5 Reasons Why Cheap Motorcycles Are Better
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
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It’s fair to say that sports bikes have evolved a lot over the last 30 years, with manufacturers pushing for better and better performance figures to outdo the competition, throwing in more and more tech to the point where these machines wouldn’t look out of place on a world superbike grid.
But all of this comes at a cost. The prices of the latest machines are so far and away from what I knew when I first got into motorcycling over 16 years ago.
And it’s meant that, for many, these machines are increasingly unattainable, and they’re hit with the realisation that they’ll likely never get to ride these amazing machines.
But, I’m here to make the case that… none of that matters. Here’s why going cheap as better than going for the latest and greatest machines.
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I just went through this. I had a dream bike of a 2020 BMW S1k RR. Absolutely amazing bike for sure. However, I didn't really enjoy it. I didn't want to take it to the track due to maybe crashing. I hated the insurance payment. So I just traded it for a 2013 GSXR/750 track bike and a pile of cash. That pile of cash got me a new trailer, new video editing PC and a project to work on! I don't miss the S1k at all. I'm much happier on my low priced junk that I can ride vs the garage princess that my BMW was.
My first ever comment on you tube I think but you deserve it for making so much sense from the very beginning to the end of that video 😊 I keep reminding myself how much I enjoy my 765rs both on track and on the road. As for the 200+HP machines that pass me on straights but end up slow in corners, I’ve come to the conclusion that improving my skills will eventually get me to pass them safely in field instead of getting suck behind…
To be honest - I am hearing about 'Hedonic Treadmill' for the first time. And looking back at my various hobby-related purchases ... I can only agree.
Great video. Really helps drive home what I've tried to explain to newer riders. Especially on the track. Don't go new because you'll be more concerned with crashing than improving. As the old adage goes "It's more fun to drive a slow bike fast, than a fast bike slow." THX
I got a little Honda Grom about a year ago, it really reminded me of what I got into riding for. I was just getting faster and newer bikes because I thought it would be better, but I found myself having more fun on the slowest, cheapest bike I’d owned. I still have a big bike for the road, but it taught me that it didn’t need to be the latest or greatest for me to enjoy it.
As a fellow Street Triple 765 RS rider myself, i can't argue the need for a "bigger/more expensive/more powerful bike" myself. I can do Way more then what's legal with that bike. Even on a track day, i'll be hard pressed to out ride that bike. I've owned a GSX-F600, CBR600, MT-09, GPZ600R, Z1000SX (now Ninja 1000 SX), CBR650R, ZX10R, S1000R, and now the Triumph Street Triple 765 RS. Either if those bikes are more machine then i can practically use. And the one i enjoy the most, is the 1985 GPZ600R and the Street Triple 765 RS (both of which i now own). Sure, the ZX10R was fast, so was the S1000R. But i can't really take advantage of all that bike on public roads anyway. And i don't want to wreck my daily rider pushing my luck on a track. The smaller bikes were cheaper to buy, cheaper to insure, cheaper to run (use less fuel), and lack none of the fun. Win-Win...
So true. I had years of fun on a 1999 ZX6. It never failed to make me smile (I'm smiling now thinking about it). Every time I crashed it (we had one quite major 'off' at Snetterton), I just patched it up again. It didn't turn any heads in the pitlane, but I could live with that. I literally shed a tear when I sold it last year for about £1,500, which is more than I paid for it!
Very important video.
I can get my dream Tuono V4 but I know between the cost of maintenance and the fear of crashing on track, it won’t be as fun as I’m having with my 2 “cheap” Hondas. A VFR1200F for the road and a CBR250 for the track. When I feel I can’t squeeze any more out out of the 250, I might go with a NSR250 a 600 or a supermoto, either way, when having more HP than IQ, riding on the limit feels less fun and more like work, and I’m not getting paid for this.
250s are super fun on the track - especially when you're fast enough to pass 600s!
I actually hope many newbs don’t see this video and stop buying new bikes that I can get way cheaper in a few years! 😅
i completely agree. went with yzf750r (1500$), then gsxr1000 K4 (3000$) and now race prepped 2012 s1000rr (10000$), plus recently an sv650, over the span of 12 years. the progression of my skill was helped by being able to not be afraid to trash the bike and being able to afford trackdays because i didnt have a 20-35k brand new bike that needed professional service yearly.
The most fun i have is outbraking and lapping 30k ducatis on my sv :)
get a sv650 expandable bike to start and put some quality suspension on it. it'll be fun for years and you can ride everything out of it that it has.
