Honda Shadow is easy to handle, looks great and good MPG. An all around great beginner bike.....then again I still have mine.

I guess that the main 2 reasons that I purchased my VLX , a left over 2007 model, I bought May 01, 2008. (actually the VLX has been discontinued with the 2007 model) is that it is a Honda, and the styling grabbed my heart and hasn't let go yet. The first things that I did to make it more practical was to add saddle bags, and the Largest windshield that would fit, which brought my grand total out the door to $5750.00, which for a liquid cooled V-Twin with all the chrome that this baby is covered in is very reasonable. I have put over 12750 miles on her in 6 months, which is a testimony in itself. I have always changed the oil every 2000-2250 miles as the same oil is used for both the engine and transmission, and you should read up on what a gearbox does to multiweight oils. I use the white spray grease chain lube (made by Champion at Walmart for $5) every 500 miles, and I have just done my second chain adjustment at 11,000 miles (the first was at 750 miles) The fuel economy depends on speed and wind, but I have averaged 53 MPG since new. The down sides are few, but they are there. The solid lifter Valves (its a 3 Valve OHC chain driven head) need to be adjusted every 8000 miles according to the manual, but I haven't had to do mine yet, I've been told that you will hear them when they need it, and it will run $300 for the work. I have removed the pillion seat (passenger) to make over a foot of room for a luggage rack that I had made to carry more stuff to tour with, and have painted the fins black for a unique look, but I have found over 700 customizing parts available on the web for the VLX. All in all, the VLX has a HUGE following and there are MANY great condition VLX's on ebay for less than $4000, so you cant go wrong, try to find a similar type bike with all the plusses that the VLX has for the money. I plan on running mine to 100,000 miles.

Easy to ride, looks great, easy to learn on, nice for people under 6' tall, great fuel mileage (50mpg overall, 65 on highway - if going the speed limit). Good value for the $
Maintains it's sales price better than many other bikes.