice holding the gas steady and letting the clutch out a little bit at a time, let the car move, then out a bit more.

Sounds simple if you've been used to doing it, but noobs dont' think that way.

Most ladies look down way too much, too... I really think it has less to do with genetics than having to pick up dirty socks,

underwear and kid's toys so we won't trip and kill ourselves that anything else...<G>

Worst thing to do is a husband/bf/whatever to teach his SO to ride or drive...

I taught driver's ed for four years to high school kids, trying to correct their mistakes their parent's taught them was torture!

I've sat on a Ridley, it kinda looks cool, but don't know about the speed or acceleration.

Get her to take the class first, take it with her if possible, that will make her feel better.

Good luck,

Mary

 

[skuehl]

Thanks everybody,
She has an older Italian Gerbi scooter that takes her to about 45 - 50 MPH. She's not interested in another scooter.

We live in NC but all the family is in RI. She wants a bike she can ride that will come close to keeping up with the FJR at 70 - 80 MPH highway speeds. She so wants to go home riding a bike and casually drive into her parents yard.

The Honda DN-01 looks pretty promising. Will have to watch for it to arrive and let her try it out. The Aprilla that Freebird mentioned looks too dirt bike for her. Definitely not Pinky Tuscadero'ish.

She will just have to wait a little bit longer...

I understnad what your saying however I really think you should test drive the burgman before ruling it out. The 650 is hardly a scooter. I have friends who ride it two up for long trips and they have no issues keeping up with california traffic out on the highways. Our average highway speed is 75.

Test drive it before you throw in the towel. I would much rather have that then a bike that is going to deliver italian sized repair bills. IMO.

 

[freebirdforever]

She's not interested in another scooter.
She wants a bike she can ride that will come close to keeping up with the FJR at 70 - 80 MPH highway speeds.

The Aprilla that Freebird mentioned looks too dirt bike for her. Definitely not Pinky Tuscadero'ish.

The Ridley won't keep up with you and will be a big disappointment to her.

* The DN-01 uses a fuel-injected 680cc engine built in Spain. It is a dependable engine and is currently used in the 2008 Transalp. The motorcycle has a hydraulic transmission which provides much better performance than a traditional belt-pulley scooter transmission. The DN-01 uses a conventional steel-tube frame and has a 63-inch wheelbase and a shaft final drive. If you strip-off the modern bodywork you are essentially looking at a Honda Shadow VLX layout.

* The Aprilia 850 Mana is designed as a European-type commuter bike and features built-in storage for a full face helmet (in the faux fuel-tank). The engine is part of Aprilia's new 90-degree V-Twin family: 750, 850, 1200 which are all designed and built by the engine division of Piaggio. The Mana transmission is a ECVT and is similar to the Burgman 650 ECVT except that the Mana uses a final reduction chain drive.

ONE POINT: The Mana's engine and transmission is far superior to the clunky Ridley. Depending on the availability of custom chopper boutiques in your area, you may want to consider transplanting the Mana engine/tranny into an old Guzzi Nevada frame or maybe a Triumph Scrambler frame. Then again, the Harley Sporter frame has probably had more weird engines and transmissions shoved in there than anything else on the road and certainly could be made to look Pinky Tuscadero'ish. Frankly, even if it cost a several thousand more to build a custom motorcycle with the Mana engine/tranny it would be a better investment than buying the Ridley.

 

[rfulcher]

I've been trying to teach her to use a shift (on a ATV) so she could move up to her own bike. After 3 years I finally got her to shift into 3rd gear.

Uh? 3 years to get into 3rd gear, on an ATV. This may be signs of a serious problem. Either the learner is not suited to ride her own bike or the learning and teaching process need to be questioned. Shifting an ATV is very easy compared to the demands of riding a bike in traffic.

 

[jet mechanic]

Thanks again everybody for all the info.

The Riddley does appear to be out of the picture due to the amount of performance for the price range. Started to look at the Burgman on line and she does like it. So will start looking to see which local dealers have them.

I need to clarify a couple of things though. She can drive a manual transmission car OK. She just cant seem to grasp the whole "hand is the clutch" "foot is the shift" technique. I think the biggest problem with the ATV shifting is she just doesn't feel comfortable going too fast on them. I have to cut her a break on that one, it is a different kind of riding.

She wanted to take the MSF course at a local community college, but she wanted to do it on the bike she was going to ride, with (hopefully for her) would have had an automatic tranny. The school did say it was OK so long as it was the bike she was going to own and ride.

And yes, the FJR(AE or not) is just to big for her. I think it was Cota95 who had the same problem with his wife.

Thanks again for everyone's input!