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The usual way new and even many experienced bikers decide on what bike they are going to buy is to look at what their buddies are riding, or what the magazines have been testing recently.

While both these options have some merit they are not without their problems. Consider:

a) your mate may be a different size from you, they may be more or less flexible, they may be more or less experienced, their riding style and needs may be completely different from yours and so ultimately will be their choice of bike.

b) Magazine tests, the mags are supposed to be fair and impartial when it comes to bike and kit tests. However think about these 2 real examples

A magazine which had previously written positive reports about a particular manufacturers bikes were in the eyes of one journalist not given the respect they deserved and so wrote a negative test report on an almost identical machine which they had previously stated numerous times was a great bike.

A manufacturer withdrew all national advertising from a magazine and encouraged their dealers not to advertise with that particular publication due to a lengthy test piece critising certain things the magazine regarded as unacceptable faults in a new machine.

So the magazines can affect bike sales by unfair writing and manufacturers can punish magazines by withdrawing valuable advertising revenue.

You decide; can all bike tests then be truly impartial?

Another way is for you the rider to take a long hard honest look at your current riding style, ability, overall size weight and strength and the type of riding you do or are going to do i.e. that sexy 600 supersport may not have the best riding position if you are doing a lot of urban heavy traffic commuting, a heavy touring machine may be comfortable but is it the best machine for back road blasts with your mates and while you may love the idea of a dual sport/supermoto a fuel range of around 60 miles may not be practical when taking that cross country trip you do once a month with your mother riding pillion.

Once you have narrowed your choice down a bit, if you already have a bike licence take as many test rides as you can on as many different styles of bike as you need in order to make an informed decision. I have come across too many bikers who bought based on little or no thought or information and ended up with a bike they hated and in some cases gave up biking and blamed the bike shop for selling them that pile of s**t and ended up losing money when selling it because in their eyes they had bought the worst bike ever made.

Follow the guidelines in this article, give thought to *how you fit the bike and the bike fits you* and I promise you that every bike you buy will truly be for you the Best Motorcycle in the World.

Alan Walker
www.motorcycle-guide.com