Motorbike recommendations for a new rider

I know there are a few bikers on TT, so was hoping for a few pointers, tips etc.. for a new rider.

I passed my bike test at the end of last summer, and haven't really done a great deal of riding since then (for various reasons). Anyway, now that summer is ahead of us, I'm keen to buy a bike (end of June) and slowly build up to doing a few mini-tours with a pillion.

So, the question is, which bike to buy??? Here are the ones I've ridden to date, and my simplistic summary.
1. CBF600 (bit flat and dull I thought, but a solid reliable machine)
2. ER6F (good value for money, modern, light, easy to handle, but felt cheap!)
3. Monster 620 (very cool, maybe a bit girlie? and not very practical)
4. BMW F800S (very nice! practical, good quality, torquey, good equipment... Pricey!)

I hadn't ridden since October last year, but took an F800S out for a spin on Saturday. I felt a bit anxious to begin with, but soon got back into it.

I also want to take a pillion, but feel a bit nervous about this TBH. Any tips? Should I get a few kms under my belt before I do this, or do you reckon I'll be okay if a take it easy...

Thoughts and suggestions appreciated!

For my first bike. I went with the Suzuki SV650S.

There were a couple of reasons. One of them being everyone told me it was a great beginner bike. Also, getting a naked bike makes a lot of sense for beginners, as fairings will get damaged if you lay it down, and they are expensive so are prone for theft. I’m quite happy with my bike choice so far. The bike handles great, like a sport-bike… but the ergonomics are good enough for longer rides.

Also, 650cc is a forgiving size of a beginner.. my liter bike friends can blow me away off the line, but for now I’m ok with that.

As a warning, I don’t have a breadth of knowledge to compare my bike against others though.

I would try and push the budget and get the F800S, or you might also consider the 3 single cylinder 650 BMW's as well? I had an Aprilia Pegaso 650 which is basically the same
Rotax engine as in the BMW 650's. The F800 has belt drive - which is beatifully low maintenance AND the bike will hold it's value well.

I also think with motorbikes if you can afford to buy new then that is much better. Bikes do not handle mileage quite like cars. The components wear quicker, and I dont wanna be on 2 wheels wondering if someone has "bodged" fitting the rear brake, or cross-threaded a screw on something essential.

It is hard to get excited about these 600 Jap bikes. Ducati is not gonna be very practical.

@fireplane: I'm also considering a SV650 as a low cost alternative. No ABS is putting me off though, but I've heard its a great bike. Is your a carb model or the later efi version?

@JE. I'm budgeting about 7k for a used F800S (2-4k kms). The newer BMW 650s will probably set me back the same amount as I'd have to go for a new one. And imho I think you get less for your money. I'm also biased toward the f800 as my colleagues developed the complete engine management on it, and I've heard its a great bike and it will have good value retention.

Hi Satish,

I assume this will be your first bike? I would go for 'onda CBF600 untill I have few miles under my belt. As you say, it is reliable and spareparts are easy to come by and not expensive. Also your choice will depend on what you will use the bike for and where you're going to keep it - garraged etc? Italian bikes are not known for their reliability and their electrics sucks -or, so I've been told, and you may have problems in wet weather etc.

wrt taking a pillion, againg, I'd say take your time to get used to the machine for a while, and start with small trips on mostly straight roads. Get used to breaking, cornering, hill starting with pillion etc. Bike's handling changes a lot when one has a pillion at the back plus it is a big responsibility. Also has the pillion have any experience as a pillion? If not, they might make your job harder to control the bike.

Like any good things in life, don't rush it

Oh lastly, there is a bikers' list in UK called Ixion, and they are more than willing to advice on any matters (bike related or not).

Good luck

Suzuki GS500 pretty bullet proof, cheap and easy to handle - depends really what kind of riding you want to do - commuting or just hacking about - also your Size but I think that a GS500 is pretty good all rounder or a Yamaha TDM 850 if you've got longer legs

I'm selling my RD350 YPVS but I wouldn't recommend that

Mine is a 2006, which I naturally think is the best. But that's mainly because the red color of that year is dead sexy. The 2007s come with ABS for a good deal more money.

