Motorcycle Guides & Checklists

The 14 models below cover 2015–2024 and a price range from roughly $5,000 to $33,000 — the widest spread of any category on this site. That range does not map neatly onto engine size, which is the first thing worth understanding, and it says nothing at all about what the bike costs after you ride it home.

• Entry sport and naked, about $5,000–$10,000. The Kawasaki Ninja 400 is the entry point at roughly $5,000–$5,600, with the Yamaha MT-07 around $8,000–$9,000 and the Honda CB650R and Kawasaki Z900 near $9,000–$10,000.
• Middleweight sport and retro, about $9,000–$13,000. The Honda CBR600RR, Suzuki GSX-R600, Ducati Monster and Triumph Bonneville T100 all live here, alongside cruisers like the Indian Scout.
• Cruisers, about $9,000–$28,000. The Harley-Davidson Sportster 883 sits at the bottom of this band; the Street Glide sits near $22,000–$28,000.
• Adventure and touring, about $18,000–$33,000. The BMW R 1250 GS, Yamaha YZF-R1 and Honda Gold Wing occupy the top of the range, with the Gold Wing reaching roughly $33,000.

A 400cc Ninja costs a fraction of a 1,250cc adventure bike, but the middle of the range is muddled: a 600cc supersport can cost as much as a 900cc naked, because engine architecture, materials and specification matter more than capacity. Read displacement as an indicator of character and insurance class rather than of price, and compare within a riding style instead of across one.

Tyres wear faster than on any car and often cost more per unit; chains and sprockets are a recurring set; valve-clearance services arrive on mileage intervals that vary from short to very long depending on the engine design; and insurance is priced by class rather than by price, so a cheap supersport can cost as much to insure as a far more expensive tourer. Add protective gear, which you should treat as a purchase cost rather than optional, and the first year of ownership is materially more than the sticker price.

1. Start it cold and let it idle. An engine that needs coaxing from cold is telling you something.
2. Check chain slack and whether the rear wheel adjusters sit near the end of their range — a stretched drivetrain is a set you will be buying soon.
3. Read the tyre date codes. Low mileage with old rubber is a common and expensive combination.
4. Look at the fork seals and the underside of the engine for weeps.
5. Check the bars, pegs, levers and case covers for drop damage, which is far more common than accident damage.
6. Ask for service records, and confirm the VIN on the frame matches the title.

Motorcycle insurance is priced by class and rider history more than by purchase price, which produces two counter-intuitive results. A cheap supersport can cost as much to insure as a far more expensive touring machine, because of its loss history and the kind of rider who buys it. And a rider with a clean record and a completed training course will often pay less on a mid-range bike than someone with a poor record pays on an entry model. Get quotes on the specific model and displacement before you buy, not after. Gear is the other line that belongs in the purchase budget rather than in a later month — a helmet, jacket, gloves and boots are part of the cost of riding, not accessories to it.

The per-model cost pages on this site cover cars, trucks, vans and SUVs, because those are the machines with published model-level MSRP and EPA fuel data. Motorcycles are documented here instead. Once you have shortlisted two, price them side by side — the motorcycle loan calculator and the insurance estimator cover the two costs that scale fastest, the total cost of ownership sheet adds fuel, tyres and servicing, and our new versus used five-year cost comparison works through the depreciation side of the decision.