Fully agreed. After owning 4 different street bikes now, my 16 street triple has been hands down my favorite bike i ever had. There was just something about that bike that made my heart sing on both street and track that a ninja, gaxr600, fz09, etc never did
I have to agree. I got my motorcycle license a little over a year and splurged on a new RS 660. It's great on the track and I did 10 track days last season. In Sweden we have "safety" courses on race tracks where our insurance covers accidents. The courses do cover a lot of fundamentals which are applicable to road and track but riders can basically ride as fast as they want with racing lines, but the courses are expensive. I've also ridden with a racing club where there is no insurance coverage. While it's not something I think about while I'm on track, the lack of insurance did make me rethink about next season because I can't really afford to replace my bike if I total it. I'm now the proud owner of two bikes, one being the RS 660 and the other a race prepped 2001 GSXR 600 (~2500 £) for the racing club. Now I just have to develop the coordination to down-shift smoothly under hard braking with no quick-shifter or slipper clutch. I was spoiled by the RS!
I find that riding less powerful bikes on the street is more fun for me. I can use the whole motor and shift through all the gears. I have a quick shifter, but I don't use it - l like using the clutch and blipping the throttle myself - it's one of the cool fun things about riding a bike.
Very clever. Thank you!
$ is for training and gear. My track bikes are 2003 R6, like in your video, and my street bikes are all 25-35 years old. They're still more capable then the riders today.
My experience is a bit different than yours.
I started track riding with my road bike (CBR 600F), so very manageable. But I was hesitant to push it to the limit, because it was my road bike.
That's why I upgraded to a relatively cheap dedicated track bike, an old GSXR 1000 k4 with 0 electronics.
I didn't particularly want a 1000cc, but I had a very good opportunity.
I started to get more confident, and made my way to the fast groups. I had a lot of fun with this bike.
At that point in time, I would have agreed with this video 100%.
Then I had 2 crashes :
- a high side caused by myself, a bit too much condident on the throttle. Most of the time it slipped a bit, but this time it slipped a lot. That ended with a bad ankle injury
- a low side caused by a radiator leak that sprayed coolant on my front tire. It was not really predictable. This one was close to end very badly, as the rider behind me crashed too, and his bike hit me violently in the back.
Both of those would have been avoided if I had a more modern bike :
- Electronics would have prevented a high side
- The radiator wouldn't have failed like that
I did a few track days after that, but I'm A LOT slower than before, and I'm always thinking of not crashing, instead of having fun.
I may be wrong, but I feel like I need a more recent bike with electronics, to get the confidence I lost.
Even if it cost substantially more money than my current cheap GSXR.
Love your content! Keep up the great work!
I am a dad. I am returning to motorcycling after 8 years away. I decided to allocate half my budget to a bike, and spend the other half on track days, training, and safety gear (I'm a dad, gotta stay safe.) This means I will be getting a cheaper bike than I can "afford", but I feel great about that. I'll use it more and be better at using it. Also, I enjoy street riding. Yes, that new R1 makes 200 hp, but only at 15000 RPM. Which is 75 mph in first gear. At 8k RPM, it makes the same power as an MT09. Gotta be realistic about my riding when spending my money.
You could get a CFMOTO 450 or a Ninja 400. The last trackday I did, there were so many of them, and I got swarmed by them so they are really quick.
I have followed this approach, I started riding in the Summer of 1976, & a great year to start, recently I have had a Kawasaki Zephyr 550 & a Honda Hornet CB600F3, The Zephyr, reminds my of My Favourite Middleweight of the Early Eighties My Kawasaki GPz550D1 & is great fun at all speeds, & is low maintenance The Hornet is My Second Hornet, my First was a CB600FY, & really fun bike when I want to up the Pace a little, I Managed to get both bikes for under £5000 total. - Miles of Smiles 😆😄😄😄😄😄😄
THIS!
In 2021 I bought a SV650, brand new, for 6300€ (incl. Tax for all the Burger-Boys). No TC, no ridermodes, no wheeliecontrol...I love this bike!
Even with 73hp I can ride plenty fast (of course just the speed limit) and I dont fear runining me financially if something happens to it. Dropped it 2 times, had a slide once and the damage to my ego was always bigger than to my wallet. The hobby does not need to be (to) expensive.
With the money I save on ensurance, tyres, fuel etc. I can do upgrades, pay my Rinding-Courses and still have more to spare for other hobbys or maybe getting into track days in the future.
