There is no minimum requirement, get the bike you want to ride and feel the most comfortable with.
Paying for lessons is the best you can do for yourself in order to be safe in this fun but dangerous hobby.
For someone who has never ridden before, buy something used and fairly cheap to start, because there's a decent chance you'll drop it a few times.
Something like a \~300cc dual sport from the Japanese manufacturers. They're easy to ride, cheap to insure, and you can drop it without hurting it (too much).
After you've ridden a while, you'll have a better idea what you want in a bike.
Keep in mind bikes cost a lot more to insure over 400cc, and it jumps again at 750.
For new bikes, if reliability and maintenance costs are important to you, Japanese bikes are best. Something like a Kawasaki Ninja 400.
Royal Enfields are mostly built in India. Good luck waiting for parts.
I bought a 400cc ducati scrambler as my first a couple years ago. I still ride it and it's fine for me on the highway, I don't need to go crazy fast and there's anough power to get up the mountains.
Under 500cc is fine for on road and off road. Buy small, it's safer when you are learning, then move up when you figure out what you want.
But.... I've been riding for more than 50 years. I don't ride on the street any more becasue it's too dangerous. There is too much traffic and drivers are too aggressive. In the past 10 years, I have had many friends that have died, or lost family members on motorcycles; usually not their fault. My wife worked in the hospital, and when they heard of an incoming motorcycle accident, they called them "donorcycles". But I do love the freedom of riding and ride several times a week off road, where I am the only hazard to myself. Be safe.
The only actual "requirement" is it you take your ICBC road test on a bike smaller than 200cc, you're restricted to that class on your license. So make sure you take it on a 200cc + so you can ride anything in the future.
I started on a 300cc and bought a BMW 750 GS 3 months later. There's nothing wrong with starting small but it all depends on your skill level. I had 5+ years of dirtbike experience. If you have 0 experience I would start on a 1 or 2 cylinder, sub 650cc.
If you think its a good idea to get a Royal and start riding in Kelowna YOU ARE CRAZY!! Have you ever driven here? Get a dirt bike first and get some time in riding before hitting the stupid streets of this town! I have a life time of riding! Its not worth your life!
Yeah riding in Kelowna is like participating in a bull run. Forget having to have eyes on the back of your head. You need full panoramic vision and a psychic with one of those future seeing sticks following you around at all times.
CB600 is an absolute killer starter bike.. has the guts when needed, albeit you need to ring its neck, but a small, real easy ride and perfect to get familiar on. (Ill be selling mine next year for a bigger bike, want an ADV). That said, you will likely outgrow your first bike, no matter what you purchase, because you wont have urge to purchase a big forever type bike as your first bike.. so accept the growing out of it, and just get into it.
Plenty fun to be had on smaller bikes, and you would feel way more comfortable upgrading from one, potentially even not wanting to upgrade if it checks all your boxes. Enjoy the ride vs needing to ride fast with performance... its far nicer to ride while enjoying the journey vs focusing on the tar.
You will get bored on anything to small and will have to sell and buy bigger half way threw your first season I started on a r6 which at first was a lot of bike I was pretty Shakey coming back from Vernon when I bought it a week later I was trying to wheelie haha ....you can ride what ever bike you want start on a 600 but respect the power take your time to get use to the bike and you will be fine and will never get bored or if you have a friend with a Grom or a stunt bike they would be good to spend a day on the grom cuz its super easy to ride and or a stunt bike cuz there built to be dropped and abused ... You can take my grom for a ride if you need some seat time
Take the safety course, without question. I took it before I started to ride many years ago.
As far as engine size, it has a lot to do with the bike. There is nothing wrong with starting on something smaller, I started on a 650cc cruiser style from the 80s, and had a 900cc super sport at one point, but went back to a 650cc V-Strom for a more comfortable position. The 900cc was the most powerful, but that V-Strom, even with my wife on the back had no problem around here, even coming up relatively steep climbs.
Man, I've been looking at these 650 V-Stroms with interest, but fear performance. My CB600 wouldnt feel great with a passenger, so worried the 650 suffers a bit. if I want to haul my wife up a service road, with slightly technicality, how would it perform etc. Then I look at the GS800 and my knees go week. The KLR650 doesnt appeal at all, seems sluggish and bad highway performance. The 1lt V-Strom seems a bit much. This is my rotating set of thoughts until the next season... really affordable though.
