First bike was a 2003 honda shadow spirit 750. Perfect bike for beginners and powerful enough to not bore more experienced riders. All around a great bike.
I remember the first ride on mine. It was a lot heavier than my 250 Rebel, but I got used to it quickly. The transmission really needs a fifth gear, but I'm still riding mine 20 years later. It fits me, and my short legs, like a favorite pair of shoes.
I bought a 2000 shadow 600 although it wasn’t running at the time. Just got it running today. Tomorrow I’m gonna give it a wash then take it for a test drive. I’ve only ever ridden dirt bikes so this will be a new experience for me. Btw the bike hadn’t been ran in over a year by the previous owner. He said he couldn’t figure out what was wrong. All I had to do was change the air filter and charge the battery and it fired right up. I was shocked that I didn’t have to clean the carb. Gotta love Hondas. 2 of my 3 dirt bikes were Hondas too.
Stop calling it a beginner bike! a 2000 VT600 is the only bike I've ever had. I've ridden it 168,000 miles, coast to coast and border to border and many a trip in between. I'm 210, 6'1", and 73 years old. With a few modifications for comfort, there's no reason this bike can't be a long-term bike. I've proven that. So stop calling it a beginner bike!
I think he means that it's a good bike for a beginner. It is. It's low powered,light, low, easy to balance, and reliable. Perfect non-intimidating bike for a new rider. I wasn't too new of a rider when I got mine, but I hadn't ridden in several years and wanted to ease back in. It was great fun for the year I had it. Next bike was a Harley Softail. Talk about a huge step up! Lol But I had fun on that little girl until one day, it felt way too small and I began my 25+ yr Harley riding career. I've took another pause from riding (wife didn't dig the the danger). Got back into riding last year and have a Kawi z900rs café. It's fast nimble and nostalgic. Love it! Hope to get another Harley bagger before too long.
My current bike is a 2002 VLX. I’ve owned lots of bike but always wanted a VLX , and the one I bought doesn’t disappoint. Speed limit where I live only goes up to 55, and although it will do 90 all day, 55-60 is as fast as I care to go anymore at my age of 71. Love this bike. I’m 5’7” and it fits me perfectly.
I've a question for ya randy, what kind of mileage are you getting? I've had mine (2003) for about 8 years now. The entire time it has had a slight gas leak. It was supposed to get a new pet cock put in about 4 years ago but kept leaking a lil gas, nothing major. Got about 50 mpg the entire time. Recently the leak got worse so I took her back in and finally the pet cock was replaced. They showed me the old one and the filter was destroyed. Now suddenly (with new tires also) I seem to be getting 80+ mpg? Is this possible? I'm wondering if the speedometer trip is giving me bad data or if it's actually that much better. Whatcha think?
@@TheBlackSheepDiaries Mine has been a consistent 50 to 60 mpg depending on how hard I am on the Throttle. If you’re getting 80 mpg I wouldn’t be surprised and I can’t say that it’s impossible. On an open road with no stop lights I can see it happening. I just fill up at or around every 100 miles and know that I could probably go another 30 to 40 further safely if I had to. I like to play it safe as I’m too old to be pushing motorcycles to the next gas station, know what I mean Jelly Bean?
@@randym.7238 Oh I definitely know what ya mean, old timer here too. Most of the riding is Highway to work and back with a few country roads with not much stopping. I'm just like you and filling her up just under 100 miles and she usually takes close to 2 gallons. Twice now just after her shop visit (all they did was petcock and tires) at 80 miles mark she only took .8 gallons. Each time I just sat there looking around saying what the hell? I'm not complaining and hope this continues as I need every penny these days. Stay safe out there jelly bean!
Thanks for posting. I'm only two inches taller and twenty pound heavier than your son, yet I was amazed how much air space there was when straddling the bike. It's like custom chopper low without the rake :) That was also a fairly conservative right turn. When I heard the feeler scrape, it surprised me as well. Great to see him finding the limits low and slow. Not the thing you want to be surprised by when sweeping around a curve. Best of luck to you and your best new riding bud.
