Beginner's Buying Guide

Hi guys. This is Jon from Whittier Fun Center. I thought that I would give my two cents on what to consider when buying your first bike, as I had done it about a year and a half ago, and have since had 2 others bikes. I will share my experiences.

Now, I had never ridden before, dirtbikes or anything. I didn't have the desert childhood that a lot of kids had. We didn't go to the dunes or to the track to race or anything. I had always wanted to, but my dad had gotten hurt at work early in my childhood, so that wasn't an option. Therefore, when I was thinking about buying my first bike, I had no idea what to expect. I find that this is actually the case with a lot of people, whether they have ridden before or not. Riding and buying are two VERY different things.

When first thinking about buying a motorcycle, what I suggest is to do A LOT of research. Think about the general type of bike you're thinking about getting your hands on. Whether it be a scooter, cruiser, sportbike, or standard, you want to find out as much as you can so that you have a pretty solid idea of whether or not it's the right choice for you. I knew I wanted a sportbike at the time, so what I did was I went and looked at a lot of forums and reviews on different bikes to get the general idea of what I was getting myself into.

The next thing that you want to do after you've figured out what you THINK is the best bike for you, is to go to as many different dealers as your area offers. Go to small and big dealers and talk to the people who work there to get their opinions and stories to see if they have any input that would be useful to you. I also highly suggest sitting on every bike you can to get an idea of what is the perfect height and seating position for you.

Please note that although you may want one type of bike, another one may be better suited for you. What I mean by this is that you could say to yourself that you want the biggest baddest sportbike on the market, but your body may tell you that it would much rather have a nice soft cruiser. You'll know the differences when you actually sit on the bikes.

Once you've done that, narrow down your choices to what suits your needs at that point. Think about everything that you're going to be using the bike for. It could be for weekend fun, short jaunts around town, commuting, or full on 1,000 mile tours. This also must play a role in your ultimate decision. When I was shopping around, I knew that the motorcycle I chose was going to be my primary mode of transportation for both work and weekend fun. I had a 20 mile freeway commute one way, so I needed something semi-comfortable, but then I also LOVED to run the canyons in my spare time, so I also needed something that could handle very well and be beat to death and still be reliable. At that point, I knew it had to be a sportbike. Based on the fact that my commute was on the freeway and I had the need for speed, I knew for a fact that I couldn't justify buying a 250cc motorcycle. Don't get me wrong, they're great for learning and I suggest that the highest to people wanting to learn, because they're easy to learn with and retain their resale rate. But as I would be jumping into riding it about 3 or 4 days later, I knew I had no time to "train". I needed something that was agile, for lane splitting, and that had enough power to pass quickly if I needed to. I then narrowed it down even further to a middleweight 600cc bike. I actually came to Whittier Fun Center as I knew it was so close to my house just to look around. Jay was the salesman that came to me and he helped me through everything, knowing that I had no experience. He pointed me over to a used 2009 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R. He informed me that the man that had previously owned it basically just drove it in a straight line on the street to work and back and that's it. Good to know, because I was sure that the bike had been cared for. He walked me all around the bike and taught me everything I needed to know to get started. I sat on it and got a feel for the riding position and I was quite happy. It fit my body very well, and I knew it would be a good fit.

After I got the bike home, I took a break and about an hour later I took it out to start learning. I had a rough first few minutes, but once I actually got started, I couldn't stop. I rode around all day and taught myself everything I needed to know for when I actually got out to really using it. I felt so proud of myself for having the control and patience to take all the time I did to make sure I knew exactly what I wanted. It really payed off.

So basically, when you're going out to buy your first bike, don't go into it blind. It's beneficial to you to do quite a bit of research on what you want. Take it from me. When you actually know what you're looking at when you walk into a dealer, it makes it a lot easier to make a quicker decision on exactly what you need.

I hope this helps any new buyers out there. If you have any questions about buying your first bike, go ahead and shoot me an email at internetsales@wfuncenter.com and I'd be happy to help you with whatever you need. Thanks for reading!

-Jonathan Salas