Jeff in KentuckyI have prescriptions (subscriptions are for those not addicted to the riding drug) to Motorcyclist and Sport Rider magazines, and skim a few others at the stores.
The newest sportbikes are really for someone who does track days, with a trade of more speed for less comfort, and the smartest people start with a 250cc Ninja track bike for at least a year, then a 600, then maybe the Suzuki 750, then a 1000+. Most of the writers at Motorcyclist magazine have years of racing experience, and it is a racing oriented or fast street oriented magazine. They review all types of bikes but mostly sportbikes, since other magazines specialize in cruisers, tourers, show bikes, antiques, drag racers and dirt bikes.
When they write that a bike is heavier, I see a bike that has more comfort at street legal speeds, but is not capable of making a racing or street emergency turn as fast or stop as quickly. When they write that a bike has an engine map setting for rain (mostly Suzukis), I see that someone who insists on ignoring all good advice and buying too much bike should stay in that rain setting for the first few months, and stay out of the top of the tach for even longer.
Most of my generation (I was born in 1959) started by racing bicycles then riding dirt bikes- many of us went to see On Any Sunday at the theaters when it first came out. I started on a minibike at 8 years old. I went from a 3.5 horsepower Briggs and Stratton engine for a year, to a 65cc 2-stroke for 2 years, to a 100cc 2-stroke for 2 years, to a 650cc 4-stroke with 45 horsepower for 5 years, then a long break for college and raising two young children, to a 600cc with 30 horsepower for 9 years, to a 600cc with 95 horsepower three days ago.
Everything I have seen in all of the magazines tells beginners to START SMALL. The dream bikes should stay a dream for beginners, but sometimes they have more money than sense and buy too much power, raising their safety risks and raising the insurance costs for all motorcyclists, especially squids who skimp on safety gear because it is not cool, both for temperature and peer pressure. I am guessing that cave families told their youngsters to slow down and be more careful, or they might get hurt, and to not try to throw the spear designed for the experienced warrior hunting big bears- to start with the smaller beginner spear for rabbits.
If I could afford it, I would subscribe to one or more of the British bike magazines- I think they are higher quality for their writing and reviews. I sometimes go to bookstores to skim them, and will buy an issue once in a great while. I think Motorcyclist writers are honest, but I keep in mind that their advertisers do not want too many negative comments, and they have years of experience riding very fast bikes on race tracks. The cruiser magazines are more for slower more antique looking bikes, or the thicker Cycle World magazine that covers a wider variety of types of motorcycles. I like the Motorcycle.com articles, but some people are going to be attracted to the sexier, lighter, faster Triumph Street Triple and its R version with more expensive suspension parts, instead of a bike that is heavier and slower, hopefully not as their first motorcycle.
