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I was wondering if a 2003 Triumph tt600 would be a bad choice for a first bike. I have my license but no time on a bike other than that. I know that the GSF 500 and the Ninja 500 are good starters as well. What else would be a good first bike.
Thanks for your help
Babydrop

It depends. Sv_Wolf has one on here, hopefully he will chime in. (I'm sure he will, I changed the topic title)

Have you taken the Safety Course? How responsible do you think you are with acceleration?

Mike

Nope, Wolf has a Daytona 955i with the triple.

Honestly man I'd stay away from the TT600. The 4s that Triumph put out weren't that good, and they only started coming into their own as being a major bike manufacturer with their 3 cylinder motors. Plus it's still a supersport, comparable to a 600RR, R6, etc, except for reliability.

See if you can't find a used Ninja 650, they are getting pretty cheap now for the earlier years and are great bikes, 650 cc parallel twins, plenty of torque/hp for an experienced rider, but newbie friendly!

Thanks guys, I have taken the BRC. So a 650 ninja would be a good starter?

I personally think so. It's got plenty of horse so you won't get "bored" unless you decide that doing double the posted limit everywhere is your idea of fun. It's nimble and light through the twisties and you won't out-ride it unless you're next up for a Superbike series. (Because of how tall it is a well ridden one can out-do most sportbikes in the tight stuff.)
It's reliable, mechanically pretty simple, and cheap to maintain.
I like 'em.
Also might want to look into a Suzuki SV650, Suzuki GS500, Kawi Ninja 500.

Is the 650 ninja forgiving?

Very. You won't pull up an accidental throttle wheelie on it, steering geometry is pretty forgiving but still handles great, and you're pretty darn comfortable on it too.

Very good to hear. I would love to have a bike that is forgiving. Do you think 650 is to much to start on?

It's a gray area bike to most people. It has more power than you need in all honesty (I was working on my sister's Ninja 250 today and let's just say that when I went to test it out even the state patrol could have lit me up.) but it's got good manners and civility for learning to ride and learning how to react to cagers (car drivers) who tend to not see people on two wheels.
It's got plenty of power to get yourself into and back out of trouble, it'll handle just fine and keep up with most anything, overall they're good bikes!

I personally wouldn't start on the Ninja 650 (not in a million years) but as Wrider says, it's a bit grey area. It's difficult to find smaller bikes, especially on the new market (as opposed to older, used bikes).

There are tons of threads on these forums where people have asked about a good first bike. Check out the "New Bikers Forum" and have a read through some of the stuff. It might help!

Andrea