I'm thinking about getting a bike next year - recommendations?

[SVT_Power]

I'm just thinking about it for now (only due to financial reasons, otherwise I'd already have one), but I'm thinking next spring/summer might be the time I pull the trigger. I'll be done undergrad and probably starting grad school in September. All of my speeding tickets have been removed from my record already. But the big problemo is my accident from a couple of years ago, that definitely won't help my insurance. I'll be 24 by the time I get a bike. I'll also have taken one of those motorcycle riding safety course things.

So the question - what's a decent bike that'll minimize insurance costs for me? I keep hearing that if I get a 250, I'll get bored of it real fast. But I'm thinking insurance won't like going past 250cc, especially since I'm a new rider. Also heard an interesting point tonight from a buddy who's been riding for a few years now - 250's are nice and forgiving for beginners, but that it's a quick way to pick up poor habits due to that forgiveness.

With that said...go!


EDIT: Forgot all my speeding tickets are gone 

[Soup DeVille]

Insurance for bikes is plenty cheap: just don't let your health care insurance guys know about it.

[SVT_Power]

Insurance for bikes is plenty cheap: just don't let your health care insurance guys know about it.

As long as the ministry of transportation doesn't say anything to the ministry of health, I should be okay 

[Gotta-Qik-C7]

State farm is the cheapest insurance wise! And you won't get bored with a 250/300 too fast and the good part is they hold their value really well! You can ride it for 2 seasons and sell it for damn near what you paid for it!

[Soup DeVille]

State farm is the cheapest insurance wise! And you won't get bored with a 250/300 too fast and the good part is they hold their value really well! You can ride it for 2 seasons and sell it for damn near what you paid for it!

There's an old Honda 350 ('78?)  here that like five different people have owned (in the same department). Each time, it sells for within $100 or so of the last time. They've all just been guys buying their first bike, they keep it for a year or so and then sell it.

[280Z Turbo]

State farm is the cheapest insurance wise! And you won't get bored with a 250/300 too fast and the good part is they hold their value really well! You can ride it for 2 seasons and sell it for damn near what you paid for it!

No they're not. They wanted to rape me. I went with progressive.

[280Z Turbo]

If you buy a dogshit 250 with a lawn tractor engine you may get bored fast, but a sportbike 250 is quicker to 60 than most cars and will cruise on the freeway no problem.

I don't quite understand the need for a 600+ cc donor cycle 5 minutes after you get an endorsement. The speed limit doesn't go higher when you get a bigger bike, so...

[FlatBlackCaddy]

get a bike that is not classified as a super (super sport) bike, that would help insurance alot. Generally naked bikes or sport bikes with 600CC twins or less would be a good bike insurance wise and cost to purchase.

[S204STi]

New or used?

Generally speaking, sport-bikes in the 650 class aren't as manic as the 600s, but more tractable and adequately quick and good-handling, with decent fuel economy.  I'd go for one of those easily.  That said, the FZ6 (not the FZ6R) has the R6 engine but an upright riding position, and it's not going to rip your face off.  I'd only avoid liter bikes for now, if I were you.  Anything else is fair game, as they all have the ability to outrun almost any car.  People who rant about 600cc supersports being too much bike don't know wtf they're talking about usually.  All bikes are too much bike, really.

[MX793]

Comes down to a lot of factors, but I'll start with these.
How tall are you?
Do you have any previous experience on a motorbike (dirt bike or scooter)?
What type of riding do you intend to be doing?  Touring or commuting or track days...?
Do you have any sort of preference towards a bike type right now?

[SVT_Power]

New or used?

Generally speaking, sport-bikes in the 650 class aren't as manic as the 600s, but more tractable and adequately quick and good-handling, with decent fuel economy.  I'd go for one of those easily.  That said, the FZ6 (not the FZ6R) has the R6 engine but an upright riding position, and it's not going to rip your face off.  I'd only avoid liter bikes for now, if I were you.  Anything else is fair game, as they all have the ability to outrun almost any car.  People who rant about 600cc supersports being too much bike don't know wtf they're talking about usually.  All bikes are too much bike, really.

Definitely used

[S204STi]

Definitely used

Luckily, there are a lot of good options on the used market, thanks to many buyers simply putting a few hundred miles a year on a bike and then selling it. 

I avoid SSs due to their riding position, personally, but there are a lot of good mid-to-low-range bikes such as the SV650, Kawasaki Ninja 650, Suzuki GSX 650, etc.

[12,000 RPM]

I would do a couple of months on something in the 250-500cc range just to get the muscle memory down. Once you have like 6 months/3000 miles down then jump to the 650s. 650s are still fucking quick. I don't ride mine much anymore but every time I jump on it my first thoughts are "wow this thing is fast".

[Raza]

Just get whatever Harley you can afford, they're the best anyway.

[FlatBlackCaddy]

Just get whatever Harley you can afford, they're the best anyway.

Yup, buy into the club.

A very exclusive club for only the coolest riders. Plus you get access to the elusive "biker wave".

[Gotta-Qik-C7]

No they're not. They wanted to rape me. I went with progressive.

Progressive quoted me $1100 for one year full coverage. Geico wanted $775. State Farm insured me for $295 for my 600 and (It didn't go up at all the first year I had the 750) $330 when I purchased my 750! My boy has a honda 954 and his was 5 bucks more than mine! The guys at Gixxer.com had similar results! Thats why I contacted State Farm!

