Riding a motorcycle is great fun, but there are a lot of things beginners need to know before buying your first bike. Here are the five bikes you should avoid for your first purchase.

5. Harley-Davidson Sportster Iron 883 

If you’re a diehard Harley fan and you refuse to ride any other brand of bikes, then this is still not a good motorcycle for you as a beginner. There are better Harleys, like the Street 500, for beginners. The main reasons why the Iron 883 isn’t great for amateurs is due to its performance.

This bike boasts a massive engine that only gets 45 hp. The size of its engine, along with its overall weight, makes it difficult to control, especially at low speeds. It’s also not a cheap motorcycle, starting at about $9,000. This is a fine starting price for a bike, but there are better, cheaper motorcycles for beginners. For example, the Street 500 only costs $6,700. 

4. Kawasaki Ninja 650R

Although the Ninja 650R was recently updated, it’s still not a great bike for beginners. Sure, it’s stylish, and at a starting price tag of $7,400, it’s pretty affordable. However, it’s simply too powerful and too hard to control for a novice. It has a 69-hp engine, which isn’t too strong, but its sensitive controls makes it a very difficult motorcycle to ride, according to HotCars. 

3. BMW F800GS

Despite being on this list, the F800GS isn’t a terrible motorcycle; it’s just terrible for beginners. Designed as an adventure bike, it’s good for all types of terrain. However, that’s also why it’s not good for amateurs. With a heavy and powerful 85-hp engine, it has a lot of horses for a beginner to learn to use. Plus, its overall weight and dimensions make it hard to control as well. 

Furthermore, because it’s a good motorcycle for a lot of situations and terrains, it has a lot of features meant for those circumstances. The result, however, is a hefty price tag of about $12,300. That’s quite expensive for a bike, especially one for a beginner.

2. Yamaha YZF-R6

The YZF-R6 is an improved version of the R6 series of bikes, however, it’s still a terrible motorcycle for novices. It comes with many safety features that make it somewhat appealing, but those features come with an overly powerful engine that makes riding the YZF-R6 difficult for beginners. 

It’s also a heavy motorcycle, and its 117-hp engine is too much to handle for anyone who isn’t used to riding a motorcycle. Starting at about $12,200, it’s very expensive. Regardless, those new safety features, like an anti-lock braking system, make the YZF-R6 a fine motorcycle to ride on.

1. Honda CBR1000RR

The worst bike for beginners, according to HotCars, is the CBR1000RR. It’s too heavy, it’s too powerful, and it’s too expensive. This motorcycle comes with a massive, nearly 1-liter engine that pumps out 189 hp. Beginners will struggle to handle this much power. It’s also expensive, starting at about $16,500 and some trims can go up to $25,000.