Look at the cbr 250s. They don't have carbs like the ninjas, they are fuel injected. Only thing is, since they are new you probably won't find one for a thousand bucks.

 

if you can get one for the right price, a ninja 250 is a good start, buy it, ride it, then sell it to upgrade... or look for a low mileage katana 600 or bandit 600. less then 10k miles is ok, just be sure to look for damage. (wrecks, drops, bent handlebars/forks)... if the handlebars hit the tank when turned, something is wrong....

if you're into mods, you can grab a katana 600 and toss in a gsxr1100, 750, or 600 motor (old oil cooled one) and have a hell of a monster.... but that's crazy stuff

 

Well I ended up getting a Bandit 600. I can't remember what year.




I rode it about 15 miles in 30 degrees weather without good gloves. Needless to say my fingers went numb as hell, but it was a good ride.

 

A good starter bike is in the 500 CC size..If you plan on using it for around town stuff, buy a nice used GS Suzuki. I'm pretty partial to the Suzuki's as they are rather bomb proof, pretty easy to work on and even easy to mod. If you get something in the 250 cc range, you will outgrow it rather quickly and not be very happy with it for very long. There are a lot of good older bikes out there.. the new bikes are getting a little on the ridiculous price side. good luck and remember that if you have a cheap head... buy a cheap helmet... All the gear... all the time!! be careful out there. Well, as usually, I'm late to the party.. that is an EXCELLENT choice for a starter bike.. (I had the 1200 Bandit until recently)

 

That appears to be a good starter bike for ya. I started out riding on a 1980 Honda Hawk CB400T, a pretty small bike considering I was 6' and 280 lbs but that thing would still take off from a dead stop with me on it. I have since upgraded to a 2006 Honda Shadow Spirit VT750DC that is excellent even though I am taller and most say that they are not for taller guys. Also for a cruiser, this sucker has got A LOT of get up and go for a cruiser. Don't get me wrong, I will never be able to go out run a crotch rocket, but I am more than happy with just cruising around with it. I would say, if you like the bike you have now, in a year or two when you feel comfortable enough to and have the available funds to do so, find yourself another bike that is bigger yet. But I am probably not telling you anything new lol and I am kinda partial to the cruisers :P here is the one I ride now in case you would ever be interested in such a thing
P.S. sorry the larger pic is a bit fuzzy, but I was also trying out my new camera at the time ha

 

The suzuki gs500 is a great starter bike and I'm kinda glad I bought it . It's a lot easier to handle this bike than a bigger bike . And its plenty fast enough and 55 mpg I drive 120 miles round trip to work a day 6 days a week for $25 and thats not babying it . Heres me and my bike 2004 suzuki gs500f

 

99LS Your bike looks a lot like my dad's Harley Sportster 1200, I like his but it's too big for my ability right now.

I like the looks of your 500 atv.

 

Yeah, all in time :P The one I ride now isn't really for a starter bike that's for sure, I don't know as I would have wanted it as a starter myself but once you get real good at riding you can always upgrade to whatever ya want. But in all honesty, the my 750 (and really all cruisers) have a super low center of gravity, you would never actually know you were holding up over 400 lbs at a stop sign. If the weather was just a bit warmer today I would have gotten the bike out today and taken her for a spin.......maybe someday REALLY soon

 

Yeah, now I just want to find out what kind of headlight it has. I've checked google and everything says h4 came stock, but my housing doesn't look stock and the bulb is definetly not an h4. Any thoughts? The big one not the little one.