There is a Suzuki dealer (Elite I think its called?) near Olympia park that has a new 2006 red SV650S for around 6k.

2nd hand BMW that is low mileage should be fine of course, maybe still with guarantee etc. Good choice.

You could of course always go for a KTM 690SM.

Thanks for the tips. Yes it will be my first bike... The pillion has no experience apart from the odd holiday in India where she sat on the back of an enfield with the rest of the family ;-)

But thats my biggest concern.. the responsibility. The pillion is my wife to be, and I don't want to put her off biking, by making the first experience as pillion scary by my incompetence!!!

@JE: I was wondering when you was going to bring up KTM. But seriously, I do like the idea of a trail bike (inspired by the long way round!). Some day, I'd love to do a tour through africa or india or somewhere on one... But as a beginner, do you think its a good choice?

Riding with a pillion sucks in my humble opinion. Ruins the handling, ruins the performance, makes braking harder, and you have the huge added responsibility. Also this is all much worse on smaller bikes. So even on an 800 taking pillions I think is just an A to B backup exercise.

So personally I would not buy this bike with the thought of riding everywhere 2 up. Also kinda sucks for the pillion as well. Can be fun but not for long!

But that is just my opinion. Some loonies go round the world 2 up on mopeds, so it takes all sorts.

@fireplane: I'm not in Munich, so unfortunately can't check that one out. A local dealer in aachen mentioned he had an old carb sv650 coming in... I may enquire about that...

Is ABS important, or am I being a big girls blouse?

KTM is a bit expensive probably - but trail "styled" bikes I think make a great first choice - and I was a qualified motorycycle instructor back in the UK.

Why?

Well you have the wide bars for good slow speed control, comfortable upright rising position, and not being a "racer" bike should dampen your enthusiasm to hack around like a looney. The upright riding position will slow you down from going flat out everywhere. Visibilty ahead is good, and often you can see over the cars.

The tyres they fit these days as standard are more than up to the job, so no worries there.

I am totally biased but I think the offroad and supermoto styles are great, but I do also ride offroad on mine so that it makes more sense.

p.s. ABS. A lot of the older die-hards reckon that ABS is unnecessary and something else to go wrong etc. As it happens I would quite like ABS, especially if I was using the bike in all weathers 'cos losing the front wheel in the wet under braking is probably your single easiest way to fall off when new. In theory you don't need ABS of course, but nice safety net to have.

I believe I've seen the photo


To my experience, best advice to give to a virgin (oh, err) pillion is just sit "like a sack of potato".

Also, their protective gear ( by geat I mean, proper jacket & trousers, gloves, biking boots and the appropriately fitting helmet) should be at least as good as yours and refuse to take them as pillions if they whinge about wearing not so cool gear. Believe me, even a 10 mph spill will scar your skin for life if you just wear ordinary jeans etc and it is extremely painful. I am not trying to scare you, honestly! Even if you are the most careful biker in the world, don't forget you are sharing the road with others who are not as careful and a dosy cnut might cut you up, swerve in to your lane etc.

@JE, So would you reccommend an old F650GS with ABS. I'm sure I could pick one up for 4K. I wasn't too keen on the single cylinder which is a bit rough... and it'll be crap with pillion, but atleast get me introduced to riding, and save me a few bob. Plus I can upgrade in a year or two when I decide what really suits me...

@oozen: good point about the clothing. Up until now, I've made do with a decent hein gericke jacket, jeans and a pair of caterpillar steel toecap boots... I'll also need to get my pillion kitted out. How much do you reckon I'd need to spend for good quality and safe kit. There is that Lois (sp) place in Pasing, is that just cheap and cheerful, or can i pick up decent stuff there?

Also, I don’t know the whole story here, but is not taking a passenger an option? I had a girlfriend at the time, but decided I would not take passengers until I had at least a year experience at riding.

Ok, she did hop on in a parking lot once for fun… I was amazed at the effect on braking!

