Getting Started in Motorcycling

**» Introduction to Getting Started

» Choose Your Ride & 5 Questions to Ask

» Gearing Up

» Learning to Ride & Ride Smart

» Motorcycles vs...

» Resources**

A neighbor parks his sleek sportbike in front of your house and you've always been curious about it. A row of gleaming cruisers lines up outside of Starbucks on a Saturday morning. You can't help but admire them. Stuck in traffic, you watch a rugged-looking bike whiz past in the carpool lane, its rider headed not for a spirit-sucking office but some soul-boosting adventure.

Your questions about motorcycling have been swirling beneath the surface for a long time, but they come up for air with a breathtaking suddenness. What's it like, really? Can anyone do it, or does it take super-human strength and reflexes? Is it dangerous Practical?

But understand that you'll be joining a very large group of enthusiasts. Recent statistics show that more than 25 million people ride motorcycles each year and that there are more than 10 million motorcycles owned and used in the U.S. An uptick in younger riders coming into motorcycling and the growth of female riders (into a sport that had been almost exclusively male as recently as the 1980s) bodes well for the activity we love so well.

GETTING STARTED

Tired of paying more than a hundred bucks to fill up your ginormous SUV? Want some wheels that aren't embarrassing? Start here to see if you've got what it takes to get started riding motorcycles.