PITTSBURGH -- High gas prices could give a lot of people reason to finally buy a motorcycle.

After all, motorcycles go a lot longer on a tank of gas.

With motorcycles getting much better fuel economy than cars sales are going through the roof.

"we have and we continue to see sales increase because of these gas prices. With an SUV, I know my SUV gets about 12-13 miles a gallon. With a bike you're getting up to 40 miles a gallon so you're saving significantly so a lot of people are taking advantage of that,” said owner of Heritage Harley Davidson Toby O’Brien.

O’Brien said more and more people are coming into his store this spring, unloading their gas guzzling SUVs and replacing them with motorcycles to save money at the pumps.

But along with the increase in sales comes the influx of new riders -- and that can create safety problems.

“There is some degree of trepidation with some of the newer folks coming in that have never riden before but are looking at gas prices and saying 'Boy I got to cut my costs somewhere,'” said O’Brien

To help get riders up to speed, the state offers free motorcycle training classes for beginners.

For experienced riders saving on gas is a big bonus -- but not the only one.

"It saves a tremendous amount of money, plus it also helps with the ladies...you can't beat that? No you can't beat that,” said Anthony Galati.

For more information about that motorcycle safety course visit pamsp.com.