Choosing your first motorcycle is one of the best parts of becoming a rider. For the first time, you're not just looking at motorcycles—you're looking for yours. And while the choices can seem endless at first, you don't need years of experience or an encyclopedic knowledge of motorcycles to make a good decision.

Start with a few things that actually matter: what fits you, what you can comfortably control, what kind of riding you want to do, and what puts a smile on your face when you see it. Everything else becomes much easier once you understand those basics.

There isn't one motorcycle that's right for every beginner, and there isn't a secret formula you're supposed to already know. Different motorcycles suit different riders, and part of the fun is discovering what suits you.

Once you know what to look for, you'll be able to walk into a showroom or start looking through used motorcycles with a much better idea of what belongs on your list—and what doesn't. So take your time, sit on a bunch of motorcycles, ask questions and enjoy the process.

Somewhere out there is the motorcycle that's going to take you on your first real ride. Let's figure out how to find it.

If you haven't taken a motorcycle safety course yet, do that before you get too serious about buying your first motorcycle. The course isn't just about getting your permit or learning how to operate the controls—it can also teach you quite a bit about what you actually want from a motorcycle.

Many beginner training programs provide the motorcycles you'll ride during the course. That gives you your first opportunity to experience things like seat height, weight, riding position, clutch feel, steering and low-speed balance without having to buy a motorcycle first. Depending on the school, you may even have an opportunity to experience more than one type or size of training motorcycle.

Your instructors can also be an excellent source of real-world advice. They spend their time working with new riders of different sizes, abilities and interests, and they can help explain why one style of motorcycle may suit a particular kind of riding—or why the motorcycle you've been dreaming about might not be the easiest one to start with.

Most importantly, you'll leave the course knowing considerably more about yourself as a rider. Something that felt intimidating before the course may suddenly seem completely manageable, while something you thought you wanted may not feel nearly as comfortable once you've actually spent some time in the saddle.

You don't need to have your motorcycle picked out before you learn to ride. Learn first, ask questions, pay attention to what feels comfortable—and then go shopping with some experience behind your decision.

Before you start comparing engine sizes, horsepower, seat heights and motorcycle brands, think about something much simpler: What do you picture yourself doing when you ride?

Maybe your motorcycle will become part of everyday life. Maybe you're dreaming about winding mountain roads on a Saturday afternoon, riding across the country someday, carving corners, or finding out what's hiding at the end of that gravel road. How you want to ride is one of the best clues to what kind of motorcycle will eventually fit you.

You don't have to know exactly where you fit yet. Most riders don't stay neatly inside one category anyway. But these broad styles can help you start thinking about what matters to you.

Everyday & Around-Town Riding

For some riders, a motorcycle becomes another way to get around. That might mean commuting to work, running across town, meeting friends for dinner, heading to a bike night or simply taking the motorcycle instead of the car whenever the weather cooperates.

For this kind of riding, easy handling, manageable weight, comfort, fuel range and practicality can matter more than enormous horsepower or long-distance amenities. If you'll be carrying work clothes, groceries or a laptop, storage may become surprisingly important too.

Weekend, Backroad & Social Riding

Maybe you don't need the motorcycle to take you anywhere—you just want it to take you somewhere.

Weekend riding can mean twisty backroads, mountain passes, scenic highways, lunch runs, group rides, motorcycle events or disappearing for an afternoon with no particular destination in mind. For many recreational riders, this is what motorcycling is all about.

Here, you'll probably care about a combination of comfort, handling, personality and fun. You want a motorcycle that's enjoyable on the roads you actually ride and comfortable enough that you're still smiling several hours later.

Touring & Long-Distance Riding

If looking at a map immediately makes you wonder how long it would take to ride there, you may already have the touring bug.

Long-distance riding introduces a different set of priorities: all-day comfort, wind protection, fuel range, luggage capacity, highway stability and passenger accommodations can become much more important. A motorcycle that feels wonderful during a 30-minute test ride may feel very different after six hours in the saddle.

Touring doesn't necessarily mean buying the biggest motorcycle in the showroom, either. Plenty of riders travel enormous distances on surprisingly modest machines. The important question is whether the motorcycle—and you—are comfortable doing it.

Sport & Performance Riding

Some riders are drawn to motorcycles because of what they can do. Responsive handling, strong acceleration, precise braking and the feeling of connecting one corner to the next are a huge part of the attraction.

If that's what excites you, handling and performance will naturally influence your choice. But this is also an area where a beginner needs to be particularly thoughtful. Motorcycles range from friendly, predictable machines that encourage you to develop your skills to extremely powerful performance motorcycles designed with experienced riders in mind.

