Who wants to be a motorcyclist?

Yes, ye avid Indian biker dude, I'm here to answer your questions and dispel your doubts and together we can rev our engines, burn some rubber and take back the word 'bike' from those silly bicycle-owners..

A year ago, I fantacized daily about being the guy on that sleek black honda cbr600 that just whizzed past my clunky car, or the guy on that sleek yam r6 that wheelied on the green light, or that female pillion rider on that massive hayabusa... scratch that last part... well i just wanted to be associated with a sleek superbike one way or the other, and I had nowhere to turn to for advice. So I just bought the damn bike anyways and now I'm here to tell you to do the same.

You: Average desi dude who just started earning $$$ in the U.S. or Canada (excluding some parts of quebec) and who *had some experience* riding wussy bikes (not cycles, mind you) in good ol India or Pakistan (excluding some parts of kashmir) and desires being on two wheels again.

Me: Above-average desi dude (in terms of looks I mean) who had just started earning $$$ in the U.S. and had been riding his trusty hero honda splendor for 2 yrs on good 'ol potholed indian streets, and who fantacized about a lot of bikey things except being a female pillion rider.

Summary: Buy a bike already.

Yes, you can handle 600 ccs, possibly more. No, the sportsbikes are not too sexy for you. And maybe they're quite affordable. That depends on whether you just blew away all your cash and credit limits on a spanking new 4-wheeled cage (a.k.a. "car") or whether you were the nice boy your parents brought you up to be and bought yourself a toyota camry '95. If the latter, you've just bought yourself the backstage pass to superstardom my wise friend.

The dirty details:

I'm going to repeat this - If you haven't had experience on a 125cc for at least a year (anwhere in the world excluding parts of southern costa rica), you should not start with a bike > 250cc; I'm sorry but you lose.

Most japanese 600cc superbikes (yamaha/honda/suzuki/etc) cost less that $10K in the U.S. brand new. More likely in the range $7K - $9K. Yes, it's that cheap. Let's just that keep that our little secret. (Other non-metric bikes, like harleys, cost more.) I bought my sweet Yamaha YZF-R6 '03 used, for $6K. Add $1K for nice riding gear (helmets+jackets+boots+gloves) and $250 for the safety course. I'll get to these in a bit.

There's tons of information out there on the internets. Motorcycle forums are your best bet. Motorcyclists love to help each other out, on the net and on the road. That said, don't post a message asking "I'm a newbie with some experience, what bike do I buy?" (a) because I already told you you're not a newbie, and (b) 40% of the posts on these forums already ask that same exact question. Get your popcorn and read up a bit.

Safety. I'm sure you'll agree with me that westerners in general are much more safety-conscious than we Indians will ever be. But riding in the West is different from riding in India, and what's the harm in postponing death anyways? In the U.S., there's a motorcycle course offered by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF). It is mostly aimed towards newbies who have never been on a bike, but it will teach you a lot. 50% of it is stuff you never knew before, 20% of which is stuff you have been doing Wrong and Dangerously. Take the course. In many states, it waives the DMV riding test (which in California was a little too hard for me.)
The longer you've been riding in the past, the harder it is for you to realise you're not an experienced rider, the harder it is to unlearn the wrong things you do.

Sexy outfits. Besides the usual safety yada yada, buy good gear cuz it's fuckin cool. Helmets are mandatory in most states, and you should use them even if they're not. At freeway speeds, you'll need them anyway. Also a good leather jacket. And good boots. And gloves. Buy these at any motorcycle outlet. I don't own motorcycle pants but you might want them too, for long rides, or when you eventually try riding at the track.

Motorcycling in the US is not just a means of transportation. It's a club. Join us and you'll see what I mean :)

Ride safe buddy.