first street bike..

Go back and read Photog's post. Look at stuff you like. Read it again.

By all means, get something that gets your motor going, or You'll be lusting after the next one too quickly. But the best wisdom is buy used, check insurance rates first, and try to get into it for a price you can get back out of it in a few months or a year when you're ready for something else.

Bike like the SV650 are forgiving, reliable, and more than quick enough for your developing skills. That has alot to do with why they're one of the most popular track bikes around.

I thought it was 'cause they're cheap, and easy to modify? Suzuki SV, or Hyosung GT - why quibble?

I apologize for belittling the Blast, but I can only comment based on my personal experience. My experience is with one Blast - yours is with many, so I would certainly defer to you. I must have gotten a lemon. Out of 34 motorcycles owned, it was by far the worst.

As for consistency, perhaps you misunderstood. The poster provided several options currently available to him, one being the CBR. There's a difference between rendering advice on a given subset of bikes available to you, and to the universe of bikes at large.

Yes. FOr a started bike I really think the SV is a good one because you won't grow tired of it easily. You're likely to ride it much longer than you would an EX500, or GS500. They're also insanely fun, and forgiving which is important when you're a noob.

I have to agree with Havanna Rob on the CBR600....

However, not to start a hissy but, my first street bike was a zx-11. With that being said I did start riding / racing motocross at 10.

Throttle control and sense is the main thing that needs to be addressed. I know everyone is going to argue not enough years of experience.... but, you can hurt yourself on amy 2 wheeler when not using your brain.

I would not get the zx-7; unless you were using it for track only. They have a very race ready riding position that is not intended for anything more than tooling around the twisties.

Good luck mate and by all means get what you want.

If you want a more aggressive stance, get a Suzuki SV. If you want a more traditional riding position, get an EX500 Ninja. I think the 250s are fun, but they are a little lighter in the weight department. Either of the two mentioned bikes, you can keep as a second bike when you get something else.

+1, the DRZ 400 kicks ass and keeps ticking (running). It's a great first road bike, try to find a SM. Have fun and wear your gear.

FB

The GS500 would be a real fine choice. An incredibly under rated bike and very affordable and Suzis tend to tougher than owl snot (that is very tough).

+1 for the suggestions of a Ninja 500, GS550 or soomething under 600cc.

first bike? expect to at least drop it in the parking lot once or twice, and on a brand-new full fairing sport bike, that gets expensive!

a used Ninja 500 can be found for about USD $2,000, with prices varying with age, condition and location. at that price, you can grind on it for a few years, and part it out on ebay when you're done and you may break even.

buy a slick new sport bike and grind on it, and you'll be grying from buying parts or wishing you'd listened to some of the "old farts".

the other thing to consider is that with a brand new license and no experience, your insurance rates on any sport bike are going to be VERY steep... get a few more rears of experience, a few more candles on the cake and take the MSF class and you won't get reamed for the insurance quite so bad.

+1 on the MSF class, they'll have you riding better than ever in just one weekend.

something under 600cc is what i would go for. my first bike was an honda nighthawk 450, perfect for learning, as it had sissy bars, and was basically bullet proof. the ninja 500 or GS500 would be a great option as well. don't overlook a rebel 250, or a nighthawk 250. they're by no means speed demons, but they get great gas mileage, and are perfect learner bikes.

Good luck with your search!

1. Bodywork is expensive.

2. You will Drop it.

3. Anything over 400cc's is going to be faster than most cars.

4. You will Drop it.

5. Race Replica bikes have an unnatural, uncomfortable seating position for the primary purpose of aerodynamics... meaning traveling very fast.

