A friend with no riding experience is looking for his first bike.

spandak said:

Ultimately he should get whatever excites him. It's his money, if he knows the risks, it's up to him. 

This right here. Bikes are the most fun toy you're likely to buy. You should go to sleep at night dreaming about getting to ride it the next day. Search maps for good roads.watch the weather forecast days in advance. Buy something you love that makes you happy. Ride it and polish it and tell your friends about it and when they can't stand it you go find motorcycle friends and then you get to ride their bikes and really discover more of what's out there and then you start shopping for your next bike. 

I started riding bikes again less than two years ago and now I have 13 of them in the garage. 

If you fall in love with riding then your first bike, no matter what it is, will be wrong because you'll change and grow as a motorcyclist. 

I bought my wife a GS-550e, can't tell you how many friends borrowed it to take their MC road test!

Thanks for the input, passing it along.

Dan

mazdeuce - Seth said:

spandak said:

Ultimately he should get whatever excites him. It's his money, if he knows the risks, it's up to him. 

This right here. Bikes are the most fun toy you're likely to buy. You should go to sleep at night dreaming about getting to ride it the next day. Search maps for good roads.watch the weather forecast days in advance. Buy something you love that makes you happy. Ride it and polish it and tell your friends about it and when they can't stand it you go find motorcycle friends and then you get to ride their bikes and really discover more of what's out there and then you start shopping for your next bike. 

I started riding bikes again less than two years ago and now I have 13 of them in the garage. 

If you fall in love with riding then your first bike, no matter what it is, will be wrong because you'll change and grow as a motorcyclist.

I agree with Seth here.  I have wanted to ride for many years but due to a variety of reasons I never did.  I inherited a bike a few years back then took my MSF class and started street riding.  I bought bike number 2 last summer and can't wait for the snow to melt so I can get out and ride again.  I got the fever.

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

Not necessarily. My first bike was a throw away 6 volt 200cc Honda Twinstar. I loved it. I still have it. Sometimes you hit the nail on the head with your first bike. I can never sell it.

My first motorcycle was a Honda hawk NT650.  It was light-ish, neutral riding position, Honda reliable, sporty-ish, and not ludicrously fast or twitchy.  They can be had for dirt (if you can find them), and I'd strongly recommend it as an excellent start bike that you can grow into. 

I still miss that bike.  I didn't realize what I'd had until I'd sold it for a "better" bike.   

Harley Softail, lowest seat height and easiest handling bike

Just because Yamaha's website says the MT-03 is $4600 doesn't mean that's what the dealer will sell it for.  With taxes and scam fees, he's looking at $5500-$6000.  He'll lose his butt if he decides to sell it in a year and buy a bigger bike - or decides motorcycling's not for him and has to sell.

Ninja 250, Rebel 250 or 300, Nighthawk 250, Yamaha Virago 250 (Star 250), Suzuki GS500E or F.  All cheap to buy, all new-rider and short-guy friendly (I'm also 5'7"), all hold their resale value, especially if gas goes up to $3/gal or more and stays there.

914Driver said:

I bought my wife a GS-550e, can't tell you how many friends borrowed it to take their MC road test!

Thanks for the input, passing it along.

Dan

You mentiend the GS another time, and I wasn't sure if you were suggesting you would sell it... if so I have a beginner that would be interested. Thanks.

Already sold to another beginner.  Great bike though, and I do regret selling it.  For Nick, I'm suggesting a K-75s.  Light enough to flick around a parking lot, heavy enough to be comfortable on long trips and it's pretty.

If someone mentioned the Ninja 500 I missed it, but it’s an excellent low cost bike. Ugly as hell but very capable for what it is and something you can ride even as an experienced rider. 

Bentwrench-the H-D mass can be a bit of a challenge to move around for a new rider.  I am much more comfortable walking/power walking a lighter bike than a heavy bike.  Something to consider for a new rider.  
 

914Driver-I really like the BMW flying bricks.  I can still remember the TV commercials from when they were new.  

Loved my K-100rs, K&N w/Supertrapps.

I don't need a third bike and I don't have room for a third bike but I really like the K series BMW's. 

