Buyers of high-performance motorcycles find it's a bumpy road locating insurance.

A sleek line of lightweight motorcycles has raised the ire of the insurance community, which claims the high-powered vehicles are dangerous to drive, expensive to underwrite and often subject to theft.

However, bike enthusiasts spurn the controversy, saying the industry is spinning its wheels and insisting that a blackballing of these vehicles, which began several years ago, finally be lifted.

Kawasaki Motors Corp. USA, based in Irvine, produces the Ninja, a street-legal racing-style bike some companies are reluctant to insure. The manufacturer produces four models, with engine sizes ranging from 250 to 1,100 cubic centimeters. These include the Ninja, its smallest model, which retails for $2,999. The ZX11, with a 1,100 cubic-foot engine, is considered top of the line, and sells for $8,299.

Other Japanese manufacturers of sporting bikes include the Suzuki GSXR and Yamaha FZR. Honda Motor Co. Inc.'s speed cycle, the CBR, weighs in at 400 pounds, a full 80 pounds lighter than its standard version, the CB750. A sporting bike manufactured by Buell Motor Co., is a luxury vehicle that retails for about $16,000 and one of the only American-made sports bikes.

Some companies refuse to write policies on Ninjas because they are viewed as accident-prone and too high a risk, said Doug Van der Weyde, owner of Van der Weyde Insurance Agency in Hermosa Beach, which specializes in motorcycle insurance. Like most sport bikes, it differs from the standard model, with typically lower and narrower handlebars. Foot pegs are slightly raised forward and further back, so riders must adopt a more aggressive position to control the powerful vehicle, capable of going 0 to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds.

"Sport bikes command higher rates (premiums) typically because the accident rate appears to be higher," said Van der Weyde, president of the Culver City local for a 865,000-member motorcycle riders' group called Abate of California.

Highway statistics are not broken down by category, but do identify 556 fatalities and 18,262 injuries in 1990 for on-road motorcycles and scooters with engines sizes under 250 cubic centimeters, according to California Highway Patrol records.

Officials at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety based in Arlington, Va., said the figures point to an unsafe rate of fatalities and serious injuries for drivers of racing design cycles, twice the average for normal street bikes, according to a 1992 published overview of helmet laws. This figure is based on a 1985 California accident summary of 2,000 motorcycle-related deaths and injuries.

"The greatest concern is the pattern of high-speed spinal cord injuries we see and fatalities," said Chuck Hurley, senior vice president of communications for the Institute for Highway Safety, a group funded by the property casualty insurance industry.

But Chris Kallfelz, legislative affairs specialist for the American Motorcyclist Association, said the institute figures have generated misconceptions about the accident potential of sport cycles. He pointed to a 1990 nationwide telephone survey, commissioned by the Motorcycle Industry Council, based in Irvine, and conducted by Burke Marketing Research of Los Angeles, used to compile a rider profile. These figures show the average rider is likely to be a 32-year-old college-educated male who is married and earns roughly $33,200 a year.

There are 865,000 registered motorcycle riders in the State of California, Van der Weyde said. For a male rider of a Ninja 250, between the ages of 15 to 21, with a clean driving record, who operates it in the City of Los Angeles, Northland Insurance Co., will provide coverage at an annual rate of $1,178 for liability, plus comprehensive and collision. Universal Underwriters of Kansas will insure the same driver for $1,107.

Northland's rate on the ZX11, a faster, more powerful bike, is $5,436, while Universal will provide a policy for $5,127. A 15 percent discount is given to riders who complete a Motorcycle Safety Foundation Class by some companies, but not through Northland.

A few states are attempting to pass laws that would require riders to carry a separate catastrophic insurance policy before they can operate their vehicle on the road, said Jim Bates, manager of the motorcycle press department for Honda Motor Co. Yamaha, a company with annual sales of 40,000 to 50,000, took a separate tactic, attempting to resolve the issue by implementing its own Built-In Insurance Program for buyers.

The company spent millions of dollars on the financing program, arranged through Chrysler First, owned by the Chrysler Corp. Costs were incorporated into the overall price of the vehicle, making motorcycle prices rise by an estimated 10 percent.

Yamaha's pilot program was not motivated solely by disapproval from the insurance industry, said Ron Crawford, a division manager for Yamaha Motor Corp. USA, based in Cypress. It was seen as a way to offset declining retail sales. However, it took only 18 months before the company decided to call it quits, due to a lack of cooperation from insurers and steep legal fees racked up from trying to fight state and regional restrictions.

"Many states did not approve the program based on the fact insurers felt they would lose revenues," Crawford said. "It cost us a lot from a monetary and credibility standpoint."