Common Pitfalls of Beginner Bikes: Costs, Quality, and Growth

It's better to start as a fool and learn from your mistakes than fake being a genius and ignore your errors. Welcome to the Throttle and Roast podcast. I'm your host, Niels Meersschaert. In today's episode, I'll look at some of the problems with beginner bikes. Whether you bought a used bike or even a low-cost, low-power, lightweight beginner bike, there are opportunities for it to have some issues. We'll look at those both for used and new bikes. So I'm going to start with used bikes because the prevailing advice for many riders is to buy a used bike, especially if they're a new rider. The thought being that it helps you save some money and you don't have to worry about dropping or damaging the bike because it's probably got a lot of scratches and scuffs, maybe even a few dents on it already. And this makes sense on one perspective. But here's the thing that runs into as a problem if you do go into this as a beginning rider who doesn't know anything about motorcycles, to be frank, and you may not even be mechanically inclined. Older bikes can be a little finicky. They might not start consistently. They could have issues with a clutch or a brake lever that doesn't move smoothly. They could have a transmission that doesn't shift smoothly. And all of these can just make it much harder to learn how to ride because you can't even have your bike working consistently. And this just creates a barrier to you as a beginner who's trying to figure out how do I make this thing work? And if the bike doesn't work consistently, how can you really learn if it's then creating all these barriers for you? It's hard enough for an experienced rider in that situation. But for a new this becomes really insurmountable. So this is one of the big challenges. Another thing that happens with used bikes is, and this is just part of any bike that you've used for a period of time, parts will wear out. Now the bike that you bought might have tires that are very nearly worn out, and thus they won't give the same grip as a new tire, and they can make you feel less confident. Maybe the head bearing is starting to fail, and the steering sticks at some points or even wobbles. And how can you learn if the bike makes you worry not just about your confidence in riding, but in your confidence that the bike is working properly at all? This is another problem that you run into with some of the used bikes. And when we start to look at these things together, with all the finicky bits and the worn-out parts, you might need to spend a lot of time trying to get your bike into better working shape. And you're spending your weekends fixing the bike rather than riding. And while you spent less to buy the bike, did it save you anything if you're just frustrated trying to get it working versus actually learning to ride a motorcycle? And then if we take a couple of these things and then we start to look at the expense, the reason why everyone advocates for you to get a used bike is to save some money. And time is part of the equation, of course, but there's also an out-of-pocket cost. Even if you are mechanically inclined and you can do all of the work you may need to buy replacement parts. And if the bike has an issue, it's probably out of warranty, given that it's a used bike. So you need to pay to get it repaired on your own dime, if you can't do it yourself. Sure, you saved $2, 500 versus a new bike getting your used bike. But now you might find yourself needing to spend $800 to $1, 000 getting new tires, another $300 to $500 getting the brake pads and rotors replaced. Maybe another $600 to $800 getting the head bearing and wheel bearings replaced. And before you know it, that $2, 500 you saved has been evaporated in all the repair expenses and you still have a bike with no warranty. So this is I urge caution to people when they say go get a used bike as your first bike is it's a nice concept. And if it's a relatively recent used bike that might work out for you, But if someone's encouraging you to buy a 15, 20 year old used bike, there's just a lot of stuff that can go wrong with an old bike. They're awesome. I'm not disparaging used bikes in the sense of that they're not fun. I just worry that they may be more of a hindrance to a beginning rider than the benefit from a cost efficiency would suggest in your purchase price because you're going to spend still a lot of money to get it in working order or at least to keep it in working order versus something that you're getting right off the showroom floor that you know has a warranty. And, as we've talked about in previous episodes, I'm not a fan of also spending $30, 000 buying a brand new bike as a beginner. I think that's also silly. But there's a ton of more cost cheaper bikes that you can buy brand new that can work well as a beginner bike. And that's a perfect time for us to actually switch into some of the downsides if you do decide to buy a new bike that is well suited to beginners. the best bikes for beginners are ones which don't have a lot of They're not really heavy and they're not super expensive. So you're still trying to hit into that sort of sweet spot of a good bike. And I'd say one of the biggest things, and this is, this is where I think it becomes hard for people because when you decide to become a motorcyclist, there's a lot of emotion or ego that's built up into it. You start to have this feeling of almost a superiority and I, oh, look, I can ride a motorcycle. And if someone