What makes the best first bike or starter bike?
"Anything you can get to move all on your lonesome, with no assistance and has 2 wheels!"
Kidding but not kidding...
The main point is, start with what you can afford.
Now you have a budget and the rest follows.
Unless you don't care if you can afford it or have a large budget, now you've got lots more options. Here are a few pointers on my thinking about getting into dirt biking.
The Author out Riding
Ideally you have someone in your life that knows a few basics of dirtbikes and can help point you in the right direction. This will save you lots of annoyance, frustration, money ect.. Unless you just like to send it, that can actually be super fun and you end up learning a lot really fast!
If you don't have someone that you trust to help you out..get on some local facebook groups and ask for help, there are lots of good people out there that want to help and lots that are just obnoxious and don't want to.
Best bet really is to have a local shop that you trust, and pick their brain a bit to get you started!
5 Rules for Starter Dirtbikes
Rule 1: Can you reach the ground?
Don't start out with something you cant reach, it makes for miserable time!
Rule 2: Does it have to much power for you?
As fun as power is, you don't want to unintentionally head off into the brush. I've seen it and you won't ride for long going this route.
Rule 3: Do you want a manual clutch or auto clutch.
This will add some enjoyment to learning if you run auto clutch and make shifting much easier to learn. This also has the downside in the sense that it will obviously take longer to excel at a higher level of riding, but it's totally fine if your strictly looking to have fun and enjoy cool scenery!
Rule 4: Do you care to learn maintenance or would you rather just plug and play for starters with a electric bike?
Both have their downsides and upsides, see our ebike vs gas bike blog for more details!
Rule 5: Dont overthink it.
Just re-read this post, find your friend and local shop and just tell them you wanna ride. They will walk you through the rest!
To get you started heres a few bikes and thoughts to get you headed in the right direction.
The best starter bikes are quiet, shorter, easy or little maintenance and come with tire size options.
For gas bikes I have a hard time steering people to anything other than Honda or Kawasaki, they have a ton of options and are very reliable.
For EBikes I have a ton of strong opinions due to the fact there is so many new companies constantly coming out that sound way better than they actually are. Support after purchase, parts availability, reliability of wiring etc...
Best Starter Gas Dirtbikes
For the top starter bike lineup, I'd have to give it to Honda.
From their CRF50 as a totally new kid starting at the age of 4-5 all the way up to adults if you want to mod it out. Anyone literally can ride it.
Next level bike would be a CRF110 for leveling up.
From ages 8-13 ish or if you have a tall kid even earlier.
There are endless mod options for these as your kid grows and wants more power. You can add a manual clutch since they come with auto clutch (easy shifting) but still have gears.
Making Memories on the Dirtbikes!
The best bike for learning or getting started as a teenager or lady is the Honda CRF125.
These come with different tire sizes to suit different rider heights, but again these can be a fun factory bike for all levels of riders with the addition of aftermarket parts. By the time you graduate this bike, you'll be well on your way to have endless options now that you can rip!
Best Starter Electric Dirtbikes
From the Ebike side of things, I'd have to say in my experience - based on reliability and after sale support, Rawrr Mantis lineup is at top of my list.
They might not be the flashiest "coolest" bike but reliability and after sale support is awesome!
They have, in my opinion, the best electrical. Rawrr pricing for the value is amazing!
The Pup is the smallest bike very comparable to the CRF50
The Mantis Mini R is a level up and comparable to the CRF110 but with the option to put bigger wheel sets on it as the rider grows
The Mantis X is more in line with the CRF125 and makes learning a bigger bike very easy!
The Mantis Pro is a big step up from the X for power and performance and is a lot of fun even for full grown adults!
All these bikes are tunable through an app for keeping things under control as you learn.
Lastly, just make a phone call to your local shop or non-local. Just get started and you'll have a blast with your new adventure.
Dirbikes dont judge you, they keep you in shape, they let you learn at your pace.
They are meditation and therapy and just sit there quietly until your ready to have fun again!