Ride save, ride hard and enjoy yourself!
Great video 👍🏻
For the algorithm
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The fear of messing up a nice bike is never in my mind as an impediment anywhere near the fear of messing myself up when pushing my limits.
I own a gixxer600 and a race prepped s1000rr. My dad let me do a session on his agostini f3 800 mv Augusta while I really enjoy the session the whole time I was like I'm not binning this bike when it cost him 35k Australian dollars to buy. I totally get this
Great video, thank you! I bought once a used (heavily used) CRF 250L and I remember the first time I dropped it I didn't even bother to check the damage, just picked it up and continued my rather clumsy, yet happy, attempts to ride offroad. If i had an expensive new machine the enjoyment would be over instantly.
I can’t like this video enough. I feel the exact same way. 👍🏽
you need to go the CB 500 route Dan , you will love it , doesn't matter what you think it might be like now, just ride one, then you will understand, if you are ever at cadwell or oulton you can borrow mine
It's true, there is a viscous cycle of chasing the enjoyment high of each new Life at Lean video.
Ah but all it costs you is a teeny bit of your time. If you reward Dan for his efforts with a like, subscribe, and a comment, then you've satisfied the YT Hedonic Treadmill algorithmix. 😁
I live in Greece on the island of Crete my first bike was a CBR 600RR back in 2008 then in 2016 i bought a Yamaha R6 (2008) model which i still have to this day.. About a month ago i bought a Triumph speed 400...is so fun to ride around with my friends on that bike exploring the island...best decision i have made in recent years 😂😂
My track day machine is an 05 GSXR. Paid 2500 CAD for it. The one big thing I've eventually got to enjoying is passing these big bikes on the track. It's funny talking to the guys after asking how I'm passing them
Great video, nice of you to touch on the subject and I agree with all you said, I personally will never buy a brand new bike again.
Bought my non runner GSXR 750 for 750€. Fixed it for cheap and it is great fun to ride.
My expensive motorcycles were way more fun than my cheap ones. And less trouble as well.
My bike is about 24K, BMW. Absolutely love it, but I’ve no desire to do track days. Not only has my bike done everything I want, 2 yrs later I still get off and just look back at it and smile. Ride almost daily and it’s always a treat.
"[When you] get off and just look back at it and smile." That is a Very Good Sign that your steel steed has got you by the soul and is a Keeper.
Very true, I was going to buy a new 2024 Ducati Streetfighter V4, but when I really sat down and thought about it, I decided to go used. I ended up with a 2012 Aprila Dorsoduro 1200, and i'm going thru it, with full custom Andreani suspension. I will have about 9K Cad into it, vs the 36K the streetfighter would have cost me, and the insurance full coverage is $312/year.
I've been going backwards down the cost/power chart with my last few bikes. While the superbikes are amazing, there is a ton of fun and a LOT less cost when you step down a level or two. Especially if you're a street focused rider, a liter supersport is kind of like trying to daily a supercar, sounds like it would be fun, in practice, it's expensive, not that comfortable and totally unsuited to the task you've asked it to do!
Everything about this is accurate. My favorite bike is a ninja 400. In the past 2 years, I treated myself to own and try the following bikes R6, Street Triple RS, BMW S1KRR + S1KR, ZX6R, GSXS1000, and probably a few others. I was told to try owning and riding the "better" bikes because I dont know what I was missing. If I were to sell all my bikes I currently own now and get a single bike to do everything (commute, canyon, and track), I would pick either the ninja 400 or zx4rr.
Great info 🍻
Since I'm the most valuable thing on the track, I won't go below a certain level of bike; it must have traction control and ABS. However, I do also have a dirt bike; I think a dirt bike works very well to understand how a bike slides.
My wife got me a life at lean custom hoodie for christmas! Very happy with the results, thank you @lifeatlean!
I've always said this. It's nice to have the newest shiniest thing but it's nicer not worrying about using the thing. Really nice bikes that turn heads and look expensive can be had for very little money really. Mine gets comments all over the place and it's only worth about £1500 max. When it comes to bikes the late 90s/early 2000s were the best bikes anyway without all the electronic shite, so you get a better bike for less money, from an aspect of actually enjoying yourself with the thing.
The only bit of extra electronic 'shite' on my 2013 Honda CB500X (apart from EFI/EMS) is ABS. I think that's a worthwhile backup in a SHTF situation that might, at worst, reduce the splatter, or at best, even help dodge the whirling blades altogether.