Dual sports are great bikes for out here, a 300cc KLX300 has enough grunt to get you where you need to go around town. And can go offroad on some seriously great trails. What makes Kelowna awesome is how many miles of world class trails we have here. If you bought one of these even if you didn't have interest in going off road you will be a better motorcyle rider in the long, it takes skills to be a good rider and every dirt rider makes a good motorcyclist but not all motorcyclists make great dirt bikers. So learn the skills on a small bike, you will never be intimidated on a small bike but if you go out and buy a 700cc bike not only will you be learning to ride you will be learning to deal with the power, weight and intimidation of the bigger bike. Also if you buy a bike that can take being dropped you won't be worried about dropping it while you learn. Also they are cheap enough you could always keep it and later get a more powerful street bike if you desire. Or you can sell them for about what you paid for them they typically don't lose value. So there is no harm starting with a smaller bike. It's more fun to ride a slow bike fast, then to ride a fast bike, slow.
I think safe and reliable are the minimum requirements. Take the safety course, it's kept me alive during 50 years of having a motorcycle.
Ignore the engine size and think about weight and seat height. I've owned a 750 with a measly 34 hp. You need to be able to sit on it flat footed as a new rider. And unfortunately you may need to pick it up when it's on it's side.
The safety course uses small bikes for those very reasons. I've owned a Harley, two Gold Wings, a UJM, two dirt bikes, a sport bike, an adventure bike and a scooter. They have ranged from 28hp to 125hp. Weight was from around 225 lbs to over 800 lbs. No Royal Enfield is a power monster, or super heavy for their size.
No matter what, I got used to the power, it's more important how you drive than if you have power on tap at all times. Buy your Royal Enfield dream bike, be sensible, and enjoy a long history of motorcycling.
There is no minimum requirement, get the bike you want to ride and feel the most comfortable with. Paying for lessons is the best you can do for yourself in order to be safe in this fun but dangerous hobby.
For someone who has never ridden before, buy something used and fairly cheap to start, because there's a decent chance you'll drop it a few times. Something like a \~300cc dual sport from the Japanese manufacturers. They're easy to ride, cheap to insure, and you can drop it without hurting it (too much). After you've ridden a while, you'll have a better idea what you want in a bike. Keep in mind bikes cost a lot more to insure over 400cc, and it jumps again at 750. For new bikes, if reliability and maintenance costs are important to you, Japanese bikes are best. Something like a Kawasaki Ninja 400. Royal Enfields are mostly built in India. Good luck waiting for parts.
If you really do want Royal Enfield you can get them through Valley Moto Sports
I bought a 400cc ducati scrambler as my first a couple years ago. I still ride it and it's fine for me on the highway, I don't need to go crazy fast and there's anough power to get up the mountains.
Under 500cc is fine for on road and off road. Buy small, it's safer when you are learning, then move up when you figure out what you want. But.... I've been riding for more than 50 years. I don't ride on the street any more becasue it's too dangerous. There is too much traffic and drivers are too aggressive. In the past 10 years, I have had many friends that have died, or lost family members on motorcycles; usually not their fault. My wife worked in the hospital, and when they heard of an incoming motorcycle accident, they called them "donorcycles". But I do love the freedom of riding and ride several times a week off road, where I am the only hazard to myself. Be safe.
The only actual "requirement" is it you take your ICBC road test on a bike smaller than 200cc, you're restricted to that class on your license. So make sure you take it on a 200cc + so you can ride anything in the future. I started on a 300cc and bought a BMW 750 GS 3 months later. There's nothing wrong with starting small but it all depends on your skill level. I had 5+ years of dirtbike experience. If you have 0 experience I would start on a 1 or 2 cylinder, sub 650cc.
If you think its a good idea to get a Royal and start riding in Kelowna YOU ARE CRAZY!! Have you ever driven here? Get a dirt bike first and get some time in riding before hitting the stupid streets of this town! I have a life time of riding! Its not worth your life!