Thanks. There are a lot of reasons I think the small cruisers are the best 1st bikes Never thought about the lean angle as one to keep you out of trouble. He is already asking if my Thruxton can be his 1st bike... Wife is going to kill me
I am also 2 inches higher and 20 pounds heavier and the weight of the bike still frightens me, but it seems that most 500-600cc bikes are around this weight. But this one looks really low. I fell from a Suzuki GS on the bike course as I couldn't step properly and when it tilted after a bad start, I couldn't keep it up, so it fell down. Could see the boy here also had a bit of diffculties when having to slow down for crossroads, so it still seems heavy to me.
Just got a 1988 and from ur video seem like a perfect bike for me as my beginner. It has 9409km original on it for $800 can almost perfect and runs like a dime.
As someone who’s ridden heavier and larger cruisers and a ninja 250 (the only sport bike I’ve ridden, hope to change that) I’d like to give a try to the 600. The ninja 250 is fun, but it gets uncomfortable after an hour for me and there’s definitely not a low of power to it.
I appreciate you showing your son on the bike. I'm looking at a '98 model with low miles for my wife's first bike. She's 5'6" as well and my Yamaha FZ6 is too tall for her. This bike should work out well.
Get her a Rebel. You cannot have too small of a bike for your first bike. Especially if you want a woman to have a good first experience with motorcycles.
I am so glad I found this video. I actually am getting back into motorcycles after a long hiatus. In my past however, I have experience with mini motos, off road, and dual sport or adventure style motorcycles. Now I am getting into Cruisers. I have a Shadow 1100 that I love. It's only 100 pounds heavier than the 600 here. I am 5'6"-5'7" depending on proper posture and I can flat foot it just fine. The only thing I am finding very different with the Cruiser versus the other shorter wheel base more maneuverable Dual Sport or Adventure Bikes, aside from weight, is that the Cruiser turns a lot different. It has a wider turn circle than the past bikes I've ridden. So that's something I will get used to with more practice. (anytime cold winter, you want to go away early, please be obliged). Watching the Uploader's son who is basically my height ride and lean really actually helps me see a Cruiser's tolerance for lean angle. Again, great video. Thanks for the upload.
I just got one same exact bike 16000 oriignal miles its awesome hoping to hear it run by monday! Doing a will it run for my channel over this weekend! *mines a 95
Some people have a complex of king or queen. They follow other people "dreams". Follow your own, be yourself. I own one, and it's a lot of fun, easy to ride, nice seat high...etc. Forget about Harleys. But, if you one to buy one, good for you.
Fixing to buy a 96 for $200 with rebuild title. Not bad little bobber chopper it make. Yall have any disrespectful little brats running around the neighborhood? Big nice home & the homes are not a spit away from each other like South Texas. Thk u taking this time
Yeah it's a great "beginner bike" I have a 93 and I love it, it fits me well. I'm also 6' tall and I don't feel cramped on it or anything, I'll ride it until I can't ride no more.
Get a CMX250 original Honda Rebel instead. You can work on a Rebel. The Shadow is a headache to work on. Rebel is Infinitely flickable and fun. The Shadow drives like a freight train. It's pretty, and that's it's only real claim to fame. Good luck getting at the carbs or replacing the cylinder heads. I don't even want to think about it. Hopefully mine will never fail. Don't ride with other people or join motorcycle gangs. Spokes are a royal pita to clean and keep clean, but so pretty. I'll suffer to have the spokes. Every other rim you can neglect, but not spoked rims. Those spokes will collect dirt and moisture and rust.
Pretty much with any carbureted bike they did not have fuel gauges back then you have a petcock which is on and reserved you always drive on on if you start to run out of gas you turn it on reserve and you have usually about 30 or 40 miles to get to a gas station that said you always reset your trip odometer when you get gas and no how many miles you have until you need gas again
I'm sorry but how a 15 year old can drive a 600cc bike in your country? Is it legal? In Finland 15 year old can drive only 50cc and 16 year old can drive 125cc on the road. 18 year old can drive any bike that has max 23kw of power. 21 or older can drive any full power bike.
I agree here in United States I completely agree there should be a graduated license regardless of your age with how long you've been riding unfortunately they have not done that. That said I do not believe the size of the engine is what should limit you it's the horsepower as we know in Japan they had a 250cc limit for early riders which just caused a sport bike war of 250cc superbikes all of which have two or three times the power of this 600cc cruiser
I bought a Shadow 750, and took it out for the first long ride today. THIS IS NOT A BEGINNER BIKE. I've been driving a motorcycle for 15 years... my first assessment is thats it's big, it's weird, it's pretty, and it's dangerous. Like riding on top of a locomotive. A Road King or Road Glide supersized level bike. Not a beginner bike. I'm keeping it, but only because I'm an experienced rider. Get a classic Honda Rebel 250 as your first bike. Not the new one. The old one, that is very flickable and light weight.
