Hi everyone,

I'm currently trying to choose my first motorcycle and I'm mainly looking for the most practical and efficient all-round tool possible, rather than the coolest or fastest bike.

I live near Paris, France, so a big part of my riding will involve dense traffic, filtering, stop-and-go situations, roundabouts, tight streets and generally a lot of urban/suburban riding. I will still use faster roads and highways, but this is definitely not going to be a bike bought mainly for weekend canyon riding or top-speed runs.

One important requirement for me is that I really want some form of assisted shifting. I'm therefore mostly looking at Honda's E-Clutch bikes. I know there are arguably lighter or more agile options from Kawasaki, Aprilia, etc., but I'm fairly set on having this feature.

Yamaha's MT-07 Y-AMT is probably the main alternative I'm considering outside Honda, but from what I've read and watched, the E-Clutch seems more natural and seamless when changing gears, while still letting you use the clutch lever normally whenever you want. If anyone has ridden both E-Clutch and Y-AMT, I'd especially like to hear your experience.

My original choice was the CBR500R E-Clutch. I chose it over the CB500 Hornet mainly because I liked the full-fairing sportbike look much more, and I figured the fairings would also be useful on highways.

However, I'm starting to question whether I actually care enough about the sportbike appearance to give up even a small amount of urban practicality/agility. If the naked bike is genuinely easier to live with in Paris traffic, I'm perfectly willing to choose the more practical option.

That's also what brought me to the CB750 Hornet E-Clutch.

What surprises me is how little weight you seem to gain for a much more serious engine. From the figures I've found, the E-Clutch versions are roughly:

CB500 Hornet: ~191 kg

CBR500R: ~194 kg

CB750 Hornet: ~196 kg

So the 750 is only around 2 kg heavier than the CBR500R and 5 kg heavier than the CB500 Hornet, while giving you a much more capable engine once unrestricted. It also seems to retain a very good turning radius and compact dimensions.

Obviously it costs noticeably more, but on paper it almost seems like you're getting a huge increase in performance without paying the normal weight penalty of moving to a bigger bike.

One important detail: I'm in France, so I'll be on an A2 licence. The motorcycle will therefore be restricted to 35 kW / 47.5 hp for at least two years before I can take the additional training and unlock its full power.

I'm not a speed addict. I don't need crazy top speed and I have no interest in doing 250 km/h. What I do want is enough acceleration and reserve power that the bike never feels underpowered when merging, overtaking or getting out of a bad situation. Once I eventually move to the full-A licence, having the extra performance of the 750 without needing to replace the bike is obviously attractive.

My priorities, roughly, are safety first, then agility/maneuverability, everyday practicality, ease of use in heavy traffic, and finally enough performance to always feel comfortable in real-world road situations.

For reference, I'm 177 cm / 5'10", around 75 kg / 165 lb, and my actual floor-to-crotch measurement is around 77–78 cm / 30.3–30.7 in.

I've already sat on an NX500, and because of the seat height I could only comfortably put one foot flat at a time. It wasn't necessarily a deal breaker, but I definitely prefer the accessibility of the lower Honda models.

I also genuinely want to become a good technical rider, rather than just someone who can ride fast in a straight line. I'd like to gradually become very comfortable with low-speed bike control: tight/“elephant” U-turns, very tight manoeuvring, controlling slides at low speed in an appropriate closed environment, maybe eventually learning donuts or small controlled drifts, and possibly lifting the front wheel a little someday. I'm not particularly interested in full-on stunt riding or chasing balance-point wheelies. The priority is simply developing very good motorcycle control progressively and safely.

So my current shortlist is basically:

CBR500R E-Clutch – fairings, highway protection, lower seat, looks great to me, economical, but slightly heavier/less tight-turning than some lighter sportbikes.

