22y/o looking to get into riding!

bigpoppa said:
just a bad bike in general.
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Really? You know this because you owned one? I had one. I thought it did everything I asked of it. Other than being ugly and having a brick for a seat I would say in general it's a good bike.
 
Mad Mike said:
Your cheapest insurance bikes are cruisers up to 650cc and little sport touring bikes and enduros up to 300cc.

Get a 10 year old bike for $2500, I’ll bet you’ll be closer to $3000/year. My kids room mate started last year on a small kawi cruiser, he’s paying under $3000 from echelon, no collision (collision isn’t worth it on a low cost bike - make one claim and your insurance could jump more than the value of the bike).

Welcome!
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This.

deejizzle said:
just get on the fugly ass cbr125 for a year and learn. youll have a hoot and learn a ton just like we all did.
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And this, if a cruiser isn't your bag.

Karfanatik said:
Pretty much this. Get the M1, do M1 exit course. Then buy the cheapest and lowest cc bike that qualifies as a standard motorcycle and ride that for a year. I saw a huge drop in insurance after one year.
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And this too lol.

OP, in short, CC's matter - cruisers up to 600cc are cheaper. Sportbikes start to jump significantly when you're north of 250cc.

Neither may be your intended bag, but they will be more affordable, and honestly, both bikes will be capable of exceeding the skills of a new rider for the first few years, so the best thing you can do is pickup something small and cheap to insure, don't care what anyone else thinks, and go have fun and build that insurance history that has one of the biggest effects on rates.

Keep in mind that the track bike route will not yield you anything whatsoever when it comes to road-bike insurance affordability as insurance companies want to see contigious years of accident, ticket, and claim free road-bike insurance before cutting you any deals on road bike insurance.

mrjimyjohn said:
One thing I haven’t seen posted here is the myth of 25. There is no drastic step change at this age. Yes rates will be lower than a 24yo all else equal but not by much. Years insured has a much larger effect
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Yep, not a thing for bikes really, only cars. Lots of riders who started in their 30's or 40's will quickly tell you that age doesn't matter near as much as years of experience, claims free insurance, and training will make.
 
Back when I was shopping for insurance for my first bike, I noticed a few trends:
- Quotes were relatively identical for bikes 400-300cc, regardless of style (~$1200-1300 for me, a 32 year old with no prior insurance history)
- There was a big jump in yearly premium for bikes 500-600cc (up to ~$2100). I suspect that for your age, a SV650 won't be a cheap option.
- Insurance companies don't like anything with the word "Ninja" in the name (including the 400, which was priced as if it was a 500-600cc bike).

Have you figured out what style of bike you're interested in riding? Couple of suggestions, based on my own search:

Dual sport: Suzuki DRZ400, DR650 (what I ended up getting), KLR650
Adventure: Honda CB500x, Kawasaki Versys X-300, KTM 390 adventure (more street oriented)
Naked: Husqvarna Svartpilen/Vitpilen 401 (supposedly a lot of fun, and decent on insurance. Geometry doesn't really work for tall people however).

Try and find something used, and don't get too overly attached... cliche that gets thrown around: it's your first bike, not your last.
Look into something newer with ABS too.
 
Certain bikes that may be low in CCs may still incur a sport bike surcharge at certain insurance companies (R3 at TD Insurance). Ironically, the Gromm is not always the cheapest option to insure, only due to the fact it's crazy popular and sees many claims (although still a very cheap option). When looking at certain bikes, the naked version may also be cheaper to insure (CB500F vs CB500R, for example).

I concur with everyone saying a CB300/CB500. I started with an old Ninja 250 many years ago. It was small and not that powerful. But it was also cheap and old, and I didn't care when I dropped it. You'd cry if (more like when) you dropped your brand new expensive Tuono.

I am fairly experienced, and decided to go with an SV650 again, after owning one years ago. It's still a great bike, very torquey (more important that top end imho as a city rider), cheap to insure, built on a 20+ year old platform, and have tons of accessories/mod options.

I currently have 2 bikes for sale. A 2018 CB500F, and a 2013 Yamaha V Star 250. Message me if you may be interested. I probably wouldn't recommend the 250 for you, cause it sounds like you'd get bored quickly, but a CB500 is very beginner-friendly with some balls also.
 