@@vinnyavalanche I said, “yeah it’s a boring Honda”. Because that’s what many motorcycle enthusiasts think of Hondas in general. It’s not a comment about this Honda in particular, and has nothing to do with the size or power of the engine. I actually own this same model, and rode it over 10,000 miles last year. All over the US and into Mexico and Canada.
My 1994 Shadow VLX has almost 80,000 miles on it. Runs like a Swiss watch. Lots of fun to ride.
First bike was a 2003 honda shadow spirit 750. Perfect bike for beginners and powerful enough to not bore more experienced riders. All around a great bike.
I remember the first ride on mine. It was a lot heavier than my 250 Rebel, but I got used to it quickly. The transmission really needs a fifth gear, but I'm still riding mine 20 years later. It fits me, and my short legs, like a favorite pair of shoes.
Good ridding my dude. I wish my dad had the same interest of bikes as I do.
I bought a 2000 shadow 600 although it wasn’t running at the time. Just got it running today. Tomorrow I’m gonna give it a wash then take it for a test drive. I’ve only ever ridden dirt bikes so this will be a new experience for me. Btw the bike hadn’t been ran in over a year by the previous owner. He said he couldn’t figure out what was wrong. All I had to do was change the air filter and charge the battery and it fired right up. I was shocked that I didn’t have to clean the carb. Gotta love Hondas. 2 of my 3 dirt bikes were Hondas too.
Those vlx600 r bullet proof...I put 75k.miles on mine without any issues
I don’t know why this doesn’t have more likes! Love the video!
Thanks Ben I appriciate it
Looks like the kids a fast learner I was doing the same kind of thing at first stay safe out there
I had one of these years ago, I absolutely loved it. Which is why I'm here. Brilliant bike to ride.
Stop calling it a beginner bike! a 2000 VT600 is the only bike I've ever had. I've ridden it 168,000 miles, coast to coast and border to border and many a trip in between. I'm 210, 6'1", and 73 years old. With a few modifications for comfort, there's no reason this bike can't be a long-term bike. I've proven that. So stop calling it a beginner bike!
No
I think he means that it's a good bike for a beginner. It is. It's low powered,light, low, easy to balance, and reliable. Perfect non-intimidating bike for a new rider. I wasn't too new of a rider when I got mine, but I hadn't ridden in several years and wanted to ease back in. It was great fun for the year I had it. Next bike was a Harley Softail. Talk about a huge step up! Lol
But I had fun on that little girl until one day, it felt way too small and I began my 25+ yr Harley riding career. I've took another pause from riding (wife didn't dig the the danger). Got back into riding last year and have a Kawi z900rs café. It's fast nimble and nostalgic. Love it!
Hope to get another Harley bagger before too long.
My current bike is a 2002 VLX. I’ve owned lots of bike but always wanted a VLX , and the one I bought doesn’t disappoint. Speed limit where I live only goes up to 55, and although it will do 90 all day, 55-60 is as fast as I care to go anymore at my age of 71. Love this bike. I’m 5’7” and it fits me perfectly.
I've a question for ya randy, what kind of mileage are you getting? I've had mine (2003) for about 8 years now. The entire time it has had a slight gas leak. It was supposed to get a new pet cock put in about 4 years ago but kept leaking a lil gas, nothing major. Got about 50 mpg the entire time. Recently the leak got worse so I took her back in and finally the pet cock was replaced. They showed me the old one and the filter was destroyed. Now suddenly (with new tires also) I seem to be getting 80+ mpg? Is this possible? I'm wondering if the speedometer trip is giving me bad data or if it's actually that much better. Whatcha think?
@@TheBlackSheepDiaries Mine has been a consistent 50 to 60 mpg depending on how hard I am on the Throttle. If you’re getting 80 mpg I wouldn’t be surprised and I can’t say that it’s impossible. On an open road with no stop lights I can see it happening.
I just fill up at or around every 100 miles and know that I could probably go another 30 to 40 further safely if I had to. I like to play it safe as I’m too old to be pushing motorcycles to the next gas station, know what I mean Jelly Bean?
