How to Choose a First Bike
When choosing a first motorcycle, consider factors such as your riding experience, budget, and the type of riding you plan to do; opt for a lightweight model that offers good stability and control, assess the seat height for comfort, and ensure it provides manageable power to help build your confidence as a new rider.
How Much Should I Spend on a First Bike?
For many cost is an important factor of a first bike. Facebook Marketplace can be a great place to find a gently used first bike. REMEMBER you will probably drop your first bike. Yet the question is still unanswered. So how much should you spend? Thats a personal opinion. There are pros and cons to buying used bikes you don’t necessarily know the service history. Have oil changes been kept up with? has it been damaged from drops in ways you wouldn’t consider? Many of these unknowns are why people prefer to spend the extra money on brand new beginner bikes. Generally a used beginner bike is four thousand dollars while new beginner bikes are five to six and a half thousand dollars.
Automatic or Manual?
Automatic bikes are out there. For those who feel that learning clutch control is to daunting. Honda just recently release the E-clutch a new technology that allow the bike to be either automatic or manual based on electronic controls and sensors, Other brands use CVT transmissions, or others have engineered other solutions to this.
They are however, usually on higher level or higher end bikes. This does mean that they can get costly so just a heads up.
Types of Motorcycles
Sport Bikes
Sport bikes offer a fully faired styling. The riding position tends to be more “leaned over” compared to the more upright seating position of cruisers and adventure bikes. The most common examples beginner riders will come across are Ninja 400/500’s, Honda CBR300r’s, Yamaha’s R3, and Suzukis GSX250r’s.
Cruiser
Cruiser motorcycles offer an upright seating position and many have forward controls. For many starting out these bikes are the way to go. Options for cruisers are the Honda Rebel, Harley Davidson Iron 883, Indian scout sixty and others.
Adventure
Adventure bikes are off-road oriented. They are designed in a way to be capable both on and off-road. They share a similarity with cruisers in the seating position the upright stance and ability to add storage to these bikes allows them to be very capable for long rides where endurance and storage other than a back pack may be required.
Naked
Naked bikes get their name due to the fact that they generally share many similarity with sport bikes but lack the fairings that come on sport bikes. This does make them less aero dynamic and leave the rider exposed as they lack a windscreen( similar to cruisers but a much different styling). For many naked bikes are a great place to start as the lack of fairings does make the bike more forgiving if it is dropped while practicing riding in a parking lot.
How Much Power Is Too Much Power?
As a rule of thumb for most riders starting out smaller is better. Stick to the 300-451 cc engine categories.
Sport Bike Journey 