[RideApart] - Cheaper Thrills - Five Rad Bikes for Under $5,000

[Ninjette Newsbot]

Cheaper Thrills - Five Rad Bikes for Under $5,000

How much fun does five Benjamins buy you nowadays? Quite a bit, it turns out!

It's that time of year again! Despite the fact that February only has 28 days but feels six months long, riding season is just around the corner. Are you considering a new bike but the holidays put you in hock and you only have a couple grand to play around with? Not to worry. Today we're going to talk about some great bikes you can buy new for $5,000 or less.

IF I: Cheap Thrills - Six Great Bikes for Under $6,000

The list isn't comprehensive by any stretch, but it*is a decent selection of bikes recommended by the staff here at the RideApart word mines. We looked at five different categories—cruiser, sportbike, ADV/dual sport, standard/naked, and factory retro—and chose bikes based on their price, value, and their RideApart Fun Quotient Score™. So, without further ado, let's look at some cheap, fun bikes.

Cruiser - Honda Rebel 300


MSRP:*$4,499

The new Honda Rebels show up quite a bit in articles like this. There's a good reason for that. They're great little cruisers with a lot of style and a lot of customizing potential built in. The 300's big brother was at the top of our Six under $6,000 article from last year, and Kyra bombed around Los Angeles last April on both versions. You can check out her experiences with the Rebel 300 in this article.

Sportbike - Kawasaki Ninja 400


MSRP:*$4,999

It's mean! It's green! It's*adorable!*The new Ninja 400 packs an incredible amount of style and fun into a sub-$5,000 package, and does so very well. It's been getting rave reviews, and our own Adam Waheed took one for a spin around the track a few weeks ago. You can read about his experiences with the new baby ninja right here.

ADV/Dual Sport - Yamaha TW200


MSRP: $4,599

Talk about a classic. Yamaha's TW200 is the ultimate go anywhere/do anything small bike. A little bit ADV, a little bit street, and a whole lot of fun, the TW200 has been on the market relatively unchanged for 30-some years now. Tod wrote a bit of a love letter to the venerable little Yamaha last year, which you should totally check out.

WERE A: Killer Bikes for Under $3,000

Factory Retro - Suzuki TU250X


MSRP: $4,399

It came from the 70s! Suzuki's TU20X is our pick for the sub-$5,000 retro bike. It has some really great, classic lines mixed with a punchy little 249cc air-cooled mill, a five-speed gearbox, and pretty respectable brakes and suspension. It makes a great starter or light runabout, and with your foot already in Suzuki's door you can easily upgrade to the venerable SV650 once you outgrow the little Suzuki that could.

Standard/Naked - BMW G 310 R


MSRP:*$4,750

Yes, you read that right. An honest to god BMW for less than five grand. The G 310 R has been on the market for a while now, and is, from all accounts, basically an S 1000 R that got shrunk in the wash. It's agile, fast, aggressively styled, and looks fantastic. Our man Ken Hutchinson flogged one around L.A. back when they first came out in 2017 and wrote a pretty glowing review*of the tiny but mighty Beemer.

RICH MAN: The Best Starter Cruisers - 5 Bikes To Seriously Consider

So there you have it, the most fun you can have for around five grand. Did we miss anything? Do you have a favorite brand new sub-$5,000 bike that we should know about? Tell us all about it!

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