Top 10: Starter Bikes Follow AskMen on Twitter. The tumultuous rumble of dual exhaust cans drowns out the stale elevator music on your way up to the office. You daydream of wheelies, knee-dragging and checkered flags. Sleep is a fond memory, due to motorcycle-induced insomnia. If you experience any of these symptoms, you have the fever, and once you’ve been bitten, there is no antidote. After completing your MSF safety course, obtaining your motorcycle license endorsement and purchasing the proper riding gear, there’s only one thing left on the list: Find your starter bike. Shrewd riders will opt for a starter bike with a smaller engine, lower seat height and comfortable riding position to aid the two-wheel acclimatization process. Bikes like the Suzuki Hayabusa, Kawasaki ZX-14 and Yamaha YZF-R1 are certain death rockets for beginner riders, so hide the pride and spring for a tamer machine. Entry-level motorcycles usually tend to be wallet-friendly and produce exceptional gas mileage, which is paramount in these preposterous economic times.

Have a good, hard look at our list of the top 10 starter bikes that are on the market now, and work your way up to that Z1000. 2006 Motorcycles: 6 Cruisers 2006 Motorcycles: 6 Sports Bikes 2005 Motorcycles: 6 Cruisers 20 Things That Separate Great Couples From Good Ones Are You An Android Power User? These Apps Are For YouI also recommend a smaller bike.   motorcycle tire repair fargo////9/...I don't know about cruisers, but here is advice from my very limited riding experience (about 25k miles total riding).motorcycle helmets london ontarioWhen I had a ninja 250 it was more forgiving of my mistakes/panics than the 650.    best beginner cruiser motorcycle 2013

For example, the 650 will wheelie easily from a dead stop without even popping the clutch.    The ninja 1000 will wheelie at 100mph if you rev and open the clutch.    I don't do wheelies hardly ever, but I am telling you so you know the difference in power.   The 250 you have to change the gearing and/or yank up on it hard with technique to get it up and probably only in 1st at that. What this means is that when you make a mistake on the clutch you won't power splat into a brick wall with a rocket you can't control.The smaller bikes have the advantage of being more agile, and getting great gas mileage too (65+mpg) vs about 45mpg on the ninja 650 and 26-35mpg on the ninja 1000.   Also, you can sell the 250 class for almost what you paid for it.   I sold mine for about $500 more than I paid for it even.    I lost money on the 650 when I sold it.You are going to drop a 250, or a 650 or a 1000 at some point.   Don't think you won't.    The size won't matter.   However, you might drop a 250 less because it takes more skill and panic control instincts on a faster bike.

Example, I wheelied on the 650 from a stop light (on accident) and was already over the "panic" time because I had ridden a 250 for several thousand miles.    When it stood almost straight up I just left off the throttle and leaned forward hard.    It landed fine (my first wheelie on that bike).    If I was already timid/panicking/worried/afraid because of starting on too big a bike I might of:1. flipped it over backwards2. landed wrong and dropped itAnother example of where a 650 was easier than a 1000:  I was turning around in a parking lot and turned too tight.   It was all I could to to keep from falling to hold the weight on one leg while I accelerated and lifted the bike.    A 250 might of been a bit easier, or maybe I wouldn't of tipped over at all.  A 1000 I would of dropped (extra 100lbs on the 1000).I have lots of stories like this where little things that would of probably been bad, were not because my skill was more matching the bike instead of having far too big of a bike to confidently handle.

I strongly suggest that you do not start on a 600 class or higher.   The 250/300 bikes have plenty of power and you will gain confidence and skill faster on one of them instead of being afraid of a larger bike.Don't think a 250/300 bike is going to be slow around town.   You will still beat almost every street legal car off the line and up to whatever the "in town" speed limit is.   Where the smaller bikes fail is accelerating beyond that "in town" speed.    They lose much of their acceleration as the speed increases and at 60-70 you will be struggling to pass sometimes.    The trade-off is worth it in my opinion.Here in the state of New South Wales, Australia, we have a pretty strict set of rules that are designed to keep riders alive until they develop the skills they need to keep themselves alive. Even if our rules don't apply to you, I suggest that they still rate as good advice.Here, novice riders are only permitted to ride motorcycles that are listed on a document published by the government called “approved motorcycles for novice riders[1]”.

That list allows all motorcycles with engine displacement of 260cc or less except five specific bikes (RGV, KR, NSR, TGV and RS - that's quite the collection of little widowmakers, right there!) and then goes on to list other bikes with bigger engines that novices are also permitted to ride.The list includes a lot of 500cc and 650cc bikes on the premise that while they are larger, their power-to-weight ratio is such that they won't be too difficult for novice riders to manage.I suggest to you that if the bike you have in mind matches the criteria set by my government, then it is probably a safe choice for you.Several others have warned you that larger bikes are harder for new riders to manage and have noted that ‘dropping’ your bike (as we call it here) is inevitable. I completely agree with those advices. Even if the 650cc bike you have in mind meets safety and power criteria, you still need to consider your ability to keep it upright and how you'll manage when you drop it.Cheers,LarryFootnotes[1] http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/docume...Engine displacement doesn’t really matter, especially since power/torque/displacement ratios vary greatly between different engine configurations.