You Can Still Buy A New Motorcycle For Dirt Cheap And Have A Ton Of Fun

Spring is coming, which means it’ll soon be time to enjoy warm weather activities again. If you haven’t gotten a motorcycle yet, now is a great time to get into this hobby. Today’s motorcycles offer up attractive design, good reliability, and loads of fun. The best part? You don’t have to spend a million bucks to enjoy yourself. Here are my picks for the coolest cheap bikes to look at this spring.

One of the best changes to happen to the motorcycle market in recent times is the rise of the low-displacement motorcycle. Small bore bikes are the most accessible pathways into motorcycling. These motorcycles aren’t souped up with sports car-killing power and usually don’t require a ton of skill to safely operate. At the same time, a good small-bore bike is also great for an experienced rider. Use it to get to work, use it on the farm, or take it down country roads. You’ll get great fuel economy and you can bang through every gear without having to constantly check your six for the constable.

If you’re looking for an affordable ride, CFMoto, Royal Enfield, and Honda each have lines of amazingly cheap bikes. Triumph even joined in on the small and cheap revolution with its new 400s. But what’s the cheapest? If you’re a cheapskate like me, you might be looking at the very bottom of the market. As it turns out, you can still get some really cool bikes even if you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel.

I decided to find the cheapest motorcycle in five categories: The absolute cheapest, the cheapest sportbike, the cheapest cruiser, the cheapest off-road bike, and then the cheapest long-distance bike. Now, you can buy outrageously cheap motorcycles from no-name Chinese brands from Amazon or Temu. I’m excluding those bikes because in my experience, those things are just a huge headache and you’ll spend more time wrenching than riding.

Let’s see how the market has changed!

Honda XR150L – $3,099 – Cheapest Off-Road

One of the best deals in motorcycling right now is the Honda XR150L. For years, riders have begged for a cheap dual-sport that anyone can enjoy, anyone can fix, and nearly anyone can afford. That bike is the XR150L. I featured this bike in 2023 as my pick for a crazy cheap off-road bike and it remains my pick today.

The XR150L originally launched in 2014 with sales in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Those in Asia use the XR150L as a commuter bike while those in Australia and New Zealand use them as farm bikes. There’s something pretty magical about a good farm bike. They’ll take a serious beating and keep on taking licks. They don’t care if you crash them through brush or ride them through a pasture, they’ll keep on working. Then, if they break, you can patch them up with a screwdriver and bubble gum then keep on riding.

The American version of the XR150L isn’t much different than the international version. It features an 149cc air-cooled single breathing through a carburetor and making 12.5 horses. That’s not a ton of power, but at least it’s moving just 282 pounds. It also has a 32.8-inch seat height. How simple is this machine? It has a drum brake in the back. Not even the Royal Enfield is that cheap. You also don’t get ABS, traction control, or a display. It’s about as simple as a motorcycle gets.

Motorcycle.com said it was a bike you could spend all day on without getting too tired. According to Honda, the XR150L is ideal for two different riders. The first is the beginner. This is because the XR150L is easy to maneuver, forgiving of mistakes, and is a great tool to teach yourself how to wrench. Honda also says the XR150L would be great for an older rider who wants to own something that reminds them of their first motorcycle.

The XR150L is so cheap that the only way you’re going cheaper would be to buy a no-name drop-shipped bike from China or to get one of those kids’ dirt bikes.

Royal Enfield Meteor 350 – $4,699 – Cheapest Cruiser

In 2023, the cheapest cruiser for sale in America was the Yamaha V Star 250 at a price of $4,699. The price of the V Star has increased by $100 in 2025. The Honda Rebel 300 also increased by $100 to reach $4,849. That makes the Royal Enfield Meteor 350 the cheapest cruiser you can buy from a known brand. This is a bike with a famous name in Royal Enfield history, but it’s nothing like its 1950s namesake.

The modern Meteor 350 launched in 2020 after four years of development. It features Royal Enfield’s current 349cc single-cylinder engine, which benefits from modern engineering and fuel injection. It’s the same engine that powers my Royal Enfield Classic 350 and I love the little guy. The engine makes a decent noise for single and while its 20.2 HP doesn’t sound like much, that’s just enough to scoot most riders past 70 mph. Weight is on the heavy side at 421 pounds and seat height stands at 30.12 inches, which just a little tall for a small cruiser.

Reviews for the Meteor 350 have been largely positive, with publications dinging the bike for its shorter maintenance intervals but praising the bike for its diabolically cheap replacement parts. In other words, the Meteor 350 will teach you how to do your oil changes but it also won’t break your bank account if you dropped it.

