The choice to start riding a motorcycle comes with a host of risks and considerations, but even when you sort those out, some bikes are just hard to ride.
You don’t have to be an engineer or a doctor to know that riding a motorcycle is risky business. Many road rockets boast absurd power-to-weight ratios, and lack the safety features typically found in cars. Forget seatbelts, airbags, and roll cages. On a motorcycle, it’s just you and the open road. A simple twist of the throttle can be the difference between a Sunday ride and a wallet- or life-altering catastrophe.
An exhaustive study of everything you need to know before picking your first motorcycle could fill a set of encyclopedias, and it is easy to get it wrong. Rookie and veteran bikers alike agonize over whether they are ready to take a step up to that bigger, badder, faster machine. Manufacturers offer dozens of models catering to every style of riding, making it difficult to determine which bikes are forgiving to less experienced riders.
What is not as challenging is identifying motorcycles that are just difficult to ride. Many bikes have earned reputations for being best left to experts. Sometimes this is due to poor design. Other times it’s because of outrageous power. Sometimes it’s a result of unusual features or dimensions. Whatever the cause, here are five motorcycles that are known as being difficult to ride.Kawasaki Ninja H2R
The title of fastest production motorcycle in the world has bounced around since Honda kick-started the superbike craze with the 1969 CB750. In the decades since, the title has belonged to Honda’s own 1100XX Blackbird and Suzuki’s Hayabusa. However, these days Kawasaki has it, with the Ninja H2R.
The top–spec 2025 Ninja H2R ABS is what Kawasaki terms a hyperbike, and for good reason. With a 998cc inline-four cylinder engine complemented by a bespoke supercharger developed by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, the H2R makes 325 hp and 121 lb-ft of torque against a curb weight of 476 pounds. In comparison, the longtime king of the literbikes, Yamaha’s YZF-R1M, delivers 200 hp with a curb weight of 448 pounds.
That power-to-weight ratio makes for a motorcycle reserved for only mature and experienced riders, if not outright experts. Anyone who can afford the $59,100 MSRP (plus a destination charge of $815) can take the H2R for a spin, but most probably shouldn’t.
The track-only H2R is Kawasaki’s halo model, but it’s also the head of a family of slightly less insane H2s. Calling the street-legal H2 model accessible only makes sense compared to the H2R. The H2’s $32,700 price tag (destination charge: $815) and 240 hp rating only seem reasonable compared to its bigger sibling.
Prepare for the understatement of the century: This motorcycle should not be ridden by beginners. Or even intermediate riders.
