you'll grow out of a 250 far too quickly to even enjoy the rush of low speed driving (lol)
get somewhere in the 500-750 range for a starter bike, if you're a bigger guy you can hold down a bigger bike easier

 

Heres my opinion: Stay far far away from the knock off brands, the scrap yards down here in florida have quite a few and its always for stupid chit. Plus people WILL laugh at you and call you a poser. I have been raised all my life around bikes and honestly, I think a great "starter" bike would be a Buell Blast. 500cc, adjustable seat height, and HD backing it all, you cant go wrong. Yes, Harley has discontinued the Buell's but the parts are still available and tech's still know how to wrench on them. Plus they are holding thier own in terms of value.

 

Yeah I took a motorcycle riding class at a harley dealer in august and the bikes we were riding were buells. They rode nice and I wouldn't mind having one, but they are not terribly available around here.

 

if you like cruisers, shadow 600 has plenty of power and is easy to drive... but not for the tall people... i'm 6'2" and hate it... i have a klr 650 and love riding it, but my *** hates it... after 2-3hrs my *** is numb from it...

 

I have a 1980 honda xl250s enduro and I love it. Yes being only a 250 its not "fast" but it only weighs 300lbs so its def not slow. I love that I can ride my bike to the atv trails mess around all day jump it and then ride it home. while getting 60mpg Oh and for some reason every body in the bike comunitty hates them, and I like that lol

 

All I was saying was to not go all out with the fastest bike for your first one. I've seen too many young guys get the fastest bike possible and they couldn't control it to be honest with you. They ended up either with serious injuries (getting their stomach cut open) or dieing.

 

Thanks I appreciate all of the input guys. I'll probably be getting something next month.

 

I have a 2006 Kawasaki Ninja 250.
It's the one of the best investments I ever made.
Picked it up for $2200 with 2200 miles on it like 3 years ago.
Every time I ride it, I enjoy it.
It will run 80 mph all day long, and I've checked mpg a few times twice I got 74.26 mpg with it, and I'm 200 lbs.
It tops out @ 105 mph with me on it.
I did add a K&N filter, and changed gearing.
Plus it has a 4.8 gallon tank.
It loves high RPM's, that took awhile to get use to.
Watercooled, 6 gears, support everywhere, I like.
This is coming from a guy that has owned more than 10 bikes including a KZ 650, Honda V65 1100, ZX1100 Ninja, Yamaha Vmax.
They have the power, but I get into trouble with that much power every time, lol.
I've rode it to Tennessee, Detroit 2 times, never any problems.
I don't care for the newer style change, 2009+.
They say the older models are faster, just a tad though.

The ZX, & 250.


The 250


My plate

 

I like your LP.

I found one of these, and it looks good. Anyone know anything about them?
Suzuki GSF600

 

bandit 600, its got almost the same engine as the gsxr 600, but it's tuned for mild riding, sits in a more upright position, watch out for high miles as the carbs (it has 4) are not cheap to replace parts in... a set of rebuilt carbs will set you back 500+....