I got my gear. I got my license. I have the desire to ride. And now it's time I pick out a bike.
Since this is your first bike, there's a few things to consider before buying one. And I'm going to throw out the disclaimer that this is more opinion than anything here.
Forget whichever brand you have an affinity for if it makes getting a bike unobtainable.
It's your first bike. So lets think practical. If you have just an assload of cash sitting around and you can afford whatever you want, then forget what I just said. But if you're in the market for a Ducati as your first bike, you know as well as I do that Ducati ANYTHING is usually priced higher than it should be. Think practical and affordable; the Big Four Japanese companies are great places to start looking.
Figure out exactly what it is you want your bike to do for you.
Just like cars, there's a motorcycle for just about every niche. Even more so, there are some bikes that are so identical to one another, that having the same bike optioned out two different ways can completely transform the machine. A great example of this is to look at my bike. When Triumph was making the T3 range of bikes each bike shared identical frames and parts with little changes in between. Take the Trident, a standard naked bike. Lower the handle bars, lift the pegs, change the sprocket and it becomes a cafe bike, the original Speed Triple. Add a fairing, it becomes a sport bike, the Daytona. Raise the handle bars, lower the pegs, add some hard bags and raise the windscreen, it becomes the Trophy, a touring bike. No matter what you're in to, there's a bike that meets your demands out there.
Think practical when deciding what kind of bike to buy based on how you ride and where it will be ridden.
Full blown sports bikes are a lot of fun. But lets be real here. Most sport bikes are not comfortable for long rides. They don't accommodate passengers very well, nor do the accommodate luggage very well. They like to suck down gas. Unless you're a professional rider or at least go to a racing school, you'll never unleash the full potential of that machine. And if you ARE a professional rider, there's no place to ride that hard unless it's on a track. Now before the lot of you scream "BUT ISNT YOUR BIKE A SPORT BIKE?" I will point out that the ergo's on older sport bikes tend to be more rider friendly, because most companies had less of an understanding for what worked best on the track and older bikes were less radically designed by today's standards. My bike is a great example of that. Plus, if the CBR 900 was the benchmark for cutting edge sport bikes in the 900cc category during the mid 90's, my Daytona isn't exactly up to par with that machine. Cosworth parts or not.
If you have your heart set on a real crotch rocket, I'd suggest any of the Japanese sports bike through the 80's and 90's before I'd suggest an 07 GSX-R. Not comfortable.
Pick a bike that you fit on.
That one is pretty important. And it's simple. When you saddle up, both feet should be (ideally) flat on the ground when the bike is set upright. You should also be able to reach the handle bars and all of the controls without any problems. If you're of a very small stature, this unfortunately limits your choices a bit depending on what kind of bike you're looking for. I have seen shorter women on bigger bikes, by way of lowering kits and, well, just being on their tip-toes when at a stop light.
Choppers and rice rockets are the only kinds of bikes out there, right?
I have seriously had people say that to me before. Seriously. To take that a step further, I've had girls think that Ducati 1098's were Kawasaki Ninja's. For some reason people have this mindset that if it's a plastic fantastic, it's a Ninja. And if it's a cruiser of some sort, it's a 'Chopper' or a Harley. Anyway, here's a breakdown of what's out there for you.
Cruisers:
Cruisers are bikes built for, well, cruising. The ergonomics are friendly for going around town and pleasure rides through the countryside. For some, the upright riding position can turn in to a strain on the upper body when riding highways for a long time. Cruisers have low ground clearance and aren't suited for riding aggressively through the twisties. Engine and gearing usually favors torque-on-demand rather than revving to the moon in order to squeeze high horsepower from it's powerplant. Think Harley Davidsons, Yamaha's Star Motorcycles, Kawasaki Vulcan, Suzuki Boulevard and things like that.
Bagger is a term sometimes used for a cruiser outfitted with touring accessories, such as soft bags, hard bags, or windscreens / fairings.
Chopper is a term that... how do you not know what a chopper is? Ugh, anyway, people use it to describe a Harley or like bike sometime, or it's often used to describe a cruiser that's been customized in some way shape or form.
Power cruisers are cruisers that favor larger displacement engines and typically err on the more ballsy side when it comes to power and gearing. Sometimes also called a 'Dragged-out' bike, 'Dragged' of course meaning Dragster.
ADC4S says: I think it's mostly the image that comes with cruisers that I don't like. It doesn't bother me that cruisers aren't as balls-to-the-wall powerful as sport bikes, or that they can't corner like sport bikes, I just don't see someone young and skinny like myself on some big 1800cc V-twin. I will admit though, grabbing the handlebars of a 2007 Suzuki M109R and hauling a** down Route 5 in West Springfield was a pretty badass experience. I mean, I felt like a total hard a** just from riding the damn thing for 20 minutes.
Eh, I guess it was pretty comfortable, too.
Standards:
Standards are, as the name might imply, your standard motorcycle. These are often the most beginner friendly bikes, and tend to have great ergonomics and ample, yet subtle engines. Most standards are naked bikes; bikes without any windscreen or fairings. But in recent years, bikes like the Suzuki Katana, Suzuki GS650F and Kawasaki Ninja 650R are proof that standards don't always have to be in the nude. If my use of the word practical belonged in one section, it would be here.
Naked bike is sometimes used interchangeably with the term standard, though of course naked only applies if the bike is, well, naked.
Retro bikes are closer to standards than any other bike with the exception of a few optioned out models. The modern Triumph Bonneville, the Ducati GT and the Kawasaki W800 are all bikes designed to look and feel like the bikes of yesterday, except with modern technology.