6. You will Drop it.

7. SV650, EX500, GS500, DRZ400SM, are SWEET, Fast enough to kill you, comfortable seating position, and very sporting, and they won't break the bank when you drop it. (see 2, 4, and 6)

8. I'm 27, so this isn't coming from your grandpa. I want a sportbike one of these days for taking to the track.

9. You'll have more fun on a bike you can learn to wring the crap out of. I'd say that probably 1 tenth of 1% of riders that own 750+cc sportbikes have the ability to ride them as they are designed.

here's some advice from a 26 yr old who started riding when he was 24:

get something with "usable" power and dont be so locked into a "cc range" my first bike was a BMW airhead, 1000 ccs. my previous m/c experience had been riding a honda cb 360 up and down a street. i've stuck with BMWs cause they work great for what i want to do and now 2 years on, i have what was, till 2005, their "sportiest" bike. sure it's not as fast as a japanese 750 (or even the current 600s i think) but its a very "usable" bike that i don't have trouble keeping up with friends in the twisties on. there is certainly a lot of wisdom in the saying "ride a slow bike fast". you learn about limitations and proper control much better.

Yo kid, so you are a young guy and ya gotta have a crotch rocket, WTF, we have sons in your age range. So get yourself any 600, engine preferably box stock (or as close as possible) and not one that has been engine modded (and more likely been raced or otherwise rung out). ANY of those major mfg bikes will be MORE THAN fast enough, for highways or hooliganism.

One of our sons had one, but it was his 2nd bike. He initially learned on an old Honda CB 750 that was older than he was. I tried his 600 and rode it 90+mph on the twisty roads around here, and it is plenty fast enough. You just don't need 106 hp in a first street bike. (For comparo, my usual street ride is a Suzi V-Srom DL1000; non-riders think it's a crotch rocket but we all know it is an adventure tourer.)

Someone has probably suggested this already; check out your insurance rates before deciding.

Buy a used Honda XL500/XL600 go ride the back roads, learn about rear wheel spin up, front wheel washout, crashing, jumping, wheelies and all that other fun stuff. Cheap on gas and insurance and great to learn on.
Keep it a couple of seasons and ride it as often as you can.
Have fun and keep your head up whatever you do.

I bought a shockingly cheap almost new DR350 to "learn to ride dirt" after riding for about 2-3 years on heavier cruisers and a sporttouring bike. I really wish I would have got a dual sport as my first bike. My skill level shot up after riding the thing.

I think someone else mentioned it but make sure you have enough money to buy some decent gear. I had cheap "fashion" leather jacket that split along the seams in my first wreck basically doing nothing to protect me. The cool leather tanker style boots did very little also, one boot got pulled off as I slid down the road, the other boot ground all the way down and I got some really bad roadrash on my ankle and a couple toes.
Buy a good motorcycle jacket, boots, helmet, gloves. And I know most people ride in jeans, but I highly recomend have some kind of motorcycle pants.

A ninja 250 will do 100 mph, gets great gas mileage, and will out corner most bigger sport bikes, it just doesn't have the straight line accelleration.

A good friend I got started riding a few years back started on one,, He like the style of the Ninja 750 I had then and the 250 looked similar.. He loved it so much that instead of moving up a year later like he had planned, he rode it for many years until he wore it out.

No offense to the OP, but I have yet to meet a 22-year-old male who acts responsibly when his throttle hand/foot is in control of something with the power-to-weight ratio that a modern sportbike is packing. It's just too goddamned tempting to hit the gas and unleash those ponies. Combine that power with geometry that's set up for quick turns and not stability, and you have a bike that will not only get to scary-as-hell speeds faster than you can crap your pants, but will also do its damndest to tip over when you've pulled into the closest parking lot to clean up the mess. They just aren't conducive to building good foundation riding skills quickly. I ride with several guys around my age (28) who started on 600cc supersports (one started on a liter bike) and while they're all pros at riding real fast in straight lines, not one of them can keep up with my wife on her GS500 in the corners. Hell, two of them can barely ride a U-turn without paddling their feet.

Get yourself something with a semi-upright riding position that's got enough oomph to be fun but not so much that it's going to flip you onto your ass when you accidentally crack the throttle from hitting a pothole. All of the *-500s are good choices, so are the SVs if you can find one in your price range. The cheaper the better, because as everyone else has said you *will* drop it at least once, even if it's just in your driveway. The other nice thing about buying a cheap beginner bike is that once they depreciate to a certain value they never really devalue any further. You can buy a $1000 bike in good shape this winter and get what you paid for it or more back out of it next spring.

What about that Kaw Ninja ER-650f? Contact Grainbelt for more info on that. From what i gather, it's an incredibly user friendly twin.