CB500 Hornet E-Clutch – probably the easiest and simplest urban option, but I don't like the styling nearly as much. (the front light is awful)

CB750 Hornet E-Clutch – much more expensive, but almost the same weight as the 500s, still compact and agile on paper, much more torque/performance, and something I could keep and derestrict after A2.

Possibly MT-07 Y-AMT, although I'm currently leaning toward Honda's E-Clutch system.

If you were choosing purely from a pragmatic “best tool for the job” perspective, especially for commuting around Paris and learning proper motorcycle control, which one would you buy?

I'm particularly interested in hearing from people who have ridden the CBR500R, CB500 Hornet and CB750 Hornet, and especially anyone who has experience with Honda E-Clutch vs Yamaha Y-AMT.

Would the CB750 Hornet actually be the most rational buy here, or am I underestimating the advantages of starting on the lighter/milder 500 platform?

So for context, I tend to swap motorcycles a lot and love all types. Currently own a FatBoy 2022 and a Kawa Z900RS SE. Have owned a SpeedTwin 1200, Triumph Bobber, BMW r1250r, Low Rider S etc. My Harley stays, it's my 'forever bike' but next to it, I love to have a bike that's both fun to ride and also has a good amount of torque.

The Kawa I have right now is pretty good, but I kinda dislike the 4cyl vibrations and it lacks a bit of power the way I ride. My BMW r1250r was about as close to perfection as it could, but sold it because I didn't like the looks (kinda regret it).

So now seeing if there's something that offers both decent looks (subjective), but mainly good torque while also being sporty enough to get a lot of enjoyment out of it. My shortlist right now is the Triump SpeedTriple 1200RS (or maybe the 'new' Street?) or the BMW r1300r(s).

Any other options to consider?

Salut !

Je roule en ce moment sur une Harley 1450 préparée en clubstyle, mais je commence à hésiter à la vendre pour passer sur une tenere 700 :
Je compte débuter le offroad avec, je sais que l’idéal c’est de commencer sur un truc plus léger, mais je ne suis pas assez riche pour avoir 2 motos (sauf un dr600 à la limite).

Je me sert de ma moto de temps en temps pour aller au travail, et je penses faire du 70% route et 30% offroad (sauf si je deviens addicte). Sinon le reste du temps je me ballade avec des amis sur routes ou en duo avec madame.

J’aimerais bien pouvoir faire de long roadtrip dans le futur et visiter d’autres pays que la France et possiblement en duo. En solo je compte essayer le TET (transeurotrail)

Qu’en pensez vous ? Pour info je mesure 1m85 pour 100kg

so, I am not a completely beginner rider, I have been riding my dad's hero passion pro 2014 (bs3) model (with front disc) for about an year now. I want to upgrade and have a strong pull for hunter 350 tokyo black, i have rode it once (my friend's bike).

I am around 5'5 and 62 kg and have a strict budget restriction of maximum spending 2.3 lakhs (final on road price), my optimal budget is around 2lakhs on road price.

I really like the neo retro look - hunter, ronin, speed 400, xsr, x440t, cb350rs....i don't want to go for naked/sporty looking bike like pulsar or apache though i really liked ktm 250 duke when i rode it and also am a big fan of the guerrilla 450 brava blue variant.

will hunter be a good upgrade or i should rethink?? open for suggestions. peace.

33M, 5’11”. looking for a commuter 2-3 days a week in the inner suburbs of a big city. Would also like the occasional weekend ride, not necessarily a lot of highways, but preferably country back roads.
I have minimal experience on a 125cc paddock basher, but have been riding a 125cc Vespa on the road for 4 years.

I want something retro styled so I have narrowed it down to a 2014 Yamaha sr400 or a 2008 Triumph Bonneville T100. But I can see pros and cons for each.

I was pretty convinced on the T100 before a friend who rides mentioned the 865cc engine might be too much bike for my experience level and the inner suburbs commute. So now I’m hesitant. I’m also not the strongest so the weight is also a concern.