looks at your bike and goes like, oh, that's a little beginner's bike. Why are you using that? It can feel embarrassing. And no one wants to sort of seen as this, you newbie, you know, you want to be this tough guy. And how can you do that? If you're on a 300 CC rebel, that's kind of the impression that some people will have. And at the same time, there's even some experienced who object to their bikes being called beginner or starter bikes because they just like those bikes. They have their own benefits. They're not super expensive. They have enough power that you're not going to get into trouble, but they're very fuel efficient. there's a lot of pros, even why an experienced rider may want one of these smaller, more economical bikes versus spending a huge You know, sometimes having that bike that isn't overpowered or expensive actually allows you to grow more by focusing on maintaining speed through corners rather than relying on high acceleration or braking. You know, think of cars like the Miata, it's not a lot of power, but it's a light and fun car and has plenty of power for most public roads. And it lets you use the car at the limits much more often. And like we discussed in last week's episode, sometimes the best motorcycle isn't the fastest and sometimes a smaller displacement bike is more than enough for the type of riding that you do and lets you have a bike that isn't as expensive to own. I personally have a Vespa GTS that's not my only bike, but it's one of the bikes. And you know what? It is perfectly suited to the mission that I use it for, which is I got rid of a second car and that's what I use when I have to run errands. I've gone to the hardware store. I've carried two by fours on that. I've gone to the grocery store. I've carried a full set of groceries in it. It's a utilitarian vehicle. It's not going to blow off anybody from the zero to 60 time. It will be faster than a lot of cars right off the line up to maybe 30, but then it really starts to slow down. But you know what? It's perfectly fine. And I get 70 miles a gallon. So versus 15 to 20 that I was getting out of a car, it's a bargain comparatively. And this is why I think that sometimes the beginner bike stigma or the small bike stigma actually is something that is what holds us back from wanting to have this, quote unquote, beginner bike. Now, another thing that you might run into is sort of beginner or starter and usually not so much that they're aimed at a beginner, but they're really meant as an economical bike is you may run into some really poor build quality. Now, when any manufacturer is trying to get a bike down to a certain price point, that often means that they cut out features and we're generally OK with that to save some money. I don't need to have, you know, six access IMUs for, you know, traction control and all this stuff on a budget bike. That's absolutely fine. I don't need to have a full nav system built into the screen, a TFT screen on the bike for a budget bike. And even if it has lower displacement, that's what we actually want in this budget bike. So again, some of these things are totally acceptable to help bring the price point down. But sometimes the build quality is also lower. You might have really cheap brakes, maybe poor quality metal that makes the bike cheaper, but also more likely to break. And this can start to make that investment that you made in this beginner bike, start to feel like something that really just throws out. And with a lot of the major brands that are out there, you're probably less likely to see this, but some of the more emerging, maybe some of the Chinese brands, at least historically, were not very good quality. Or if you buy one of those motorcycles from, let's say like Amazon or Walmart, that's coming in the nondescript box and you can't even pronounce the brand name. Yeah. You probably are going to have some of these quality issues with that bike. And it was cheap, but there's a reason why it was cheap. And this can really hurt you. Now, one of the other problems with beginner bikes is sometimes you can outgrow them too quickly. Now, some riders just really gel with riding much faster than others. And thus, they may feel that they outgrow this beginner bike very The challenge, of course, is it's really hard to predict that. For every example of someone who started on a non-beginer bike and successfully made it and continued there's probably 10 to 20 times as many people who gave up riding because they were overwhelmed by this really powerful bike. They got a mid-sized or a full-sized bike or started on a $30, 000 street glide. Yeah, you can do that, but it's a lot harder. And for a lot of people and probably the vast majority of people who start their riding careers, that's not going to be the right bike for them. But for those who do really connect with it, it can feel very frustrating where you outgrow this bike. My first bike. I actually swapped my first bike four months into owning it. And at the end of the day, you know, you're not going to be right on the right bike for them. But for those who do really connect with it, it can feel very frustrating where you outgrow this bike. My first bike, I actually swapped my first bike four months into owning And while I progressed quickly, the first few weeks of that beginner bike were still a challenge. But I used the bike to commute to work every day. So I did 4,000 miles in those first four months. So I think it was less about calendar time, at least for me, and more about