You don't have to give up performance to start sensibly. There is plenty of fun available long before you reach the wild end of the horsepower chart.

Adventure & Off-Pavement Riding

Maybe pavement isn't where your curiosity ends.

Adventure riding can mean everything from exploring maintained gravel and Forest Service roads to long-distance travel that mixes pavement and dirt. Move farther toward the off-road end of the spectrum and you get into dual-sport riding, trails and motorcycles built specifically to handle rough terrain.

The important thing is being realistic about how far off the pavement you actually intend to go. A motorcycle that's wonderful for crossing several states and occasionally exploring a gravel road can be very different from one you'd choose for tight trails and serious off-road riding.

You Don't Have to Pick Just One

Here's the good news: you aren't choosing a team.

You might commute during the week, ride mountain roads on Saturday, join your friends for a group ride Sunday and eventually strap some luggage to the bike and disappear for a week. As you gain experience, what you enjoy may change completely.

That's why there isn't a single motorcycle that's perfect for every rider—or even one motorcycle that's perfect for everything a particular rider might eventually want to do.

For now, think about where you imagine yourself riding most often and what sounds like the most fun. That gives us somewhere to start.

Because once you have an idea of how you want to ride, the next question becomes a whole lot easier:

What kind of motorcycle was built to do it?

Walk through a motorcycle dealership and it doesn't take long to realize that motorcycles come in very different shapes and sizes. That's not just styling. Most of those differences exist because the motorcycles were designed to do different things.

Some are happiest wandering backroads. Some are built to cross states. Some are designed around performance, while others are meant to tackle dirt roads, commute through town or simply make an ordinary Sunday afternoon considerably more interesting.

There is plenty of overlap, and motorcycle manufacturers love creating machines that blur the lines between categories. Don't worry too much about the labels. What matters is understanding the basic families and what each one might offer you.

Cruisers

Low seats, relaxed riding positions and plenty of personality make cruisers one of the most recognizable types of motorcycles on the road. Harley-Davidson may be the name most closely associated with the style in America, but Indian, Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha and others have all produced cruisers ranging from relatively small machines to enormous highway motorcycles.

Cruisers typically place the rider low in the motorcycle, often with feet positioned forward and handlebars that encourage an upright or slightly laid-back posture. Their engines tend to emphasize usable low- and mid-range torque rather than screaming high-RPM horsepower.

For a new rider, that low seat can inspire confidence because reaching the ground is often easier. But don't confuse low with light. Some cruisers are remarkably heavy, and long wheelbases and forward controls can require some adjustment during slow-speed maneuvering.

If your picture of motorcycling involves backroads, bike nights, group rides, rumbling through small towns and enjoying the motorcycle as much as the destination, there's a good chance you'll find yourself looking at cruisers.

Standards & Naked Bikes

Standards are something of the Swiss Army knife of motorcycles. They generally place the rider in a natural, upright position with the handlebars and foot controls located where they're easy to reach. “Naked bikes” are their more modern, often sportier relatives, usually with little or no bodywork covering the engine.

These motorcycles can commute, explore backroads, tackle twisty pavement and handle longer trips with a few accessories. They also exist in an enormous range of engine sizes and performance levels.

That versatility makes many standards appealing to newer riders, but don't assume every naked bike is mild-mannered. Some modern naked motorcycles produce serious superbike levels of power despite their comfortable riding position.

For someone who doesn't yet know exactly what kind of riding will become their favorite, a manageable standard can offer a lot of room to explore.

Sport Bikes

Sport bikes put performance near the top of the priority list. They generally feature responsive engines, strong brakes, precise handling and bodywork designed with aerodynamics in mind. The rider is typically positioned farther forward, with higher footpegs providing cornering clearance.

There are, however, very different levels of sport bike.

A smaller, approachable sport motorcycle can be an excellent machine for learning smooth cornering, braking and throttle control. At the opposite end are supersport and superbike machines capable of extraordinary acceleration and speed.

This is also where simply looking at engine displacement can badly mislead a beginner. A highly tuned 600cc supersport can be dramatically more powerful and demanding than a much larger cruiser.

If performance riding appeals to you, don't think you have to avoid sport bikes altogether. Just choose one whose performance gives you room to develop your abilities instead of constantly trying to stay ahead of the motorcycle.

Touring Motorcycles

Touring motorcycles are designed around a wonderfully simple idea:

Let's go somewhere far away.