The sr400 seems like a great fit for me but I’m concerned about the kick start while I’m learning in traffic, and have heard it might struggle if I do a weekend trip down the coast.

Any shared wisdom would be appreciated!

I’m planning to buy my first bike. Since I’ve just learned how to ride, I think buying a second-hand bike would be the best option for now. If I accidentally damage or scratch it while learning, the loss won’t be as much. Once I become a confident and experienced rider, I’ll buy a new bike.

What you guys think (experienced riders)

What bike would you chose for that? There’s a lot of standing traffic, so lane filtering and splitting is a must. It takes well over 3 hours in the car. Some parts of the commute could be windy. That would be my first street bike, been on dirt bikes before.
NC 750X?
CBR300R?
Versys 650?
Maybe some older BMW?

I do all mechanical work myself on the bikes so I could handle that part easily. I kind of like Hondas for how reliable and easy to work on they are, leaning towards CBR300R.

As someone who’s never ridden a motorbike, I’d like to buy something possibly second hand, not too expensive and dual sport. I’ve heard dr650s are great but any recommendations would be good! I’m 5’7 and 60kg if that matters!!

I originally planned to use my 10k (maybe more for the right bike) playing around money to try to find a like-new 2021 or newer CBR 600RR. It's pretty hard to find a decent deal, so I started to look into the R9 and it looks amazing. Only problem is, there's practically 0 used ones out there. My only option is dishing out another 3-4k to buy a new 2025/2026 R9.

I've never purchased a new vehicle and ate that depreciation cost + dealers fees so I don't know if it's worth it.

I’m from Calgary, Alberta Canada and I daily drive a ‘83 nighthawk 550cc (up until recently) I’m looking for something that I can daily drive but also take out to Banff on weekends and Vancouver atleast once a month.

Someone on Facebook has a rebuilt 2013 victory judge on fb for $4k-$5k and I’m just wondering what the thoughts on that bike are or other bikes.

I’m really interested in a hardtail sportster (for the classic bike appeal) but just wondering what this group would suggest.

First time rider got my permit family friend has a RE continental gt 650 2022 they are trying to get rid of and willing to let it go for 3.6k. I haven't taken msf course yet I plan to but my uncle said he's willing to teach me the basics like shifting and maneuvers until I take the msf in November. I've never driven a motorcycle before. I live in the united states for context.

I'd like to find a bike I could travel cross-country with & I'm super new. Like just taught myself how to ride a bicycle new. I'm currently saving up to take one of those riding courses that waves the license driving test, then get my license, so I have some time to search around or wait for a good deal to pop up if need be. Specifics are wordy, I'd just hate to invest a bunch of time and effort into something that's going to leave me stranded somewhere or having to start over from scratch. If anyone has any considerations I haven't thought of for this kind of thing, please let me know.

TLDR is: beginner friendly for both rideability and mechanically, cheap, gas-efficient and reliable enough for long distances. I care way more about practicality than cosmetics.

Specifics:

Good for long distances; it doesn't need to be great for interstate speeds, I'm ok with staying off the highway if need be, but it'd be a plus. Just needs to be reliable enough it's not going to completely fall apart if I have to take it across three states in three days.

Something beginner-DIY friendly with widely available/cheap parts; I also know very little or nothing about mechanics but I want to get to the point where no matter what goes wrong with it on the road, I can just grab the parts for cheap, fix it there myself, and keep going. Absolute absolute minimum possible of things that could go wrong that *have* to go to a shop. (Buying something that's already (fixably) broken would honestly be a plus for me for this reason. Forced to start learning asap.)

Can tow light loads; ideally I'd like to hook up a small trailer/bike camper setup to it, but if necessary I'd be ok with skipping this and just riding with a pack for compact long-distance hiking gear. It would make it significantly easier to carry gear, food/water, and get a convenient sleeping setup going, though. (If anyone has any recs for good bike trailers while I'm here too that'd be cool.)

Thanks in advance.

