First Bike

[jahjlh]

I, too, and looking for my first bike. I'm going for a V-Star 650. But in my research, I found a very long article about the merits of the "Ninjette"(Ninja 250). There was a poster that talked at length about his racing experience with the 250. He used this to say that you may never outgrow it. In the BRC they told us that anyone can go straight, but it takes experience to manuever the bike. Too large of a bike would make it difficult to gain that experience.

I figure that a 250 Ninja in the sportbike world would compare to a 650 V-Star in the cruiser world. Go for the 250 and keep it for a year, at least.

[Lara]

Regarding insurance...... This month I added a '93 Ninja 250R to my FZ6 policy for a whopping $7/month. I priced the same bike, both new and the '93 for my daughter as a brand new rider, no experience, and on a permit. The cost comparison? $65+ for the new/monthly (and that seemed pretty good considering!) and under $30/month for the older used. It's probably worth comparing more than one model year.

I did find my insurance dropped quite a bit on the FZ6 when I repriced it after having a motorcycle insured for about 6 months to a year.

[gsJack]

Here's a comparo I saved of 11 bikes all suitable for beginners called Deals on Wheels from the 03 Cycle World Buyer's Guide, includes the Ninja 500, GS500, and V-Star 650 mentioned above that might be of interest to you:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v443/ ... sOnWheels/

GTStreet mentioned it was hard to get detailed info on the GS500 so here's the data from all the GS500 tests published since 89 and where the data came from a GS/EX (Ninja) comparo I included the data for the EX too:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v443/ ... 0tests.jpg

After wearing out 4 Hondas I put my last 150k miles on 2 GS500s over the last ten years but I'm not biased, honest!

[dean owens]

Regarding insurance...... This month I added a '93 Ninja 250R to my FZ6 policy for a whopping $7/month. I priced the same bike, both new and the '93 for my daughter as a brand new rider, no experience, and on a permit. The cost comparison? $65+ for the new/monthly (and that seemed pretty good considering!) and under $30/month for the older used. It's probably worth comparing more than one model year.

I did find my insurance dropped quite a bit on the FZ6 when I repriced it after having a motorcycle insured for about 6 months to a year.

i hope one day my wife starts riding and i can park a ninja 250 next to my fz6 so i can drive it around town.... er... so she can have a good bike to learn on.

[redwing]

Hey ... buy the sv. I looked at them before I bought my r1200r. It is a good looking bike and I'm sure it runs faster and has more torque than you'll want. Take a MSF class on a bike about the same weight. Remember when you first started driving? How you ran over things and couldn't seem to park the darn thing. Well a bike looks like another car when you look at one from a car but it is a bike. Respect the bike and learn how to ride it. A bike is not a car and they handel different. A minor fender bender in a car can put you in the hospital on a bike. BE CAREFUL ans be safe. Think fast and ride slow.