September 2, 2010 at 11:31 pm
#28441
Rab
Participant
One thing going for the GS500 as a beginner’s bike is that it’s very light for a bike of that engine displacement. Lighter is better when you’re learning; less chance of dropping it.
I learned on a Honda Nighthawk 250 (230 c.c.) and had no complaints. I sold it after about 6-9 months in order to get something a bit bigger. That’s not a criticism of it though.
When learning to ride a bicycle as a child, many children had training wheels. Think of a 250 c.c. bike as training wheels.
That said though, 250s are perfectly adequate for pretty much most riding situations except prolonged freeway riding (with the Ninja 250 a possible exception)).