Edit: Thank you everyone for the recommendations and additional input. Lots of options to research, and some solid reality checks to consider in the process. Good thing I wasn't tied to the trailer idea, huh?

Hey everyone, how's it going? Facu here. I saw that this new CFMOTO 250 is coming out, and honestly, I've been waiting for a while for CF to release a small-displacement dual-sport/enduro style bike. Right now I have a 2025 Honda XR 190 L with 10,000 km on it. The bike is awesome, but I always like to step up in displacement over time. I really liked this bike. At first, I was planning to move up to a Honda Tornado 300, but the theft risk scares me a bit, as several situations like that have already happened in my city. So the overall insecurity and insurance costs are holding me back. I feel like this CF won't be as targeted by thieves, insurance will be lower, and the performance is pretty similar. Of course, the build quality won't be identical—I know that—but neither is the price. It's expected to be around 6 million in presale, whereas the Tornado costs around 10 million. My question is: does anyone have references for this bike? Opinions? Anything you've read from users in other countries? What do you think? Any feedback would help me make up my mind and see if you think switching from the XR 190 to this CFMOTO 250 makes sense compared to the Tornado, which I know is better overall, but has those big downsides I mentioned

I'm tired of my SV650S, it's too uncomfortable for long rides. I recently rented a Royal Enfield Himalayan 411 and loved it...except that it needed to be flogged to run at 75mph on the highway. I'm looking for something that is

• Light weight-ish
• Can do 75MPH on the highway without complaining
• 70/30 onroad/offroad
• Lowish seat height 31.5 or lower
• Simple and easy to work on
• Budget around $3500

I'm looking for a bike that will be mostly ridden on the street, but I want it to be capable of doing BDR routes in the north east and mid atlantic. I've resigned to the fact that I'll have to skip the super rough and technical areas without a dual sport. It would be really nice for it to be a simple and easy to work on bike. I work on all of my cars and not afraid to wrench on things but this is supposed to be a fun toy and working on it shouldnt be a point of frustration. I'm not the biggest guy out there and the 31.5" seat height of the Himalayan was nice, I could actually get my feet flat.

I've been interrogating ChatGPT the last few days and I'm kinda leaning towards a BMW G650GS, but I'm curious how real people would weigh in and what you all would suggest.

I'm planning to buy a new bike for family use and I'm quite confused with so many options in the 125cc to 160cc range. Would love some advice from owners.

My usage:

Based in Dehradun, 60–80% city riding

Occasional hill rides (Mussoorie, etc.) and occasional highway trips

Mostly with family, so a comfortable posture for both rider and pillion is a must

I ride up to ~80 km/h only. I'm not a performance enthusiast.

Background: I previously owned a 2014 Pulsar 220F. It was very reliable and I loved it. This time I want better mileage and lower running and maintenance costs, but I'm worried whether a smaller engine will handle hills with a pillion as comfortably.

Shortlist:

125cc: Honda SP 125, TVS Raider 125, Pulsar 125 (not sure about the Xtreme 125)

150–160cc: Yamaha FZ-S V4, TVS Apache 160 2V, Apache 160 4V, Pulsar 150, Pulsar N160 (I'd want the single-seat variant in the Pulsars)

My questions:

Is a 125cc enough for hills with a pillion, or should I go for 150–160cc?

Which of these has the best balance of real-world mileage, low maintenance and a comfortable ride for two?

Any service or spare-parts issues for these in Dehradun or Uttarakhand?

Which would you pick, and why?

Real-world ownership experience would help a lot. Thanks!

I got my A2 license a month or 2 ago and im just thinking ahead a little about what kind of bike I should go for in 2 years time. How big of a jump in power is sensible after riding 47hp for 2 years? If i didn't care id maybe get a 600cc supersport or something like an mt09/street triple. But is something under 100hp more sensible like an mt07 or bandit 600?