Comfortable seating, wind protection, luggage capacity, highway stability, passenger accommodations and long fuel range are common priorities. At the larger end of the category you'll find motorcycles capable of carrying two people and their luggage across several states in remarkable comfort.

The tradeoff is usually size and weight.

A big touring motorcycle can feel wonderfully stable once it's rolling down the highway but become considerably more demanding when you're making a tight U-turn, maneuvering through a parking lot or backing it out of an awkward parking space.

That doesn't mean a new rider can't eventually become a touring rider. It simply means you don't necessarily need to begin with the largest touring motorcycle available. You can travel a very long way on a surprisingly modest motorcycle.

Sport-Touring Motorcycles

What happens if you want long-distance comfort but don't want to give up responsive handling and performance?

That's essentially the idea behind sport touring.

These motorcycles combine elements of sport bikes and touring motorcycles, usually providing better wind protection and luggage capability than a pure sport machine while retaining a more athletic feel than a traditional heavyweight tourer.

They're particularly appealing to riders who dream about spending the morning crossing a mountain pass, covering a few hundred miles during the afternoon and arriving somewhere completely different that evening.

Some sport-tourers can still be tall, heavy and extremely powerful, so—as with every category—the words on the brochure matter less than the particular motorcycle you're considering.

Adventure Motorcycles

Adventure motorcycles have become enormously popular because they promise something irresistible:

What if you didn't have to turn around when the pavement ended?

Often called ADV bikes, these motorcycles generally feature upright ergonomics, longer-travel suspension and the ability to handle rougher surfaces than conventional street motorcycles. Some lean heavily toward long-distance pavement touring with occasional gravel roads, while others are much more capable when conditions become genuinely rough.

For beginners, there is one particularly important consideration: height.

The suspension travel and ground clearance that help an ADV bike deal with rough terrain can also produce a tall seat. A motorcycle that feels beautifully balanced once moving may be challenging for a shorter rider when stopped on uneven ground.

If exploring mountain roads, remote places and the occasional mysterious gravel road sounds like your idea of a good day, this category deserves a serious look.

Dual-Sport Motorcycles

If adventure motorcycles are street motorcycles prepared to explore beyond the pavement, dual-sports generally move farther toward the dirt-bike side of the family.

They're usually lighter, narrower and simpler, with suspension and tires intended to tolerate genuine off-road riding while remaining street legal. That combination can make them fantastic machines for exploring forest roads, trails and backcountry routes.

Their light weight can also make them surprisingly friendly to learn on. The catch, again, is often seat height. Dirt-oriented suspension tends to make these motorcycles tall.

They're also usually less luxurious on long highway rides. Wind protection, seats and luggage capacity aren't generally their greatest strengths.

But if your idea of a road trip includes asking “I wonder where that road goes?” and continuing even after the asphalt disappears, a dual-sport can open an entirely different version of motorcycling.

Scooters

Don't make the mistake of dismissing scooters as something other than “real” motorcycling.

Scooters are motorcycles designed around simplicity and practicality. Most use automatic transmissions, provide excellent maneuverability, often include built-in storage and can be wonderfully useful for commuting and around-town riding.

They range from small urban machines to larger maxi-scooters capable of highway travel and surprisingly serious touring.

Removing the clutch and conventional gearshift allows a new rider to concentrate more immediately on braking, cornering, traffic awareness and controlling the machine. For some people, that's exactly the experience they're looking for.

And despite what your giant bearded friend sitting on the neon-blue Vespa in our earlier graphic might suggest, the correct scooter with the correct rider can be an absolutely brilliant choice.

There Are Plenty of Others

This isn't every motorcycle ever invented.

You'll encounter café racers, scramblers, bobbers, baggers, choppers, hyper-nakeds, supermotos, enduros, motocross bikes, trikes and machines that stubbornly refuse to fit neatly into any category at all.

You'll also discover that the boundaries are increasingly fuzzy. An adventure motorcycle might make a terrific commuter. A cruiser might become a touring motorcycle after adding luggage and a windshield. A standard can become a capable traveler. A scooter might carry somebody farther than anyone expected.

The category gives you a starting point. It doesn't tell you what you're allowed to do with the motorcycle.

And don't worry about memorizing all of this. You're not studying for a vocabulary test.

For now, start noticing which motorcycles make you stop and look twice. Think about the kind of riding you pictured in the previous section and see which families seem to match it.

Then go sit on some of them.

Because a motorcycle can look absolutely perfect on paper and still tell you something completely different the moment you put your hands on the bars.