the miles under my belt. And this is where we also have to think of that for a large part of the riding community, certainly here in the United States, they might be riding less than 1,000 miles in an entire year. That's not a lot of time to get some practice. So the odds that you are going to outgrow this beginner bike, if you're riding that infrequently, is very low. If you're riding a lot like I did when I first started riding, that can make a difference and may make it work for you. Or if you already have some experience with a lot of other type of vehicles or just things just gel with you, if you've already ridden dirt bikes and you're transitioning to the street, again, very easy for you. So it doesn't mean it can't, but I think I'd still say that I would lean towards beginning bikes being better for most But for those who can outgrow it quickly, this can be a frustration if they ended up buying a beginner bike. Now related to outgrowing the bike too quickly, I think the other issue that people run into is that at some point, a lot of riders do decide to move on to their next bike and decide to sell their old bike and move on to something new. And when you do sell that bike, you do lose a little bit on the resale. Any bike that you buy new will be sold for less than you paid for it when you sell it. And in many cases that happens even with a used bike, it's going to go The key is how much as a percentage did you lose? In general, the higher the price of the bike, when you buy it, the more the price goes down in actual numbers, the percentage may be the same, but because it starts at a lower base, the real impact isn't all that bad. So let's say you started with a beginner bike for two years and you lost 20% of the purchase price when you sell it, which sounds like a lot. And that's not always the case. Sometimes it's as little as five to 10%, but let's assume, let's just be pessimistic and say, you're going to lose 20% of the value in two years. If you spent $15, 000 on your bike, that's $3, 000 that you're going to lose or about $125 per month of ownership. And that can feel like a lot to If on the other side, you bought a bike like the Rebel 300, which is one of my top recommendations for beginners, you bought the bike for about $5, 000. Well, 20% over two years is like $1, 000 or $42 a month. That's a much more digestible number for what it can cost you to learn. And that's how you have to think of a beginner bike. A beginner bike, even any sort of resale that you lose on it, it was your cost to learn. That's the thing, is bikes aren't free. There is a cost to learn with them. And yeah, your running costs have a maintenance cost. Your gas cost, at least relative to a car, is significantly cheaper because you get much better fuel economy. So I don't really look at that as much, but your resale cost is going to be the big thing of where it costs you to buy it. And this is why I think the better way to think of the expense is, almost think of this as entertainment. If you go to a movie once a month between the ticket prices, popcorn, candy, drinks, you could easily spend$40. Well, your first bike is teaching you a ton about riding, and hopefully you have a fun every single time that you go out on it. So the equivalent of$42 a month that you'd lose potentially on a Rebel 300 isn't all that much when you think of the smiles per mile that you get from it. You probably felt much more comfortable with that bike, helping you to learn faster than you would have if you had bought a much more expensive bike, or even a used bike that was overpowered and needed work versus this new Rebel 300. An that's the key point is your beginner bike. While there can be downsides to it. You have to think of it as it is enabling you to learn. And that's the fundamental difference of where you're getting this. And yes, there are things, and that's why I share all these little anecdotes of some of the problems. You can have negatives with beginner bikes, but I still think in the greater scheme of things, it's probably still the best approach for most beginning riders. So let's wrap up. We talked a little bit about how some used bikes can be problematic, especially for beginners. In general, they will tend to be a little bit more finicky. They're going to have some worn out parts. You might be wasting a whole bunch of time getting the bike working instead of riding. And then the expense of getting that bike working might negate a lot of the money that you saved in buying a used bike versus something And of course, for some riders, it's embarrassing to be seen on a beginner bike. They want to have the tough guy feeling. And so the small little 300cc bike doesn't feel like they're doing that. Sometimes a really cheap bike can have poor build quality. You've got this thing that has really pot metal on it, and it's not going to last very long. Or you might have that you actually really gel with riding and you outgrow this bike really quickly and you feel like, oh, my God, I just bought this bike. And now I have to trade up and buy a new one. And of course, when you do trade up your bike, then you're going to probably lose some money on the resale. So, my question for you this week is, do you have any regrets about your first bike? What do you wish you'd done differently with your first bike? Share your thoughts through the text the show link in the show notes or leave a voicemail at throttleandroast.com/voicemail. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you next week.