Newbie Questions..

So I posted this on another local forum

So I want to surprise my wife this year with a motorcycle for her birthday present. No sport bikes, this will be a cruiser. It will primarily be for her, but I may get to ride it from time to time.

I would like to start researching now, so I can start watching for things that pop up, and so I know what type of bike I need to be in the market for.

We are both virgin riders, I have maybe 5 hours on an old honda 300 or something of that size, but other than that, it will be a new thing for both of us.

I plan on us both taking a riding course together after her birthday, a class before would be a dead giveaway.

So here are my wants at the moment:

Something that is the right size for both of us; we are both 6ft fall and a little on the heavier side, but not sloppy fat or anything like that.

A decent sized motor, so if it was to seat two we wouldn't bog it down, so something capable of holding 500lb total rider weight, if that is even possible.

Something reliable, I don't know anything about working on bikes, and I don't want to become a bike mechanic because of this venture. It will be a weekend cruiser and nothing more than that. We won't be taking road trips on it or anything like that.

Something we can both handle, like I said we are big people, so we don't need to be concerned with a "wimpy girl" not being able to handle a heavy bike.

So shoot me some recommendations of things to look at, and maybe some sites that I can start doing research on.

Price range wise I would like to stay around $10000 or so, but I am planning on saving all of part time job money for the summer to use towards this, so I plan on having $3000 cash for a down payment.

Thanks guys!

A good friend recommended a Suzuki M109, or a Boulevard C90, which I looked into, and they seem nice.

Then on another local forum I see this..

Moved to my dream house and now I have a bunch of gravel roads surrounding me... Up for sale is my 2004 Yamaha V-star 650cc silverado package motorcyle.

Bike has just over 7k miles, never been laid down.

Things added in the last year:

vance and hines exhaust ($350)
6 inch foward control extensions ($250)
tires have less than 500 miles on them


Yamaha's Silverado package includes:

Windshield (removable)
Studded leather drivers seat and sissy bar (removable)
Studded hard leather saddle bags (removable)
drivers floor boards
two tone paint

Bike runs like a dream and gets 35-55 mpg depending on how you are with your throttle control Bike has been garaged its whole life.

Ive rode two up with my wife many times and it does just fine out on the interestate as its a big bike (700 + lbs)

Asking $4500 firm





So he tells me this bike is air cooled, and carb'd vs the water cooled FI bikes he had recommended.

I am just looking to research if this would also fit the bill for my wants as a starter bike.

Anythings I would need to be on the lookout for? Other recommendations?