@@randym.7238 Oh I definitely know what ya mean, old timer here too. Most of the riding is Highway to work and back with a few country roads with not much stopping. I'm just like you and filling her up just under 100 miles and she usually takes close to 2 gallons. Twice now just after her shop visit (all they did was petcock and tires) at 80 miles mark she only took .8 gallons. Each time I just sat there looking around saying what the hell? I'm not complaining and hope this continues as I need every penny these days. Stay safe out there jelly bean!
@@TheBlackSheepDiariesSame bike. I get about 130mi before I have to switch to reserve. I run non ethanol
Just bought one as a learner. Looks like the business.
Thanks for posting. I'm only two inches taller and twenty pound heavier than your son, yet I was amazed how much air space there was when straddling the bike. It's like custom chopper low without the rake :)
That was also a fairly conservative right turn. When I heard the feeler scrape, it surprised me as well. Great to see him finding the limits low and slow. Not the thing you want to be surprised by when sweeping around a curve. Best of luck to you and your best new riding bud.
Thanks. There are a lot of reasons I think the small cruisers are the best 1st bikes Never thought about the lean angle as one to keep you out of trouble. He is already asking if my Thruxton can be his 1st bike... Wife is going to kill me
I am also 2 inches higher and 20 pounds heavier and the weight of the bike still frightens me, but it seems that most 500-600cc bikes are around this weight. But this one looks really low. I fell from a Suzuki GS on the bike course as I couldn't step properly and when it tilted after a bad start, I couldn't keep it up, so it fell down. Could see the boy here also had a bit of diffculties when having to slow down for crossroads, so it still seems heavy to me.
I'm in the same boat. I'm 5 foot 8 and about 145 to 150 pounds. Thanks for the video,
Learned how to ride on the same bike and I’m a lighter guy and the weight felt fine and was a great beginner bike!
Just got a 1988 and from ur video seem like a perfect bike for me as my beginner. It has 9409km original on it for $800 can almost perfect and runs like a dime.
congrats great buy you will love it
As someone who’s ridden heavier and larger cruisers and a ninja 250 (the only sport bike I’ve ridden, hope to change that) I’d like to give a try to the 600. The ninja 250 is fun, but it gets uncomfortable after an hour for me and there’s definitely not a low of power to it.
I appreciate you showing your son on the bike. I'm looking at a '98 model with low miles for my wife's first bike. She's 5'6" as well and my Yamaha FZ6 is too tall for her. This bike should work out well.
its a great 1st bike
Get her a Rebel. You cannot have too small of a bike for your first bike. Especially if you want a woman to have a good first experience with motorcycles.
I am so glad I found this video. I actually am getting back into motorcycles after a long hiatus. In my past however, I have experience with mini motos, off road, and dual sport or adventure style motorcycles. Now I am getting into Cruisers. I have a Shadow 1100 that I love. It's only 100 pounds heavier than the 600 here. I am 5'6"-5'7" depending on proper posture and I can flat foot it just fine. The only thing I am finding very different with the Cruiser versus the other shorter wheel base more maneuverable Dual Sport or Adventure Bikes, aside from weight, is that the Cruiser turns a lot different. It has a wider turn circle than the past bikes I've ridden. So that's something I will get used to with more practice. (anytime cold winter, you want to go away early, please be obliged). Watching the Uploader's son who is basically my height ride and lean really actually helps me see a Cruiser's tolerance for lean angle. Again, great video. Thanks for the upload.
I just got one same exact bike 16000 oriignal miles its awesome hoping to hear it run by monday! Doing a will it run for my channel over this weekend! *mines a 95
Some people have a complex of king or queen. They follow other people "dreams". Follow your own, be yourself. I own one, and it's a lot of fun, easy to ride, nice seat high...etc. Forget about Harleys. But, if you one to buy one, good for you.
What a nice dad man
That's a beauty.
Fixing to buy a 96 for $200 with rebuild title. Not bad little bobber chopper it make.
Yall have any disrespectful little brats running around the neighborhood? Big nice home & the homes are not a spit away from each other like South Texas. Thk u taking this time
Yeah it's a great "beginner bike" I have a 93 and I love it, it fits me well. I'm also 6' tall and I don't feel cramped on it or anything, I'll ride it until I can't ride no more.
