I'll quote myself here and say that reading it back this morning I may have been a little harsh. I do agree with jacobdahl on all of his points but one and that is that motorcycles are dangerous. It has been my experience in 45 plus years of riding on the street that they are only as dangerous as the person riding them. I think a responsible 16 year old could learn to be safe on a bike, just as he could learn to be safe in a car. Education is the key element. Experience is vital and the only way to get it is by doing. Ride safe!
I only meant that motorcycles are dangerous in that, when something happens, there are no crumple zones, seatbelts, airbags, etc... to protect you. I made the airplane analogy because, similar to an airplane, when trouble happens on a bike it's big trouble. The safety net is non-existent.
Statistically, you are much more likely to be injured on a bike than in a plane, so it's worth noticing the lengthy process involved before someone is considered compentent to operate an airplane. As inconvenient as it would be, I would not be disappointed if the motorcycling licensing process was modelled after the aircraft process. For that matter, a regular license for a cage is way too easy to get, and directly results in bad drivers on our roads.
Getting a license in Europe is a way more complicated and expensive process and their roads are way safer, even though they tolerate higher speeds (in some cases) and have more population density when you average it out over the amount of space they have.
All of these points are moot, however. The auto industry is bending toward accomodating lousy drivers with blind-spot warnings, rearview cameras and parking sensors, traction and stability control, and a multitude of other driver aids that are designed to account for the gaps in driver competency. The skilled driver is a dying breed.
Motorcycling is one of the last pure forms of driving, unless you are lucky enough to drive a vintage Cobra (Marthy, I'm looking at you!) now and then. It's one of the last disciplines where the driver is solely responsible for the performance of the vehicle, and for their own safety. For those reasons, I recommend to any young person looking to get involved to get the public road environment down pat and get the mechanics of riding a motorcycle down pat separately before you merge them. You don't learn if you don't make mistakes, and mistakes can be tragic on a bike. Lots of people have learned on the roads at an early age, and it's not impossible, but it is difficult and dangerous. It takes a certain natural aptitude that not everyone has.
The old expression I was taught was "there's no use being dead right." You can do everything right and just not have that sixth sense to anticipate the person doing everything wrong. When that person hits you, it's you with the problem. Right or wrong, you lose.
Anyway, I'm not trying to incite an argument, discredit anyone, or discourage a young person from riding. There is all kinds of good advice in this thread from many different people with many different experiences. In the end, I hope the OP carefully considers every opinion here and uses it to combine with their own experience and self-awareness to make the best choice for themself.
