Once they are rolling,.. there's very little difference...
Just be more aware during slow maneuvers... (parking lots, u-turns,..)..
Make sure you're totally vertical when coming to a stop...
When pulling in to a parking space,.. look to see if it's on a downgrade... if it is, back in... (it's real hard to back-up a heavy bike)...
...

Find ya one of those pencil legged old men on a Gold Wing with some Fat Momma sittin up on the Queen seat & tell him ya wanna buy him a cuppa joe & sit & talk about riding bikes.

It has been my experience that the success of adapting to a larger/heavier motorcycle has a lot to do with your own physical size. As pointed out once rolling, not a lot of diff ... but it is the slo-speed manoeuvers, the keeping the Bike vertical stopped on a grade or off-camber pavement or the backing up the Bike into or out of a parking space or garage that can be tricky. Physical strength and size will make all of the above much easier than it tends to be for some smaller Riders. I personally know a couple of smaller statured folk who "traded up" from their LS650s only to wish for 'em back!

EDIT: The Honda VT750C2 Spirit is one motorcycle that comes to mind as viable "larger/heavier" motorcycle that smaller statured Savage Riders could more easily adapt to on account of it's low 25" seat height and foot control that are not forward in the extreme ... I know of a few smaller gals who own these without issue.

I have a lot of experience riding.......but almost all of it was on a motocross, enduro, dual-sport or trials bike that weighed 250 pounds or less.  My trials bike weighs 165 pounds and was my only motorcycle for severeal years prior to buying the Savage.....and the 350 pound Savage felt like a heavy bike in comparison.

Last winter my wife and I rented a Harley Ultra Classic for a day while visiting Florida, and this was before I had my Savage and put some street miles under my butt.  The Harley felt fine out on the highway and anything over 15 mph was a piece of cake.  In town, and when at rest the weight of the bike was impressive.  The wide tank and wide seat made it impossible to have your legs near vertical when stopping - and my legs were splayed out at angles that made it hard to support the bike if it wasn't vertical.  At one stop light I came to a stop and put my left foot out on the ground while my right foot was on the brake - and as I leaned the bike every so slightly to the left.....my wife leaned left to look at something!  I had a very brief Sumo-Session with my left leg as I worked to keep everything vertical.  I am 5'-8" tall and weigh 156 pounds and I am in great shape as I work out at the gym for an hour and half every morning.......I would guess the motorcycle and my wife combined was about 850 pounds and it was a challenge to keep it vertical.  I also made a mistake of parking the bike under a tree in a gravel parking lot, and when I came back there were cars on both side that prevented me from being able to swing the bike around.  I had to get on the bike and slowly back-pedal the bike on the slippery leaves to get it back out of the parking space......I learned a lesson on how to park a big heavy bike in that episode.

I am certain that riding a heavy bike is possible......however having riding experience and being a good rider is certainly is a plus.  You need to adapt your riding and parking style to the weight of the bike.  I did find that riding out on the road was great.....around town it felt cumbersome and bulky compared to the smaller bikes.

It cost us $ 85 to rent the bike from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, it woudl have been $ 140 for a 24 hour period.  We had a fun time, got to experience what it was like to ride an $ 14,000 bike, and learned what it was like to ride a big Harley.  I believe it was money well spent, and I enjoyed it much more than I would have enjoyed Disney World!  If you want to experience a big bike before you go buy one.....rent one!   

I went by the local bike shop two days ago. Since the computer/register was down I was told to look about for a few minutes.
I sat on a Vstar 1100 that I really liked the feel of and then on a Honda 750 Shadow. It struck me just how heavy and WIDE these bike were. Then I found a used HD Sportster 883... wow.. just wow. Fit like a glove. Not too wide.. not too high. Just a slighly beefier Savage.  

If and thats a big IF .. if one comes up on the cheap.. I may just have jump on it.  

PS: look at my other post on my 2-up ride with the wife.

12Bravo wrote on 11/05/12 at 12:06:00:


Arthritis AND fibromyalgia...AND still riding.  My friend, you are an inspiration to all of us.    This would be one of those cases where skills and smoothness outweigh physical strength and size, I'd assume.

Maybe I should just go ahead and snag an M109R (any excuse works!)  

Dave

12Bravo wrote on 11/05/12 at 17:02:25:


That was kinda my thought too after sitting on an M50 (and an M109R) and merely standing them up off the kick stand..."Hmmm, doesn't *feel* as heavy as I would have expected, given the actual weight".  I guess if the center of gravity is really low, you've got a lot more leverage to pull the whole thing back upright if necessary.

Dave