Best (beginner) motorcycle engine size at altitude?

Riding a motorcycle is both fun and if done wrong can hurt.

Since I race off road motorcycles and have been riding for over 45 years my recommendations is to start small and work your way up to a larger bike. Most rides drop there 1st bike a couple of times in parking lots, gravel etc. I recommend a Honda 250cc if you are a lady who has never ridden. After a few thousand miles sell it and work your way up to a 500 to 750 cc for a few more thousand miles to your final size you like. On a big bike a mistake with the throttle can be crash on a smaller bike it is not so dangerous.

Save your skin start small and sell the bike as you move up. If you keep the bike nice you will get your money out of it when you sell it, may even make some money. Fixing a dropped bike is expensive.

Happy Trails

Man going from the MSF bike to a 1100? Whew thats quite a jump

Usually the MSF courses either have a Buell Blast or Kawasaki Renegade which are under 500cc's.

Now since your at that alititude I'd recommend a bike with a turbo. Granted a 'busa is way more of a bike than should be allowed, there are other turbo bikes out there.

Such as the

Yamaha XJ650 Seca Turbo.

Honda CX650 Turbo

Thats all i know of off the top of my head.

Now as for the 1100 size and up class.

I'd personally recommend a GSX1100F, also knows as the Big block Katana. Or the 1200CC Bandit. Both are from suzuki.

I started with a Bridgestone 90cc, which was a very popular size then. A yr or two later I bought a Honda 175 Touring for my wife & a HOnda 350 for myself. 350 was the largest at that time. Personally I would try the 750, if you can buy it reasonable..Gas prices have probably caused a big jump in bike sales. If you're going to pull a side car, the get the bigger one, but stick with a good brand, and warranty..Bikes are costly to fix. My neighbor has a fairly new Harley, & he says it's spent more time in the shop more than at home.

Depends on market and legal definitions, licensing laws. European market has a break at 125cc for legal 'light' class', US market the break is at 150cc- 'Light' cycles not allowed on interstate system if under 150cc, federal 'motor driven cycle 'class' . Middleweight class is defined in some insurance tables as up to 500cc, some states laws regarding insurance requirements have the 500cc break, a few had 500 cc as a graduated license class a few years back but the states with graduate license like California and Illinois are using 150cc break mostly. A older standard was 250cc and 15 horsepower as break for 'small' to 'medium' which went to 660cc to get the most common at the time 650s leaving the 750 to 1300 cc as the 'large/big size that may have had insurance cost increased. These were market, legal, insurance definitions used in United States at various markets. Germany had Insurance class breaks by engine power as well as engine size- get a 100hp 750cc and you'll pay much more for insurance than a just under 50hp engine- Harley 883, BMW 650, Honda 400cc. 'Big and small engine' outside of a legal, trade, insurance, or license plate definition varies by the individual and market-- Australia breaks at medium 660cc, India has 125cc breaks like most European common market countries and US has a 150cc 'light/small' break.

If you're tuned for the area, 750 cc.s is plenty.

(I've toured Colorado on an old 750 cc. BMW.,

and that included 10,000' passes.)

Yes, the altitude reduces available power,

but not as much as you seem to think.

That said, you'd better allow for less accelleration

trying to pass on a hill at altitude, no matter how you're mounted.

What does altitude have to do with it? They came out with CV carbs years ago.