And that brings us to something far more important than the name on the tank or the number printed on the spec sheet:

Does the motorcycle actually fit you?

A motorcycle can look perfect in pictures and check every box on the specification sheet, but none of that matters much if it doesn't feel right underneath you. Go sit on motorcycles before you buy one—and sit on a lot of them.

Pay attention to more than whether your feet reach the ground. Can you comfortably reach the handlebars and foot controls? Are your knees cramped? Can you confidently support the motorcycle upright? Seat height matters, but so do weight, balance and where that weight is carried.

And actually try the controls. Pull the clutch lever several times. Squeeze the front brake. Reach for the rear brake and shifter. Clutches in particular can vary enormously—some have a light, easy pull while others require considerably more effort. A control that's merely annoying in a showroom can become downright tiring after an hour in traffic.

You don't necessarily need both feet completely flat on the pavement. What matters is that you can confidently support the motorcycle at a stop and comfortably operate all of its controls.

The motorcycle should fit you—not the other way around.

That's still short, but now we're teaching them to test the motorcycle as a machine, rather than just seeing whether their ass fits the seat.

Don't choose your first motorcycle by engine size alone. CCs don't tell the whole story. A large-displacement cruiser can deliver its power gently and predictably, while a smaller high-performance sport bike may produce dramatically more horsepower with much sharper responses.

Consider the whole package: power, power delivery, throttle response, weight, balance and your ability to control the motorcycle at low speeds. Your first bike doesn't have to be tiny or boring, but it should give you enough room to make beginner mistakes without every little mistake becoming a big event.

There's plenty of time for more motorcycle later.

For your first one, confidence and control are worth a lot more than bragging rights.

You've learned about the different kinds of riding. You've wandered through the different families of motorcycles. You've thought about fit, weight, controls, power and what you actually want to do once there's a motorcycle sitting in your garage.

Now comes the moment when all of that dreaming starts getting real.

You're going motorcycle shopping.

There is something genuinely special about buying your first motorcycle. Years from now you may own faster ones, prettier ones, more expensive ones and motorcycles capable of things you can't even imagine doing today. But there's only ever going to be one first one.

So let's buy it with our heads as well as our hearts.

Buying New: There Is Something Pretty Great About Being First

There are plenty of good reasons to buy a brand-new motorcycle.

You know its entire history because you're about to write it. Nobody has neglected the maintenance, installed questionable modifications, crashed it and repaired it badly, or spent three years bouncing it off the rev limiter. You get a factory warranty, current technology, dealer support and, depending on the motorcycle, modern features such as ABS, traction control and selectable riding modes.

Financing may also be easier, and there's something undeniably satisfying about walking into a dealership, choosing your motorcycle and riding away on a machine that has barely traveled farther than the end of the parking lot.

If you've done your homework, know what you want and can comfortably afford it, there is absolutely nothing wrong with buying new.

But there is one thing worth thinking about before you sign.

You're buying your first motorcycle with the least amount of riding experience you'll ever have.

Buying Used: Let Your First Motorcycle Teach You Something

For many new riders, we think a good used motorcycle may be the smarter place to start.

Not because beginners don't deserve new motorcycles. And not simply because you might tip it over in the driveway.

There's a much bigger reason:

You don't know what kind of motorcyclist you're going to become yet.

Maybe you'll put 3,000 miles on that motorcycle and discover that riding simply isn't for you. That's okay. You tried something you've probably wondered about for years, and now you know.

Or something much more interesting might happen.

You may discover that you absolutely love riding—but not in the way you expected.

Maybe you bought a cruiser and discover that what really makes you happy is disappearing into the mountains for eight hours. Maybe you thought you'd commute every day and instead find yourself staring at maps planning thousand-mile trips. Maybe that adventure motorcycle never sees dirt. Maybe the little standard you bought to learn on suddenly has saddlebags strapped to it and is three states away from home.

Your first few thousand miles are going to teach you things about motorcycling that no article, salesperson, YouTube video—or even this page—can teach you.

They're going to teach you what you like.

And that's where buying used can make enormous financial sense.

Someone Else Already Paid for the First Big Bite of Depreciation

A new motorcycle becomes a used motorcycle the moment you begin putting miles on it. If you decide six months later that you bought the wrong machine—or that motorcycling simply isn't going to become part of your life—you may be selling a nearly new motorcycle after absorbing a substantial portion of its early depreciation.

A well-bought used motorcycle can be a very different proposition.