I’ve taken one of these on a short ride before and to me, they feel similar to my Classic 350, but with a little bit more of a relaxed riding style, which is what you’d expect from a cruiser. If you’ve never ridden a new Royal Enfield, I’ll give you what you need to know. These motorcycles blend the best of the old with the best of what’s new. They have plushy seats, will happily lean over into turns, and have no problem coming to a stop in a hurry. However, just look at any part of the bike while you’re riding and you’ll almost forget you’re riding something from the 2020s. Car enthusiasts like to say that cars like the Mazda Miata are “slow car fast.” These Royal Enfields put that same idea into motorcycles. You have to beat the piss out of them to get anywhere fast, but the bikes are just as happy to do it as you are.

I would go with the Royal Enfield if you’re looking for more of a “pure” riding experience. The most technologically advanced thing about the Meteor 350 is its dual-channel ABS and Bosch fuel injection. Aside from that you really do feel like you’re riding something from about 1955. If you want more tech, better reliability, and more speed, spending a little more on the Honda Rebel 300 might be worth it for you. However, depending on where you live you might find dealer markup on the Honda.

If you aren’t married to the cruiser concept, the Royal Enfield Hunter 350 (above) is also a good choice at $3,999. This bike will ride similarly to RE’s other 350s, but has more of a standard riding position than a cruiser position.

CFMoto 300NK – $4,199 – Cheapest Naked

Chinese brand CFMoto has been hard at work rebuilding its image. The company came to America in the 2000s with frankly abhorrent clones of Honda scooters and even more disgusting scooters pretending to be motorcycles. The quality was awful, parts availability was a joke, and longevity was so poor that these bikes made RVs from Indiana blush.

Times have changed. In the years since, the brand has gotten serious about not only building its own motorcycles and upping quality, but carving out its own identity. CFMoto’s bikes are now competitive on performance and are mostly there on quality, too. However, the price is still rock-bottom, which is why the CFMoto 300NK makes a return this year as my choice for the cheapest naked bike.

How cheap is the CFMoto 300NK? While Japanese brands have raised their prices over the past two years, CFMoto has not. The 300NK is so cheap that even after a 10 percent tariff, it would still be the cheapest naked on the market. The nearest Honda, the CB300R, is $5,149 before freight and fees. The Honda CBR300R comes closer at $4,899, but that’s a fully faired sportbike.

That cheapness apparently didn’t hurt the ride as the riders of Cycle World said “CFMOTO hit the nail on the head with its 300NK, offering a quality motorcycle for an affordable price.”

Power comes from a 292cc single making 29 HP and is fueled with Bosch EFI. It weighs in at 333 pounds, has a slipper clutch, a 31.2-inch seat height, a trellis frame, dual-channel ABS, a color display, and LED lighting. Cycle World commented that the handling is predictable, the steering is direct, and the ride is sporty.

In my experience with current CFMoto products, the quality seems to be about 90 percent to 95 percent there. For example, some of the plastics feel a little cheaper than you’d expect. But I think many riders would be okay trading a touch of quality for a much cheaper price.

Kawasaki KLR 650 – $6,899 – Cheapest “Long-Distance”

Choosing the cheapest motorcycle for this category was difficult. In the past, the kind of motorcycle you would ride long distances would usually be a heavy cruiser or a touring bike. Most of these bikes are big, heavy, and luxurious. After all, you want to be comfortable on a long ride.

Nowadays touring is very different for many riders. Lots of riders are now touring on adventure bikes, which combine traits of both the dual-sport and the touring categories. Of course, the classic touring style is still alive with just about any of Harley-Davidson’s big cruisers or the mighty Honda Gold Wing.

But what if you want to ride a long distance without paying a ton of cash? This one is hard. People have ridden low-displacement motorcycles across America without issue. Technically, any motorcycle is a touring motorcycle if you try hard enough. For my pick for the cheapest “long-distance” bike, I’m going to avoid small bikes, but I also don’t just want to choose one that’s crazy expensive. I’m picking two.

The Kawasaki KLR650 has long been considered to be the “Swiss Army Knife” of motorcycles. It’s never been the best at any one thing, but for decades riders have found it to be one bike that does many things pretty well. Some people believe that if they must have just one bike to do it all, a KLR650 is the choice.

The KLR650 launched in 1987 as a different take on the dual-sport formula of the time. Kawasaki’s motorcycle had a bigger gas tank and more bodywork than the competition, plus a small windshield. It was still marketed as a dual-sport, but it very much looked like an ancestor to today’s adventure bikes. The KLR650 turned out to be a hit and Kawasaki kept it in production until 2007 while giving it only minor updates along the way.

