Based on the original, updated 2019
Before you buy a motorcycle, you need to buy some gear, and you need to take a rider education course and get your motorcycle endorsement on your license. In most US states the course is the Motorcycle Safety Foundation Basic RiderCourse. In California the California Motorcyclist Safety Program is used. The course will provide motorcycles and teach you the basics of riding a bike. It's not terribly expensive, it's not hard, and it will give you a huge advantage when you start riding on your own. In most states the course counts as your driving portion of the license test. Plus, some insurance companies will give you a slight discount for taking the course.
As far as gear, you should buy:
- Helmet (preferably an ECE or SNELL rated full-race helmet, and must be new rather than used)
- Jacket (preferably with CE-rated armor in the shoulders and arms, and ideally with a CE-rated back protector)
- Pants (motorcycle-specific, preferably with CE-rated knee and hip pads)
- Gloves (preferably leather gloves with a hard knuckle and palm slider)
- Boots (motorcycle-specific)
Any time you are on the bike you should have all of that stuff on. Every time. Riding a motorcycle is DANGEROUS and there is always a risk of an accident, even if you do nothing wrong. Protect yourself. Expect to spend about $1000 on a new set of gear.
Ideally you should buy gear at a brick and mortar store you can try on the best fit. If that isn't an option, there many several reputable online stores:
Avoid Amazon and eBay due to unsafe counterfeit gear being sold on these sites.
The best rule of thumb for a starter bike is this: Two or fewer cylinders, 750cc or less. Any bike that follows those guidelines will be an excellent starter bike. But perhaps a list would be more helpful.
These smaller bikes are appropriate for any rider. All are highway capable, lightweight and easy to ride.
- Honda CB300F/CBR300R
- Honda CB500F/CBR500R/CB500X
- KTM RC390/Duke 390 (2017 or newer)
- Kawasaki Ninja 250 (EX250)
- Kawasaki Ninja 250R
- Kawasaki Ninja 300
- Kawasaki Ninja 400/Z400
- Kawasaki Ninja 500 (EX500)
- Kawasaki Versys-X 300
- Suzuki GS500
- Suzuki GSX250R
- Yamaha MT-03
- Yamaha R3
These middleweights are appropriate for beginners who felt more confident after completing their rider education course and want a slightly bigger bike with more long-distance highway capability.
- Kawasaki Ninja 650
- Kawasaki Versys 650
- Kawasaki Z650
- Suzuki SV650/SV650S/SFV650/SV650X
- Suzuki VStrom 650
- Yamaha FZ-07/MT-07
There are other good choices; these are ones that are sporty, can be commonly found for affordable used prices and are known to be generally reliable. Your first bike should be used rather than new for a few reasons:
- You will probably drop your first bike, and dropping a new bike feels awful.
- The depreciation hit and dealer assembly fees on new bikes are quite expensive.
- If you finance a bike, you need to maintain expensive full coverage insurance on it until you pay it off.
- Financing a new bike dings your credit, but is classified by credit agencies as a recreational vehicle loan rather than an auto loan and thus doesn't build it up again very much.
Let some other person take the hit for you and buy a lightly used but still reliable bike from the last 10 model years. You'll be able to sell it for close to what you paid for it, and if you drop it you can just pick it up and move on without feeling too bad.
Don't. Just don't. Don't even think about it. These bikes are little more than racebikes with lights, designed to instantly and unforgivingly respond to whatever input they get from the rider. These bikes do not tolerate mistakes, and as a new rider YOU WILL MAKE MISTAKES,
It's not simply a matter of speed or horsepower.
- Four-cylinder motorcycles engines make huge amounts of power by revving to very high RPMs, and this means they have a very peaky powerband. Twins have linear power delivery, meaning you get the same sort of response from the engine at 3500 RPM and 8000 RPM. I4s are very sluggish at low RPM but extremely powerful at high RPM. Meaning the engine's response to more throttle will be wildy different in different situations.
- Throttle response is very twitchy, due to a number of design features like lightweight flywheels and how the throttle itself is built. Supersport motors rev extremely fast and respond more quickly to changes in throttle position. Meaning if you hit a bump that upsets your right hand you'll get a huge burst of power, or if you use too much throttle on a downshift and let go of the clutch lever you'll do an unintentional, uncontrolled wheelie or drift.
- Suspension geometry on these bikes is, in a word, extreme. On the track you're supposed to pick a line in the corner and stick with it, and supersports are designed to track that line like they're on rails. They do not like to change direction mid-corner. Which means they don't like to suddenly steer around the patch of oil or gravel you didn't see before you turned in.
- The brakes are extremely strong. More than strong enough to either flip the bike or lock up either wheel and make you crash.
