Good Starter Bike Help?

It depends on what you want, cruiser, standard, or street. I just bought my first my bike and found out that I felt comfortable on a street when I thought for sure I was getting a standard. But the ninja 250r would be good if your new.
 
If you have never driven a street bike before you will want to start off with a bike like a ninja 250 if you want a sport bike or a Honda Rebel 250 if you want a cruiser. I would recommend buying a cheap older bike as a starter bike and my reasoning is this. Most drivers have a minor incident Not allways a collision within the first 6 months of learning to ride. So you probably don't want to have a brand new bike for a couple weeks then "lay it down". If it was a 5 year old bike it wouldn't be as much of a loss. The next thing is that after riding for a couple of months you will want a "larger" bike to ride. In a sport bike you would probably want a 750-900cc bike after you get comfortable riding. For a cruiser maybe a 1300-1800cc bike. However it would be very hard to learn how to ride on a bike this heavy. If you just bought a new bike as a starter bike it will be a lot harder to get financing on another new bike within a year. My brother-in-law bought a new 900 kawasaki vulcan and now he wants a bigger cruiser but is having trouble selling his 900.

I started out with an '84 Honda Nighthawk 450. It was a great bike with a top speed of 85-90 MPH, but within 4 months I was riding a newer Honda V-65 Magna.

I hope that this is helpful.
 
Well, I'm guessing that at 5'3", you aren't very heavy either. So, if this is your first bike, I'd consider looking at the new Ninja 250R. It is a great bike for the price and a great learning motorcycle. Besides, it looks awesome for a small bike. Most people can't tell that it's only a 250cc motorcycle. Don't be discouraged because I'm recommending a 250 motorcycle because, I'm 6' tall and nearly 200 pounds and it can cart my ass around without any problem. However, there are also 2 500cc bikes that make great starter bikes. The Suzuki gs500f and the Ninja 500R. I personally have the ninja and the suzuki was my second choice. If you don't want a sport bike, kawasaki also make a nice 250 and 500 cruiser that I'd take a look at. You won't be disappointed with either.
 
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