ADC4S says: Don't overlook standards as an option for a motorcycle. They go all over the place. Maybe a little GS650F is a little too tame for you. How about the almost 100hp Honda CB919? It's affordable and gutsy yet still easy on the rider for the long hauls. Assuming a lot of you reading this are 18 to 24, many people in that age bracket (while looking for a sports bike) immediately run to the GSX-R, or R6 for their first sports bike, practicality and useability be damned. If ever there was a place I'd suggest going for your first bike, it's in the standards category.
Tourer:
My award to most flaccid and docile motorcycle style goes to Tourers. HOWEVER, there is no denying that your average tourer is the bike you'd want to spend 15 hour stretches in the saddle on. Touring bikes have very big engines, big brakes and plush suspensions. They're also usually quiet. Tourers have big fairings and big windscreens meant to make riding them as painless as possible. They are also heavy because of all the creature comforts manufacturers like to stuff in to them. Ergonomics for the rider are excellent, and there's more than enough comfort and room for passengers and luggage as well. I still say nothing says 'Senior citizen' quite like a Honda Goldwing or a Kawasaki Concours. Someone please explain to me why the Goldwing has a Reverse gear AND an airbag as an option? Seriously, you can also buy a roof for your Goldwing. I'm not making this s**t up.
Sport tourers are touring bikes that sacrifice a lot of the comfort for some performance. And that's okay by me. Sport tourers usually manage to stay comfortable and liveable for long rides, and save room for passengers and luggage. Take off the bags, and the bike is ready for some light track duty. Engine, gearing, brakes and suspension are more aggressive overall when compared to a regular touring bike. And sport tourers can go from one extreme to the next. Some are fully faired, some are naked. Some lean further towards the Sport side, other go closer to the Tourer side.
ADC4S says: Sport Tourers in particular, I have an affinity towards. And I think the premise sells itself. Sport Tourers usually look nice for those of you in need of a sport bike, and can usually perform like a sport bike. But when it comes time to take your sport tourer on a long ride with your buddy on the ZX6R you can laugh your head off the entire way at him, being all comfortable and sporty on your Triumph Sprint ST.
Sports:
Sports bike actually come in a few varieties, mostly separated by engine size, but the idea is always the same. Powerful engine, light weight, maneuverable and aerodynamic. Sports bikes are at home at the road courses mostly and tend to be ill-suited for day to day riding. Mostly because the riding position can be strenuous on the arms, wrists and back. Although sports bikes usually have the option for a passenger seat, it probably wont be a comfortable ride for you or your passenger. And no, not every sport bike wrapped in plastic is a Kawasaki Ninja. For the most part, the sport bike category is dominated by inline four cylinder engines. However, there are bikes out there with all sorts of engine layouts... Inline fours, inline triples, L twins, V twins, V fours...
Grand Tourers is a term I've heard used in a few magazines before, and it's a term I like. This describes those speed kings everyone knows and loves, bikes like the Suzuki Hayabusa, Kawasaki ZX14, and the CBR 1100XX. I don't think it's really fair to call these bikes sport tourers as they're sometimes classified, because while they're not as uncomfortable as most full on sports bikes, I don't see a lot about them that's very touring oriented either. When Triumph was making the T3 Daytona's such as mine, they had a 1200cc model that fell in to this category, and the ergonomics on my 900cc are exactly the same. So I can testify that these bikes aren't all that bad to ride from a comfort standpoint.
Stunt bikes aren't exactly factory made but they deserve a mention. Usually stripped down and modified sports bike used in doing wheelies, stoppies, riding on the tank, etc. It's a risky proposition buying a stunt bike off of someone for the obvious reason of, well, how many times it's probably hit the ground.
Streetfighters are my personal favorite out of any category of bike. As long as they don't look too damn goofy. Streetfighters, like stunt bikes, are born of a sport bike having all the bodywork taken off and being modified from there. Often times streetfighter builds come from sports bikes that have been wrecked though it's not uncommon anymore for someone to streetfighter-out a fresh bike from the dealership. Clip on handlebars are replaced with motocross style bars, the tail sections are usually cut short and sit very high as well as the exhaust pipe and the front end most likely has only a bikini fairing or just a headlight. There's always the age old argument of 'built, not bought', but Triumph's Speed Triple and Ducati's Monster are thought of as the pioneers of the factory streetfighter.
It also goes worth a mention that an English artist named Andy Sparrow, and his serialized comic "Bloodrunners" from the 1980's are often thought of as the Godfather and origin (respectively) of Streetfighters.
ADC4S says:I have this interesting love/hate relationship with sports bike. On one hand there's very little that's useful about most sports bikes on the street. But it's true that having a powerful bike can be fun as hell, blasting around town and tearing up the twisties. Being a victim myself, however, I know that some people just have addictive personalities, and all that power can get to your head. If you're convinced that you need a rocket ship of a bike, just know this: You will probably never use more than a fraction of that bike's potential without proper training. If you try to ride that hard without training, or the proper environment in which to do it, I promise you that you'll push yourself to a breaking point and hurt yourself.
Take it from the guy whose right arm doesn't work from the elbow up.
Dual Sport:
Dual sports are interesting creatures. If you've ever seen one you might have scratched your head at the sight of it. Dual sports bikes designed to be able to handle riding on the road as well as trail duty. Powerful engines, high stance, flexible suspensions, wind screens and saddle bags are common traits for dual sport bikes. Some dual sports handle city riding better than trail riding, and vice versa. Often times riders will deck out dual sports with accessories like power outlets to power things like GPS or heated gear. It's also not uncommon to see dual sport bikes out on the road in cold or wet road conditions. This style of bike is very popular in Europe.
ADC4S says: I don't have any experience with dual sports. I have seen a fair share of them out on the road and at shows but have never ridden one. If you can get past the funky looks then there's a lot of good reasons to own a dual sport. Think of it as a sport tourer than can also ride through the woods.