I understand the argument for getting a smaller CC bike to start, they're less intimidating and less likely to "get away" from you and they're slower to get in trouble on. It's a very good argument that I don't disagree with. Counterpoint: I bought the first year of CB500F new, I still have it in my driveway and it gets me to work most days. It's torque-y and "just goes" in pretty much any gear, an Arrow exhaust gives it a nice exhaust note, and bar end mirrors do great things for the aesthetics. As for riding, it's comfortable and fun to ride but isn't going to "accidentally" get you in trouble. I've known a couple guys to also go get their first bikes and they went with the 300s, specifically the Ninja 300 of similar vintage. They very quickly began to feel the urge to get something with a little more oomph than a 300 (nominal) was putting out, I've never really felt all that much of an urge with mine. I would suggest sending him a link to a CB500F, used or new is up to how he wants to spend his money, and get a little more grow room with a still friendly bike. I may be biased but I also think that the original styling is superior to the new, but I don't think that will surprise anyone who has seen my posts in other threads.

Edit: I've had the bike since new, through rain and thunder and hurricanes. I'm in no hurry to replace it, although a FZ-09 would be pretty sweet, and probably couldn't bring myself to just up and replace her, ya know? We've got almost 30k miles together.

In reply to Error404 :

Thank you for posting this. After reading it I realized just what made my first bike such a good first bike. 550cc's is enough to feel like you are on a "real" bike but not so much you are going to whiskey throttle it into the side of an F-150 at every opportunity. Yeah my vote goes for a modern(meaning with fuel injection) 500cc for a great first bike.

Not sure how the insurance works where you're at but where I am, the rate classes are based on displacement.

No way I'm paying full price insurance to wheeze around on a bloated Milwaukee cruiser when I can have over 100hp on tap for the same or less.

A modern 500ish cc sportbike can be alarmingly fast.

One thing I don't see addressed is the type of riding. My FZ07 is a massively draggy bike thanks to little bodywork and an upright seating position. When I bought it, I was commuting near DC and had both interstate and downtown streets on my commute. I originally looked at a Duke 390 but it was physically way too small (I am only 5'10" 150lb), so I ended up with the FZ07. It pulls hard enough at 80mph, but you can definitely feel the drag is already catching up to it pretty quickly. If I had the option of an MT03 at the type, I probably would've passed purely because of the interstate component of my commute. 

This was also my first bike and the only time I laid it down was when a van pulled out in front of me in a downtown area. I locked the front tire, and it washed out. I still have the philosophical debate with myself on the whole ABS debate (mine doesn't have it). On one hand, I should've practiced more panic braking in a parking lot, and I probably would've been fine. Unless I also laid it down in said parking lot. 

In reply to cyow5 :

My CB500F definitely can feel drag, it's a naked bike after all, but IMO it's not bad unless you're trying to hold 85+ and even then it's very manageable. I would still buy a naked bike over a heavily faired bike, just me, but it is a fair point. Bikes are a great personal expression so I think that engine size, within reason, is more likely to have an effect on his happiness in 9 months. 

I'm a big proponent of riding slow bike fast. I had a TW200 as my main bike for 2 years, and I'm over 200lbs. Granted, highway work was a 60mph at best proposition. I think that MT would be great, but also maybe look at a year or 2 old Duke 390 and save that depreciation and tax/delivery fees. 

fatallightning said:

I'm a big proponent of riding slow bike fast.

Yes.

I race motocross at the expert level and I've never owned a bike larger than 400cc. Nothing I've ridden on the road has made more than 20-30 HP, and the most fun I've ever had on the street was on a modified BWS 50cc scooter

I think that MT will make an excellent first bike.  And it may end up being the bike he loves for many years to come.  A modern 300 like the MT has plenty of power, and the light weight makes it not only intimidating, but a bunch of fun to ride.

Error404 said:

In reply to cyow5 :

 it's not bad unless you're trying to hold 85+ and even then it's very manageable.

I totally agree on this point and just raised it as something I learned after the fact. Commuting in DC (or I'm sure any other major metro area) is not a place you want to have the bike already maxxed out just keeping up with traffic. You need something in reserve; I made it a goal to always notice at least one car try to hit me each time I rode. I figured that if I didn't see anyone try to hit, I just wasn't paying enough attention, it happened that regularly. If the bike is purely for mountain cruises or hopping down to get coffee on Saturdays, this obviously doesn't apply, but it is something to at least mention in case it does. If I had bought the Duke 390 I had looked at, I would've had to sell it immediately for a loss, but another rider could live happily ever after on it in different circumstances.