Thanks for the info man. And as for a dualsport bike, i probably wouldn't go off road with the bike, it'll be a street only bike. I wouldn't care if a smaller displacement bike could beat me or not, straight line power isn't my main concern. I just want to learn how to ride it and have fun in the twisties carefully. From the research i've done, and the advice i've heard, the 250R is the perfect bike for my position. Thanks guys!

 

bikes are fairly easy to balance but they are heavy. i have seen most people drop a bike when they are not necessarily riding them but just moving them. lets say you have an incline on your driveway and you are backing it up, you turn the handlebars and inch backwards and all of a sudden you are facing sideways on the incline. lean it too much and there is a point of no return where it will be pretty much impossible to keep it from dropping. this problem is compounded if your feet can barely touch the ground.

funniest thing i ever saw was some guy just learning to ride. he got to a stop sign and somehow forgot to put his feet down. just kept his feet on the pegs the whole time. tipped right over!

 

I was just pricing Ninja 250R's want a bike for commuting from home to school to home to work to home.

I'm way to tired to figure out the formula that would calculate how fast the car would pay for itself with less gas though, so if someone can figure it out I'd appreciate that

 

Bikes with plastic = FTL

The best starter bike would be a cheap dual sport. XR500 or maybe 600. easy to ride and they handle better on STREET with STREET tires than most street bikes. Super moto FTW.

 

get s SV650, little stronger and better than the 250. and still got a nice look. light bike easy to control.

 

this is the one Im leaning toward, got to roll one around a bit last year an loved it. See them on CL for under 3K once in a while

 

hell yeah they do!

anything less than 50 mph, the head angle of streetbikes mess you up, and you dont have as much G force to help you lean and turn, thats what i assume anyways. even riding on the street doing a Uturn is easier on a dualsport.

 

The SV is an impressive bike. Cheap but it has a fair amount of torque for a little v-twin. I'll agree any light bike is a good starter. The trick is to mature and not "drive" a bike like you drive a car. Going a little too fast into a turn in a car isn't a big deal. You understeer and maybe hit something. Being safe on a motorcycle starts with your brain and shortly followed by you right wrist.

 

Ninja 250R bought at a impound yard for $500 ftw....

Call around and see what they have for sale...
When you get a bike let me know. I'll take you out and show you a few things.
I find ducati's under 5k all the time.

 

Also .... Dont forget... turn to the left to make a right turn and turn the bars to the right to make a left turn.

 

Really, if you do find a good condition '08 250R let me know. And thanks for the steering tip.

 

i vote for a beginners bike a Suzuki GS500 not very fast but very cheap and reliable.

 

I agree with the GS500 or other similar bikes. A ninja 250 is great and cheap as well. Get one with the fairings already scratched up and you don't have to worry about it yourself.

I started on a GSXR600 and that worked out fine for me and I never dropped it. It was however uncomfortable for long rides both on the wrists and seat. For longer rides or slower speeds, its better to have something a bit more upright. Real sport bikes are also harder on the u-turn

 

Definitely buy used for your first bike. If you buy a used bike for $3000-$4000 and keep it for a year, you'll still be able to sell it next year for $2500-$3500 as long as you haven't bent it. This way you can try it out to see if you like it and to get an idea of what style of riding you'll prefer. If you do drop it, you won't feel so bad.

Also, longer term, remember that bikes are cheaper than cars - you may end up with a street bike AND a dual sport.

As everyone mentioned, the parallel twins (250's and 500's) are great bikes to start on - especially the naked variants.

The Suzuki SV 650 and 650s are a step up in power and spec. but are still pretty user friendly.

The 600 supersports are a major step up because the handling gets a lot more edgy. The brakes are extremely powerful and the engines whip through the revs very quickly in the lower gears.

Liter bikes are not smart unless it is in the cruiser/Harley bracket where the engine is very lazy in a heavy chassis.


w.r.t. dropping bikes: My first bike was a Suzuki Katana 600. It was easy to ride but with a couple of issues - it was heavy, and the engine bogged down easily at low rpms. An experienced rider was showing me the basics and he stalled the bike while doing a low speed turn. The braking force of the stalled engine caused the bike to overbalance and, given it weighed ~ 450lbs, he couldn't stop it falling. A couple of weeks later I did exactly the same thing.

I also dropped my F4i once while pushing it around the garage. I was pushing it with the kickstand down. When I came to a halt, I hadn't noticed that the kickstand had been pushed out of position. As I lowered the bike sideways I had this horrible feeling of "oh crap, this is going too far". I was able to lower the bike to the ground and, luckily, onto its foot-pegs and alternator cover so no plastics got rashed.

 

If you're interested in a dualsport or a supermoto, also look into the Suzuki DRZ400. And I'll add to the recommendation of the Ninja 250 and SV650. Both are great bikes for beginners.

I started on a Bandit 600S. Its a smallish bike and on the heavy side with a half fairing. Its far from the best bike at anything however its really solid. I've had that bike for 5 years and it has 31k miles and its never, ever given me trouble. I just change the oil and lube the chain. When I dropped it at about 25mph, I was able to start it up immediately and ride it home. I like the bike so much that I couldn't bring myself to sell after I bought my ZX-6R a couple years ago.