I m so related with this video . Has ducati 1299 and mv agusta 675 with all the upgrades but most enjoyment is still my 15 years old daytona 675!!!
Soo true! Yes.
Hard times are ahead. A sports bike is completely useless for hauling groceries.
Get yourself a good solid cruiser. You'll never visit a race track, but you'll need to bring groceries home every week.
In 20 years, I've hauled groceries home ever week or other week, but never once visited a race track. There's not even one in my area if I wanted to, which i don't.
They show this ldl0t race track footage on a ninja bike as motorcycling, but it's not reality of being a daily driver. I have never seen one video of one person doing the actual reality of being a motorcycllist, loading up their motorcycle with groceries. I hauled groceries 25 miles yesterday, that's how common it is, what are you going to do if you don't have a car and ride a bike. You use your bike. I am literally tired of these motorcycles selling the wrong pipe dream to new riders. It's not reality. A ninja bike racehorse is the most worthless motorcycle one could own. Get yourself a good solid mule.
Oh c'mon you two guys.
I was young and bought a 600cc racer.
Lived off it for 3 years with tank bag, bungee strap, and for across the USA saddle bags. Go to a party with 12 pack under the bungee and change of clothes in the tank bag. No pillow needed when young. Grocery run was easy with backpack, the same way I strapped on guitar... or women !
Yep, same as learning to ride here in the US, that has no cc laws for beginners.
Used smaller cc powered machine is best, unless fully dirt trained.
I did new for 600cc 57,000 miles, then new at twice the cost... and horsepower for 58,000 miles, then same exact machine with 3300 miles used for 1/3 the cost. Gonna thrash this one out to 60,000 unless I find another cherry 2003 Triumph Daytona 955i Centennial, or I'd take a T595 if it's a cherry relic.
Great practical advice Dan......
But, that wasn't a pop at me was it at 3 mins in? 😊
I've never spent over $ 7000 on a bike.in the last 28 years...I wait for 6 year old 600cc bikes..guys buy and never ride or discover they can't handle a truly fast bike...so I can race on track alot $ upgrade $ $ afford track time and have money left over for $ upgrades while having a blast..if I crunch it..ez fix .. I didn't crash a 5 figure bike. Don't even worry about some sctratches..I'm on an 06 RR last 19 years just keep it in top condition for tracking and canyon carving in Colorado. The fun is in the skills I spent money on..and have learned. And skin the guys on their new $28,000 machines.
Go watch Yusuf Belhaala. He has calls with a lot people trying to buy cars far beyond their means just because "I ain't gettin in no honda" while doing door dash in a hellcat.
All truth. An early noughties CBR600RR will eat anything on track if its got a proper rider on it! 💯
I wouldn't trade me 2014 675R for anything!
I have a 06 for street and 09 for track i never gonna sell them
Dealer I bought my 955i from let me try a trade in 675.
That machine encourages slicing traffic, passing on off ramps, criminal speed in sleeper communities, eluding police, and getting a nice work out doing it !
Nope, did not buy it, stayed with heavier Daytona.
Got 4 motorcycles including a 916 and an full spec cbr600rr trackbike. My favourite motorcycle is my trusty old 500€ cb500 😂
And thats why i bough Kawasaki zx-4rr 79HP
Dude! I love you but.. "titans of the motoring industry" !!?? The have nothing to do with the motoring industry, and even less to do with informative journalism. They were actors, ( moronic actors if you like) that worked to a script that did nothing for the motor industry and everything to swell Clarksons ever swelling ego and waistline. Please,.. Please never say that again.
Carry on.
I second the motion.
My 54 hp checks my boxes. Also, paid off and cheap insurance, 65mpg, and pretty.
True !
New, small displacement is the spot. All the tech goodies and you can wind it out. Only problem is shite dealers.
Dude check the audio levels before posting
i love ridein(iam60(guy said he paint my first car at 17 but he want my m.bike :( (iam getin to old to get off and on th m.bike(only m.bike i get my foot on th ground is gsxr750/1989 as seat high is 755mm all h a good 1!
my cbr650R with my skill level outrides a ktm duke 1390 and 2018 fireblade. and theyve ridden 40 years longer than me but i started out with track ridin every weekend for 4 years before accepting their challenge.
Well, if for 40 years you ride in a straight line on the motorway, you're not going to be much good in tight turns, or track. You get good at what you practice.