ok i'm taking my test next week and ive whittled my choices down to three bikes

suzuki gs500 roughtly r/s reg
kawasaki er-5 as above
cb250 S reg..


suzuki

Pros.. its pretty powerful biggish bike suzuki parts easy to get insurance roughly 400 fully comp..

cons.. its a 500 so will drink fuel compared to the 250


kawasaki

pros.. as the suzuki.. plus the one ive seen is red .. niiice im taking test on one..

cons.. its a kawasaki.. theres only one dealer local and hes less than reliable.. plus having to scarp my ar125 and my ke100 being well blinky.. i dont know if to trust another. have the new bijes seen much improvement.. ?

honda

small economical and i noticed it comes with centre stand.. cheap to insure

cons.. its a bit physically small and with it having a top of 85 i dont want to be ragging the engine doing 70 down the motorway.. ( someone once told me that you dont want to continually do more than 80% of the engines capability or it will wear out quickly.. plus its not really powerful enough to get me out of sticky situations.. this ones more of an ouitsider to the other two..


anyway know which of these would be a good choice.. im not as well up on bikes as ifd like to be but think ive made a decent choice in staying away from fzr's/bandits

thankyou in advance..

i got a 600 after my test and i had no problem getting used to it! i guarantee you that if you get a smaller bike you will be bored of it within a few weeks! a fazer 600 (the old style one) would be a very good choice for a first big bike!

if you must stick to your proposed three then go for the suzuki, the con you state about it eating more fuel is something of a myth. each time the engine fires it would burn more fuel but youll find that it will not need to rev as high to give you the same speed, and so will not neccessarily drink more fuel. also youll have more fun on it, after all thats what biking is about innit?

i think you should think longer about the bike you really want before you go ahead and get one. i was looking for months in all the bike mags, i flicked through What Bike? magazine over and over again, read reveiws and swallowed all that journalistic tripe and ended up with a bike i really enjoy and one i will not get bored of in the near future!

Good luck with your test and good luck with finding your perfect partner!

Forget about the 250 if you are going to be doing a lot of motorways, the 500's will both be more economical as you won't have to ride it so hard. Of the 2 the ER is the better bike, but only just, engine is smooth and bullet proof and I belive slightly more powerfull. On the whole I'd go for the ER, with the GS as a close second if I could get a better deal on it. Er has a center stand and I think the GS does as well, but I'm not certain.

^ wot ancient said.
ER followed closely by GS, I'd leave the CB250. Have you looked for a CB500? That would be another strong contender.

Yup - i Second the 500cc bike by far

The Er5 was made as a first bike, it has really smooth power delivery and is pretty easy to ride

after i passed my test i bought a fazer 600 it's got enogh power to get me out of trouble cruises easily on the motorway even two up, there are plenty of after market add on to 'pimp you ride' and mine is still restricted to 33bhp but i still keep up and occasionally leave lunarwolf on his hornet!!!
personnally i would go for a 600 as you won't get ''bored'' of them as quick!