Is earlier 88 model smaller fuel tank capacity then later model
Get a CMX250 original Honda Rebel instead. You can work on a Rebel. The Shadow is a headache to work on.
Rebel is Infinitely flickable and fun. The Shadow drives like a freight train. It's pretty, and that's it's only real claim to fame.
Good luck getting at the carbs or replacing the cylinder heads. I don't even want to think about it. Hopefully mine will never fail.
Don't ride with other people or join motorcycle gangs. Spokes are a royal pita to clean and keep clean, but so pretty. I'll suffer to have the spokes. Every other rim you can neglect, but not spoked rims. Those spokes will collect dirt and moisture and rust.
What an amazing dad. Fatherhood is cruicial in building strong smart men for the future. Single moms by choice hate me I don't care.
is there a difference between the vlx600 and the vt600 or different names for eu vs us market? because to the untrained eye they look identical
No difference. Same bike, just different names.
I was thinking about getting one until I realized how small they were 😂
I’m 6’3 but wanted a zippy city cruiser that wasn’t ultra heavy
At 6'3 I would look at the Suzuki Volusia.
Man im 6’5” and i have a 93’ vlx and it honestly fits me pretty well, just wouldn’t go across the country with it.
Get a Mustang seat for it. You won't regret it.
Looks like Wall?
PLEASE READ PLEASE 🙏 JUST BOUGHT THIS MODEL AND Since it has no fuel gauge how can you tell when it’s running out of gas?!!!!
Pretty much with any carbureted bike they did not have fuel gauges back then you have a petcock which is on and reserved you always drive on on if you start to run out of gas you turn it on reserve and you have usually about 30 or 40 miles to get to a gas station that said you always reset your trip odometer when you get gas and no how many miles you have until you need gas again
Some one selling this same exact bike in CT for $2k with 3k miles
what makes this bike so great for beginners? appreciate the video
Low, not too powerful, easy to maneuver, and about as bulletproof as a bike can be.
I couldn’t see but is it water cooled ?
Yes it is
I'm sorry but how a 15 year old can drive a 600cc bike in your country? Is it legal? In Finland 15 year old can drive only 50cc and 16 year old can drive 125cc on the road. 18 year old can drive any bike that has max 23kw of power. 21 or older can drive any full power bike.
I agree here in United States I completely agree there should be a graduated license regardless of your age with how long you've been riding unfortunately they have not done that. That said I do not believe the size of the engine is what should limit you it's the horsepower as we know in Japan they had a 250cc limit for early riders which just caused a sport bike war of 250cc superbikes all of which have two or three times the power of this 600cc cruiser
I have a 95 vlx, bought in 97, 46,000 mile and never had a spark plug out.Just runs and runs.
I could go get a turbo Busa for my first bike here in the us
How tall is he? Looking at one and I’m not tall 😂
At this time he was about 5'6.
Must be paradise where a 15 year old is allowed to ride a 600CCM bike...
I bought a Shadow 750, and took it out for the first long ride today. THIS IS NOT A BEGINNER BIKE.
I've been driving a motorcycle for 15 years... my first assessment is thats it's big, it's weird, it's pretty, and it's dangerous. Like riding on top of a locomotive. A Road King or Road Glide supersized level bike. Not a beginner bike. I'm keeping it, but only because I'm an experienced rider. Get a classic Honda Rebel 250 as your first bike. Not the new one. The old one, that is very flickable and light weight.
The 600 is a lot smaller than the 750, but I agree it's cumbersome and slow
Yeah, it’s a boring Honda, but the only way you can break it is if you run it into something.
Debatable, I’ve seen Hondas walk away from more stuff than really any other bike!
@@doodleydoo169 so, even running into stuff won’t necessarily break a Honda 👍
Not boring at all it's a 600cc I swear you asshats ain't happy unless it's 11 million cc with the ability to hit Ludacris mode
@@vinnyavalanche I said, “yeah it’s a boring Honda”. Because that’s what many motorcycle enthusiasts think of Hondas in general. It’s not a comment about this Honda in particular, and has nothing to do with the size or power of the engine. I actually own this same model, and rode it over 10,000 miles last year. All over the US and into Mexico and Canada.
They make great choppers
What's the point of asking a kid qestions with an obviously expected answer? Oh wait, I know... It's obedience training, lmao. Very American.
It was changed in 1999 and ran until 2007.