Motorcycles include everything from small dirt bikes up to fully-dressed touring rigs. Purchased new, they can range from less than two thousand to over $200,000 dollars.
It’s a varied sport. There are bikes to address the needs of almost every sort of riding, and almost every size and age of rider.
Let’s look at the major types of motorcycles and get an idea of the price range of each. We’ll focus only street-legal, gas-powered (not electric) bikes available for sale new, today:
Dirt Bikes: $1000-$10,000
Dirt bikes range from Chinese knock-offs shipped to your door ready for assembly, on up to competition-ready open-class KTM’s and Husquarnas. At the bottom end, you get a bike that’s fine for playing the dirt and short trips on well-maintained trails. At the top, you get a bike that would at least get you into the field at a major AMA motocross event. The custom “works” bikes ridden by Moto-X champions are worth a lot more than $10,000. Some estimate the one-off Hondas and KTM’s ridden by champs like Tony Cairoli have price tags in the $100,000 range.
Cruisers: $3000-$40,000 (and up)
Cruisers share one thing in common: Style. If you’re on a cruiser, you understand the value of looking good over going fast. The upright handlebars, short suspension travel, and feet-forward riding posture help low-speed comfort and visuals, but result in less comfort (and control) as speeds increase. Nevertheless, this is a very popular and wide category. Chinese company Lifan can get you on the road with their hog-looking LF250-B for about $2000. Its 250cc V-twin at least features the correct number of cylinders. At the top end — well — there is no top end, really. Some custom choppers go for far more than the $40K Harley demands for a loaded CVO Road Guide Ultra. Style has its price.
Sportbikes: $2000-$200,000
“Speed costs money. How fast do you want to go?” That old saying is as true about NASCAR racers as it is about sportbikes. At the bottom end of the market for bikes with a sporting riding posture and a full fairing is the Lifan LF200. Powered by a 197cc air-cooled single, you should get some laughs out of the LF200 up to its 75 mph (approximate) top speed. At the top end of the street-legal sportbike category sits the Honda RC213V-S, a streetable version of their RC213V MotoGP bike that won’t give up until it sees the far side of 200MPH – if you find a way to defeat the power limiter that caps the V4 at only 101 horsepower for the U.S. market. We’re sure that could be arranged – for a price.