Buy a desirable motorcycle in good condition at a fair market price, maintain it properly and add a few thousand miles, and there's a reasonable possibility that you'll eventually recover most, and sometimes nearly all, of what you originally paid for the motorcycle when you're ready to move on.

That makes your first motorcycle something incredibly useful:

An affordable experiment.

You're buying yourself time to become a rider before spending serious money trying to predict what kind of rider you're eventually going to be.

Cheap Isn't the Same Thing as a Good Deal

There is a catch.

A $3,000 motorcycle that immediately needs $2,000 worth of work isn't a $3,000 motorcycle.

Used motorcycles can hide expensive problems, and a first-time rider may have absolutely no idea what they're looking at. Tires can look perfectly serviceable and be old enough to need replacement. A chain and sprockets can be worn out. Fork seals can leak. Bearings can be loose. Brake components can be worn. Charging systems can have problems. Maintenance can have been ignored.

And then there are motorcycles that have been crashed, modified, rewired, lowered, stretched, tuned and otherwise “improved” by previous owners whose mechanical abilities may have ranged from excellent to God help us all.

None of that automatically makes a used motorcycle a bad purchase.

It simply means you need to know what you're buying.

A Couple Hundred Dollars Can Save You Thousands

If you find a used motorcycle you're serious about buying, one of the smartest things you can do is arrange a pre-purchase inspection with a reputable motorcycle repair shop.

Yes, it costs money.

Spend it.

A professional technician knows where to look and, more importantly, knows what they're looking at. They can identify worn components, leaks, crash damage, neglected maintenance, questionable modifications and mechanical problems that may be completely invisible to somebody buying their first motorcycle.

A couple hundred dollars spent before the purchase can save you thousands of dollars afterward.

And an inspection doesn't necessarily have to uncover something catastrophic to pay for itself. If the motorcycle needs tires, brakes, a chain and sprockets or an overdue major service, that's information you should have before agreeing on the price.

A motorcycle needing work may still be a perfectly good motorcycle.

It just shouldn't be priced like one that doesn't.

And if a private seller absolutely refuses to allow a reasonable pre-purchase inspection?

There are other motorcycles.

Dealer or Private Seller?

Buying used from a dealership will often cost more than buying directly from an owner, but there can be advantages. A reputable dealer may have inspected or serviced the motorcycle, paperwork is generally straightforward, financing may be available, and in some cases there may be limited warranty or other protections.

A private sale can offer a better price and sometimes gives you the opportunity to actually meet the person who owned the motorcycle. Ask questions. How long have they owned it? Why are they selling it? What maintenance has been done? Are there records? What has been modified? Has it ever been down?

Don't be afraid to look at the motorcycle and the story surrounding it.

And remember something important:

You are never obligated to buy the motorcycle you're standing in front of.

If something doesn't feel right, walk away.

That's not losing a motorcycle.

That's avoiding the wrong one.

Now Go Find Your Motorcycle

You've done the homework.

You know there isn't one magical motorcycle every beginner is supposed to buy. You know to think about where you want to ride, what fits your body, what you can comfortably control and what you can realistically afford. You know that engine size doesn't tell the whole story, that new and used motorcycles each have advantages, and that a bargain isn't a bargain if you're buying someone else's problems.

That's enough information to get started.

Now comes the part we can't do for you.

Go look at motorcycles.

Walk through dealerships. Browse the used listings. Sit on cruisers, standards, sport bikes and adventure bikes. Grab the handlebars. Pull the clutch. Squeeze the brake. Put your feet on the controls. Ask questions. Sit on motorcycles you think you'll love—and sit on a few you think you won't.

You might surprise yourself.

And somewhere along the way, something wonderful is probably going to happen.

You'll sit on one and linger a little longer.

You'll look back at it when you start walking away.

You'll picture it sitting in your garage. You'll imagine that first Saturday morning when there's nowhere you particularly need to be, the tank is full, the weather is perfect and the whole state seems to be pointing toward somewhere you've never been.

That's when all the specifications, categories and advice we've talked about begin giving way to something much simpler.

You found your motorcycle.

Take your time. Buy intelligently. Don't be afraid to walk away from a bad deal, and don't be afraid to fall a little bit in love with the right one.

Then bring it home.

Because choosing your first motorcycle isn't the end of becoming a rider.

It's the moment the road finally becomes yours.

Built by riders, for riders, the Washington Motorcycle Rider Resource Center is a growing collection of practical tools, guides, and information for exploring Washington State on two wheels. From hand signals and trip planning to weather, road conditions, and rider resources, you'll find the knowledge needed to make the most of every ride.