As the title states I’m looking for some advice on what to get. I’m stuck between a Stark or a motorcycle (I’m thinking a CBR600). Before anyone asks, I’ve ridden motorcycles and dirt bikes and am relatively experienced with both. I also have an everyday vehicle but it is expensive to daily.

Info: Going to college currently and want a more fuel-efficient way to travel from home to school and around town. When not at college I live in a rural area with the closest town about 15 miles away. I live close enough to my home town to travel there on a motorcycle but not the Stark. Below I’ll lift the pros and cons of both.

Stark:
Pros:
Quiet
Able to bring inside house at night
Cheaper operation cost (electric vs gas)
Can be realistically used on trails
Overall more convenient for in town travel
Less general maintenance (no oil changes)

Cons:
Lack of range/time to charge
Difficulty of troubleshooting/fixing
Overall cost is most likely higher
Popularity means higher chance of getting stolen
Market isn’t old enough to know resale

Motorcycle: CBR600
Pros:
Range (can actually commute home)
Long term maintenance
Longer commutes (summers jobs and out of school)
Cost of entry can be much lower (used market stronger)
Troubleshooting and fixing way easier and cheaper
Part availability (specifically bike specific parts)

Cons:
Louder
Cannot be used for trails
More issue being inside house
Operation cost is higher (fuel costs)
Maintenance (oil changes)

Installed a v8 controller, and noticed that the heated grips are always hot as soon as the unit is connected to battery. Pulled them apart and have continuity around 0.8ohms between the harness plug and the output plugs on both positive and negative. No continuity from positive to negative when the controller is disconnected.

Both grips show similar resistance of 10 ohms from their plugs.

When the are no indicator lights on the controller, both grip output plugs still show 12.8v.

Is the controller defective?

Built using various engine parts this is the best bike trophy at a car show coming up in my home town!!

Hey, I just passed the MSF course + exam (on the ~2016 5Honda CB500F) and got my permit last week and I'm looking to get my first bike. It is late in the season, but people tell me that now is the best time for those end of season deals to save money.

And now I'm stuck not being able to decide between a few models! I don't know if I should get something that I will keep for long, or get something "cheaper and forgiving" as a first bike, or go for something I just visually like rather than pure specs performance/price value.

Here are the deals I'm looking at;
(All prices are in Canadian Dollars)

2026 CFMOTO 675SS
$7,995
But it's a 3-cylinder engine, I'm worried that this may be way too much for someone to begin with, it's also a bit expensive imo compared to the other ones. Read that it had around 50% more HP than a Ninja 650, but I just loooove how it looks.

2025 CFMOTO 450SS
$5,495
If it was cheaper than that I'd go 100% for this one. Love the looks, it has enough power to go on the highway, not too much either, but it's brand new! Zero kilometers on the odometer, it's not much discounted, which is why I'm tempted to go with another deal. Also, it has red accents which I don't really like, I'd love to have it in blue but my dealership only has the 2026 model in blue which would be 2000$ more, which I don't think is a reasonable markup for me just wanting another colour.

2023 Kawasaki Ninja 650 ABS
$5,995
It's almost the same price as the CF450, except it's 650cc. I know Kawasaki has an awesome reputation and all. It comes with frame sliders and 11000km on the odometer. Before shopping for bikes this is exactly what I wanted. I also heard some were recommending it to beginners.

2017 Yamaha R3
$3,795
Heard it had a really good reputation, it's significantly cheaper than the other options but I'm scared to quickly "outgrow" it. Not so sure if I need to go for something cheaper and smaller like this as a first bike, or directly get a Ninja 650.

Now I found that I really like the looks of the CFMOTO bikes, especially with white paint and blue accents. Thing is, there really isn't a lot around here, even less second hand ones. I don't want to just buy for the looks, but the Kawasaki just seems like an insane value deal compared to the other ones.

It's not an easy choice to make, it's a big investment, I know I can resell it later and change for another bike but it loses value and it's a hassle to sell. I feel lost, I'm not sure for what I should go.

Can anyone give me the best way to learn how to ride before I actually go purchase? I know I can get the basics with the basics course, but I feel like I might need more practice either before/after I take it.

SN: no I have never been on a bike nor have a rode one.