[MX793]

Geico, in my experience, is the worst for motorcycle insurance.  I went to them when I got my bike since they insured my car (where they have very competitive rates) and, for just liability, they wanted more than what I paid for liability on my car (north of $500).  Their reasoning being that, despite my having a spotless car driving record, I was an unknown as a motorcycle rider...  I went through an insurance broker that my dad used and ended up with some company I've never heard of for ~$100 a year (less now).

My brother shopped around at all of the majors (GEICO, Progressive, State Farm, etc) and IIRC, Progressive was the cheapest for him.  I don't think he pays much more than I do.

[S204STi]

SafeCo was decent, too.

[12,000 RPM]

I'm on Progressive... $480 a year and that will drop if I can stay out of trouble until May

[SVT_Power]

Comes down to a lot of factors, but I'll start with these.
How tall are you?
Do you have any previous experience on a motorbike (dirt bike or scooter)?
What type of riding do you intend to be doing?  Touring or commuting or track days...?
Do you have any sort of preference towards a bike type right now?

5'7-5'8
Just putted around for a little bit on a buddy's 250 (can't remember exact model, 90s Yamaha IIRC)
Probably commuting and casual/fun rides (if I stick around here for grad school, "commute" is literally a 2 block drive)
I mean a sport bike would be cool, but a standard would be good as well (I'm assuming a standard would be much better for insurance vs. a sport, even at 250cc)

[SVT_Power]

From what I've researched and learned from talking to people today, insurance companies around here almost half their rates for riders as soon as they hit the 25 yr old mark. A buddy told me he called around getting quotes when he was 24, and the places he called said if he were 25 even as a brand new rider, his rates would be a good chunk lower - his quote was ~$130/month as a 24 yr old vs $85/month if he were 25 (I don't know what kind of bike he got quotes for, but he's pretty much got a spotless driving record since 16).

I'm gonna have to really research hard into insurance

[280Z Turbo]

Your experience may vary.

We can't really compare state to state as far as insurance goes, let alone U.S. vs. Canada.

[Eye of the Tiger]

I can only recommend the Harley Sportster. 1200 for men, 883 if ur a girl. I rode mine out to my land today, and almost got taken out by a deer

[280Z Turbo]

You need an M2 machine gun mounted on the front of the bike to blow up deer in your path.

[Eye of the Tiger]

You need an M2 machine gun mounted on the front of the bike to blow up deer in your path.

I need a howitzer to clear the road ahead so I don't have to worry about any deer ever being in my path.

[SVT_Power]

I need a howitzer to clear the road ahead so I don't have to worry about any deer ever being in my path.

You may or may not want to think about Newton's third law with that one

[280Z Turbo]

You may or may not want to think about Newton's third law with that one

Don't worry, his Harley weighs 1500 lbs dry and he adds another 600 lbs.

[MX793]

5'7-5'8
Just putted around for a little bit on a buddy's 250 (can't remember exact model, 90s Yamaha IIRC)
Probably commuting and casual/fun rides (if I stick around here for grad school, "commute" is literally a 2 block drive)
I mean a sport bike would be cool, but a standard would be good as well (I'm assuming a standard would be much better for insurance vs. a sport, even at 250cc)

Height-wise, you should fit OK on pretty much anything.  Really tall (or long-legged) riders or very short riders (I'd say under 5'6") typically fit best on cruisers.  Low seat makes it easy for shorter riders to touch the ground and forward footpegs offer room for those with long legs.

For a new rider (someone with only a few hours, or less, on a motorbike) who is looking for a bike that can kind of do everything, I'd recommend a standard.  I wouldn't go anything bigger than middle-weight class (<750cc).  Comfortable enough for some longer rides if you want to sample some light touring, handle well enough to do a little corner carving as you get better.  A good starting point as you figure out what type of riding you enjoy most.  Unfortunately, standards kind of fell out of favor in North America (although I think they fared a little better in Canada) in the late 80s, so there's not a ton of them out there.  And the options below 400cc are pretty poor.  A Suzuki TU250 or Honda Rebel/Nighthawk 250 has so little power that most riders will outgrow one after about one tank of gas.  Maybe two.  The more potent 250 engines never seemed to find their way into the little standards.  Good standards to look at would be the Suzuki SV650, Suzuki Bandit 600 or 650 (the latter was sold in Canada, but not the US), Kawasaki Versys 650, Suzuki DL650 V-Strom, CB500F (probably too new for there to be many used ones out there) or even a Honda Nighthawk 750.  All of these offer enough performance that you won't outgrow them in one season, but are still manageable for a lot of beginners.

On the sportier side of the spectrum, a Ninja 250, Ninja 500, Ninja 650, CBR250R (not sure if there are many on the used market yet), CBR500R (like the 250, probably not a lot of used ones out there yet) or GSX650 would all be OK for a beginner level rider.  They have less extreme ergos than a supersport (some of them are really standards), but still have the sportbike look.

A lot of middle weight cruisers make for good beginner bikes as well, and I suspect insurance is cheaper than any sportbike.  Harley Sportster 883 (which is really more standard than cruiser), V-Star 650, Honda Shadow 750, Vulcan 500...  Whether you like the cruiser style is a matter of personal preference.

[Speed_Racer]

I only have liability on mine since it's older, $75 a year with Progressive.

I got close to buying a new bike and when shopping for quotes, full insurance with Geico was outrageous (State Farm wanted <$600/yr, Geico wanted >$2000/yr). They're spending too much money on those stupid lizard commercials.

[12,000 RPM]

$75/yr, Jesus Christ.