Howdy. I ride a motorcycle every day, and let me make a point before I really go into this.
Do not buy a motorcycle to save money. To reiterate:
Do not buy a motorcycle to save money.The cost of the motorcycle(~1500-2500USD) plus the cost of gear(~100 for a helmet, ~100-250 for a jacket that won't disintegrate on contact with pavement and ~25-50 for gloves that will let you keep your hands, ~50-100 for pants that will keep your legs intact, ~50-100 for boots.) adds up to a pretty penny. ~2000-3000 initial investment will take years to work out to even, with the price of gas the way it is presently.
Now, you may think to yourself, "I don't need all that gear, what's the point?"
Here's the point: If you like your face, you need a helmet.
If you like your hands and arms, you need gloves and a jacket.
Because you
will fall down. If you're lucky, you'll be going nice and slow when it happens. If you're less lucky you'll spend a little time sliding on the asphalt.
All that said, there really is nothing that compares with riding a motorcycle. It's a great fun way to get around and find easy parking. But it's a bit of a nerve wracking experience. Why? Because everyone on the road is trying to kill you. That nasty fender-bender you got in that scraped your paint and dented your door? That's a broken leg and some road rash, depending on how fast you were going. That time you had to slam on the brakes to not hit that guy who ran out in the street? You lock up the tires on a car and it'll slide to a stop, rubber side down. You lock up on a motorcycle and suddenly you're going sideways instead of forward and will likely end up staring at the sky and/or kissing the pavement.
All that said, a motorcycle really is a great thing, but you can't just "want one to save gas," because yeah, you'll save gas, but you'll likely never actually save money, because of the initial investment of the bike and gear.