70 miles at 85MPH describes my ride in to work each morning fairly well.
My bike now has about 7000 miles (it is 92 days old), most of it unfortunately done on interstates... most of that at over 75MPH (sometimes well over 75MPH)... I ride it to work every day, roughly 135mi round trip (plus I go to lunch, etc).
Here are the facts about interstate crusing on an EX250:
1) The engine will not be screaming or protesting or anything else... it'll be hummming along quite pleasantly... and barely audibly compared to the wind noise.
2) You won't get 70MPG... I get closer to 50MPG if I don't watch my speed... 60MPG if I keep in in the 80MPH range. I'm heavier than many ex250 riders would be, but the biggest factor is simply how far into the throttle you go.
3) Replacing the sprockets will make it a much more pleasant freeway bike, and makes twisties and low speed riding more fun, but makes it harder to start quickly from a light. It's still well worth the $50 or so.
4) Sustained 90MPH+ riding will eventually start sucking oil from the crank case into the airbox. From there some oil will leak down onto the exhaust pipe on the left making you think the bike has an oil leak. Some more of the oil will suck into the intake, causing the bike to stumble a bit from time to time. This can be fixed a couple of ways.
5) You will not feel comfortable at high speeds (even 70MPH) for a while. Wind, vibration, and road texture induced wobbles will make you nervous. After you are used to it, the bike will seem solid and normal at any speed it can go.
I bought my ex250 new because I fully expect to put close to (over?) 20,000 miles on it by the end of this year and I didn't want to deal with used bike issues in the first couple of months. So far it has met every expectation. It is more that capable of getting you into serious trouble if you disrespect it... more than capable of having serious fun with if you find a road it likes... more than capable of racking up 700 miles a week riding fast to and from work.
In my case I think it's about the perfect first bike... even if you intend to do a lot more interstate cruising than you've described. The caveat is that I'm not opposed to tinkering to make the bike do what I want. Mine hasn't seen the dealership since I bought it... I've done all the maintenance at home... and I've swapped out sprockets, installed accessories, built accessories, et cetera. It is a bike that seriously benefits from a bit of tweaking.
My next bike will probably be a v-strom 650... not this year, but perhaps next. I'm not waiting because I'm "not ready", and I'm not waiting because I can't afford the strom... I'm waiting because I'm still having fun with the 250 and I don't see any point in changing until I've seriously explored all the ex250 has to offer.
Unless you can seriously say you'll put more miles, or harder miles, on your first bike... I don't see how the ex250 could be a bad choice.
All of that said.... there are quite a few other bikes that would be good choices. Ex500, GS500, KLR650, F650GS, etc, etc, etc.... I sometimes find myself wishing I'd bought a KLR... and sometimes wishing I had a v-strom now... but then again I'd like to try every bike made for a week if I could....
Heya, Noobie needs info
Diezege, Thank you very much!
You answered what I was looking for in a nutshell. Today I went to the dealership and looked at the 250 and 500. While I was there, 2 owners of 500r's rode up and were very happy about their 500's and were also in the same compromise as I with the inbetweens of the 250 and the 500. So far every person who I have spoken to reccomeds the 500 for me. I am only 5'6 170 lbs, so wieght etc is not really an issue. As it turns out, the service manager at the store knows me from bars, night life, etc. and he said the 250 should not even run across my mind, get the 500. Thanks every single one of you, and I truly appreciate all your bits of advice. The 500 will be my choice. Thanks again!
You answered what I was looking for in a nutshell. Today I went to the dealership and looked at the 250 and 500. While I was there, 2 owners of 500r's rode up and were very happy about their 500's and were also in the same compromise as I with the inbetweens of the 250 and the 500. So far every person who I have spoken to reccomeds the 500 for me. I am only 5'6 170 lbs, so wieght etc is not really an issue. As it turns out, the service manager at the store knows me from bars, night life, etc. and he said the 250 should not even run across my mind, get the 500. Thanks every single one of you, and I truly appreciate all your bits of advice. The 500 will be my choice. Thanks again!