Help?? do I replace???

Just over a week ago I passed my Mod 2, and obtained my full licence so the hunt for first bike was on.

I did my lessons and test on the Kawasaki Z650 which on the first day thought this is perfect to start with and spoke with the shop about buying an ex demo they had. By the time the Mod2 came and went I decided that I wasn't that comfortable on the Z650 as I am quite tall and felt the bike was uncomfortable. I was happy with the weight/speed but I felt it wasn't for me.

So I went on the hunt, choices were MT-07/MT-09, Suzuki GSX-S750, Aprilia Shiver 900, Ducati Monster 821, after sitting on all of them, I decided on the Aprilia Shiver 900. This was the lowest power being 93bhp and when sitting on, was the most comfortable by a mile. Beautiful position, its a tall bike and it just felt right!

However, I am a week into ownership and although I like the riding position, power is great, sound is marvellous, it ticks ALOT of boxes... but there is one thing that is troubling me and that's the weight. The bike feels very top heavy and it's actually making me nervous. Going from the Z650 to this is day and night. Once up to speed and going it's fine, but my confidence when coming to a stop or when trying to do tight slow speed manoeuvres is a little bit worrying and stresses me out.

Sorry for my long post, but what do I do?.. Is it a case of sell up and buy something more suited and suck up the £2k I will lose or do I persevere with it and its a case of "I will get used to it"? I don't want to ruin my experience of the wonderful hobby

Thanks for any help in advance

I would practice, do the same as you would for your test or cbt, just practice the slow maneauver's,

New bike problems, you'll get used to it.

Thing with heavy bikes is you got to know the limits; go to parking lots and practice turns, know what you can and cant do before hitting the road.

If you're not happy then get rid.. you wont be the first and you definitely wont be the last to make an (in retrospect) wrong decision on a new (first big) bike. I think actually most people do.. though few will admit this to themselves. I know I did way back when.. my first bike after the test turned out to be an unreliable pile of crap. But live and learn. You need to feel comfortable and happy when first starting out. top heavy bikes always take a lot of getting used to. Its a complaint I read about a lot on bikes from one manufacturer in particular and often cited as the reason for an eventual swap.

I know someone with a Shiver.. he had three big complaints about the bike. Its tank range. its top heaviness made worse by its height and its silly service costs.. plus the inevitable wait for bits to arrive from italy.

New bike problems, you'll get used to it.

Thing with heavy bikes is you got to know the limits; go to parking lots and practice turns, no what you can and cant do before hitting the road.

This. It's not dissimilar to the difference between my old Street triple and new R9T, so I'm just giving myself some time to get used to it (and riding accordingly in the meantime).

Give a few months, if you still don't like it then change. But every new bike takes a while to get used to and if you swap it too soon you won't have given yourself chance to get to grips with it.

but if you have fallen out with the bike the longer you keep it you might find the problem will get worse and you wont want to ride the bike anymore (it happened to me a couple of times) so instead of it being parked in the shed it might be better if you move it on and try something else

Thanks for the replies,

I will give it a month of commuting and see where I am. I have been on several longer rides and I am getting used to it, but still trying to work out if I like it.

Some bikes you love from the off, others do take some time. Maybe, due to your lack of bikes owned it is difficult to say if this is how you should be. I would stick with it for now, if you have a summer out of it and are still not sure, then you should think about a replacement.