Beginner's greatest motorcycles!

[hammerheadshadow]

There are three great motorcycles that could be offered for the new and aspiring motorcycle sports rider.
Number 1 on the list would definitely be a 250cc Kawasaki Ninja
Number 2 would be a 500cc Suzuki GS (or more modern GSF).
And finally number 3 and the most powerful of the bunch is a 500cc Kawasaki Ninja.

The pros of these bikes are numerous.

First and foremost all these bikes are inexpensive especially if purchased slightly used (this is highly recommended). All three have a relatively dated but time proven design, whole armies of these models had been manufactured since mid-late 1980 and had been “debugged” of virtually all major and minor problems in the process. With proper (timely) maintenance these rides will last for a considerable amount of time. These bikes are sport touring types and have comfortable sitting positions, convenient for long rides.

Their engines and transmissions are virtually bulletproof. It is hard to kill these bikes especially when purchased new. They are durable and will take a lot of abuse and punishment from a beginner like you as you will most definitely commit or at least attempt to commit the following offences to your first motorcycles:

1. Stall out (Not harmful).
2. Burn the clutch.
3. Bend transmission fork trying to shift the “stuck gears” with extra foot pressure.
4. Grind the gears with improper shifting.
5. Flood the carburetors with fuel while opening choke several times in the cold (Not harmful)
6. Drop the motorcycle while parking or making a slow, tight turn.
7. Drop the motorcycle in left (right) turn on a busy street during first two weeks of motorcycle ownership.

Provided abuse is not too severe these bikes should fare relatively well and still go on with daily operations. Once you have learned the ropes for 6000-10000 miles and 1 year experience. Move on. Move on to FZ6 cause it is a great bike.:thumbup:

 

[reiobard]

AND #2 and #3 are widely used as amature race bikes so they can be held onto and turned to racing after...

 

[DefyInertia]

I agree with those three...an older GS500 in good condition is a gem.

 

[HavBlue]

I agree these are all good candidates but why leave out the likes of the 250 Virago, the Nighthawk, the XT250 and other dual sports that are clearly excellent bikes to start off with?

 

[Hellgate]

I agree these are all good candidates but why leave out the likes of the 250 Virago, the Nighthawk, the XT250 and other dual sports that are clearly excellent bikes to start off with?

I agree, the XT series bike a great to learn on, light weight, nice up right position. In fact I learned on a '75 XT250 myself.

 

[Yamahahauler]

I think the Buell Blast is a good choice thou it is not as good as your choices it does handle good has great brakes a nice torquey engine and best of all it can be bought dirt cheap as a used bike even with low miles and gets 68-70 mpg. Most all of the Harley dealers around these parts use it too train new riders on

 

[penguinbiker8]

hahah talk about beginner bikes, i started on a honda goldwing 1200 cc when i was 12. that thing had cup holders.

 

[hammerheadshadow]

I agree these are all good candidates but why leave out the likes of the 250 Virago, the Nighthawk, the XT250 and other dual sports that are clearly excellent bikes to start off with?

Sure I agree! I listed all the sport japanese bikes so that transition to FZ6 would be very smooth. Also for reliability. Buell Blast was not included for reliability problems. Too many had reported troubles with it.
:thumbup:

 

[nimzotech]

I know the FZ6 is based on the R6 engine (tuned for lower-mid RPM range in the streets) and is fast. Being all that and more, the FZ6 is my first bike and I am glad I did not chose a 250cc Ninja or a GS500F Suzuki as my first bike; otherwise I would have gotten tired of it a month later. Like it or not, the FZ6 makes a great beginning bike as well. I do recommend the MSF course as almost a necessity prior to buying any first bike.

Cheers :Sport:

 

[JeffrosFZ6]

My first bike was a Honda shadow that I got free... Put about $200 into it fixing everything, rode it for 3 months and sold it for $1000. Then the next spring got the FZ6. Im glad I got the FZ and not another starter bike because now I can keep it longer (untill I get bored or ? with it) and have no regrets with my purchase.
But I have been riding dirt bikes since I was 10...

 

[abacall]

I learned on a Ninja 250. I can't say enough good things about it. You learn so much from a light and nimble bike. The learning curve on a smaller bike that has a ton of built-in forgiveness is much easier than a bigger more powerful bike.
Learning how to start on a hill is so much easier, the inevitable clutch dump is not going to throw you off, when you do drop it it won't make you cry, and you learn technique on those bikes much faster.
I really feel like I learned so much from my Ninjette. I love her and I'm sad to see her go. If all goes well, I should have my new-to-me FZ6 in a couple of days...

 

[Sawblade]

The FZ6 is my first bike other than a little fun on borrowed dirt bikes, and I'm very comfortable. The clutch is nice and progressive (not like the stage 3 in my truck), the engine is very smooth below 7K (above which starts getting noisy indicating to a newbie that there's too much throttle for taking off from a stop), and it balances very well at around 5 mph so I was able to get used to the clutch's friction point without using throttle at the beginning.


Don't buy a new one though.

 

[Fred]

the Nighthawk

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nighthawk 250 bad. Very bad.

My ex and I bought one for her to learn on. I will never recommend one to anyone, ever.

They are dangerously underpowered, barely able to do 65mph. The 250cc twin engine is breathing through a single carb. The intake manifold was designed by somebody who had no concept of airflow. Seriously, it looks like it's leftover bathroom plumbing.

It's got drum brakes front and rear, so it cannot stop quickly. In fact, that's how we got rid of ours. A car pulled out in front of me and I simply could not stop.

I would list the Nighthawk 250 as one of the beginner's worst motorcycles. It's a dangerously inadequate machine. Also, the resale value stinks.

By extension, the Rebel 250 should also make the list. It's the same engine in a cruiser frame, so it's still dangerously underpowered. But at least it has a front disk brake.

And the last bike for my list if beginner's worst motorcycles is the Buell Blast. And here's why.

I had the joy of wrenching on a fleet of these that were used for Rider's Edge training. I learned a lot about what happens to them when they are used by beginners.

Drop it on the left side? You just broke the turn signals and clutch lever. You also just bent the footpeg bracket in so that it's impossible to do a transmission oil change without unbolting the whole footpeg assembly (not an easy job thanks to the bolt locations.) And, you just bent the shift shaft which passes through a hole in the primary cover. To remove the shaft, you must remove the cover. And you can't remove the cover because the bent shaft is binding up. Enjoy.

Drop it on the right side? You're walking home. In addition to snapping your brake lever, smashing your turn signals and bending the right side footpeg bracket, your airbox cover just hit the ground. When it did that, it shoved the inner airbox and carb towards the cylinder head. And the rubber coupling that connects the carb to the cylinder head just split open, creating a huge vacuum leak. Your Blast no longer runs.

For a bike that's designed for learners, the Blast is a failure. They didn't design it to be dropped.

OK, rant over.

 

[ZRXINLA]

The best bike yet

 

[lonesoldier84]

started on an fz6, dropped it twice, now up to close to 5k km, felt so much happier on cousins drz400 in my first 2.5k km as the fz6 was pretty wildly intimidating.

not a good starter bike but it is fun as ****, just ALWAYS assume you know LESS than you think you do because that is true. keep it at 60% of what you think your max ability is. then you MIGHT make it out uninjured.