How to get cheap motorcycle insurance?

May be obvious, but this is the base deciding factor in your annual premium. If you are a young and/or new rider it is a good idea to get quotes before jumping into buying a cool looking bike.

Does engine size affect insurance?

The engine size is not directly related to insurance prices, it is the risk factor and price of a specific model (age and mileage are factors influencing price). It is more likely to get a substantially higher quote for a 125 cc sporty-looking leaner-legal bike than a larger capacity, e.g 650 cc sports-tourer. Same principle goes for engine power: to insure a Yamaha YZF-R6 supersport (600 cc, approx. 125 horsepower and 70 Nm torque) would cost much more than a Suzuki SV1000S (998cc, 120 horsepower and 120 Nm torque) of the same price.

This factor shows the significance in desirability of your motorbike for thieves. While keeping a less flashy, lower value motorcycle on the road, driveway or garage won't be much different for insurance, but you could see a four-fold jump in case of a brand new supersport bike (e.g. from £500 to £2000/annum). Some insurance companies accept a lockable wooden structure (e.g. shed) as garage, while others require a concrete or brick building.

Paying monthly always works out more expensive than paying the annual price upfront. Monthly payments may be the only option for younger riders where the annual costs are just simply too high to pay at once.

Excluding pillion passengers (if you never carry one) will definitely reflect on the price of your motorcycle insurance.

This can greatly affect your annual premium if you are an occasional or seasonal rider, so do a quick calculation of your expected mileage upfront (keeping in mind commuting distances if applicable) and allow for legroom as changing it after the policy has started will incur additional costs (e.g. £30-50 change of policy fee) on top of the price difference (which can also be higher with a policy in effect). Prices are not affected as much over 10000 miles a year as for example between 3000 and 5000.

Commuting policies are always higher even if you do the same mileage (probably due to rush hour traffic).

Comprehensive and Third Party Fire and Theft (TPFT) covers include a cost that you must pay as the first part of a fault-claim and the total sum consist of mandatory and voluntary excesses. This does not apply to third party vehicle insurance as there is no excess. You can adjust the amount of voluntary excess from £0 to £500, but keep in mind the mandatory excess: keep the total at a reasonable amount you can afford to pay in case of a fault-accident, also it just does not make sense to increase a £200 voluntary excess to £500 if it reduces your annual premium just by £20.

Do I need to pay excess if not at fault?

No. Always the party at fault is liable to cover the cost of damages. In certain cases both parties can be at fault (50-50%) and share the costs.

You don't need to be married to see a reduction in your premium. Insurance tends to be cheaper for people in common-law relationships as opposed to single individuals as providers see them as lower risk drivers.

If you work in a specific sector and you are also a company director there can be a difference in how you declare your occupation (e.g. Company Director vs Software Developer).

May sound strange, but security devices do not seem to have much affect on insurance costs, but needless to say it's in one's best interest to keep the motorcycle as safe as possible. Don't shoot yourself in the foot by declaring to keep your motorcycle chained to a ground anchor overnight if your premium costs the same with a simple disc lock, because your insurance becomes invalid when you forget to actually chain it down and you will not be compensated for loss.

Normally a minimum of 4 years no claim bonus is required for this option to become available for motorcycle owners. Definition of bonus protection can differ between providers, but usually it either covers up to 1 claim a year or 2 claims in 2 years without the rider's bonus being affected (apart from not gaining an additional year of no claim bonus during for the current policy).

What happens if you don't protect your NCB?

In most cases you are likely to lose 2 years NCB from the first 5 or fall back to 5 if more (yes, you can fall back to 5 years from e.g. 10 in case of a claim), but find exact details in the small-print of your policy.

Legal cover provides assistance of a solicitor in case of legal disputes with other motorists in court cases. It normally costs £20 extra a year on top of annual premium, which easily makes it worth with lawyers charging £500+/hour.

No insurance covers your injuries by default and considering the likelihood of injuries when falling off a motorbike I'd recommend spending that £20 a year on this optional extra. You may not need this if you have other accident/health insurance policies.

Motorcycle gear is not cheap and recommended to be discarded once involved in an accident as their protective qualities are greatly reduced. I wouldn't recommend the extra cost of this option if you're on a budget and wearing cheaper clothing, also you may need to be in possession of purchase receipts to validate your claim, so check the small print before paying for this extra.

Usually offered when the motorcycle is purchased from a dealership. Gap insurance reimburses the difference between the price paid for your motorcycle and the amount given by your insurance company in the event of a write-off. The fact that you don't need to accept the first amount offered by the insurance company and the normally high cost of this type of insurance makes it unnecessary in most cases.