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My friend just bought mint 87 kawi ninja 250. I rode it around and was really not comfortable on it. I am only 5ft10in but I have really long arms and legs so I was kind of bunched up. I also found it to be too slow accelerating for my liking, and on the highway it suffers from some pretty severe wind buffeting coming off of trucks and other large veichles. I have a 550 that I think probably has about 100 lbs on the ninja but I find it much more comfortable to to ride and it is more stable. I just like the way it feels. now my friend who bough the bike is about 5 ft 4 so there were some seat height requirements for him to consider

I would personally recommend either the ninja 500 or GS500 to most riders looking to move up to a sportbike or standard.

I would recommend the ninja 250 to a smaller rider, or someone looking for maximum fuel economy (the 250s fuel economy is better than most 250cc scooters).

For someone who wants a cruiser I would recommend a metric cruiser 1100cc or smaller.

I have always been a believer in getting the bike that suits the type of riding you want to do.

jmillheiser wrote:
I have always been a believer in getting the bike that suits the type of riding you want to do.

HA!

my bike suits exactly what type of riding i wanna do.

I always thought the RC-51 would make a great starter bike. But then again, I am a little bit of a jerk.

VermilionX wrote:
HA!

my bike suits exactly what type of riding i wanna do.

as does mine. My bandit like most standards is quite versitile. It has the performance to keep up with sportbikes in the canyons, is comfortable enough to tour on, and gets 50+mpg so its commuter friendly. It even has mounting points for soft luggage

jmillheiser wrote:
as does mine. My bandit like most standards is quite versitile. It has the performance to keep up with sportbikes in the canyons, is comfortable enough to tour on, and gets 50+mpg so its commuter friendly. It even has mounting points for soft luggage

you'll probably want an upgrade after a few months, or maybe next year.

VermilionX wrote:

jmillheiser wrote:
as does mine. My bandit like most standards is quite versitile. It has the performance to keep up with sportbikes in the canyons, is comfortable enough to tour on, and gets 50+mpg so its commuter friendly. It even has mounting points for soft luggage

you'll probably want an upgrade after a few months, or maybe next year.

next year most likely. Looking at either the Daytona 675 (or speed triple 675 when it comes out), or an SV1000. Or something else along those lines.

jmillheiser wrote: next year most likely. Looking at either the Daytona 675 (or speed triple 675 when it comes out), or an SV1000. Or something else along those lines.

they don't make the naked SV1000s anymore.

are you still gonna buy used?

the speed triple 675 is fugly though...



looks like it's gonna be hot to sit on it.

Plus your back is gonna get lots of road crap all over it from the unshielded tire. Plus no cute chicks to wrap thier arms around you while you ride.

Kal wrote:I used to talk about my CeeGee but got laughed at because its a 125cc... She was a fantastic bike, forgiving to ride and work on. I have come to accept that America may never understand the beauty that is wrapped up inside a 125cc's frame and so tend to recomend 250-500cc as the best learning zone.

I hope you don't take offence for riding a 125. There are lots of people in North America that ride small bikes. To those that laugh at you, it's not their bike in their environment.

CeeGees are great for city travel. Here in Toronto where, barring 3 major highways, we can't go over 60kph/40mph on city streets, a 125 is great. Different urban environments will fit different bikes. Texas is not Toronto. Many riders here don't need nor want to go on a highway. I'm sure there are other cities in the US that are similar to Toronto, but the vast majority of North America is ruled by the highway, Canada included. A CeeGee will cruise at 80kph/50mph all day, more than adequate for city riding.

We don't have gas prices that are double what we have in North America, so fuel efficiency, while people complain a lot about gas prices, it isn't so important as to change their vehicle buying habits. CeeGees that get 50kpl/115mpg isn't a big deal. More power is exchanged for less fuel efficiency.

The 125cc class is not dead but now ruled by scooters. If you want manual shift for optimal gas mileage and power efficiency you're out of luck. I believe the scooter market in North America is growing faster than any other category of MC, but I could be wrong.