Wizard, how tall is your g/f? I'm 5'3" and there was no way in hell I was ever going to learn on my husband's bike or his friend's (KTM250, YZ125 - both 80's vintage, now relegated to the respective garages). Both of the guys hassled me continuously to learn, to try it out on their bike, but there was no way I would contemplate that.
I looked out for a bike for me which had to be
a) cheap
b) I'd have to be able to flat foot it
c) the guys could possibly use it if necessary
I found what I was after up the road from us, $50, 1979 DT125, totally sacked out suspension, it wasn't going but didn't need anything major to revive it. I'd ridden a bit on the road before (like 10 minutes), so had a rough idea of gears etc.
I think the main reason the guys wanted me to learn was I love being at the forest, but I'd told them that Henk (my h) wasn't allowed to play too often. I rode this bike for a few months until something happened that allowed me to buy a new(er) bike. I then started making friends and really enjoying myself. (I'd had fun, but it was pretty lonely with no other women around, and way too slow to ride with the guys). Now I've ended up not riding enough due to ending up helping organise rides, but I've had enough of that and intend to ride as often as I can again (we've still got our own events to organise, which is fine, it's just the helping with other people's I've had enough of).
The best thing you can do for your g/f is get her a bike of her own, it doesn't have to be flash (unless she's into that), just something she'll be comfortable on and won't mind dumping. I know for me if I'd started on a $5000 motorcycle, I wouldn't have carried on riding, too scared to injure "my baby". Now I don't care as I've had some hard hits and the bike is generally okay (except the bent rim).
The other thing that really helped me was finding another woman to ride with, as Birgit and I could go out and I wouldn't slow her down too much (she didn't ride enough to be really good and unfortunately has given up now) and her b/f could go riding with Henk & mates.
Sorry for the long post, but your g/f sounds like I did and I've got no regrets about what I've done.
Any other questions, fire away, I'm sure some of the others will come up with their reasons for starting too. Let us know how you/she gets on whatever is decided :)
I looked out for a bike for me which had to be
a) cheap
b) I'd have to be able to flat foot it
c) the guys could possibly use it if necessary
I found what I was after up the road from us, $50, 1979 DT125, totally sacked out suspension, it wasn't going but didn't need anything major to revive it. I'd ridden a bit on the road before (like 10 minutes), so had a rough idea of gears etc.
I think the main reason the guys wanted me to learn was I love being at the forest, but I'd told them that Henk (my h) wasn't allowed to play too often. I rode this bike for a few months until something happened that allowed me to buy a new(er) bike. I then started making friends and really enjoying myself. (I'd had fun, but it was pretty lonely with no other women around, and way too slow to ride with the guys). Now I've ended up not riding enough due to ending up helping organise rides, but I've had enough of that and intend to ride as often as I can again (we've still got our own events to organise, which is fine, it's just the helping with other people's I've had enough of).
The best thing you can do for your g/f is get her a bike of her own, it doesn't have to be flash (unless she's into that), just something she'll be comfortable on and won't mind dumping. I know for me if I'd started on a $5000 motorcycle, I wouldn't have carried on riding, too scared to injure "my baby". Now I don't care as I've had some hard hits and the bike is generally okay (except the bent rim).
The other thing that really helped me was finding another woman to ride with, as Birgit and I could go out and I wouldn't slow her down too much (she didn't ride enough to be really good and unfortunately has given up now) and her b/f could go riding with Henk & mates.
Sorry for the long post, but your g/f sounds like I did and I've got no regrets about what I've done.
Any other questions, fire away, I'm sure some of the others will come up with their reasons for starting too. Let us know how you/she gets on whatever is decided :)