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Good Beginner Naked/Standard Bikes

Kenister

Kenister

New member
Joined
Mar 12, 2012
Location
San Mateo
Moto(s)
2012 CBR250R (Goodbye old friend), 2013 Ninja 650
Name
Kevin
Hi All,

I just wanted to get some input on what are some good beginner bikes out there. I just passed my MSF course and looking forward to getting my M1 license so I figured I get some input on bike purchasing.

I really like the style of a naked/standard bike. I rode a 250cc Nighthawk in class and honestly I wanted to take the thing home with me.

Any thoughts on other reliable naked motorcycles? Budget is 5-6k.
 
Monster 620, GS500E, SV650n, ER-6n, Bandit 400 (gonna be old though) it's late so I'm probably forgetting something.
 
That's a big budget. Why not get the 250 nighthawk?

Add Honda Hawk NT650 to the list above.
 
If you're big enough a Versys would work well, otherwise I would have to say turbo busa (sorry can't help myself).:ride
 
If you liked the Nighthawk, look at the GS500E, or GS500F or EX650 and yank the fairings (you can get either of the latter for pretty cheap if you're patient and look on CL).

The 250 Nighthawk has crap fueling and drum brakes. It was pretty basic tech back in '82.

Does your budget include full gear and insurance?
 
while the GS500F and the EX650 are faired they are worth adding to your list as they are standards that are relatively inexpensive.
 
The first-gen EX650 is a great beginner bike. Standard riding position, FI, dead reliable, narrow saddle for ease of ground-reaching, the most linear power delivery of any bike I've had, and a looong-throw throttle to keep twitchy n00b hands out of trouble. Its only negative is that they gave it far too stiff a front end, for no good reason, but if your budget is $5K, that's more than enough to buy a used first-gen and take it to Dave Moss to get resprung.
 
I know there are a few good folks on here that would sell you their Honda CB-1's...
 
Anything bigger than a 50cc 2 stroke is far too large for a beginner. If you don't agree with me, I will beat you into submission with an overly verbose, nonsensical argument supplemented with a random picture attachment.
 
revnort said:
A derbi GPR nude duh. Can you read? :laughing:twofinger

Now where the hell you get ones of those I have no idea.
Click to expand...

did some google searchin and looks like only U.S. location is New York. I'd love to smash around on one of those for a day or two... or twenty
 
Kenister said:
Budget is 5-6k.
Click to expand...

i assume you're looking used, and i further assume you'd like to ride instead of repair or wait for parts for your new bike.
do yourself a favor and chop that number in half for the bike. there will be plenty of options still and many in need of nothing more than gas and maybe tires.

save the rest for gear and repairs/maintenance

good as they are as starter bikes i would skip the CB-1 and NT650 due to age and relative obscurity. my fiancee has a cb-1, it is a great bike to learn on, but if she were a female friend i'd never have pointed her to the cb-1 because of the potential problems finding parts and someone to work on it.

stick with a newer bike for now, get something quirky after you're hooked on motorcycling in general and already have a reliable bike

have fun~
 
SV650. I'll take flames for it being too much for a beginner, but :twofinger to that. It's a good first bike. Also a good second bike, so you don't have to re-shop.

Definitely buy something used as it's likely you'll damage your first bike by dropping it at least once. If you do decide to buy a 'starter' bike, spend as little as possible to save as much for the next one.

FWIW, my good friend bought a Nighthawk 250 right out of the MSF and has had it for 4 years with no regrets or intent to get rid of it. He just uses it to get to/from work and it works great for that purpose.
 
Ever seen a Ninja 250 with no fairings?? Not too bad.
 
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