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KaizerK2 said:
Long story short I have always wanted to ride a motorcycle,
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Okay ... when I was bike ready, riding courses were not that important and were scoffed at by my pals. Also, all of the insurance companies were idiots and went by displacement so my love of two-strokes was cool! Mind you, I'm sixty and all of my bikes have since ended up on the black list, so take this with a huge boulder of salt from a geriatric.

Here is my advise: take one of those weekend long riding courses where one ends up with an entry level "M" class licence.

I still think those courses are gay as **** and the instructors are complete closet cases, but the insurance savings are remarkable and a few of my older friends who took those courses became quite chummy with some of their fellow students. One buddy was actually dating a girl he met there until she sussed what a twat he was.

Plus, talking to all of those people will help in deciding a new bike.
 
KaizerK2 said:
I was snooping around other posts on here and heard one guy say he was able to get significantly cheaper insurance on a motorcycle that was 15 years or older. How true is that and does it vary person to person I don't have a problem with older bikes and can do the maintenance just fine so I will definitely look into that! I called a handful of insurance brokers to get a quote on a brand new 2021 Aprilia Tuono and boy did they hit me with a quote that made me jump. I figured I would be doing myself a favour by buying a new bike with safety features like TC and ABS but I suppose not. My question is if I were to get an older bike say like a 02' or 04' would it matter what CC the bike is? Would a 300cc be cheaper compared to a 600cc? Also do insurance companies care if a bike has 2 cylinder or 4? Since it does make a huge difference in power output.
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Get on the interweb and get yourself a 1986 Suzuki Gamma 500, like the bike in my avatar. It's old, and it's only 500 cc.
 
gpfan said:
I still think those courses are gay as **** and the instructors are complete closet cases, but the insurance savings are remarkable
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That's quite the hot take on a learning opportunity that can teach rider skills that may very well save their life one day.

Let me guess, you're one of those guys who thinks you an A1 supreme rider and couldn't possibly learn anything from anyone as you've reached the pinnacle of the sport?
 
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PrivatePilot said:
That's quite the hot take on a learning opportunity that can teach roder skills that may very well save their life one day.

Let me guess, you're one of those guys who thinks you an A1 supreme rider and couldn't possibly learn anything from anyone as you've reached the pinnacle of the sport?
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Let ME guess: you're one of those clown instructors that think you are Eddie Lawson? And that you may improve "roder skills" skills. Idiot.
 
gpfan said:
Let ME guess: you're one of those clown instructors that think you are Eddie Lawson? And that you may improve "roder skills" skills. Idiot.
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I know your sort, you're the one going like a bat out of hell in a straight line and then losing half your speed in any sort of corner, and duck walking through the Tim Hortons parking lot, because going fast and a straight line is all you really ever learned, not any actual skills.

Some of us have been riding our entire lives but aren't so full of ourselves that we feel we can't continually learn, much less feel the need to steer newbies away from core education that teaches them how to ride correctly instead of leaning bad habits right out of the gate that may cost them their lives some day. I guarantee you have some.

I just took an advanced rider course myself a few years ago and I'm always open to honing my skills regardless of having many hundreds of thousands of kilometers on 2 wheels under my belt.

By the way, one of those "clown" instructors is a mod here, he's probably going to be a wee bit grumpy when he comes across your posts lol.

Golf clap for seizing on a typo however and running with that, yay you.
 
PrivatePilot said:
By the way, one of those "clown" instructors is a mod here, he's probably going to be a wee bit grumpy when he comes across your posts lol.
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Couldn't care less about his opinion.

I do find it amusing he took the time to zero in on your grammar, when one of his previous posts had a mistake as well. Something about stones and glass houses? ;)
 
My take on "learning to ride"

  • If you are worried about insurance costs - reconsider getting a motorcycle.
  • Always get as much training as you can, even if others scoff at the idea, knowledge is power.
  • Your first motorcycle is not your only motorcycle - Start reasonable and enjoy the experience.
  • Ride for yourself, don't worry about what others are doing, thinking or acting. Your safety should always come first.
  • When it comes to gear, lots of opinions, my take away: Something is ALWAYS better than nothing.
 
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