First Bike Recommendations

[SBK15]

The GS is gonna be betteer for a bigginer, because the SV650 Is a v-twin sport bike thats gonna have plennttyyyy of power, isn't it 70+ HP on the engine?

[NWTrtle]

I think if you got the Nighthawk you would want to upgrade much sooner than you would with any of the other suggestions. It is listed as a 250cc, but in reality, it is 234cc and really does not have much power. It is a lot of fun to ride, but I would keep it to surface streets only and never take it on the freeway. I recently had a '92 Nighthawk that the previous owner took to Arizona from Washington state, but he said it was just about red line the entire time.

I just upgraded to a Ninja 500R and love it, but I am glad I started on a 250 cruiser. It is pretty tame, but once you get the RPMs up, it really pulls. The cruiser I started on had no troubles getting my 210 pounds and 6 foot tall frame around. I even rode it on the freeway and it would hold steady at 70mph without problem. It had very little past that point, but it was not red lining either.

I think starting with a 250 is a great choice. There are plenty of bikes in the price range you are looking at. You are going to see just over $3000 for the 250 cruisers from Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Hyosung, or Kymco. Any would serve you very well. The older 250 standards and the Ninja 250 would also be great choices.

BUT, take the MSF first and then decide what you want to do. You may get on the bike in the class and totally hate it (not likely, but possible). If that happened, you would not want to have to sell a bike you just bought.