Kawasaki added more street-friendly bodywork and features in 2008. Yet, the engine remained largely the same stone axe it had been since the ’80s. It still even drank from a carburetor until the model was canceled in 2018. Kawasaki came back swinging in 2022 with a new KLR650. The biggest headlining changes were fuel injection, a longer wheelbase, a more comfortable rider triangle, and increased rigidity.

Other small changes included an LED headlight, a monochrome display, and a larger fuel tank. Otherwise, Kawasaki has tried to keep the KLR650 as simple as it can. Power comes from a 652cc single making 41 HP. Your throne sits 34.3 inches high and your adventure has a starting weight of around 450 pounds before you add anything. You get it for the starting price of $6,899. If you want to, you can add ABS, auxiliary lights, and cases, but that’ll cost you more.

The Kawasaki KLR650 makes less power than more expensive bikes in this adventure bike range. You will not be winning any races and the technology will not wow you. The whole point about the KLR650 is that it’s supposed to go just about anywhere and do it forever and ever. Reviews appear to be generally positive with the KLR650 and it seems most people will end up modifying their to their exacting tastes, anyway.

CFMoto Ibex 450 – $6,499 – Runner-Up

For the other option, I’ve chosen the CFMoto Ibex 450. This one is interesting. It has a modern 449cc fuel-injected twin-cylinder engine making 44 HP. It weighs around 400 pounds. It has switchable ABS, a color display, and Bluetooth connectivity stock. It also has USB ports, KYB suspension, and J.Juan brakes. This bike costs $6,499, or $400 cheaper than the KLR, but you get a lot more kit.

How does it ride? Cycle World said the Ibex is “a fun and capable motorcycle—period—with the ability to make adventure riding more accessible to more people.” However, the publication dinged the Ibex 450 for its unrefined suspension and riding position that was tight for a tall rider. It’s noted that the bike is some suspension tweaks away from having that first bit fixed. If you’re a shorter rider, you might like the 32.3-inch seat height compared to the KLR650. That said, I favor the Kawasaki more due to its decades of proven reliability.

Honda Navi – $1,999 – Absolute Cheapest

Once again, the king of cheap remains the little Honda Navi. Honda created a sensation when it launched this bike in America in 2022 and people still love it now. Sadly, the sweet $1,807 price has ballooned to $1,999, but it’s still the cheapest thing with two wheels that you can buy from a reputable brand.

The Navi was developed in India and its name is an acronym for “New Additional Value for India.” It’s powered by a 109.2cc air-cooled single-cylinder scooter engine making 7.83 horsepower. That drives the rear wheel of the 235.9-pound motorcycle through a CVT.

This isn’t like a Grom where you’ll be popping wheelies, stoppies, and other stunts. The Navi is really largely a scooter dressed up like a motorcycle. Also don’t expect to go very fast. A stock Navi might hit 55 mph with a featherweight rider in a tailwind. The Navi is perhaps the easiest motorcycle in the world to ride. It has a 30-inch seat height and the riding dynamics of a scooter. You can lay it down, pick it back up, brush it off, give it a hug, and then get back on the road again. The Navi is designed to be what’s more or less the ultimate urban bike or the best beginner bike.

It’s not going to go anywhere near a highway and you aren’t riding it far. Instead, the Navi is the perfect little bike to keep in the bed of your pickup truck to use around a track or a campground. Or, park it outside of your apartment in the city and zip around sipping only the smallest morsels of fuel.

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list of the cheapest new motorcycles that you can buy. Royal Enfield’s entire lineup is full of affordable bikes and Honda has eight motorcycle models under $5,000 plus another four scooters that are also under $5,000. CFMoto is another brand full of cheap rides. The CFMoto Papio SS above cost me just $4,500 out the door!

If you have an itch to buy a new, but affordable motorcycle, it’s hard to go wrong with any of the motorcycles on sale today. So many companies are punching out one great machine after the next and riders are really spoiled for choice. It’s also awesome that you can get so many motorcycles for such inexpensive price points.

So, if you’ve been wanting to get into motorcycling, I recommend getting out there, picking up a cheap bike, and having some fun. I recommend buying a used bike over a new one, but if you must buy new, I think you’ll find something you’ll like. If you need training, I highly recommend taking a Motorcycle Safety Foundation MSF Basic RiderCourse. This course will teach you the basics of riding and the instructors will give you some extremely helpful habits that can even save your life behind the wheel of a car. Depending on where you live, the instruction may be as cheap as free. Go to MSF’s site to learn more.