Not taking a passenger is always an option, but this is something we'd like to ultimately do together at weekends (short day trips etc...)

If you are planning on carrying a pillion on a regular basis, with panniers, get the biggest bike you can afford, with ABS and a strong suspension.

The passenger completely swamps most small bikes and you lose performance, braking ability, cornering ability and the ability to quickly jump off without worrying about kicking them in the head. The bike gets mushy and you have to rethink your distances. Worrying about your passenger at the same time is heading for task saturation.

If it's only going to be a occasional thing think about renting a bigger bike for the weekends. I'ld also recommend trying it out first with a pillion, some people regard their first spin on the autobahn as a passenger as a sign from a higher power that motorbikes are single seater vehicles.

Jeans and the road is a bit like paper and a beltsander. Follow the dictum of Mr. English, "All the gear, all the time". The one day you pop down to the shops in your levis could be remembered as the day some medical student spent four hours scrubbing gravel out of your backside.

Get a simple, cheap, unfaired bike to start with. The ER5, SV or GS500E are all good. Not too expensive if/when you do something daft like forget to put a foot down when you stop. It's low speed handling which causes problems to start with and you don't want to drop €8,000 worth of BMW.

Forget about pillions for a while. When you've got experience you can trade up to a bike more suitable.

Get the best bike kit you can. Avoid synthetic gear, it's 99% rubbish. Leather is best for road riding by a long way. Steel toe-cap boots aren't bike boots.

All good until the boots assuming, the jeans are proper armoured ones. There is a school of thought advises against those boots to prevent your little toes from being chopped off if you are unfortunate enough to have a car driving over it.


I am fairly new to the scene myself (just started here in Munich middle of march - hello everyone! ) and haven't got around to visit any biking shops yet, but as far as I know HG caters for all budgets, and their kit is usually good.

I quite like a bit of roughness from a single cylinger engine - don't like to feel that I am riding a hair dryer. I hate the smoothness of 4 cylinder Jap bikes - almost like an electric engine. You will get used to the 650 BMW engine very quickly. Make sure you check out the ads for the Aprilia Pegaso 650 at the same time - almost the same bike but you might pick one up cheaper.

Must admit I have broken my "ATGATT" rule a couple of times recently. I could do with some armoured jeans as well I think. Or armoured cargo pants maybe. Leather is good but on a hot day and a short trip is an arse.

Thanks for the advice everyone. Gut feeling at the moment is to go for the F800S. Its expensive, but I won't grow out of it. I'll need to be very careful not to drop it though! I'd like to have a test ride on the F650GS and an SV650 before I commit.

Oh, one more question... can anyone recommend some insurance companies to get a quote. I'm with HDI with my car, and was wondering if it makes sense to go with them, or go elsewhere.

Famous last words. They make about 80-85bhp I think so should be pretty damn nippy - but you can always use more in the future!

I second that promotion.
Also a good bike to fix yourself should you need to. Real carburettors and all that.
The chain is a bit of a bugger to adjust though.


I second that one too.
I'd spend at least a year getting my confidence and competence up on my own before I took anyone else along.

GS500 is a bit tame I think. Not asking for yer man to go mad, but it's not really gonna stir the blood is it? He is not 21 years old in the profile. Old enough to realise that the twisty thing on the handlebar is not an on/off switch and that if he falls of at 100mph in flip flops it's gonna make the eyes water.

BMW800S is the choice. Gets great reviews.

The thought made my eyes water!

I'm not 21

Fair enough. Any normally aspirated 500 cc engine is going to run out of puff on those Alpine passes

ok, ER5 or 6, is a lovely slow machine that very easy and nice to ride, id recommend that one.

my advice is not to get a motorbike with abs or any other extras until you have mastered breaking without them, new people start riding these new machines with all these add on's and have absolutely no idea what you really need to do under pressure.

All you need to do is ride with me for about 3 days and you'll be alright carrying a pillion. and i hope you're tall, otherwise you can forget the enduro style with a pillion.