Putting all these elements on one motorcycle and putting that bike underneath a new rider is a recipe for disaster. A new motorcyclist DOES NOT KNOW WHAT HE'S DOING and needs to learn on a bike that will put up with the errors of inexperience.
Additionally, insurance on these bikes is much more expensive than on proper starter bikes.
Note that older 600s are not any better for a beginner. Bikes like CBR600F4s and early 2000's GSX-Rs and ZX-6's may not be quite as powerful as the brand new stuff, but they all share the same design features that make supersports bad for beginners. Any bike that was a top-of-the-line sportbike should be avoided.
But maybe you're still not convinced, and you've got some other reason to start on a supersport.
The purpose of your first motorcycle is not 'survival,' it's learning to be a skilled, capable rider. It's idiotic to say that starting on a supersport guarantees your impending doom. But it makes the risk of an accident monstrously higher, and even if you don't wreck you're going to be awful at riding. A skilled rider on a 250 will easily outpace a bad rider on a 600 on a twisty road, because it's so difficult to learn properly when you're concentrating on 'survival.' No successful motorcycle racer in the world started riding on a 600cc-class race bike.
But those smaller bikes aren't as cool or as pretty or my buddies will make fun of me if I don't start on a 600
If appearances are the reason you want to buy a supersport, you need to seriously ask yourself why you want to start such a dangerous and expensive hobby in the first place. If you want to ride because it looks fun, because it's a unique and exhilerating experience, you need to be willing to put off your dream bike for a while. It's a tad cliche, but it's true: your first bike is not your last. If you want a bike because you want too look cool or impress people, then it doesn't really matter what I say, does it? Going fast in a straight line takes no skill, and cruising past the mall in a wifebeater and sandals takes even less. Hopefully you'll get bored and sell your bike before you end up in a situation you're not prepared for and wind up dead.
Whoever told you that is a fucking moron. This is usually a justification for starting on a big bike or even for not wearing gear. I've already explained why supersports are bad for beginners and why horsepower isn't the only reason; and the fact is that even the most perfect rider in the world is always at risk of an accident. Traffic is about as likely to cause an wreck as the rider is. All it takes is someone driving an SUV to not notice your presence for two seconds, and all of a sudden you're off your bike. Maybe they didn't look carefully enough when pulling out from a stop sign, or maybe they were too busy on their cell phone to see you before they merged. Rider vigilance will go a long way towards avoiding a wreck with a cager, but it's not a guarantee. Wear all your gear, all the time.
The linear powerband of a twin is great for a beginner, but the bigger twins make huge amounts of torque. The big liter twins trade top-end power for enough low-rev grunt to get a new rider in serious trouble. Power wheelies in second gear kind of trouble. They also share similar suspension geometry and brakes with their 4-cylinder cousins. All told, a 1000cc twin is just as bad as a 600cc I4 to start out on.
- Motorcycling is not something you do for convenience. You have no cargo room, you get wet if it rains, you've got to carry a helmet around with you, you get hot and you get cold. Why is the mild inconvenience of dealing with a vehicle sale such a concern?
- You really shouldn't get bored. Many riders who've been riding for years and years buy Ninja 250s for the sheer simplicity and easy handling, or commute on 650cc twins because they're so much fun in everyday traffic. These people are more than qualified to be riding around on brand-new literbikes but they choose not to. They probably know a few things that you don't.
- Again, your first bike is not your last. Be patient.
Unless you weigh at least 400 pounds, it just doesn't matter. A Ninja 250 can hit 90+ MPH easily with a 250 lb rider, and it has two seats, for crying out loud, If one of the smallest motorcycles available can do highway speeds with two human beings aboard, using your weight to justify a 600cc bike is just bullshit.
Height is a different matter that can justify a larger bike, but not a more powerful one. If you've sat on the smaller bikes listed above at the dealership and found them cramped, consider the middleweight list, or consider a dual-sport/supermoto/adventure bike (basically big street legal dirt machines).
This is probably the worst argument for anything ever. Driving and riding are nothing alike. Riding takes a totally different set of skills and you'll be starting again from zero.
I've read this whole thing but I still think I can start on a 600. I'm careful/special/responsible/awesome enough to be OK
There comes a point in conversations with wannabe riders when it becomes apparent that the guy only wants to be told what he wants to hear. He's already made up his mind, and the only reason he's asking is to hear people tell him "yeah, go ahead." Any advice to the contrary just gets ignored. I don't know of anything else to tell you. Starting on a race bike is not a good idea, but in America at least you have the right to purchase whatever motorcycle you like.
If you're lucky, you won't crash. If you're not lucky, you could be seriously injured or killed. You've come asking the advice of those with much more experience than you have; ignore it at your peril.