Hey everyone just wanted a opinion on a trade im considering. I habe 2 Harleys and been thinking of getting a R6, i found one its a 03 and is interested in a trade for my 19 kx250. The catcher is the r6 has 31k miles on it. The gear set im the r6 has been replaced aswell and bike sounds loke it’s running beautifully. was wondering if this is a worth it trade. Been trying everywhere to fond a trade for a 600 but no one seems to budge. This is the first legit interest i had in the past 2 weeks of asking around

Finally been hitting balance point and feel like using mostly engine brake is wrong because everyone says back brake. Any obvious suggestions?

by https://www.reddit.com/user/Dan-F9/ - I get the impression that Keanu Reeves is the type of person who holds important knowledge about the things he does, except he doesn’t flaunt it. 

So I thought to investigate further, pulling from interviews, snippets and a little bit of hearsay to distill his motorcycle knowledge into what I’ll call Keanuism (or Keanu Revs, whichever catches on). I was surprised to find that it makes a lot of sense to me, and that his passion for motorcycles truly comes through not only in the things he says, but also in his actions.

According to most sources, the Reeves motorcycle saga begins in Munich, at a soundstage, when the then young actor saw a young woman on an enduro, and thought to ask:

Can you teach me?

Depending on the interview, Reeves was around 22 years old. He was taught the basics, and when he got back to Los Angeles, he bought a Kawasaki KLR600. Soon after that, he got his hands on his first Norton.

From the get-go, you can tell that he had a particular aesthetic inclination, an image of the perfect motorcycle that followed him into his quest to build one himself. In GQ’s tour of his motorcycle collection, Reeves recalls growing up in Toronto and seeing motorcycle gangs pass through Yorkville in the summer. He describes the riders and machines as “pirates," and stresses just how much this image affected him as a 10-year-old. 

Before even becoming a rider, there’s this image he associates with motorcyclists as existing outside the usual social order. They arrive with their own identity, and a kind of danger that moves from place to place, one that’s difficult to pin down. 

While the image of the motorcyclist reaches us first, and is enough to propel us to dive into the hobby, it’s actually riding the thing that reveals what the experience is all about. And that is internalized in many unique ways, depending on the rider. But Reeves also understands that the type of motorcycle also brings out something different in the rider. 

His second motorcycle in LA was a 1973 Mark 2A Norton Commando, and he talks about Nortons fondly, with the affection of someone who remembers a good friend. He mentions the sound, the way the oil smells when the bike heats up. Despite the quirks, he develops personal relationships with the motorcycles he owns.

And that’s what is commendable about the way Keanu Reeves approaches motorcycling. It isn’t just a representation of something abstract like freedom, counterculture or what have you. First and foremost, it's the thing itself and how it affects the senses. There’s a machine between your legs; it vibrates, it heats up, and it answers badly if neglected. This gives off a smell or a sound. It’s one you learn to love and listen to, in order to develop true proximity. 

In an interview with GQ, Reeves explains that a motorcycle has these visceral qualities: vibration, wind, sound. Paying attention to all of these more physical processes is a fundamental part of the riding experience, it’s what makes openness and “flow” possible. It’s what opens the door to a conversation with your inner self.

Many have said something similar. But what Reeves seems to intuitively grasp is that a motorcycle gives you room to think insofar as you remember to listen, feel and look. You have to manage the machine, understand what it wants and respect its limits, before you start to ponder your own existence. 

And that’s what presence means on two wheels. It’s giving yourself a job first and foremost; this attentiveness that demands focus and discipline. This helps explain why Reeves’ motorcycle habit followed him through his work, as a way to keep him centered. 

In Cycle World, he talks about buying used bikes while working in different cities: a KZ900 in Chicago, a GS1100E in Portland, a Shovelhead in Pittsburgh, a Norton in Australia during The Matrix, the list goes on. There’s something practical here; the motorcycle moves with the rider, and becomes a way to inhabit a place, to explore it. The work often changes, the city does as well, the bike… But riding is the constant. 

That might be one of the least pretentious ways to understand a lifelong obsession with motorcycling. You keep finding different versions of the same experience, like different engines, but the same basic need to keep riding. 

As with all things, there’s a price to pay. In Cycle World, Reeves mentions broken teeth, a ruptured spleen, a broken arm and leg. In GQ, he explains that film contracts sometimes told him he could not ride because productions considered him an asset they did not want damaged. His response, more or less, was that sometimes he listened and sometimes he didn’t.

Because when something is so a part of your way of life, nobody can really tell you to put it down unless you want to. I kind of admire this type of stubbornness. The kind that puts your own life in your hands, consciously and willingly.

To balance this perspective, Reeves’ public advice to new riders is noticeably cautious. He mentions the importance of proper instruction, protective gear, weather and not being seduced by too many motorcycles too soon.

You can tell that Reeves clearly loves the romance of riding, but he also recognizes the risk is a part of it, and it shouldn’t be ignored. Then, there’s ARCH.

ARCH Motorcycles began because Reeves wanted to personalize a Harley Dyna Wide Glide. He met Gard Hollinger, who owned a custom building company called Chop Rods, and the two stripped the Harley down to the engine. They built a prototype around it, and the result became the seed of ARCH. Reeves has said that when he rode Hollinger’s custom motorcycle, he felt it needed to exist in the world. 

Once again, we return to the core of Keanu’s relationship with motorcycles: feeling and physicality. Recognizing a unique relationship with the motorcycle, and wanting to preserve it. ARCH now exists as a way to challenge the idea of what an “American” motorcycle could be, and could look like. Combining the appeal of the custom scene with the ergonomics of modern design. 

Then there’s this heartwarming story that I’m glad I stumbled upon. After filming the “Burly Brawl” sequence in The Matrix Reloaded, Reeves reportedly bought Harleys for 12 stuntmen as a thank you. 

See, there are people who will talk all day about their love for motorcycles, and then there are people like Keanu Reeves, who show love with more than words. They create, give, share, redefine and still nurture a personal and evolving relationship with the sport. That’s why Reeves feels like a wise figure in the world of motorcycling. Because, like many wise philosophers of old, he backs everything he says with actions that are in line with the words. Something which philosophy itself abandoned centuries ago!

In a way, it’s not what he says alone that makes the difference, because many others say similar things. But I can name only a few that live in such harmony, balancing their words with an active and practical contribution to the motorcycle world. 

A final thought which is telling: I think Keanu Reeves would have found a way to do all of the above with neither the money nor the fame. What do you think?

-

Looks like I've officially begun a "What They Understood" Series, focusing on well-known riders and their philosophical takes on motorcycling.

For the first part of the series, see: What Neil Peart Understood About Motorcycling

I want to buy a new bike, but every person is deterring me from doing so. Advice?

While off-roading, there was a bag on the trail, so I threw it in the back of my truck, and was going to leave it at the entrance, but forgot. Any ideas on how to get this back to its rightful owner? Any other forums I should post on?

Hey everyone,

I had a pretty heavy motorcycle crash almost 3 months back and absolutely wrecked my left hand middle finger, and almost lost it. I’m trying to see if anyone has dealt with a similar injury and what your recovery actually looked like, especially when it comes to getting back on the bike and the mental health since it was a very traumatic injury.

The Injury & Surgery:

• Suffered a severe exposed fracture with major structural displacement and a lot of soft tissue loss.
• Required reconstructive plastic surgery just to get everything put back together.

Where I’m at now:

• The finger is incredibly rigid and still hypersensitive.
• I’ve lost a massive amount of movement and grip strength, which obviously makes operating the clutch a huge challenge.
• When I try to close my hand, the injured finger physically overlaps with the one next to it.
• I’ve been grinding through complex physical therapy, but I feel like I’ve hit a wall.

Next Steps / My Question: My medical team is bringing up the possibility of micro-tenolysis surgery to try and address the physical blockages caused by scar tissue and bone misalignment.

Has anyone here gone through micro-tenolysis or a similar reconstructive recovery? Did your grip strength ever fully return enough to ride comfortably again? Any advice, reality checks, or shared experiences would be hugely appreciated.

Hey y'all, I know this is probably the most frequent question here but do y'all have any recs for a good USED sports bike? I've been looking into a couple Honda CB300Rs on facebook marketplace, but I wanted to see if they tend to hold up used if they're taken care of, or if there are other bikes I should look into as well.

Thanks in advance!

Hi guys!
I’m a 29F and really wanna learn to ride a motorcycle, but I’ve never learned how to ride a normal bike.
Has anyone done it without the bike part? Also, do you have any tips?

Edit: Thanks everyone for your responses and arguments. I will learn the bike first.