starter bike???

Johnny Dart showed the 1st "slant six" motorcycle, but those are collector's items from the late 70's.

I had a 74 Honda 350-four in my college days. One of the smoothest bikes ever made, but I hated riding a motorcycle, especially in FL thunderstorms. Couldn't carry much either.

Today, I hear good things about the Kawasaki Ninja 250. A great commuter bike with good mileage and low cost. The only drawback is they still use a carb (or did). It has EFI in Europe but the bean counters figured the cost wouldn't work in the U.S. where marketed as an entry bike. It looks almost identical to its big brother 650.

Re danger, I read surprising statistics years ago that the death rate per mile was double a car. However, when they accounted for the fact that motorcycle riders are often young males and more drunk drivers on motorcycles (isn't that stupid), the death rate was almost identical to a car. The suspected reason was that bike riders can react faster and avoid accidents. I doubt those figures cover the idiot riders in CA who ride between cars at >50 mph. I would also expect more single vehicle accidents on motorcycles since they aren't as stable. My 2 accidents were by myself. The rear wheel is easy to lock up, at least on 70's bikes.