I’m 6′, 170 lbs, and never touched a motorcycle before taking the MSF class. But even during the class, I wasn’t impressed with the 250 Nighthawks and Rebels we had. The two different Nighthawk 250 I rode were low and easy to handle and ride, but the engine was weak and buzzy. Their throttle response was terrible – off idle, it hesitated for a moment before responding to my throttle input; felt like a cheap go-car lawnmower engine. The Rebel 250 in the class looked terribly cramped for the guy on it, and he was like 5’8″ or so, and wasn’t big. Those bikes all had only a few thousand miles, and didn’t look beat up. So that experience totally turned me off to the 250s.
Now, the GS500 (’01, naked) I got as my first bike – can’t say enough good things about it! I remember the first time I stood next to one in person, and the owner fired it up, I felt a little intimidated by its size, thinking that it looked bigger than I thought. I rode my GS for the first time the night after I finished the MSF class, and thought it was so much more refined, more powerful, and actually easier to ride, than the 250s I rode earlier that day.
1 year, 11k miles, and 3 bikes later, the GS is the smallest bike in my garage, but still the one I ride the most. Compared to the bigger bikes, now the GS feels a little weak and a little buzzy, but because it’s so “easy” to ride, it’s still tremendously fun to ride. I think a GS500 would be perfect for a 5’10”, 195 lbs guy.