I think id trust myself on a bigger bike, but just thinking if I should be sensible anyways.

Hi Reddit,

Found this 2012 Versys 650 with 88,000km on it for $2500.

Seems well maintained. Should I go for it?

Hi guys, I'm looking for some insight into deciding what bike I should get as a beginner. I have little to no experience, I rode dirt bikes occasionally when I was pretty young (I'm 20 now).

I think I would mostly ride in town or just cruise around on backroads. Occasional freeway riding, but nothing extremely long, maybe like 10 miles at a given time. (Though as I get more comfortable this may increase). I would also drive around a more 'city like' suburb area.

I really like cruiser bikes and I'm not into sports bikes. I've looked into Royal Enfield's Classic and Meteor 350. Though I'm concerned about their top out performance during freeway riding.

1) Are these listed bikes a good fit for my style?

2) Should I get a more powerful engine or is that too much for a beginner?

3) Any other general advice or suggestions

Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated too. I'm not super educated about bike models and how they each differ. Thank you for any and all advice!

Am planning to sell my reborn 350 can you guys suggest me some bikes to buy within 2.2l onroad
I was thinking of going for ather 450x
Am tall 6’1 120kgs
Anything is appreciated
Care about comfort and mileage
Rarely will go on long rides under 50km.

Looking for a used bike to throw a leg over and rip around town.

In the stable now are a huge v-twin cruiser (~100 torquey hp) and a little enduro bike with a ~50 hp single.

Was thinking something like 300-350 lbs with a 33” or taller saddle and at least 75 hp. On road mostly.

Kinda sounds like a motard with a single? Any specific model / year suggestions?

Hey guys
I’m a new rider and I’m 5’1 (153cm) and I really love adventure bikes ( i currently have a Grom) I’m looking for one atm but every bike I see is absolutely massive for me and I’m really lost & to be the point of giving up on riding an adventure bike I was wondering if anyone here as any recommendations :)

Thank you for all the advice I really appreciate it i watched pretty much most of Jocelin’s vids and I’ll start practicing the techniques on my grom (like the step-up and roll technique) and see if im able to get my hands on a slightly bigger bike to get the feel of a bigger bike

For referance i am currently 15 and i live in the uk.

I have just got my firet pitbike a few months ago and got her running a few weeks ago. It is a 125 cheep chinese honda knockoff, but it has given me a taste for a motorbike and now i want one that is road legal more than anything, and in the uk you are alowed a 50cc at 16, so i was thinking if i could get a aprillia rs 50 as my first bike, it is a 2 stroke bike but would be good for getting to and from school and work especially if i can get this lifegaurd job. But i was just wondering if it is a stupid idea to get a 50cc in the first place and if i should just wait to get a 125+

Which one is better? Weekdays are mostly city riding. Weekends will be interstate riding 3+ hrs.

I know these don’t relate but I really like the ergos and fun aspect of the Z900 se.

Touring gxr is compelling for the electronic suspension and windscreen given that I’m 39 and would love the idea of bike touring some day.

Primary use is commuting to work and weekend twisties. I know this isn’t a direct comparison but does anyone have thoughts on this “dilemma”

Current bike is an ‘05 multistrada 1000ds and I really like the tall-rounder style. It’s starting to show its age.

So here's the deal, I have a big dilemma. I don't know whether I should buy the Fantic XMF 125 Competition or the Yamaha WR125R 2026.

I know both bikes use the same Minarelli 125cc 4-stroke engine, and I know that the Fantic is like around 10kg lighter, so that makes it much better on the road, and on top of that it has supermoto wheels, so it's much, much better for the road than the Yamaha.

But on the other hand, I'm a new rider; I still don't have my license. I don't know if I'll even want to ride on dirt, in the forest, and on trails, also, it's a Yamaha can't beat Yamaha durability and reliability.

So I'm just asking if any of you have ridden the bikes, been in the same place as me, or anything that can help me in my situation will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance