Choosing the right bike

There's a bike for every purpose, from city-only scooters to open-road sports blasters.

Lightweight scooters, with engines smaller than a lawnmower and cheaper to run, are everywhere. Then there are their big, big brothers - 600cc, ocean-going scooters that will carry two people and luggage with ease, and will give a Porsche Turbo a fright at the traffic lights.

Hitting the open road

For the open road there are dozens of models, with engines from 600 to 1600cc and upwards. Honda's VTR1000 Firestorm is a perennial favourite - a 1000cc V-twin with proven reliability, a brilliantly torquey engine, and easy-to-ride manners.

Beating city traffic

Check out the single-cylinder dual-purpose bikes; they're the closest things available to a bike that will do everything well.

The 250cc dual-purpose machines are perfect for beating rush-hour traffic, and with fuel consumption below three litres per 100kms, will get you to work for the price of your daily long black. Their big-brother, big-thumper 600s are equally comfortable in traffic, but have the grunt to load up with tent and sleeping bag for a week-long tour of NZ's backroads.

There are two evergreen superstars in this category. Honda's XR250 has been around longer than most of the motorcyclists on the road. It's almost idiot-proof – and maybe the best congestion-beater ever. Suzuki's Big Thumper DR650 enjoys more cred than other big "trailies". They are only $9k new, and excellent five-year-old examples change hands for half that.

Do your homework

Take a minute to search your type of bike on Trade Me: commuter, tourer, cruiser, sports, whichever. It'll be obvious that there's a choice of machine from small to XXXL in every category.

You can also grab a copy of Kiwi Rider, or check out one of the many specialist review sites.

License and insurance

Obviously, it's no good buying a bike you don't have a license for.

New Zealand has a graduated license system, so anyone can own and ride a motorcycle. Check out LTSA's advice on getting your motorcycle license.

Equally, it's no good buying a bike you can't insure. Inexperienced riders may have difficulty insuring performance machines, while simple commuters can be cheap as chips to insure. Swann offers bike insurance packages.

Next: Is it a good fit?