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For maintaining speed without difficulty on the highway, you'll want to stick with 500cc engines or more. The 250's are great learning bikes but not so good on the highway.
As for the Ninjas, they range from the 250 up to the ZX-10 which is a 1000. For a starter bike, I'd stick with the 500 model, which is an older design (cheap, reliable, abundant parts) but plenty fast. It's a 2 cylinder with about 50 hp. Despite being one of the "slow" Ninja's, it'll turn the 1/4 mile in the low 13s.
Comfort is a tricky issue. Some people really like the feet forward, sorta leaned back position of a cruiser. Some are comfortable (I can't imagine how!) with the aggresive position on a sportbike. In the middle is what's called the "standard" style, where you sit mostly upright, maybe with a slight forward lean, foot pets directly beneath you (as opposed to in front on a cruiser or behind on a sportbike) with medium height handlebars. This is my favorite style and if you read something like "Proficient Motorcycling" by David Hough, the type that is easiest to ride and learn on.
There's also dual-sports, like the Kawasaki KLR650, which I know very tall people seem to like.
My bike, the Suzuki GS500, is a standard. It's a parallel twin like the Ninja 500 though with a bit less power.
General recommendations? For cruisers, look at ones as "small" as the Kawasaki Vulcan 500 and Yamaha Virago 535 to ones as "big" as the Honda Shadow 750 and Suzuki 800 models. The only bike in that range I wouldn't suggest is the Honda Magna. It's a really nice bike, but has a 750 V4 sportbike engine which is probably a bit much for many beginners.
In standards, the Buell Blast, GS500, and Ninja 500 are all good choices. The Ninja and the new GS500F (the old GS500E was naked) may look like sport bikes but have standard ergos. http://www.gstwin.com is a good resource for GS500 info.
I'd really avoid getting a sportbike in the 600 or up range. These bikes are extremely fast, very track oriented, and even Suzuki says they're "engineered for experienced riders" right in their product literature.
Check out your local newspaper ads and cycletrader.com for prices. You should have no trouble finding a nice, mid-late 90's bike like I mentioned above in the $1,500-$2,500 range. If you're fairly handy and have some tools, any of those kinds of bikes can be easily maintained by a DIY'er.
Feel free to ask any more questions you've got.
jeff
posted by 4.249.4...
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