The fun part

Fine, we’re done with grinding those tedious lessons and are now getting to the fun part. Finding and buying a motorcycle!

First of all, you need to decide what kind of rider you are and which type of motorcycle would fit you best. Usually, you will have to choose between 3 main types of motorcycles, namely cruisers, standards and sports.


The first and I think most famous and recognizable type of motorcycles is cruisers. Why “most famous and recognizable”? Because Harley Davidson is a very famous world known cruiser brand that’s why. They’re usually fairly comfortable as the sitting position is in a more “laid back” style compared to standards and sports bikes… However, be aware your tailbone may feel sore after riding for a while. The cruiser’s design also allows less stress in your arms as all the commands are placed higher than sports bikes, avoiding your upper body to exercise pressure on them. While fairly stable at high speed, cruisers become a bit trickier to maneuver at lower speeds as they’re usually heavier than the other 2 types of motorbikes… And by the way, heavier usually means higher fuel consumption too.


Standards are much closer to sports bikes in design, although they do not require you to bend over that much when driving and usually allow you to still sit in an upward position. Standard bikes can be also referred to as “naked” bikes as they normally do not sport all the fancy fairings you may see on sports bikes, leaving the engine and other mechanical parts to the open, hence the term “naked”. Standards are all around type of bikes that have nothing to envy from cruisers or sports bikes and are usually the 1st choice among beginner riders, one of the best reason being (besides handling and comfort) it will be less painful when dropping the bike for the first time (no broken fairing or scratched paint = cheaper repairs)


On the opposite, sports bikes are usually not considered good beginner bikes as they’re not really comfortable to ride and a bit trickier to handle. They usually require the rider to be all cramped up with the head down low and the knees up high and are less forgiving when doing little mistakes. It’s true they look sexier and are usually more powerful, but a good rider on a small bike will smoke a poser on a big bike…


So take a good look and decide which kind of rider you are. Make up your mind and check my next post where I’ll be giving some advice on which bikes a beginner should consider buying as well as a list of good contenders.