Stongly recommend SV650S as first bike - it was mine!

You can even race them (www.minitwins.co.uk) , I did!

You should get a good deal on an SV. I would go for the fuel injected post K3.

Jono

Freudian Typo methinks.

huh...

Edit:...Psssst...johnny has stabilisers...

I'm 5'7" or 170cm... not very tall!

I understand what you're saying about the ABS, but TBH, if "learning" to brake properly without ABS involves coming off, I'd rather have ABS. I used to enjoy driving cars fast, but have become more sensible over the years... I don't intend to tear up the streets on a bike, just enjoy the freedom of cruising on 2 wheels.

At some stage, I'd fancy taking some training on a track, away from other road users, to learn to handle the bike correctly.

ok, so you're slightly shorter than me, so forget about the bmw and enduros.

ER's are good, SV's are also good, what about sportsbikes?.. just remember ABS doesnt mean you cant slide out, it makes you think you have better breaking, when you dont.

Speed triple. bandits, Sv's are good starter bikes, but GSXR 750, 1000, R1's, Hayabusa's are nice too

Aha. Switch to Plan B:

I think I'm just a tad out of your league!

Now they have lowered the power so much I think the R1 is a suitable learner bike. Pretty much just twist and go these days.

I started on a Honda Shadow 400 in Japan...you need to do a 2nd test to ride anything bigger over there. I found it to be a good beginner bike. Low saddle for those of us not blessed with long legs. It's quite heavy and long so takes a little bit of practice to manoeuver in tight spots. Not so powerful but still adequate for medium distance tours. I found I quickly grew out of it though...just arrived in Munich myself and looking forward to getting a bike here and joining some tours...

666 is right

Yamaha Zephyr 750 or something similar (Bandit?) - cheap reliable and enougth power to be getting started

BMW Enduro's with ABS forget it waste of money at the start - buy something used get used to riding then decide - 7k for a 1st Bike ...

Bandit is a good shout. 600 not the big mutha.

I'll raise you a Yamaha Bop - also good for new Riders

take a day off work, go to a showroom, suzuki, yamaha, honda, bmw etc.. and test ride all the bikes you're interested in, that will help you decide, im my opinion, a bandit or Sv sounds perfect for you. they are easy to ride, and you'll be back into riding, although you might get bored of them quickly, if you're interested in riding them a bit hard.

*Johnny's just jealous... he cant keep up with me on his 120km/h top speed KTM...

Most bikes have a on/off switch for the ABS, so practising without it is not an issue, but just as important is practising with it. Any rider who has trained with normal brakes needs to learn the "drop anchor NOW" method.

I'm a new rider and went for the ER-6F and also took the ABS option.

Its quick enough for me at the moment uses a tiny amount of fuel and the insurance is cheap.

Bike cost me 6300 € all in brand new.

My plan is to keep it a couple of years and then maybe upgrade to something a little sportier.

Have you taken a pillion? If so, was it ok?

Nope. Its not something I particularly want to do either.

It has extra pegs , grab handles etc. so its obviously possible, just not for me. Our lass isn't keen either. It looks easy to adjust the shock to take the extra weight tho.

I only did my test last summer too. Had a few days free so went to the UK, did my theory test on the monday, cbt tuesday and then a couple of days lessons before the test on the friday morning. I am sure the german authorities would be disgusted at such activities .

Chose the ER-6F after taking advice from my instructor and a mate who works as a roadtester for a UK bike mag. A friend knew someone at the Kawa dealer so managed to get the bike with all costs for 6300€ which is decent. Went for the blue to try and aid visibility at night. The other option was black !!

Nothing wrong with a dirt bike. My 1st bike was DR200, then a DR350, then a KTM EXC400, then a KTM EXC525, then a KTM 640 Adventure, then a Suzuki DRZ.

KTMs are a bit costly on the maintenance side.

Anyway my advice is get a cheap and cheerful 2nd hand dirt-bike. Make all your mistakes on that. Then go for a new bike 12 months later.

whatever it is you do, dont get a dirt bike!