What to buy as your first bike? Its a loaded question, and everyone will tell you something different. This is just a general guideline to give you a starting point. Very first thing is to decide what style of motorcycle you want. Cruiser, sports, standard, or other. Don't let anyone tell you a whole class of motorcycles are not suited for a beginner. There are at least one or two bikes in each style category that would make really good first motorcycles. Get something you like. Riding is suppose to be fun.
Next big question New or Used. If you have the cash to spend, and really really want a brand new bike buy new. Otherwise buy a used machine. Look under the buying/selling a used bike section for more information about this. A couple of reasons to buy used are covered below.
Another thing you want to consider is the displacement of the bike. Generally you want something that is not too big. Consider something under the 600cc mark for a sports bike, and under the 800cc mark for cruiser style machines. Cutting edge 600cc supersports are not considered a beginner ride by most. 100 ponies at the rear wheel, and 400lb wet weights do not make the best machines to learn on. A good number of people will buy a small bike in the spring, learn to ride all summer on it, and then sell it in the early fall or following spring and buy something bigger. Bikes do not deprecate like cars, and you will find that you can almost get as much as you paid for a small used bike the next season. Also if you discovered that you don't like riding your not out a good deal of cash, as you would be if you had bought new.
The final thing to consider when deciding what bikes to look at is make sure you won't mind it being dropped. It has happened to almost all new riders. Kickstand in the hot pavement or in mud and the bike falls over. Trying to put a foot down on a hill, or on some oil, and the bike falls over. There are many many ways to drop a bike, and you will likely do one of them in your first year or so of riding. For this reason you may want to stay away from bikes with a lot of plastics on them, or nice custom paint. It just costs too much to repair.
List of Suggested Bikes (remember these are only suggestions, and not a very complete list)
Sports Bikes
Yamaha FZR400
Yamaha FZR600
Yamaha YZF600R
Kawasaki Ninja 250
Kawasaki Ninja 500R
Suzuki Katana 600
Honda Hawk GT
Honda VF500F
Suzuki SV650s
Any pre 1996 600cc supersport
Cruisers
Yamaha V-star 650
Yamaha Virago 535 & 750
Honda Shadow VLX 600
Honda Shadow 750 Spirit or Ace
Kawasaki Drifter 800
Kawasaki Vulcan 500 & 800
Suzuki Maurader 800
Suzuki Volusia 800
Suzuki Savage 650
Suzuki Intruder 800e
Standards and Others
Kawasaki ZZR600
Kawasaki 650W
Suzuki Bandit 600
Suzuki GS500
Yamaha 450 & 650 Seca
Yamaha Seca II
Yamaha XS400 & 650
Almost all dual purpose bikes
