Thinking about buying your first motorcycle, or perhaps hopping on one for some joy riding?  Want to enjoy the most addictive mode of transportation around, but not too sure of how or where to begin?  Keep reading.
The key to successful (and safe) riding is patience.  There are some things about motorcycles that will always ring true, just by virtue of the fact that a motorcycle is effectively an engine with wheels… and that’s it.  99.95% of the time your motorcycle will be faster than a car; you will encounter drivers …

Over the years, many a song has come and gone that has spoken to the free-wheelin’ whims of popular motorcycle culture. We found a great article that highlighted 10 fantastic songs that really brought out some fantastic elements of motorcycle riding. The passion, the interest, and the sheer candidness of the sport is what keeps us all riding. Oh, and it’s a lot of fun too….

The term counter-steering means different things to different people. Before I started to ride motorcycles, it meant turning the wheel the the same way the rear of the car was going in order to recover from a skid. On a motorcycle, the term is used to describe how to initiate a turn.

Three months into 2010 Spring is starting to rear its head. The sun is shining, the snow is melting, and the roads are clearing up! Time to get your new motorcycle on the road. This is the first in what will likely become yearly installments: our official 2010 guide to motorcycles for new riders. Every major segment is covered here: sport bikes, dual-sport/motards, and cruiser. Looking to buy a new bike? Check out what we recommend!

The second installment in our summary of the 2010 Calgary Motorcycle Show. Three more bikes are showcased for your enjoyment.

Watch for some more reviews later this year when Calgary finally gets some decent weather!

The Calgary motorcycle show was a few weeks ago, but I’ve been so crazy busy that I never had a chance to post some of the pics that I took. There were a ton of really excellent motorcycles on display this year, including some new BMW’s that really got the crowd excited (197 horsepower will do that to people). However, being the guy that I am, I tried to get a line on some of the new entry level and/or tamer motorcycles that would be better suited for beginners.

With all that being said, here are some of my personal highlights from the 2010 motorcycle show…

Have you ever noticed that whenever you buy a new car (or motorcycle) that it always seems faster the day you buy it than it does six months later? This is what happens when your mind and body get used to the speed (as well as the forces applied to it), making your motorcycle feel slower than it is.

Remember, especially if you’re just learning how to ride a motorcycle, that the motorcycle doesn’t actually slow down- you just got used to the speed. This is why people modify their cars to make them faster, and this is also why people go from 600cc super-sports (already capable of 10/11 second quarter mile times) to 750cc or 1,000cc motorcycles.

Keeping your motorcycle insurance premiums low can be a real tough challenge. These five tips will help keep your premiums as low as possible, keeping more money in your wallet (for gas, of course).

For new motorcycle riders, the look and feel of a motorcycle is often as important to rider as actually riding the motorcycle. Let’s be completely honest for a second: every rider wants to feel “cool” when they’re on their motorcycle.

For this reason alone many people jump into a motorcycle that’s far too big for their needs, resulting in unnecessary risk for the rider (as well as those surrounding the rider on the road). I cringe every single time I hear about a new rider hopping on a Yamaha R6 or Honda CBR600RR. I break into a full-on sweat if the motorcycle is a litre-bike (Yamaha R1-esque machines).

There’s a reason that “beginner motorcycles” exist: they provide a safer base that a motorcycle rider can use to hone his or her skills. The fact that they are quick, fuel efficient, and easy on the wallet is simply a bonus.

Doing a quck search in Google for the term “beginner motorcycle” will net you over 750,000 results. Within these results you’ll find everything from beginner motorcycle guides to rundown of what a beginner motorcycle is.

So, of course, that begs the question: what exactly is a beginner motorcycle?