^You need to tell them about the real dangers of riding and the ways to avoid them- try to hide it and that is exactly what they'll be expecting, and you'll never ride (from experience here; took me over a year be allowed to ride, started when I was 16). Be honest, but find some safety data and research riding techniques (sorry that I'm not linking, but google should have some information) and most importantly RIDE DEFENSIVELY. Go all out on a curvy empty road or a track for all anyone cares, but in the city and motorway, be James May. Keep it slow, keep the revs low, always indicate, never go above of below the limit, shift slowly, etc. This might be tedious but it becomes second nature and is one of the most important things about becoming a rider.
Right, now it gets a bit more fun: Corners are of course leaned into rather than turned into, and once you've built up experience and confidence with your particular bike you can take corners twice as fast as cars.
About selecting a bike: There are a few basic styles- sports ("crotch rocket", usually reserved for hooligan bikers/ rich street kids
) ,cruiser (Harley-Davidson style, big, bulky, and plenty of power), standard ("naked", what I've ridden for a while; my Yami is a standard-style) and vintage, old-style bikes of different sorts. There are several other categories (dirt, dual, trail, historic, etc) but they aren't very relevant as first bikes.
My suggestion is to go with a standard, something Japanese or German from the 80's or 90's. Yamaha, Honda and BMW are brands to watch for. They are often simple and reliable and go for damn cheap, even cheaper at scrapyards (often needing only minor repairs). If you're mechanically minded you can restore a bike fairly quickly, or fix a mostly-good bike even quicker. I reassembled what amounts to the entire front of my bike in an afternoon, so it isn't complex or difficult. Adding different mirrors, gauges, and/or stereo is easy as well.
Yes, I typed a huge post.
From your friendly Miata, motorcycle and manual-transmission advocate....
) I'll be getting the filler area sandblasted and maybe the underside.
Well, you know what I mean. 
- so I removed the battery box, electrics panel, air cleaner, filter, and various loose hoses, and got my carburetors off the engine in 10 minutes flat. Which I hope is some sort of a record.