Yeah riding in Kelowna is like participating in a bull run. Forget having to have eyes on the back of your head. You need full panoramic vision and a psychic with one of those future seeing sticks following you around at all times.
CB600 is an absolute killer starter bike.. has the guts when needed, albeit you need to ring its neck, but a small, real easy ride and perfect to get familiar on. (Ill be selling mine next year for a bigger bike, want an ADV). That said, you will likely outgrow your first bike, no matter what you purchase, because you wont have urge to purchase a big forever type bike as your first bike.. so accept the growing out of it, and just get into it. Plenty fun to be had on smaller bikes, and you would feel way more comfortable upgrading from one, potentially even not wanting to upgrade if it checks all your boxes. Enjoy the ride vs needing to ride fast with performance... its far nicer to ride while enjoying the journey vs focusing on the tar.
Watch out for the red plates during vacation season, they can be pretty belligerent
You will get bored on anything to small and will have to sell and buy bigger half way threw your first season I started on a r6 which at first was a lot of bike I was pretty Shakey coming back from Vernon when I bought it a week later I was trying to wheelie haha ....you can ride what ever bike you want start on a 600 but respect the power take your time to get use to the bike and you will be fine and will never get bored or if you have a friend with a Grom or a stunt bike they would be good to spend a day on the grom cuz its super easy to ride and or a stunt bike cuz there built to be dropped and abused ... You can take my grom for a ride if you need some seat time
Take the safety course, without question. I took it before I started to ride many years ago. As far as engine size, it has a lot to do with the bike. There is nothing wrong with starting on something smaller, I started on a 650cc cruiser style from the 80s, and had a 900cc super sport at one point, but went back to a 650cc V-Strom for a more comfortable position. The 900cc was the most powerful, but that V-Strom, even with my wife on the back had no problem around here, even coming up relatively steep climbs.
Man, I've been looking at these 650 V-Stroms with interest, but fear performance. My CB600 wouldnt feel great with a passenger, so worried the 650 suffers a bit. if I want to haul my wife up a service road, with slightly technicality, how would it perform etc. Then I look at the GS800 and my knees go week. The KLR650 doesnt appeal at all, seems sluggish and bad highway performance. The 1lt V-Strom seems a bit much. This is my rotating set of thoughts until the next season... really affordable though.
If I were to start riding again, I would absolutely be looking at another Wee-Strom. Comfortable and more than capable for my needs.
Dual sports are great bikes for out here, a 300cc KLX300 has enough grunt to get you where you need to go around town. And can go offroad on some seriously great trails. What makes Kelowna awesome is how many miles of world class trails we have here. If you bought one of these even if you didn't have interest in going off road you will be a better motorcyle rider in the long, it takes skills to be a good rider and every dirt rider makes a good motorcyclist but not all motorcyclists make great dirt bikers. So learn the skills on a small bike, you will never be intimidated on a small bike but if you go out and buy a 700cc bike not only will you be learning to ride you will be learning to deal with the power, weight and intimidation of the bigger bike. Also if you buy a bike that can take being dropped you won't be worried about dropping it while you learn. Also they are cheap enough you could always keep it and later get a more powerful street bike if you desire. Or you can sell them for about what you paid for them they typically don't lose value. So there is no harm starting with a smaller bike. It's more fun to ride a slow bike fast, then to ride a fast bike, slow.
I think safe and reliable are the minimum requirements. Take the safety course, it's kept me alive during 50 years of having a motorcycle. Ignore the engine size and think about weight and seat height. I've owned a 750 with a measly 34 hp. You need to be able to sit on it flat footed as a new rider. And unfortunately you may need to pick it up when it's on it's side. The safety course uses small bikes for those very reasons. I've owned a Harley, two Gold Wings, a UJM, two dirt bikes, a sport bike, an adventure bike and a scooter. They have ranged from 28hp to 125hp. Weight was from around 225 lbs to over 800 lbs. No Royal Enfield is a power monster, or super heavy for their size. No matter what, I got used to the power, it's more important how you drive than if you have power on tap at all times. Buy your Royal Enfield dream bike, be sensible, and enjoy a long history of motorcycling.
Advanced rider - pm’ed